Chapter 1

On Thanksgiving, I cooked a feast with David Linton's favourites. But he didn't show up again.

I paused for a moment and then checked the Instagram account of his first love, Selene Whitmore. By then, I did it almost without thinking.

"I'd like to praise somebody. He ditched his girlfriend and came to me just because I said my light went out. I hope he maintains this habit of putting his friend before his girlfriend," Selene wrote.

The caption was accompanied by a photo of David standing on a stool, looking up as he changed a lightbulb. Selene supported his legs with both hands, her face casually brushing against his private parts.

He didn't move to dodge her. In fact, there was even a faint smile on the corner of his lips.

The image was an eyesore, but I didn't have a meltdown. Instead, I calmly liked the post and asked David for a breakup.

David, however, didn't believe it at all.

"She's just throwing a tantrum. I'll just ignore her for a few days. I can easily cheer her up with a beckon of a finger after that," he said.

But little did he know, it had only been for him to cheer me up in the past because I had loved him.

From that moment on, there was no way he could ever coax me again.

…

I didn't receive a reply from my boyfriend, David Linton, after I sent the breakup text.

Yet his first love, Selene Whitmore, sent me a video of him and his friends laughing in a lively private room.

"Darina Stretford has been simping over you for seven years, yet she had the guts to ask for a breakup. She can't be serious, can she?" asked one of his friends.

David was cutting a mango cake as he replied casually, "She's just throwing a tantrum, trying to make me go back to be with her. I was going to return after I changed the lightbulb. But the more she acts like this, the more I won't let her have her way. I'll just ignore her for a few days."

He brought the cake slice to Selene's mouth and said, "This is the new flavor from Candy Cove. Try and see if you like it."

His friends wore playful expressions as they teased him.

"Darina is just a stand-in anyway. You might as well just break up with her."

"The real deal is back now too. Haven't you guys considered getting together?"

"That's right, Selene. You're the only person David has held in his heart all these years."

David said nothing. He just looked at Selene with a burning gaze.

"What are you guys talking about? David and I are just good friends, and the purest of all friends at that," said Selene, looking shocked.

Pretending to be annoyed, she smacked David and said, "Hurry up and cheer your girlfriend up. Otherwise, I'll never be able to clear my name."

David's gaze turned a little gloomy. His tone was hard to read as he said, "Don't worry. I can coax her with a beckon of my finger."

I watched the video in a daze. I had already made up my mind to move on, yet my heart still broke.

After all, he was the man I had fallen in love with at first sight when I was younger, the one I had loved for seven whole years.

I had been the one to confess my feelings to him on Thanksgiving when I was a freshman.

I knew he was the aloof college heartthrob who icily turned down countless women's confessions. I only confessed so I wouldn't have any regrets.

But he looked at my face for a long time under the moonlight. Then, suddenly, he stroked my hair and said, "Silly, I should be the one confessing. Would you be my girlfriend?"

I thought I would cherish that pulsing and beautiful moment forever.

That was until the day he kissed me and mumbled "Selene" in the heat of the moment.

I froze completely. That was the first time we gave each other the silent treatment.

Three days later, he brought me a small piece of cake to cheer me up, saying, "That's just a girl I once had a crush on. It's nothing more than that."

Seeing the dark circles under his eyes, I gave in and made up with him.

At that time, I confidently thought Selene wouldn't come between us. She was just his first love, the one that got away. She was just a part of his past—a story that never even began. And I was his girlfriend, his present and future.

I was head over heels for him all four years in college. After I graduated, I followed him to an unfamiliar city, even when that meant cutting ties with my family.

He was very good to me. He would buy me a cake from Candy Cove, the popular dessert shop, as soon as they launched something new. He would blow-dry my hair for me gently and patiently. He would rub my belly for me all night when I was on my period.

There was no sweet-talking, but our days together were simple and heartwarming.

I used to think we would get married and spend the rest of our lives together.

But everything changed when Selene returned to the country half a year ago.

"You've really found a girlfriend who looks just like me, huh?" she said calmly.

After that, the truth just kept eating away at me, little by little.

It turned out that David had only confessed his feelings to me to make up for the regret he had felt after Selene turned him down. The cake that he had bought me without fail was from her favorite shop. Those thoughtful things he had done for me were what she had expected from her future boyfriend.

He was just using me as a stand-in to soothe his loneliness. He was using me as a practice dummy to become Selene's ideal man.

