3: 3
That was the height of summer, seven years ago, and eighteen-year-old Adrian James was nothing like the arrogant man he'd become.
I was nineteen then, sheltering from the rain under the library eaves, when he lifted an umbrella over me, face red, and asked if we were headed the same way.
Back then he was just a poor boy with top grades, and the gap between us was enormous.
He only worked up the courage to say that one line that day, and after that he quietly gave me gifts and had breakfast ready for me.
But he never once said the word "pursue."
I watched him hold that umbrella over me in the pouring rain, willing to soak himself through as long as he kept the grad-school study materials in my arms dry.
I watched him take the money he'd saved for two weeks handing out flyers and spend it on a cheap silver necklace.
And I watched him take on more than a dozen thugs alone because they'd harassed me, keeping silent even after they broke a few of his ribs.
I once thought that was love in its purest form, and I was willing to endure every hardship at his side.
I didn't know that in three years abroad, in that world of fame and money, he'd already ground his sincerity down into a chip to be weighed for profit and loss.
The morning sun cut through the curtains, and the buzz of my phone pulled me back to reality.
I saw an unknown number and answered anyway. It was Adrian again.
"Bernice, can't you fix this habit of blocking me the second you're mad? You're home, right? I'm coming over."
"Adrian, are you done yet? I told you we're finished. I've already—"
Before I could finish, he cut me off.
"If you really didn't care, why'd you transfer two thousand dollars to Geraldine last night? You only did that to spite me, didn't you? Stop messing around. I really do have something important to talk to you about."
And then he hung up.
I couldn't help but hold my head in my hands, sinking down onto the bed, staring at the little stuffed toy in the corner by my pillow.
It was ugly, but it was the first gift Adrian gave me back when he was twenty.
He'd sewn it himself, stitch by stitch, pricking all ten of his fingers in the process.
All because I'd pointed at a stuffed toy the heroine received in some TV drama and said it was cute.
But over those three years abroad, my messages gradually sank without a trace. He either didn't read them or didn't reply.
He'd sworn to me so firmly before he left the country.
"Bernie, no matter how far apart we are, my body and my heart belong to you and only you."
Yet when I was forced into the marriage, the ninety-nine calls I made to him in desperation went unanswered, every one of them.
The dozens of texts I sent went unread, every one of them.
The one thing I could be grateful for was that my husband now cherished me, loved me, and respected me.
The doorbell rang soon after. I assumed it was Adrian and didn't respond.
"Ma'am, this is an invitation the master has arranged specially for you."
It was the Farley family butler's voice. I got up and opened the door.
These days, with my husband away on business abroad, I'd moved back to my old home to make it easier to visit my parents.
I took the gown box the butler handed me, along with a custom gold-embossed invitation.
At the bottom was my husband Saul Farley's signature, with a handwritten card tucked beside it.
【My wife, I'll be a little late to the gala. Go on ahead, and I'll get there as fast as I can to be with you.】
It seemed that after Saul landed that deal, those old foxes weren't willing to let him come back so soon.
After the butler left, I was about to close the door when it wouldn't budge.
I looked up and found Adrian standing there.
"Bernice, tomorrow is the top-tier gala the hundred-billion-dollar conglomerate is hosting. Just swallow your pride, and you're still my date. A little something spilling out of the cracks from those big shots would be enough to keep us set for generations."
I refused him coldly, and he looked at me like I was the one being unreasonable.
"You're still making a scene at a time like this? I only got two tickets into high society. Fine, if you won't go, I'll take Geraldine. You'll never get another chance to break into high society in your life!"
Then he slammed the door and stormed off.
But contrary to what he wanted, I was destined to stand at the very top of high society for the rest of my life.
