He Ignored My Tears, Then Drowned in Regret

Jasper, confused, stared at me with a cold expression. “Is it just because my parents gave you a gift?”

His childhood sweetheart rushed forward, eyes wide with urgency. She shoved the thick envelope into my hands.

“Sister, how can you be so materialistic? Has all the love we’ve shared over the years meant so little to you that you’d be swayed by a bit of money?”

I glanced at the twenty-cent coin inside the envelope, mirroring the love I’d given Jasper, cheap and laughable.

“Yes, exactly. Because her red envelope had twenty thousand.”

——

Jasper Camden’s eyes narrowed in disbelief. A sneer twisted his lips as if my words were the most ridiculous thing he’d ever heard.

Impatiently, he raised his gaze and muttered, “Hallie, do you think this kind of drama matters? My parents offered you ten million once, and you turned it down. Now you’re breaking up with me over twenty thousand? Do you expect me to believe that?”

I remembered all too well. Back then, when Jasper’s parents tried to bribe me with ten million to leave him, my father had been seriously ill, and we were drowning in debt.

But I would have rather worked three jobs a day until my body collapsed than take their money and leave Jasper.

Not only did Jasper not believe it, but no one around him could ever imagine I would truly leave.

They all knew how much I had loved him for ten whole years.

No matter how poorly he treated me, I was quietly behind him, just like when they drunkenly joked, calling me the tail that Jasper could never shake off.

Before I could respond, Nora Winslow was already shedding tears, clinging to his arm.

She rushed forward, stuffing the thick red envelope into my hands.

“I’m sorry, it’s all my fault that you two are fighting. Sister Hallie, please, take the envelope and makeup with him.”

Jasper snatched the envelope back with a cold, stern face, his gaze softening instantly as he turned to Nora.

“This has nothing to do with you. What’s yours is yours.”

Nora suddenly seemed to remember something.

“Oh right, I’m so sorry, Sister Hallie. Each bill has little hearts drawn by Brother Jasper, and my name is written on them. I can’t give them to someone else.”

‘What’s hers is hers. Jasper had always been hers, too.’

If Nora hadn’t suddenly disappeared abroad ten years ago, Jasper would never have gotten drunk in a bar and ended up with me.

Now that she had returned, everything was naturally falling back into place, as it should.

I didn’t say a word, simply turning to leave, but a large hand yanked me into the car before I could take another step. My head slammed against the door, the sharp pain bringing tears to my eyes.

“It’s so late. Where do you think you’re going? Haven’t you caused enough of a scene? Come home with me.”

Jasper gently buckled Nora’s seatbelt, not sparing me a glance in the back seat.

Throughout the ride, Nora’s cheerful voice filled the car, bubbling with excitement as she told him everything she had eaten and seen; even a pebble on the road seemed important enough to share.

At a red light, Jasper handed her a water bottle, his hand brushing through her hair affectionately.

“Slow down, I’m listening.”

I used to be like that, too, eager to share every little thing with him.

But every time I even started, he’d frown and cut me off, claiming I gave him a headache.

He made a rule for me. If he didn’t speak first, I had to remain silent.

Otherwise, I didn’t deserve to be near him.

I learned that only when love was gone did everything I said seem like noise.

Back at the villa, Jasper took the luggage from the trunk and, with Nora’s hand in his, walked straight into the master bedroom.

He turned to me, about to explain, but his tone was filled with command.

“Nora’s just come back and will be staying here. She’s been in poor health since childhood, and a fortune-teller said she needs the best room. Tomorrow, move your things to the guest room.”