Synopsis
Avery was badly bullied all through high school. It left him feeling broken and full of self-doubt.
Years later, he’s slowly putting his life back together. But just as things start to get better, his father becomes seriously ill and needs a life-saving surgery.
Avery’s stepmother says there’s only one way to pay for it: an arranged marriage. At first, she planned to marry off her own daughter to a rich man from a powerful family. But when they find out the man is in a coma after a car accident, she changes her mind. She refuses to let her daughter marry someone who may never wake up. Instead, she forces Avery into it—tricking him, threatening him, and reminding him that this is the only way to save his father’s life.
Avery agrees, even though it breaks his heart. He goes through with the wedding without even seeing the groom’s face.
On the night of the wedding, in his new home, Avery notices something strange. The man lying unconscious looks oddly familiar. He finds some old photos in the house….
The man he just married is Lucien—his high school bully. The same person who made him feel worthless for years.
Old memories flood back, and Avery wants nothing more than to walk away. He calls his stepmother, ready to leave. But she gives him an awful choice: either divorce Lucien and let his father die, or stay married, save his father’s life, and gain wealth and power.
With no way out, Avery stays.
As time goes on, he watches Lucien’s quiet, sleeping face. And something feels off. The Lucien lying there doesn’t look like the cruel person Avery remembers. He wonders—was there more to Lucien than he ever knew?
He tells himself it doesn’t matter. Lucien got what he deserved. But one night, Avery trips and falls on top of him… and at that exact moment, Lucien wakes up.
After two years in a coma, Lucien opens his eyes—and finds out he’s married. To the same boy he used to bully.
Now Avery doesn’t know what to feel. The past still hurts, but he starts to see a different side of Lucien.
They were enemies. Strangers thrown together by fate.
But maybe… just maybe, they’re meant to be something more.

The world tilted. Just like that—tilted on its axis, everything blurring at the edges as those four words slammed into me. Dead. My father. 


Dead. I laughed—a sharp, disbelieving bark that echoed in the room, cutting through the quiet. 


 It wasn't funny, not even close, but my brain short-circuited, latching onto the only thing that made sense in that split second: a prank. A cruel, stupid joke to get my attention, to squeeze a few more dollars out of me.


 "What? Come on, is this some prank?" I asked, the words tumbling out in a rush, laced with that forced lightness, like if I said it out loud, it'd make it true. 


"You're trying to mess with me, right? Ha, good one. What's the punchline?"


But her voice didn't crack with laughter. It stayed flat, heavy, the kind of tone that carried the weight of a lifetime's bad news. "I am not joking, Avery. I am serious."


Chapter 48 - This Isn’t Real