Lima Tahun Mencintai Pria yang Salah

For five long years, Margaret Hart's world consists of mountain slopes and the medicinal herbs she gathers. Basket by basket, she collects them, each one a small step toward a distant dream. Finally, the day comes. The last herb is sold, and she holds enough for a plane ticket to Barion City.The capital's chill is of a different kind. No car awaits her, no familiar face. Instead, she meets the piercing gaze of Victoria Bloom, Elliot Novak's girlfriend.Disdain and disgust swim plainly in the woman's eyes.Without a word, Margaret is ushered into an opulent private club suite. Through a sliver of an open door, she sees him.Five years have reshaped Elliot. He stands clad in a tailored suit, his handsome features as sharp as ever.Yet the clarity she remembers—the warmth from three years past—is utterly absent from his eyes. They hold no recognition, no trace of her.A conversation drifts out, cold and casual."You can't seriously be marrying that herb collector, right? Your family agrees to the union with Ms. Bloom," a male voice argues.His tone is cool, detached, as it was when they first met, but now layered with indifference. "It was just a verbal promise. She was a curiosity in the village. But after returning... after meeting Victoria... I realize she's nothing special. Although Grandpa arranged it before he passed away, I can't be bound to that promise. My future is with Victoria. If we must, we settle Margaret at Duskmoon Villa. She has every comfort—good food, a soft life. But no children. It ends there," Elliot states flatly."Duskmoon Villa? The place where your father keeps his mistresses? So the rumors are true. The sabotaged opportunities, even the village bridge burned down... all to delay her. To keep her away," his friend says, a sigh in his voice.Elliot's expression darkens. "I want her to move on. Our world would eat her alive. She belongs in the mountains. The city... it's no place for her."A pause, then a quiet, brutal justification. "She saved my life. But her background... it's unsuitable. I can never have a wife like that.""You need to resolve this. That childhood vow ties you, and she has the debt of your life. What if she insists on the marriage? What if she uses that to cling to you?"Margaret hears no more.A glacial numbness spreads from her core, freezing her blood.The pieces snap together with terrible clarity. Every setback, every closed door over five years—Elliot's doing. All to keep her in the dark, away from him.And she, fool that she is, has fought through every one, believing he waits at the end of her struggle. The irony is a physical pain.Trembling, she follows Victoria back out into the hallway.Victoria says, her voice dripping with false pity, "You hear him. To Elliot, you are a passing distraction. He only entertains you because he feels obligated."She produces a checkbook with a flourish. "Let's be practical. I give you money. Take it and disappear. Is a million enough?"Margaret's voice, when it comes, is eerily calm. "Thirty-seven dollars and sixty cents."Victoria frowns, suspicion flashing. "Don't play games. What more could you possibly want?""Give me thirty-seven sixty. Then we're even," Margaret repeats, her eyes now pools of still, dead water.ic_default