Don't Leave Before Forever

Episode 1

Noelle Walsh walks into what she thinks is a normal job interview and gets an offer she can't quite believe: a two-year contract marriage to Mason Scott, president of Shengtang Group. He's blunt about why he picked her—her face resembles a woman he lost, a woman he says died trying to save his sister. Noelle agrees anyway, because the money means treatment for her father. "Only two years, I can cure dad's illness and become rich," she tells herself. The deal is signed, and Mason tells her to pack her things and move in tonight.

Episode 2

Noelle moves into Mason's city-center villa, where the staff show her to her room. The contract doesn't leave much room for shyness: Mason reminds her that, per their agreement, she's expected to fulfill her duties as a wife. She admits it's her first time and asks him to be gentle. It's an awkward, uncertain start to a marriage that's supposed to be purely business—two strangers sharing a house, one of them already certain this is all an act.

Episode 3

Noelle settles into her role as a professional stand-in, cooking, greeting Mason at the door, playing the devoted wife while quietly counting down the days. "The two years are finally ending," she thinks, planning to sell her bags and jewelry before she leaves—her kindergarten teaching degree is her ticket out. Meanwhile Jiang Na needles her about falling for Mason, and Noelle insists she hasn't. Mason is certain she's the one who can't let go. But his grandmother has other plans, and the tension is starting to show.

Episode 4

Mason's grandmother arrives with a demand: divorce Noelle now that the two-year term is almost up, then marry into the Xue family for the sake of Shengtang Group. Mason refuses flatly. "She is my wife," he says, insisting Noelle loves him and he won't abandon her—he even claims she's the one who's become indispensable to him. The grandmother warns he'll regret it. Later, Mason surprises Noelle with a pink diamond she'd only dreamed about, and the two share a playful, flirtatious moment that looks far more like a real marriage than a contract.

Episode 5

At Mason's office, a secretary is bribed for information about his tastes—ten thousand as a down payment—revealing he likes women with long black hair in white dresses who play the cello, exactly the "stand-in" look Noelle has been imitating. Mason comes down to meet her himself, then invites her to a wedding banquet tomorrow. Noelle agrees to go wherever he goes. It's a small, telling moment: she's still performing, but he's clearly treating her as his wife in public.

Episode 6

At the wedding, a woman approaches Mason, hinting she's the one he should be marrying—his grandmother has told her the divorce is nearly final. Mason shuts it down: he's here to learn how to throw a wedding for his own wife, and he won't divorce Noelle. Noelle overhears enough to confront the other woman, pointing out that if Mason really loved her, he'd let her go instead of clinging on. The grandmother, watching, makes a scene. Noelle is reminded again that to everyone else, she's just a stand-in.

Episode 7

The grandmother's scheming escalates, and Noelle takes a fall during the chaos—Mason rushes to her side, furious at his grandmother. He cuts her off coldly, saying he won't let anyone interfere in his marriage, not even family, and threatens to stop funding her household. The doctor says Noelle only needs rest. Alone with her, Mason tells her to stop enduring everything quietly—he'll handle whatever comes. Noelle thanks him, but a quiet thought lingers: they have no future together. The countdown to the contract's end is almost up.

Episode 8

Mason's past comes back into focus—memories of being abandoned, of a grandmother who only wanted him back to serve the family. He says Noelle is the one who gave him a real home, and he's sure she'll never leave him. Then he announces he's clearing his schedule to attend her class reunion as her husband, even ordering custom suits so he won't embarrass her. Noelle, meanwhile, has already slipped out of the house. The reunion is set—and Mason intends to show up as someone she can't hide.

Episode 9

At the reunion, Noelle's old classmates sneer at her designer bag, calling it a fake and implying she married someone old, ugly, or poor. When they press her about her husband, she stays silent, bound by the contract's rule against revealing their marriage. The mockery builds until Mason walks in and announces, "I am Noelle's husband, Mason Scott." The room goes quiet—Shengtang Group's president? The classmates who just insulted her are suddenly staring at the man she's been hiding.

Episode 10

After the reunion, Mason and Noelle argue. She's furious he showed up, afraid her father will learn she was a stand-in; he's hurt she treats him as something to be ashamed of. She points out the contract forbids revealing their marriage—he counters that he never hid her. Then he does something unexpected: he orders the old divorce agreement destroyed and a new one drawn up giving her half his assets, with him losing everything if he cheats. Noelle is stunned. Later, asked to fetch a document from his bedroom, she's clearly shaken—the two-year term is ending, and Mason is doing everything to keep her.

Will Noelle walk away when the contract runs out, or has Mason already changed the terms of the deal? Watch and find out.