Chapter 3

When Victor found out about my tears, his comfort was impossibly tender.

"Some people stand in the spotlight, and some work behind the curtain. The ones backstage aren't worth any less. Your value might even exceed mine as CEO."

Drowning in my own pain, I never noticed the smug curve tugging at the corner of his mouth.

From that day on, desperate to prove my worth, I threw myself even deeper into the housework, into managing every detail of his life, even fretting over his parents' affairs, big and small.

I was so desperate to prove that I wasn't worthless, that I still deserved to stand beside him.

The first year Victor received his dividends, he bought his parents back home a spacious apartment and a car. Filial piety above all else, that was his constant refrain.

The place he and I lived in was still rented.

He said the city was vast, that prime real estate in the center was too expensive. We'd save up and buy a proper flat later.

At the start of the second year, under the banner of "team building," he brought in a wave of new hires and replaced every colleague I'd once known.

Among that batch of newcomers was Emily.

As for where the dividends went after that, I never found out.

Watching the video of Emily being lavished and pampered, a sudden clarity struck me like lightning: money never disappeared; it simply flew toward the ones he loved.

He loved his parents. He loved the new secretary. But the only person he didn't love was...

I remembered the day he'd been hiring. He kept flipping through Emily's résumé, his gaze soft.

"She's my direct junior from university. Look after her a bit; the girl's fresh out of school. I'd hate for her to get bullied somewhere else."

From that moment on, whenever he mentioned Emily, a smile would rise unbidden to his face.

Only now did I finally understand. When I'd been the one fresh out of school, I'd followed him through every conceivable hardship.

Yet in the end, he'd used the empire we built together to shelter another girl from the storm.

"To love someone is to be unable to bear her suffering. To think it pitiable that she hasn't eaten enough, pitiable that she's crammed onto the subway, pitiable even that she can't twist open a bottle cap, helpless and small."

Back then, I didn't understand. The highest expression of love is heartache for the other person.

By the time Victor called, he was already slurring with drink.

I'd booked the next available international flight, gathered my documents, and slipped out of the apartment in a taxi without a sound, leaving behind the place I'd called home for so long.

Victor and I had moved from one rental to the next. The apartments grew larger, more luxurious, yet none of them ever gave me a sense of belonging.

I left my things for the housekeeper to sort through.

Once upon a time, at my parents' home, Van Cleef & Arpels and haute couture had been second nature to me. Now, all that remained in my suitcase were a few cheap cotton T-shirts.

Meanwhile, Victor had justified buying bespoke suits and luxury shoes as "professional necessities."

He said, "Stop throwing a fit. You want to get married, don't you? I bought that ring to propose to you."

I stood in the departure lounge with my backpack, mechanically chewing a cream-filled roll. Body and soul, I was spent. Each bite scraped down my throat like sandpaper.

Reading his messages, I felt it for the first time: Victor's love was a joke.

And I, the woman who'd loved him, was the punchline.

The years I'd spent loving him no longer felt like a glorious love story I could proudly recount. They were my dark history.

On the other side of the screen, Victor was still complaining.

[Stop being dramatic. Ruirui found out the whole thing blew up at the office and she's been crying nonstop. The girl has a reputation to maintain, you know.

[The ring was always meant for you. I was going to propose. Ruirui's young, she'd never seen anything that beautiful before, so she tried it on. One little thing. Is that really worth getting upset over?

[If you still want to marry me, come back and apologize to Ruirui in front of the entire company.]

On the other end, Victor clearly had no idea I'd already packed my bags and left. His tone was as imperious as ever.

[What's your problem? You're not a kid anymore. Are you really going to throw a fit just because someone tried on your ring?]

Before he could even send his last message, I'd already blocked him.

After sending him a breakup text, I blocked his number and even his texts too.