Comments Saved My Marriage

On my wedding night, my billionaire husband left me to sleep alone in the guest room.

I lay on the cold bed in the guest room, staring at the ceiling, mapping out the future of this sexless sham of a marriage.

Rows of bizarre, semi-transparent text floated right across my line of vision.

[Are you blind?! Your husband has been standing outside your door for half an hour. He's practically turned into a statue waiting for you!]

[He's not incapable, he's too capable! He's terrified of losing control and scaring you on your wedding night, so he's forcing himself to sleep in the study!]

[LMAO, the man is holding back so hard his veins are popping, and the wife thinks he's got a medical condition while plotting her divorce settlement!]

[Hold your horses. Once Serena makes her move, the wife will be kicked to the curb. Then the husband will be cured, and it's sweet, sweet spoiling every single night!]

Chapter 1

On the night of my wedding, I had an entire room to myself. Victor, my legally binding husband and the untouchable emperor of a business empire, was supposedly in the study next door, keeping his desires in check. After all, the rumors claimed that despite his absolute power and drop-dead gorgeous looks, he was repulsed by women.

Or maybe just medically broken.

And I, Fallon, was nothing more than a bargaining chip, sold off by my family to cling to his wealth and buy themselves a lifeline.

I swiped open my phone. On the financial news homepage, the hashtag ShengshiGroupCEOVictorWedding was trending at the very top. I tapped the link, only to find a comment section drowning in pity for the new bride.

"That Fallon girl is pathetic. So young, and already doomed to a sexless marriage."

"Rumor has it that CEO Victor is a highly disciplined workaholic with zero interest in women outside of making money. Maybe he really is physically incapable."

"It's high society, people. They marry a matching trophy wife for display and sleep with whoever they want. Totally normal."

The corners of my mouth twitched upwards. Anyway, the massive alimony promised in the prenup is enough for me to splurge in Malibu for the rest of my life. A sexless marriage it is.

Just as my thumb hovered over the lock button, rows of semi-transparent, glowing gold text drifted across my vision.

[Here we go! Classic doomed first wife sexless marriage plot!]

[I bet a hundred bucks she's calculating how much she'll get in the divorce right now.]

[Think bigger. Right now she's wondering if Victor's equipment actually works.]

I bolted upright in bed, blinking hard. A hallucination?

[It's not a hallucination, babe! We're viewers from a higher dimension, and we can read your entire destiny script!]

[You're just a disposable side character. You mistakenly think Victor is impotent, cheat on him, and end up crushed to death by him. Your ending is brutal!]

My chest tightened, the blood freezing in my veins. Cheat? Crushed to death?

[Yep! And your husband is literally right outside your door right now! He's been struggling for almost half an hourto go in or not to go in, that is the question.]

[LMAO, he's terrified he's going to pounce like a starved wolf and terrify our delicate little side character, so he's forcing himself to stay out of the master bedroom.]

[I'm dying for him. His muscles under that suit are as tight as rocks, the veins on the back of his hands are popping, his jawline is clenched dead-tight, and he's breathing as heavily as a trapped beast. And they call this incapable?!]

My eyes snapped to the bedroom door. The heavy wood shut out everything from the outside.

I swallowed hard. Throwing off the covers, I swung my bare feet to the floor. The icy sting of the hardwood shot up my legs, but the frantic, deafening thud of my heartbeat drowned out everything else. I crept toward the door.

[Quick! Press your ear against it! You can hear the beast breathing!]

[Better not. What if he suddenly opens the door and you crash right into his chest? Wouldn't you want the floor to swallow you whole?]

Driven by some morbid curiosity, I pressed my ear flat against the freezing wood. Dead silence. Did he leave? The moment the thought crossed my mind, the comments refreshed.

[He didn't leave! He's holding his breath! That sly bastard!]

[His hand! His hand is on the doorknob!]

[Ahhhh is he coming in?! Wedding night extreme tension! I'm here for it!]

My heart lodged itself firmly in my throat.

Click. The sharp, metallic grind of the latch pierced the dead silence.

The doorknob was slowly dipping downward from the outside.

I jerked back. My chest heaved, my palms slick with cold sweat as my body trembled. Would the door actually open?

Was the man rumored to be as cold as an iceberg really going to storm in like a starved, repressed beast, just like the floating text claimed?

Chapter 2

Time ticked by, second by agonizing second. The doorknob turned halfway and stopped. Then, slowly, with agonizing restraint, it clicked back into place.

