Chapter 2

It was late, and we were lying next to each other in bed, but we didn't say a thing.

We only had one bed, so we had to share.

Back then, I'd mess with him by sliding my icy feet over to him, and he'd gasp before warming them up for me.

Now, it felt like there was a thick wall between us. We were just a few inches apart, but it felt like we were worlds apart, like we were on opposite sides of the universe.

Maybe to break the awkwardness, Alex spoke up. "Emily, I'll leave our bank card with you. Keep it safe."

Our bank card held five years of savings, one hundred thousand dollars in total.

We'd planned to use that money to buy a place in his hometown over the holidays, so we could finally settle down and stop drifting.

For some reason, my nose started to sting and my eyes welled up with tears.

I stayed silent.

Alex went on, "I think there's over one hundred thousand dollars in there. I'll take fifty thousand dollars tomorrow, and you can keep the rest."

"Is your family really in that much trouble? Do you really have to take that much?" I sniffled.

"Yeah, that's why I don't want to drag you down," Alex said, looking me straight in the eye, his voice full of sincerity.

Right then, I realized he was breaking up with me.

Tears welled up, but I quickly wiped them away.

I forced myself to smile. "You just want to break up, right? I doubt things are really that bad for your family."

He stopped and pulled me into his arms. "The media's just messing with you. Don't believe everything you see online. I swear, I'd never lie to you."

Can that really be true?

Alex had always been honest with me.

He really did love me.

Whenever he wasn't working or delivering food, he'd always stick around with me. Sometimes, when I was selling lemonade late into the night, he'd swing by with a little cake for me.

"Emily, want some cake? If you eat it, you're mine," he'd say with that big goofy smile of his.

I loved that goofy smile.

While closing up my stand, I shook my head. "Nope, I'm not eating it. I'm not yours."

I burst out laughing right after I said it.

We used to be so in love.

"Let's get some sleep," I said, wiping away my tears, not wanting to say anything more.

When a woman is at her weakest, she'd rather avoid the truth that could break her heart.

"Be good, goodnight," Alex murmured, his hand gently ruffling my hair, his touch tender and affectionate.

I lay there, half-asleep, unable to drift off. After a while, I felt Alex turn away from me.

In the darkness, his phone screen lit up.

Alex unlocked his phone.

My heart tightened, and I pretended to be asleep.

Alex gently nudged me, checking if I was really asleep.

I didn't move a muscle.

Then he turned away and opened up Whatsapp.

I carefully peeked over and saw his screen flooded with chat messages.

He'd been talking nonstop with someone he had in his contacts as "Golden Cat."

During those seven days after he reunited with his family, they must have exchanged thousands of messages.

The last message he sent was: [I'm worth over a hundred million dollars now. Will you come back to me?]

I felt like I'd been struck by lightning. My whole body couldn't stop shaking.

The truth was like a blade, tearing my heart apart.

My boyfriend was lying to me. He really had become a millionaire. He could have made me his CEO's wife, just like he promised.

But instead, he was asking another woman to be his CEO's wife.