I spent three years with Charles. Three years—long enough to grow attached to an animal, let alone a person.
But on the day his first love returned, everything changed.
I was deliberately lured into attending the welcome party he personally hosted for her.
When Susan casually remarked, "I don’t like it when others wear the same dress as me," Charles didn’t hesitate. He threw me out like a beggar.
After I left, whispers swirled in the room.
Some mocked me as a clown, suggesting I’d come to assert dominance but ended up leaving like a beggar, a pitiful joke.
Others speculated I was playing the victim, hoping Charles would chase after me.
But Charles stayed where he was, standing proudly at Susan’s side, his actions speaking louder than words.
***
Some couldn’t help but felt pity for Jessica as she left, her fragile figure was fading into the distance. Someone murmured softly, "Charles, the Jay Pritzker Pavilion is over ten miles from the Chicago and it’s hard to get a cab. Do you think Jessica will walk all the way back?"
This person didn’t have any real malice toward Jessica. In fact, they remembered how she always greeted them politely whenever she met Charles’s friends. Her gentle smile, paired with her dimples, made her seem innocent and sincere—something entirely different from Susan.
Charles had lit a cigarette at some point. He held it between his lips, his gaze cold and detached as he glanced at the speaker.
"If you feel pity her so much, why don’t you send her off?"
His icy stare was enough to make the person shiver. They quickly shook their head and stammered.
"No, no, I was just joking."
But the heavens seemed unkind, and soon, a light drizzle began to fall.
The outdoor banquet quickly activated its rain cover, allowing the glamorous guests to remain as elegant as ever, chatting and laughing as if nothing had changed.
The rain, however, grew heavier. The wind howled through the night, its eerie sound contrasting sharply with the lively chatter under the canopy.
Charles’s cigarette burned down one after another, the smoke curling around him like a mist. His face was obscured, his expression unreadable. The top three buttons of his shirt were undone, adding a sense of casual disarray to his usual composed demeanor.
A sudden clap of thunder shook the air.
He abruptly stood up, as if intending to leave. But just as he lifted his foot to take a step, a soft figure threw itself into his arms.
Susan’s tearful eyes shimmered as she looked up at him, her voice trembling, "Charles, please don’t go. I’m scared of the thunder."
His Adam’s apple bobbed as if hesitating, but in the end, he gently patted her back to comfort her.
"I won’t leave."
In the flickering light of the storm, Lily stood nearby, her face twisted with malice, making her look especially sinister. She sneered, her voice low but venomous, "Such a fierce thunderstorm… I really hope the heavens strike that wretched Jessica dead."
Hatred burned brightly in her eyes, as if it could consume everything in its path.
The ten-mile road stretched endlessly before me. Rain drenched my dress, making it cling to my skin, heavy and freezing.
The high heels on my feet felt like instruments of torture, each step cutting into the soles of my feet and scraping my heels raw.
I finally took them off and carried them in my hand, walking barefoot on the cold, wet pavement. Somehow, it was a relief.
Raindrops kept battering my face, blurring my vision, while the booming thunder roared in my ears.
As if things couldn’t get worse, I accidentally stepped on shattered glass.
The sharp pain shot through my foot, and the metallic tang of blood mixed with the smell of rain. It was too much to bear. My knees buckled and I fell to the ground, crying uncontrollably in the storm.
A pair of headlights approached in the distance, growing brighter as they neared.
Instinctively, I closed my eyes. In that moment, I dared to hope—
"Charles, is it you…?"
The car drove right past me.
That faint hope shattered entirely, and I laughed bitterly through my tears. How ridiculous. He was probably celebrating with his precious Susan right now.
Just as I was about to pick myself up, a black umbrella suddenly appeared over my head.
For a moment, I dared to hope again. My voice trembled as I murmured, "Charles, you…?"
When I looked up, it wasn’t his familiar face. Instead, I saw a stranger—handsome, with striking features and sparkling peach blossom eyes.
"Do you need help?" he asked gently, rubbing the back of his neck. "Don’t worry, I’m not a bad guy. I saw you fall on the road and wanted to see if you were okay."
The deserted road was drenched in rain, and the only sounds were the relentless pounding of water against the ground and the occasional crack of thunder.
At first, I was on guard, uneasy about being alone with a stranger.
But as I looked at him standing there, holding a black umbrella tilted toward me, I noticed how one of his shoulders was already soaked because he had shifted the umbrella to cover me.
Gradually, my defenses lowered.
"I… stepped on some broken glass, and I can’t get a ride. The city is still six or seven miles away," I admitted, my voice breaking as my nose stung with suppressed tears.
He extended a clean, white hand toward me and said warmly, "Let me take you home."