I thought of the promise he once made to me. "Dari, let's get married in our seventh year together. You've left your hometown for me. I'll spend every Thanksgiving with you in the future," he said.

This was our seventh Thanksgiving together. But he had clearly forgotten about it.

It was a good thing that he had forgotten. After all, I was going to return home to get married.

Chapter 2

The clock struck midnight, yet David still hadn't returned.

In the past, I would've tossed and turned in bed. That night, however, I slept surprisingly well.

It was probably because I had moved on from someone who wasn't worth it and spared myself.

The following day, I was woken up by some noise in the kitchen early in the morning.

David had his sleeves rolled up to his elbows, his toned forearms flexing as he stirred the pan, reheating the leftovers from last night.

"I'll spend today with you to make up for the Thanksgiving I missed," he said.

He tasted a piece of the steak from the pan and added, "You did quite well with this."

I looked at him in surprise. David had always been very particular and never had leftovers.

He was looking down, waiting for me to respond.

Then, it hit me—he was making an exception. It turned out this was his way of cheering me up. He was waiting for me to accept his olive branch and give in.

It would've worked in the past.

But this time, I shook my head and said, "There's no need for this."

There was no need to make up for Thanksgiving, much less to try to make me feel better.

David frowned a little before he turned around to grab a slice of cake, shoving it to me casually.

"It's the new flavor from Candy Cove, your favorite place," he said.

I looked at the remaining slice of cake covered in mango, and my heart ached.

I was never fond of sweets much. What had truly made it sweet for me was his thoughtfulness.

But after seven years, he had Selene's preferences etched in his memory, yet he couldn't even remember that I was allergic to mango.

I stood in silence, slowly realizing what a waste the past seven years had been.

David, on the other hand, was gradually losing his patience.

Holding back his anger, he said, "Just knock it off already. I've offered you so many olive branches. If you don't take one soon, they're going to be all gone. If Selene hadn't talked me into it, I would never have come back so soon to cheer you up. Don't ever talk about breaking up again. Got it?"

I finally understood it—even his efforts to coax me were all for Selene.

"David, I mean it," I said slowly. "I really want to—"

I wanted to tell him that I wanted to break up with him and go home to get married, but the rest of my sentence was cut off by his special ringtone.

"Selene?" His tone became gentle, and his eyes were beaming as he said, "Alright, I'll be right there."

His aloof expression returned to his face as he ended the call.

"Selene needs me. I'm going to head over."

Just like he had done countless times before, he left before I could say anything. But this time, I didn't watch his retreating back with a blank expression.

I had nothing to do for the long weekend, so I figured I might as well go to the office. I planned to resign after the holidays and leave, so I organized the documents in advance to ensure a smooth handover later.

I left the office in the evening and went to a trendy restaurant nearby. It wasn't just famous for its delicious food. Rumor had it that couples who took photos there were more likely to live happily ever after.

That was why I had tried to go with David a few times, but he was always busy.

Since I was about to leave the city soon, I decided to pay a visit myself.

Unexpectedly, I saw David and Selene in there as soon as I walked in.

They were sitting next to each other, almost touching shoulders.

The dishes on the table were things David couldn't have, but they were all Selene's favorites.

He couldn't take anything spicy, and he didn't like seafood. I had always been the one accommodating him.

As it turned out, he also had someone he was willing to accommodate and make compromises for.

Neither of them saw me.

Smiling, Selene stuffed the remaining bite of her spicy crab boil in his mouth and said, "It's good, so I'm sharing half of it with you."

Her finger brushed lightly against the corner of his lips, and David's face gradually turned red.

From what I remembered, he had always been calm and composed.

It turned out that at the age of 25, he could still look like a bashful teenager falling in love for the first time—and it was all because he was facing the woman he truly liked.

"Selene, how about we take a photo together?" he asked, pretending to be casual.

But his eyes betrayed his nerves and anticipation.

Selene said nothing. She just smiled and gave him a light push. Just then, she suddenly looked up and saw me.

Chapter 3

Selene had a faint smile on her face, as if she were waiting to watch the drama unfold. She was waiting for me to lose my cool like I had done in the past.

Indeed, I had countless meltdowns because of their relationship before this.

On our anniversary, Selene had gotten David to leave me with just a phone call, all because she didn't want to pull an all-nighter preparing for a presentation, and she wanted him to do it for her.

When I got a high fever and was hospitalized with pneumonia, she said she was afraid of the dark because of the blackouts. He chose to stay with her then too.