[Damn it! He chickened out! Victor, you are all bark and no bite!]

[He is scared. He is terrified of losing control and hurting his wife! He backed off!]

[I saw him turn around. His back looks so lonely, like a massive golden retriever locked out by its owner.]

Immediately after, the faint sound of his footsteps retreated down the hall. All the strength drained from my body. I slid down the heavy door until I hit the floor, gasping for air. So everything the comments said was true?

Victor was not incapable, nor was he repulsed by me. It was because he wanted it too much, so he did not dare come close?

The realization struck me like a bolt of lightning.

The next morning, I dragged myself downstairs with massive dark circles under my eyes. Victor was already seated at the head of the dining table, impeccably dressed, methodically flipping through a financial newspaper. The morning sunlight spilled through the floor-to-ceiling windows, casting a soft glow over his flawless jawline. It made his absurdly handsome face look even more unapproachable and disciplined.

He wore a sharply tailored black suit, his tie knotted to perfection. Every inch of him radiated an overwhelming, stay-away-from-me aura. How was this the abandoned golden retriever the comments had described? He was clearly a dangerous alpha wolf lurking in the shadows, ready to tear his prey to shreds at any moment.

[I take back the golden retriever comment. This man is radiating pure alpha energy.]

[Look at him, wifey! He is reading the paper, but his ears are red! He has been listening to your footsteps the whole time!]

[Quick! Stick to the plan! Stage an accident! Make him hold you!]

I took a deep breath, picked up a glass of milk, and walked toward him. Last night, I spent hours agonizing between believing the floating text and trusting my own common sense. Ultimately, my survival instinct won.

If the comments were right, I had to change my destiny as disposable collateral damage. Step one: test Victor's true attitude toward me. The strategy the comments gave me was brutally simplethe accidental trip.

I stepped up beside him, intentionally twisted my ankle, and let my body fall entirely out of control toward him.

"Ah!" I let out a short gasp, the glass of milk slipping from my fingers.

[Here it comes! The classic throw-yourself-into-his-arms maneuver!]

[Look at Victor's reaction! He is moving so fast he is a blur!]

Just as I braced myself to crash into him in a splash of milk, a powerful arm clamped hard around my waist. I slammed into a rock-solid, scorching chest. A potent wave of crisp cedar and pure masculine heat enveloped me.

Through the thin fabric of his tailored suit, I could feel the rigid, flexed lines of his muscles and the blistering heat radiating off his skin. Victor's reflexes were beyond anything I could have imagined.

One hand gripped my waist like a steel vice. His other hand had somehow shot out to catch the falling glass in mid-air. Not a single drop of milk spilled. The entire movement was brutally efficient.

[Holy hell! Those reflexes! That core strength! Are the people calling him incapable blind?!]

[His hand! His hand is still on her waist! He does not want to let go!]

[His heart is pounding! It is about to explode! Wifey, can you feel it?!]

Of course I felt it.

Chapter 3

His chest blazed with heat against my back. I could clearly hear the steady, powerful thud of his heartbeat, hammering against my eardrums. The arm locked around my waist felt like a branding iron, leaving my skin tingling with electricity. I froze, my muscles locking up.

Time seemed to stop.

"Careful." His raspy baritone vibrated right above my head, laced with an imperceptible tightness.

I opened my mouth to thank him, but he released me like I had burned him. He stepped back, snapping the distance back between us. His expression remained a mask of ice, but just as the floating text pointed out, the tips of his ears were flushed bright red, betraying him.

[LMAO he is acting all tough again! A total softie in a wolf's skin!]

[He does not even dare look wifey in the eyes! He is blushing!]

Watching him try so hard to keep his cool, a corner of my lips twitched. I guess I was actually starting to believe it.

Right then, the butler stepped forward and gave a slight bow. "Sir, Madam, Ms. Serena is here."

Serena? The original female lead from the comments who supposedly cures Victor and gets spoiled every single night? What was she doing here?

[Holy crap! The plot moved up! The fake innocent act is here to start a fight!]

[Quick! Red alert! Defcon one! Wifey, your first rival has entered the chat!]

I instinctively glanced up at Victor. The slight softness in his expression vanished the second he heard Serena's name, replaced by a wall of frost. A near-invisible crease formed between his brows.

Serena wore a tight, haute couture mini dress and sky-high stilettos. An unassailable, fake smile was plastered across her face, making her look like an arrogant, highly privileged mean girl.

The moment she walked in, she flashed Victor an overly familiar, sugary smile. "Victor, I heard you tied the knot. I came specifically to meet my new sister-in-law." Her eyes dragged over me, thick with judgment and a sickening sense of superiority.

"So this is your new bride? Absolutely stunning." Her smile was perfectly polite, but her eyes were sharp enough to draw blood.

[Here it comes! The standard Mean Girl opening statement!]

[In her head she is thinking: Hah, just a pretty little trophy wife. She does not deserve Victor at all!]

[Next, she is going to play the innocent card and hint that your husband is physically incapable!]

Before I could even get a word out, Serena turned to Victor, her voice dripping with excessive concern. "Victor, have you not been resting properly again?"

"You really need to pay attention to your health. Didn't the doctor say you can't overwork yourself, and that your emotions shouldn't fluctuate too much?" She delivered the lines with such sincerity, acting as if she were the only person in the world who cared about his well-being.

But the gazes of the staff in the dining room shifted. Everyone could hear the unspoken implication beneath her wordsVictor's body was weak, and he couldn't handle any exertion. The absolute last thing a newlywed man wanted to hear was that he lacked stamina.

She was deliberately humiliating me in front of all the staff, trying to cement my status as a wife in a sexless marriage.

[My god! The way she plays the innocent victim, hand her an Oscar right now!]

[She wants the entire house to think Victor is impotent so Fallon gets humiliated!]

[Wifey! Fight back! Strike now! Don't let her get away with this!]

Staring at Serena's face, heavily masked with "I'm just doing this for your own good," a vicious, mocking urge suddenly flared in my chest.

Chapter 4

I ignored her fake smile. Stepping forward, I pressed myself tightly against Victor's arm to declare my territory, deliberately dragging my fingers in a suggestive slide against the fabric of his suit. Victor's body jerked rigid. I could feel the muscles in his arm lock up, radiating heat like a branding iron.

I forced myself not to let go. Tilting my head up, I looked at him with wide, innocent eyes, making my voice as drippingly sweet as possible.

"Honey, Serena is just so worried about your stamina. Was I a little too wild last night? Is that why you didn't get enough rest?" I deliberately put heavy emphasis on "last night," dragging out the final syllable with a teasing purr.

[Holy shit! Holy shit! Holy shit! Wifey is a badass!]

["Was I a little too wild last night"! What kind of spicy talk is that?! I am literally exploding!]

[She is going in for the kill! Are we even allowed to hear this for free?!]

[Look at Victor's face! He is frozen stiff like a wooden board! His brain just crashed!]

I stole a glance at Victor out of the corner of my eye. He locked up, his jaw slacking slightly as his flawless mask cracked. A dark storm was gathering in his deep eyes, and the tips of his ears flushed from a faint pink to a bleeding crimson right before my eyes.

Across from us, Serena's smile shattered. She probably never expected methe supposedly meek and cowardly trophy wifeto say something so explicit in public. All the color drained from her face, leaving her looking physically ill.

I doubled down, pressing myself even closer against Victor's side. Dropping my voice so only the three of us could hear, I added with a mix of fake shyness and a pout, "It's all your fault, you just had to"

I left the rest unsaid, but the suggestive pause was enough to make anyone's imagination run wild.

[Ahhhhh! Had to what?! Spit it out!]

[Help! My mind is totally in the gutter right now!]

[The Mean Girl looks like she is going to throw up! LMAO! Yes! This feels so good!]

Serena finally hit her breaking point. Her chest heaved, and she stepped forward. "Fallon!"

I stared back at her with wide, innocent eyes. "What is it, Serena? You look awful. Are you feeling sick?"

The frozen Victor moved. He didn't push me away. Instead, his hand shot down, clamping around my wrist and pulling my entire body flush against his chest.

His palm was blazing hot, his grip terrifyingly strong. His icy gaze shot toward Serena like a barrage of knives, his voice stripped of warmth. "My wife knows exactly how much stamina I have."

"Serena, my wife is very shy. She cannot handle hearing such explicit words. Do not ever speak like this again."

Without giving Serena another glance, he tightened his grip on my wrist and spun on his heel. "Come with me."

A dangerous undercurrent ripped through his raspy command, carrying a heavy, suffocating pressure that felt seconds away from detonating. I stumbled forward, practically forced to jog just to keep up with his massive strides. Left behind us was Serena, her perfectly contoured face twisted into an ugly scowl.

