alleged perpetrator

At 9 in the morning, Steffi was faithfully accompanying Bill at the hospital. She lay beside her fiancé watching videos on her phone, occasionally giggling when she saw funny ones.

"What's the most embarrassing thing you've ever done that no one knows except yourself?" Steffi asked, glancing at Bill who was still weak.

Bill fell silent, thinking for a moment.

"I remember once yelling at someone... I thought he was my friend, but it turned out to be the wrong person," he said with a grin.

"Hahah..!" Steffi laughed. "What happened then?"

"He looked at me, but I turned away, pretending I never yelled at him," Bill said.

Steffi laughed again.

Bill smiled shyly, glancing at Steffi with happiness as she could laugh freely with him. This was something new for him because all this time she had been somewhat awkward and cold towards him.

Steffi sighed, trying not to laugh again. She looked at Bill, who kept looking at her.

"Don't you want to know about the embarrassing thing I did?" she asked.

"Tell me," Bill whispered.

"It happened when I was at a party with Steve. He invited me to a wedding party because he didn't have a girlfriend," Steffi said calmly, placing her phone on her chest. "At that time, Steve was in the toilet, and I was standing among many guests who were dancing... for some reason, after a few minutes, I thought he had come back. I approached him and immediately held his hand, but it turned out that it wasn't him... I mean... the guy was standing with his back to me, and I immediately held his hand because I thought he was Steve... I quickly took my hand back when we stopped near the door, and he looked at me strangely," she continued.

Bill chuckled softly. "He must have been surprised because suddenly a beautiful girl like you was holding his hand."

"I don't know what he felt, but one thing is for sure, I was very embarrassed and immediately let go of him. I didn't say anything... I quickly went back to the party to find Steve," Steffi said. "No one knows about that incident except you," she continued.

"That's good... I will always know anything that happens to you."

"Of course... we're getting married, and husbands and wives will always exchange stories about what happens every day," Steffi said, tilting her position and hugging Bill's stomach. She smiled, looking at him with a strange feeling. 'And I don't know whether the decision to get married soon is a good or bad one. But so far, I only see the positive side... I hope this doesn't end in regret... I can't refuse you, I don't want to refuse you,' she thought.

"If I hadn't had an accident, maybe our wedding preparations could have been done according to plan," Bill said anxiously.

"It's okay... there is no change except for the part where our invitation cards won't have our photos. But I don't think that's a big problem," Steffi replied casually.

"Now you're very enthusiastic about our wedding..."

"I don't know why I'm so enthusiastic... but maybe this is a sign that I'm mentally ready," Steffi said calmly. "I hope you'll get better soon."

Ring...ring...

Steffi's attention was diverted to her ringing phone. She picked it up and saw a call from Steve, then answered it.

"Steve..."

"It turns out that there was someone intentionally damaging Bill's car brakes. And it was done while Bill's car was in our house's yard. I sent the CCTV video... you can see that the perpetrator's posture is very familiar," Steve said over the phone. "His posture is similar to Liam's body posture. Now, the police are heading to his house to search," he continued. Steffi frowned, quickly deciding to end the call, and switched to opening the video message from Steve.

"What's going on?" Bill asked, noticing Steffi's panic. Steffi remained silent, watching the video with the video showing a man wearing a black suit with a hood and mask sneaking into the yard from the side and then crawling under Bill's car. "I can't believe it... I can't believe someone wants to harm you, and that person is Liam," she said spontaneously.

Bill also watched the video repeatedly played by Steffi, trying to understand if the person looked like Liam or not.

"Now the police are heading to his house to search," said Steffi anxiously. Bill fell silent with a furrowed brow. "If he's the one who did it, I will never forgive him! He wanted to ruin our happiness... this is not fair!" Steffi said angrily, her breathing becoming unstable now.

"I didn't expect him to be so evil... he's not just evil in love, but he dared to commit a criminal act!"

"Baby... calm down," Bill whispered. Steffi glanced at Bill, who almost lost his life last night. "I can't calm down. What he did is unacceptable... he wanted to kill you!"

"Maybe he's not the culprit," Bill said.

"But I'm sure it's him... it's impossible for someone else to intentionally harm you when he's the one who has always been fighting with you... you almost lost your life because of him, and that was also because of me... because you are in a relationship with me!" Steffi said, even her eyes started to tear up. "I never thought this conflict would end up with a criminal act!"

"I may not have any enemies, but I don't know who dislikes me all this time," Bill said anxiously. "But we can't just accuse Liam with that CCTV evidence... we need strong evidence, and to be honest, I hope it's not him... I don't want him to end up in jail while he should be there for Gea, who is pregnant with his child," he continued.

Steffi frowned, looking at Bill in surprise. "What if he is the one who did it and the police find evidence?"

"I don't know..."

"Will you let him go free so he can always be there for Gea?" Steffi asked curiously.

Bill thought about what if Liam did it and was imprisoned, that would mean Gea would be sad, go through the pregnancy without a husband, and even have to bear the shame. Maybe the child who will be born will also bear shame throughout his life because his father is a prisoner.

"No, I won't put him in jail," Bill said.

"What?" Steffi sat up immediately, looking at Bill in surprise. "Do you want to give a chance to a criminal who even wanted to kill you?"

"Baby..." Bill looked at Steffi with a sad expression. "I just don't want to ruin their child's future... I mean, to ruin their mental health, Gea's mental health too... just imagine if you were pregnant and I was in jail, you would feel sad and maybe have difficulties during pregnancy because pregnant women usually have their husbands by their side, receiving support, affection... and when the child is born, starts going to school, they will surely be insulted by their friends because their father is a prisoner. This can slowly ruin their future... the image of being the child of a prisoner will always stick with them."

"But he needs to learn his lesson so he won't dare to commit a crime again!"

"I know that... we can find other solutions to make him not commit a crime again instead of imprisoning him," Bill said, frowning and showing a worried expression. "I just don't want people to suffer because of me while I'm fine... I'll recover... it's pointless to imprison him... that will only make him hate me more..."

Steffi fell silent, looking at Bill who was so kind-hearted, thinking about Liam's future without considering how evil Liam was to her.

"Besides, we don't even know if he's the culprit," Bill said.

"I don't know what to say, you're too kind to him by thinking about his freedom even though it's highly likely that he's the culprit," Steffi replied anxiously, then lay back down and hugged Bill's chest. "You're so kind, I think I'm lucky to have you."

Bill smiled and stroked Steffi's hair. "I'm the lucky one to have you."

"No... you unlucky. You have problems because you have a relationship with me..."

"That's not a problem, it's part of the struggle," Bill said calmly. "Whatever happens, nothing can stop our wedding," he continued.

Steffi fell silent again, thinking about Liam. Now, she was very curious about the investigation process at his house. And she was worried that if Bill's family knew that Liam was the cause of the accident, they would forbid her from marrying Bill because they didn't want Bill to be in danger. That would be a nightmare for her because she wanted the wedding now.