During a thunderstorm one night, he got so worried just because she texted him back late that he went out to look for her. In the end, they shared a bottle of wine and chatted through the night under the same covers.

I had questioned him hysterically and tried to make him stay, swallowing every last bit of my pride.

But he always replied to me indifferently, saying, "Knock it off."

David had come up with all kinds of reasons not to come to this restaurant with me, when in reality, it was because the woman he wanted to take a photo with wasn't me.

A truth like that would've been enough to break me in the past.

But at that moment, it was already clear to me that someone who didn't care about me would never see my pain. He would only think that I was making a scene.

I looked at them calmly and asked, "What are you looking at me for? Do you need me to help you take the photo?"

David was stunned. Yet the hint of embarrassment in his eyes soon turned into anger.

"Darina, did you follow us here? What's with that sarcastic tone? You were the one who willfully asked for a breakup. I offered you an olive branch, but you refused. I was feeling frustrated, so I came out to have dinner with an old friend and take some photos. What's wrong with that?

"Do you know that keeping such a close eye on me makes me feel suffocated, and it'll only push me further and further away from you?"

It was rare for him to say so much to me in one breath.

It couldn't be because he cared or was concerned about me. He must have just been feeling guilty.

But it didn't matter anymore.

"I'm just here for dinner. Besides, we've already broken up. What you guys do is none of my business," I said calmly.

Selene raised an eyebrow slightly. Clearly, she hadn't expected me to react like this.

"Dari, don't say things out of spite," she said with an unhurried tone. "I said I didn't have an appetite today. That's why David spent the whole day with me. But don't overthink it. We're just friends."

She had always been a two-faced snake. I never understood it in the past. She didn't want to accept David, but she spent so much time stringing him along. What was the point in that?

But since this was no longer my business, I had no interest in getting to the bottom of it anymore.

Ignoring them, I sat down at an empty spot with my back to them instead and looked at the menu.

In the past, I probably would've burst into tears and run out the door in a complete mess after bumping into them.

But I wasn't the one who had done something wrong. All I wanted to do was have dinner at a place that I had wanted to go to for a long time.

Now that I didn't need to accommodate someone else, I ordered all the dishes I loved.

As the dishes were served one after another, I thanked my lucky stars that I hadn't missed out on such tasty food because of people who had nothing to do with me.

I couldn't see them, but I could hear them loud and clear.

"Since when have you become so bad at consoling someone? I remember you were the best at it."

I heard a familiar smack, and I could tell Selene had playfully hit David's arm.

She continued, "After I failed my math test in eighth grade, a stalk of lilies, my favorite, appeared on my desk every day. I only found out later that you were the one who left them there to comfort me.

"When I was nervous about my finals in ninth grade, you copied all kinds of famous quotes for me. You said not only could that motivate me, but that could also help me improve my essay grades.

"When I was a high school senior, you brought me breakfast and walked me home every single day, rain or shine. And you set your alarm at midnight just to snag limited-edition merch for me. Why can't you just have a bit of patience toward your girlfriend?"

Selene clearly knew the answer, yet she still asked. She couldn't hide the sense of superiority dripping from every word she uttered.

David fell silent for a moment before he said sulkily, "How could she possibly compare to you?"

I ate my food as if nothing had happened, though the spice nearly brought tears to my eyes.

We had spent seven years together, and that was all I got in return.

I had doubted myself countless times, reflecting on myself to figure out if he didn't love me because I wasn't good enough.

It turned out it was truly not my fault.

He had long given his true, passionate feelings to someone else, and he was still hung up on her.

As for me, it was time I finally got over him.

Chapter 4

David didn't come home after that day.

That was how he usually handled things after we had a fight—there would be no explanations, much less apologies. He would simply give me the silent treatment, making me question myself in turmoil until I was defeated. Then, he would just comfort me a little, and we would make up.

But I had only been suffering because I loved him. Now, I couldn't care less.

I packed up my things instead.

Our home was filled with matching items for couples that I had decorated myself. There was barely anything that truly belonged to me.

It turned out I hadn't been myself in a long time.

After the long weekend, I officially handed in my resignation.

My manager, Katie Morales, accepted it right away and asked, "Are you returning to Larkwood City? I can almost hear the wedding bells for you and Mr. Linton."

"I'm returning by myself," I replied while shaking my head.

"Oh, you can quit pretending. My best friend works in the HR Department at Ascendia Group. Mr. Linton has already applied to transfer to their headquarters in Larkwood City. The company allows employees' partners to seek a position there as well, and he has already submitted his request. Didn't he do all that for you?" she asked.