[Drama! This is top-tier drama!]

[Alpha wife energy! He is dragging her away! He didn't even want to look at that fake innocent girl again!]

[Wait! Where is he taking wifey? The study? The bedroom? Ahhhh! What is he going to do in broad daylight?!]

My heart began to hammer wildly against my ribs once more.

Slam!

The heavy door of the study was thrown shut by Victor, the deafening crack echoing off the walls.

Chapter 5

He shoved me flat against the freezing wood of the door. The man's massive frame engulfed me, radiating a suffocating, aggressive pressure that left nowhere to run. The study was unlit. In the shadows, his dark eyes were terrifyingly bright, burning like twin embers as they pinned me in place.

[Oh no, oh no, she played with fire and now the big bad wolf is pissed.]

[He isn't just pissed, he is about to snap!]

[His breathing is so heavy! Wifey, listen to him, he wants to devour you!]

I heard it. His heavy, ragged breathing crashed down on the top of my head, blowing blistering heat across my skin. My palms grew slick with sweat, my heart hammering so violently it felt like it would tear straight through my throat. Did I did I say the wrong thing?

"Fallon." He spoke. The two syllables were brutally raspy, grinding out from the very bottom of his throat.

"Do you have any idea what you just said?" His palms slammed flat against the wood on either side of my head, trapping me. His arms and chest formed an airtight cage, cutting off any chance of escape.

The scent of crisp cedar rolled off him in waves, laced with an aggressive surge of masculine heat that made my knees turn to water.

"I" I tilted my head up, meeting the dark, churning storm in his eyes. The words died in my throat.

"'Last night'?" He leaned down, his flawless face closing in until it filled my entire vision. His nose brushed a fraction of an inch from mine. "What exactly did we do last night?"

His voice dropped to a low, dangerous vibration, vibrating with a dark, intoxicating pull.

[Ahhhh he is closing in! He is going to kiss her!]

[He is interrogating her! He is turning the tables! Answer him, wifey!]

[Say something! Just say you remembered it wrong! Hurry up and bluff your way out of it!]

My mind went blank. Following the comments' advice was the smartest move. But staring into his eyes inches from mine, I saw his pupils dilate until they almost swallowed his irises, his jaw ticking with agonizing restraint, and a microscopic tremor in his eyelashes that I couldn't comprehend.

Driven by some reckless instinct, I lifted a shaking hand. Mimicking what the floating text had taught me, I extended an index finger and tentatively, lightly poked his rock-solid chest.

"I I just said whatever came to mind to back you up," I whispered, my voice barely louder than a breath. "She had no right to talk about you like that"

The instant my fingertip brushed the fabric of his shirt, his massive frame jerked.

The thick veins on the backs of his hands, pressed flat against the door, surged against his skin. The muscles in his arms locked into rigid stone.

He stared me down, his Adam's apple bobbed hard as he swallowed. His gaze was no longer an icy interrogation. It had melted into a raw, territorial hunger that threatened to swallow me whole.

[He is breaking! One tiny move from wifey shattered his defenses!]

[He is holding back! He is using every ounce of strength in his body to hold it together! One more push and he is going to lose control!]

[Look at his eyes! He doesn't want to kill her, he wants to take her right now!]

The blistering heat in his eyes sent a shiver down my spine. Instinctively, I tried to pull my hand back. But right at that moment, as if he had been physically burned, he jerked upright. He spun around, turning his back to me.

He braced both hands heavily on the edge of the desk. His broad back heaved erratically, fighting a brutal war to regain his composure.

"Get out." He ground the words out through his teeth, his voice wrecked. "Now. Immediately."

I froze in place.

Chapter 6

[Don't leave! He is protecting you! He is terrified of losing control and hurting you!]

[He is definitely cursing himself as a monster right now! Comfort him, quick!]

[Look at his hand, he is practically crushing the edge of the mahogany desk!]

I followed the floating text's direction. Sure enough, his hand gripping the edge of the desk was clamped so hard his knuckles had turned bone-white. A sudden rush of adrenaline overrode my fear. I didn't leave.

Instead, I took another step toward him.

Right then, my eyes caught something on the corner of his desk. It was a small silver picture frame, half-hidden under a stack of documents. Inside the frame, there seemed to be a photo of a girl.

[!!! It is that picture frame! Look, wifey!]

[It is the candid photo of you he has kept hidden for eight years!]

My heart skipped a beat. Instinctively, I leaned in to get a closer look.

