At the opening ceremony, he confessed his feelings to me in front of the entire school.
After I rejected him, he insisted on sending me flowers and meals for two hundred days.
I worked part-time to earn money for living expenses, so he rented out the entire restaurant so that I could have time to rest.
He hired a hundred passersby to support me when I was handing out flyers.
To give me a sense of security, he swore he wouldn’t speak to any other female students besides me.
The proposal banquet on graduation day was still posted on the school forum, envied by countless junior and senior students.
But time has passed and the once beautiful memories have faded into fleeting bubbles.
Looking back, there were already signs of his relationship with Stella.
On the wedding day, Stella took a bite of king crab and clutched her stomach, saying she was allergic.
Theo left me behind and rushed to the hospital with Stella without looking back.
***
I couldn’t stay in this house for another second.
Holding my daughter, Luna, I ran into the rain with an umbrella. Not a single person came out to stop me or show any concern.
I walked along the highway for hours before a car suddenly pulled up beside me.
The window rolled down, revealing my boss’s face, Charles Garnier, so flawlessly handsome it was almost infuriating.
He raised an eyebrow slightly.
“What’s the matter? Got kicked out so quickly?”
“I told you that man wasn’t reliable. There’s no such thing as pure friendship between a man and a woman, but you wouldn’t listen. What do you think now?”
“You lost the bet. You’ll have to work for me for free for two months.”
I took a deep breath.
“I accept the consequences of the bet. Deduct the two months’ wages from my year-end bonus. I don’t want it.”
“If you came here for money, you’ve miscalculated. I don’t have a single penny on me.”
Perhaps these men, Charles, were better at judging other men.
If I had listened to him earlier, maybe I wouldn’t have ended up like this.
Unfortunately, there was no turning back now. It was too late.
“Do you really think I’m such a money-grabbing person? Do you really see me as a capitalist?”
“Didn’t you make me work overtime plenty of times before?”
Charles was speechless, swallowing the rest of his words.
“That’s not what I meant. Come on, get in the car. I just moved nearby.”
“If you don’t have a place to stay, my place is always open to you. You’ll just have to cook for yourself and I’ll have one more mouth to feed. It shouldn’t be too much trouble, right?”
I furrowed my brows and studied him.
I clearly remembered his place was near the company. Why did he move so far away?
I got into the car swiftly and gave him the hotel’s location.
“You still haven’t given up? What’s so special about that man that makes him better than me?”
“Adele, after all these years, can’t you give me another chance? Whatever Theo can give you, I can give you too. Whatever he can’t give you, I can give you as well!”
His eyes grew increasingly intense, but I really wasn’t in the mood to talk about this.
“Let’s just leave it to fate.”
As the Maybach started moving, I suddenly felt a warm current beneath me. I pressed my hand against his shoulder.
“Wait a sec!”
“I think… I need to buy something.”
Charles skillfully found a nearby convenience store, but after mentioning the hygiene products, the owner said all brands had been sold out.
I showed the owner the photo of Theo on the wallpaper just an hour ago and he nodded immediately.
“That’s him. I remember him. In all the years I’ve been running this store, I’ve never seen a man spend so much on this. It must be for his wife and he seemed pretty desperate!”
“These days, it’s hard to find a man who cares so much about his wife.”
So, Theo wasn’t too busy to come home. He just had come home because of Stella. But he only took a carload of sanitary pads.
The sound of the door closing woke his sleeping daughter, who started crying loudly in the car.
