Chapter 3

"Stella, you finally came to me," Leon said, his voice trembling with anticipation. "You're giving me a second chance, right?"

The second he saw Stella, Leon started crying like a baby. "Every time I tried to reach out before, you'd hide from me or yell at me. I've been waiting for you for so long."

He confessed his love to Stella Grace at his own daughter's party. Nice.

I wasn't even mad or surprised.

What Leon didn't know was that I was the one who called his ex-girlfriend and asked her to come.

Even though I knew what was coming, seeing Leon bawling his eyes out, looking at her like she was the only person in the world... it still stung.

I met Leon through a friend.

I didn't care about his history with Stella.

Stella went abroad for school.

Leon felt like Stella didn't consider him in her future plans, so they broke up.

Things with Leon were fine. We never argued before. Our life before was calm, even a little boring.

Everything was on track until the day I decided to drop by our new house, which was being renovated, and ran into Stella, who was apparently back in the country.

I'd seen her face on Leon's phone before.

We both knew exactly who the other was.

"What are you doing here?" I asked in a flat voice.

"You must be Leon's fiancée," she replied calmly.

She smiled politely, a little awkward. "Don't worry. My family's renovation company is handling your project. I promise, top quality."

The way she talked about Leon seemed genuine, distant.

But the way she hesitated, the things she almost said, it gave me a bad feeling.

"Here's my card. If you ever have any problems, feel free to reach out. I'm happy to help," Stella said.

I shoved the card in my bag without a second thought and stormed off to find Leon.

"Leon, I seriously underestimated you. We're about to get married, and you're secretly talking to your ex again?" I snapped. "All that crap about not wanting me to stress over the renovation and taking care of everything yourself? It was just so you could hang out with your ex."

Same old story. The hurt, innocent face. The sincere, loving eyes fixed on me. "You've got it all wrong, Irene.

Half of our friends used her family's company. I picked them because renovation is a nightmare, and her company is reliable and cheap. It had nothing to do with personal stuff."

He even sniffled a little, playing the part of the patiently explaining husband.

Watching a grown man explain himself so patiently, almost pleading, made me doubt him, but also want to believe.

"An ex-girlfriend? Please. She's nothing compared to my amazing wife. Saving money is what matters. She's ancient history," Leon said, his voice soft and sincere.

"Saving actual cash means more for you to spend. We're getting married. Don't let some irrelevant person mess with us, okay?" he asked.

He swore up and down, even threw in a few insults about Stella for good measure.

His disgust seemed so real. It made me doubt myself.

I had no idea that the card Stella gave me that day would come in so handy.

"Leon, after all these years, I had no idea you still felt this way," Stella said, her voice soft and laced with emotion. "Naming your daughter after me? Was it to remind yourself of what we had? That amazing, tragic love?

"When you asked me to decorate your new house exactly the way I'd always dreamed, to make me watch the man I loved move into my perfect home with someone else? It felt like you were ripping my heart out.

"But it was all just talk, wasn't it? Even though you married someone else, you still wanted me in every part of your life. Right?"

Stella walked towards him slowly, her eyes glistening. Every word she spoke seemed to unlock a flood of feelings Leon had tried so hard to bury.

Leon nodded eagerly. He couldn't even wait for her to reach him. He jumped off the stage and ran to Stella.

All our family and friends just stared, stunned.

A few seconds of shocked silence, then chaos.

"No way! I thought it was a coincidence. Leon really named his kid after his ex? That's seriously messed up!" One of them whispered.

Another one added, "She's just a placeholder. Using the new wife to get over the old one? That's disgusting."

Leon didn't hear any of it. He didn't even glance at our daughter or me.

All he saw was Stella, the one who got away.

He grabbed her hand, held it tight. "When you left for school without even saying goodbye, it broke me. It's haunted me my whole life.

"The truth is, I've always been here, waiting for you to come back."

They hugged, lost in their own world, completely forgetting this was supposed to be about my daughter.

I just laughed.