Victor seemed to sense my gaze. He spun around, blocking the frame with his massive body. He moved so fast, like he was trying to cover up some earth-shattering secret.

"I told you to get out!" His voice spiked, laced with an unprecedented, sharp edge.

The harder he pushed, the more curious I got. Who exactly was in that photo? The more Victor tried to hide it, the harder the claws of curiosity scratched at my brain.

[It is a candid photo of you from high school! You were sitting by the field, smiling so brightly!]

[He has been secretly in love with you for eight years! Ever since you were sixteen!]

[This man is obsessed with you!]

Secretly in love for eight years? I was stunned.

My interactions with Victor had been strictly limited to a few polite nods at boring corporate galas. High school? I didn't even remember a guy named Victor going to my high school.

[He was the quarterback from the private high school next door! To see you, he'd drive his sports car around to your school's parking lot every single day!]

[Once during P.E. when you were running track and almost got heatstroke, he panicked so hard he almost jumped the fence to bring you water!]

Was that really it?

I stared at the man in front of me. He still had his back to me, his spine straight as an arrogant, snow-capped mountain. But his rigid posture gave away the raging storm inside him. I had to see it for myself.

Once the thought took root, I couldn't push it down.

"Victor," I gathered my courage and stepped toward him. "Are you hiding something you don't want me to see?"

His body locked up. He didn't turn around, his voice dropping ice. "It is none of your business."

[He is being stubborn! He is terrified that if you find out how he feels, you will think he is a creep and hate him even more!]

[Wifey, go! Grab it!]

[No, no, that is too violent! Let the comments teach you a trick: create a distraction, secure the frame!]

For the next few minutes, the floating text bombarded me with an absolutely humiliating battle plan. The core strategy: create chaos, steal the prize. I took a deep breath. For the truth, I had to risk it all!

I circled around to the other side of the desk, pretending to reach for a book. I let my body accidentally crash into the edge of the desk.

"Ouch!" I let out a sharp cry. The thing in my hand oh wait, I didn't have anything in my hand.

I just swept a heavy pen holder right off the desk. Clatter. Pens scattered everywhere across the floor.

Victor was immediately distracted by the noise. He spun around, his eyes locking on me. "What happened?"

"My ankle" I grabbed my ankle, crouching down and looking up at him pitifully. "I think I hit it. It really hurts."

Chapter 7

[Flawless acting! Hand her an Oscar right now!]

[He is coming over! He bought it! Get ready for the next step!]

Victor quickly strode over to my side. His massive frame crouched down, his tone laced with a tension he didn't even seem to notice. "Where did you hit it? Let me see."

His large hand reached out, about to touch my ankle. Now!

Swallowing my embarrassment, I followed the floating text's instructions. Just as his fingers neared my skin, I jerked my head up and planted a loud, solid kiss right on his cheek!

Time stopped. The air in the room froze solid.

[!!!!!!!!]

[I am dead! I am dying of a sugar overdose! Wifey, you absolute siren!]

[Ambush! This is a blatant ambush! Victor's brain has completely crashed, he won't be able to reboot for at least three seconds!]

Victor went rigid. He stayed crouched there, frozen in the exact posture of reaching for my ankle. His jaw went slack, his dark eyes blown wide open as he stared at me. I could feel his skin turning scorching hot right where my lips had touched.

Taking full advantage of his crashed system, I sprang up from the floor faster than I ever had in my life. I bolted to the desk and snatched the silver picture frame!

By the time Victor snapped out of it, the frame was already in my hands.

Inside the frame was a photo of a girl in a cheerleader uniform. She was sitting on the bleachers by the field, holding a cup of ice-cold cola. She was smiling brightly at something off-camera, her eyes curved in joy, radiant as the summer sun. That girl was sixteen-year-old me.

My chest tightened, as if a heavy hand had seized my lungs. It really was me. The floating text hadn't lied. This manthe notoriously ruthless emperor of a business empirehad actually been secretly in love with me for all these years.

"Give it back!" Victor finally snapped back to reality. A raw, hoarse edge ripped through his voice as he lunged toward me.

Instinctively, I clutched the frame tight against my chest and stumbled backward. "No!"

He was like a wild beast whose territory had been violently invaded. The muscles in his jaw clenched dead-tight as he advanced on me step by step. "Fallon, give it back."

Just as his fingers were about to lock around my wrist, the study door was pushed open from the outside without a single warning