Chapter 1
The crystal chandelier at the Rivers residence had been on all night.
The gold-trimmed light fixtures cast a glow on Evelyn Lewis's smiling face in the wedding photo, but it couldn't chase away the bone-chilling cold in the matrimonial home.
Evelyn's custom-made wedding dress still carried the lingering warmth from the wedding.
On her ring finger was the Rivers family's heirloom, a pigeon blood ruby ring, the one Charles Rivers had kissed and promised, "You're my one and only, forever and always," in front of three hundred guests.
Evelyn had been waiting alone in the matrimonial home since the end of the wedding until dawn for twelve hours, but the groom never returned.
When the clock struck six in the morning, it crushed the last shred of hope she had.
Her phone screen flashed with a blinding trending topic with hashtags: [Charles Rivers, CEO of Rivers Group, returns with his first love, Vivian Summers].
In the photo, Charles was holding a black umbrella, his fingers clasped tightly around Vivian's wrist, shielding her in his arms.
Vivian had a bandage wrapped around her forehead, nestling against his shoulder with teary eyes.
Charles's expression looked so tender. Evelyn had loved him for eight years, but that tenderness never once belonged to her.
The phone slipped from Evelyn's palm.
The cracks on the screen looked like the fractures in her heart, and the icy touch crawled up her spine, chilling her to the bone.
Just then, her stepmother's voice message arrived. Her voice was sharp and mocking, every word cutting deep. "Evelyn, did you really think the Rivers family would ever want an orphan like you?
"Vivian is the one Mrs. Rivers handpicked as her granddaughter-in-law. You're only her substitute. The wedding was nothing but a show for outsiders. Now that the show is over, it's time for you to leave."
Substitute. That casual word shattered the last string holding Evelyn's eight years of love together.
Evelyn raised her hand and slowly took off the ring.
The moment the metal left her finger, to her surprise, she actually felt relieved.
But her fingers were shaking so badly that she couldn't hold onto the ring. It clattered onto the dressing table and rolled to a stop beside the wedding photo, making the words "one and only" in the picture seem painfully ironic.
Evelyn didn't cry or break down.
She simply walked over to the suitcase she'd packed before the wedding. Back then, she'd been foolish enough to think that if her married life turned out happy, she'd stash the suitcase away. If not, she'd be ready to leave at any time.
She never thought this day would arrive so quickly.
So quickly that she hadn't even felt a moment's warmth in her marriage. So quickly that eight years of her youth became nothing but a cruel joke.
She pushed open the gilded gates of the Rivers residence. The morning wind whipped fallen leaves against her face with a sharp sting.
She looked up at the extravagant yet icy mansion, her voice barely louder than the breeze, but each word bled with pain. "Charles, eight years of love meant nothing compared to your first love.
"From now on, we're strangers, even in life and death."
With those words, she turned and walked into the morning light without a hint of hesitation or regret, never looking back.
The pigeon blood ruby ring sat in the lifeless matrimonial home, bathed in the morning light streaming through the window, stripped of all warmth.
The Evelyn whose world once revolved entirely around Charles disappeared from his life without a trace the day after their wedding.
*****
After moving out of the Rivers residence, Evelyn went back to her old attic in Southside Lane to pack up her things, ready to finally leave the past behind. While sorting through her stuff, she stumbled upon a dusty wooden box.
It was the box she used for her childhood trinkets, buried deep in the back of her closet. She almost forgot it even existed.
She brushed the dust away and opened the lid.
Inside, there weren't any fancy accessories—just some yellowed letters, faded bookmarks, and a kraft envelope she'd never seen before.
The envelope had Charles's handwriting on it—sharp and bold, but with a touch of careful gentleness. It read: [Evelyn's Moments].
Her heart gave a sudden jolt.
She pinched the envelope, and she found herself almost afraid to see what was inside.
After a long moment of uncertainty, she finally drew out the contents. It was a stack of developed photos. Its edges softened from countless touches, and it proved that someone had lingered over them again and again.
The first photo was of Evelyn at sixteen, standing under the white camellia tree at school, dressed in a faded school uniform. She was laughing, head tilted back to catch drifting petals, sunlight brushing her hair with a soft golden glow.
Evelyn remembered that day. It was the first time she'd worked up the nerve to greet Charles, but she got so shy that she bolted right after. Little did she know that Charles was nearby, secretly capturing the moment on camera.
The second photo showed her waiting at a bus stop on a rainy night, holding tight to a thermos of soup she'd made for Charles.
Her umbrella was askew, rain soaking one shoulder, but she hugged the thermos close, her face lit up with anticipation.
It was one of Charles's late nights at work. She'd rushed across three blocks to bring him the soup, but she just dropped it off at the front desk, too nervous to face Charles in person.
What she didn't know was that he had seen it from the tall windows above and quietly asked his driver to capture the moment.
There was also a photo of her, sitting on the steps, rubbing her sore ankle after staying up late practicing in heels with aggrieved frustration.
Another showed her in the kitchen, burning her finger on the steam and blowing on it, her brows furrowed in an adorably stubborn way.
And there was the one where Evelyn saw a photo of Charles with Vivian, hiding under the tree on campus, secretly wiping away her tears but forcing a smile, trying to look strong.
Each photo captured Evelyn's love for Charles.
They were the moments she found joy alone, felt humble and vulnerable, and held herself together with no one else to lean on.
And all those moments, Charles quietly preserved through his lens and tucked away in this envelope, never once letting Evelyn know.