"Leah, it really looks like Cedric is furious this time."
"Are you saying the wedding is off?"
Leah arched a brow, her voice carrying a certain confidence.
"He only dares to raise his voice at me because he's angry right now. Once he cools off, he'll regret it."
"Call off the engagement? That will never happen."
"A man who loves me that recklessly doesn't just let go on a whim."
Then she turned and warned Barnaby.
"Don't go running your mouth with jokes like that again. Do you hear me?"
Seeing that Leah was a little angry, Barnaby could only nod obediently and agree.
Outside the door, I hadn't gone far at all, and I heard every word between them clearly.
It was ironic, really. Barnaby had once been in a car crash, trapped inside, unable to get out.
I was the one who risked my life to pull him free.
But I never imagined his heart was no different from an animal's. He could use his rescuer's mother for a cruel prank, could sleep with his rescuer's fiancée. How rotten did a person have to be to do something like that?
If I hadn't saved him back then, none of this would have happened. But life doesn't run on "if." It only runs on what people choose to do.
So after I left the bar, I went straight to pull the security footage.
I never expected the footage from that day to be gone. Leah had already destroyed it.
No wonder Barnaby had been so brazen.
I walked through the streets. By now it was deep into the night.
A bitter, sour ache lingered in my chest and wouldn't leave.
And it was right then that I got a call from Leah's mother.
"I hear you were the one who brought up calling off the engagement with Leah tonight, is that right?"
The Hardings had always looked down on me. Even after I worked tirelessly to help Leah push the Hardings from a second-rate outfit into one of the top technology firms in Seattle.
They still thought I wasn't good enough. In their eyes, Leah could marry someone far higher up.
My long silence clearly displeased Mrs. Harding.
"Have you lost your tongue?"
"Mrs. Harding, show some respect."
"I'm calling off the engagement with her. Isn't that exactly what you wanted?"
"Hmph! Since you're the one who brought it up, there's no taking it back."
"Don't go bothering her after this. She deserves a wealthier man."
There was nothing pleasant about a conversation like that, and in the end we both chose to end the call quickly.
By the time I got home, it was the middle of the night.
I never expected to find Leah in my house.
The moment she saw me, she stood up.
"Where did you go? Why are you back so late?"
"I've already reprimanded Barnaby for you. It was an honest mistake on his part."
"To make up for my part in it, and considering everything you've done for the company,"
"I've decided to announce something the moment it's morning. I'm promoting you to Vice President."
I kept my eyes on her, neither warm nor angry, while she had no idea I'd already settled the broken engagement with her mother.
"Leah, just go."
"I need some peace."
My sudden coldness left her stunned for a moment.
I have a thing about cleanliness, and I couldn't accept her cheating on me. Even less could I accept that she'd helped Barnaby drive my mother, on and off, to her death.
"I didn't come only to see you. I came to light a candle for your mother."
Her eyes reddened as she walked to my mother's memorial, took the incense from the stand, lit three sticks, and knelt to bow before her.
"I'm sorry. Because of our careless mistake, you died."
"But I truly didn't mean it."
Her voice broke into sobs, and I found I had no way to harden my face and drive her out.
Before she left, she told me, firmly.
That night she'd drunk too much out of guilt, and that was why she'd mistaken Barnaby for me.