"You're a graduate from an elite college. Not only have you left your hometown, but you also humbly worked as a receptionist at a small company like ours. You've truly suffered a lot. Fortunately, things are going to be a lot better in the future," she added.

I was stunned.

David had never mentioned that to me.

Both of us were design majors. Design was the kind of profession that would make one so busy that they lost track of time.

He said that at least one of us had to have more time to take care of things at our home, so I became that person. While he made a name for himself in the industry, I was nothing more than a receptionist at a design company next door.

I was home-oriented and had wasted enough of my potential.

The partner that David was taking along with him was probably not me. But I didn't explain that.

Ms. Morales was right about something—after all my struggles, things were going to be a lot better in the future.

That night, my colleagues held a farewell party for me. When it came to an end, I was tipsy as I walked through the hallway and heard a familiar voice.

The door to the private room was ajar, and David looked drunk as he sat inside. He had a complicated expression as he held a cigarette between his fingers, the glow of its embers flickering.

"Won't I regret not taking Darina with me? No, I won't. It's true that at first, I requested a transfer to the headquarters for her. She'd cut ties with her family for me, and I knew how horrible she felt about it. I wanted to go back to Larkwood City with her. But I can't say no to Selene after she asked me about it," said David.

His friend shook his head and said, "Have you ever thought about it? Selene hasn't accepted you after all these years. Once you guys get to Larkwood City, the chances of the two of you getting together would be even slimmer."

David gulped, laughing at himself as he replied, "You just have to give your all for once in life. This is the last time. And if Selene still doesn't accept me, then I'll give up and get married to Darina."

I clenched my fists so hard that it hurt.

Back when Selene had just returned to the country, I had thought I wouldn't lose.

She was just a dream for him, while I had spent years by his side. All my contributions and my memories with David had filled me with confidence.

But it turned out he had never woken up from that dream of his.

How could he assume that I would just wait for him forever?

"Darina?" Selene called out.

She came out of the restroom, a rare glint of wariness crossing her eyes.

"You've found out, haven't you? There's no point anymore. David has already submitted the name of his partner. I'm not going to let this opportunity slip by, no matter what," she said.

I finally understood what was going on. She had only been spending time with David and stringing him along because he was still of use to her.

Still, I couldn't help my confusion.

"Since you're just using him and never even liked him, why must you prove to me how good he was to you?" I asked.

There was no need for her to upload those Instagram posts and send those messages over and over again to provoke me and assert her dominance.

She crossed her arms and sneered.

"Even if it's something that I don't want, I don't want others to be too comfortable using it," she said.

I suddenly thought it was hilarious.

David was just like me. He had wasted years loving the wrong person, only to be treated as an object in return.

As I turned around to walk away, Selene blocked my path.

"Even now, I don't want him to leave feeling guilty for you," she said.

She suddenly clapped her hands with all her might, creating a loud slap, and then she let out a scream.

David practically rushed over without missing a beat, shoving me aside.

"Your girlfriend seems to be a little upset about your job transfer," said Selene, holding her face, though there wasn't a single injury in sight.

My head slammed into the wall from the force of David's shove. When I reached up to touch it, I felt blood on my fingers.

But David's eyes were only filled with rage.

Before he could open his mouth to question me, I gave him a tight slap.

"It wasn't my doing before, but it is now," I said.

My blood was smeared across his face, perfectly reflecting the mess our relationship had become.

"Darina, you look just like a shrew right now," said David as he turned his darkened face.

"Didn't you say you want a breakup? I've agreed, so you have no business caring who I'm taking along with me. I won't console you anymore. Don't come crying to me when you regret it."

He glared at me and helped Selene into the private room before slamming the door shut, separating us into two different worlds.

I had never expected that our relationship would end in such a miserable way.

Slowly, I turned around and walked in the opposite direction.

The wound on my head hurt a little, and my heart ached for some reason as well.

Fortunately, no matter how painful or how bad my injuries were, they would recover one day. Everything would pass eventually.

…

That night, I boarded a plane and left the city I had lived in for three years, returning to a home that I hadn't set foot in for just as long.

Judging by David's character, I thought he would never come looking for me again. We would both fade out of each other's worlds.

To my surprise, he texted me a week later.

"I'm surprised that you're being so stubborn this time that you would rather hide and cry alone than contact me. What are you doing now?" he asked.

I didn't see the text until that night because I had been busy all day. I simply replied indifferently, "I just got engaged."