The tip of the ears of that usually arrogant man suddenly turned red. Lara naturally slipped her arm through his and smiled sweetly.
The crowd immediately began to cheer.
“Come on, the mood is perfect now! Why don’t you two kiss?”
Hudson froze for a moment, and Lara quickly tried to smooth things over.
“Let’s not take things too far. Hudson here is a little shy–”
Before she could finish speaking, Hudson suddenly cupped her face and lowered his head, giving her a deep, affectionate kiss. It was brief—just a touch before they parted.
Hudson hadn’t even closed his eyes. He stared at Lara the entire time, trying to carve that moment into his memories. He looked so happy and content, as if that one kiss alone was enough for him.
The next second, worried that Lara might misunderstand, his ears flushed red. He forced himself to sound calm.
“I… I lost my balance.” Before Lara could say anything, he hurriedly added, “It’s late. We should head home. If I’m any later, my dad will start talking about family rules again.”
In this world, there was nothing rarer than the small bit of sincerity from a former playboy. Love was a touch and yet not a touch.
He and I were only a dozen meters apart. The cold wind whipped against my body, grinding the heart that had shattered into pieces into even finer dust. Hudson was walking with his head down when he suddenly bumped straight into me. The moment he looked up and saw my face, his eyes widened.
“Sorry, I–”
I cut him off. “It’s fine.”
Then, I turned and walked away, pulling out my phone to open a ride-hailing app.
Behind me, I heard confused voices from the crowd.
“Hey, she looks familiar. Hudson, isn’t that the gold digger who begged you for money during your engagement party?”
“Did she just try to steal something from you? You should check your wallet!”
Hudson said nothing to refute their slander.
By the time I got home, I pulled out my phone and paid for the ride. Just then, a notification popped up.
“Your booking for the international flight from Ocean City to Hosten has been confirmed. The departure time will be 3:00 p.m. tomorrow.”
I took a screenshot and sent it to the HR representative from the overseas company who had been coordinating with me.
Before I could say anything, the HR representative replied excitedly, “Sophie, I’ve been looking forward to this! We’ll be ready to welcome you tomorrow!”
My expression softened. If I couldn’t have love, then I could at least pursue my career.
After that, I picked up the suitcase I had packed and headed for the door. I didn’t want to stay in this house for even a second longer. However, just as I opened the door, I ran straight into Hudson.
He frowned and slammed the door shut with a loud bang. In a low voice, he asked, “Sophie, where are you going?”
Lara, who was following behind him, spoke in a falsely concerned tone. “Sophie, please don’t misunderstand. Hudson and I are just good friends. He only did it so as not to embarrass me tonight. Please don’t fight because of me… and don’t run away.”
I couldn’t be bothered to listen any longer. Calmly, I said, “Hudson, let’s break up.”
Hudson had been about to scold me for being jealous, but my words froze him for a second. Then, his eyes widened in shock.
“Break up? Just because Lara and I put on a little show together, you want to break up with me? Sophie, do you want a wedding or not?” he said, all choked up.
In his mind, he probably still believed I was madly in love with him, and that was why he was using the wedding to threaten me. In the past, I would have lowered myself for him because of that and begged him to stay with me forever. Now, I simply sneered.
“Hudson, you and I have nothing to do with each other anymore. What wedding would we be having?”
“Nothing to do with each other?” A layer of frost spread across Hudson’s face, and he said in a low voice, “That’s not what you said a month ago when you accepted my proposal. You said your dream was to marry me. And the ring you’re wearing–”
As he spoke, he frowned and began rummaging through drawers and cabinets, clearly trying to find the ring so he could throw it in my face.
