The voice on the other end of the line asked,
“I’m not two-timing her. I just want to stay with Emily Ross for a little while longer—teach her to be independent, give her enough money to live comfortably, send her far away, and never see her again.”
“As for Sophia Grant, our engagement is already set in stone. I’ll spend the rest of my life making it up to her.”
My heart went completely cold.
I tilted my head back, refusing to shed a single tear for someone so unworthy.
Ethan Parker, if you know I can’t stand even a grain of sand in my eye, why insist on testing my patience?
I unlocked my phone and sent a message to my father:
[Cancel my engagement with Ethan Parker.]
I sat there until morning, when my father’s anxious voice came through the phone.
“Sweetheart, weren’t you and Ethan on vacation? I thought you two were about to settle down—why do you suddenly want to call it off?”
I was silent for a moment.
The truth was, I had figured it out overnight.
So what if ten-plus years of one-sided affection had come to nothing? A forced fruit is never sweet—and I won’t take a bite.
Casually, I said,
“Because I don’t like the voice he uses on his GPS. We’re not compatible.”
My father adored me. Upon hearing this, he only chuckled softly and said,
“Perfect timing—I’ve been thinking about expanding overseas anyway. Since you’re not marrying him, I’ll have the estate in Switzerland prepared for you tomorrow.”
I didn’t mention Emily’s name. She’d struggled to make it out of a poor rural area; maybe she wasn’t all bad at heart.
The next second, my phone buzzed—a friend request had arrived.
It was from Emily.
Once I accepted, she didn’t say much—just sent a few photos.
The first was of her and Ethan squeezed into her tiny rental apartment, eating together.
The table was full of bland dishes.
But I remembered—Ethan had always loved spicy food.
[He made every dish himself. I can’t eat spicy food, so he compromised, even if it meant his own meals were tasteless. But as long as he saw me smile, he was happy.]
Her message followed right after.
My breath caught.
I didn’t eat spicy food either, but every time my eyes watered from the heat, Ethan would simply rest his chin in his hand and tease me:
“If you can’t even handle this little bit of spice, how will you be the Parker family’s daughter-in-law?”
Back then, I thought it was a sweet kind of trouble. Now I realized—he had been teaching me to adapt to a life where I would never be accommodated.
Hands trembling, I opened the second photo.
It showed a pair of matching couple’s watches. When one moved, the other would turn in sync, no matter the distance.
[This was the gift you always wanted for your eighteenth birthday. But because I said I liked it, he gave it to me instead.]
Suddenly I remembered—when I had once asked Ethan for that exact watch, he’d playfully tapped my nose and said,
“Eager to claim me already? I thought you’d break off the engagement as soon as you turned eighteen.”
I had been certain he would buy it for me, so I’d pretended to sulk and never brought it up again.
But on my eighteenth birthday, he’d given me a necklace made from gemstones collected from around the world.
“That watch is everywhere. This necklace is much more meaningful.”
At the time, I was too touched by the thought of him traveling the globe for me to think twice.
Now I understood—he had gone out of his way to redirect my attention from the watch, just to keep me from finding out and blaming Emily.
Photo after photo scrolled past, and my heart grew colder and colder.
[Miss Grant, what’s the point of holding on to someone who doesn’t love you?]
When I didn’t reply, Emily finally lost patience and sent a direct challenge.
I gave a short, cold laugh and replied calmly:
