Chapter 3

I drove home and started packing.

I had made up my mind to cut ties with her completely. I could not let anything in my house that had to do with her or with us stay there.

The house was full of proof that we really had once loved each other.

I was an orphan. Nobody raised me, nobody cared for me, and I spent my days digging through trash cans on the street for food.

Then one day, I found half a piece of meat and happily held it up.

At that moment, a starving dog lunged out from the side and snatched the meat. I was so hungry that I didn’t even care what had stolen my food. I just fought it.

In the end, I won a hard-fought victory. I dragged my bruised, wounded body to the side of a trash can and watched the bright, well-dressed people on the street eating the meat that had been torn apart in my hand.

I watched the children on the road holding candy and walking with their parents, and I was so envious. I wanted to taste what candy actually felt like.

Then suddenly, a girl in a little princess dress noticed me. She broke free of her parents’ hands and walked over to me, offering me a piece of candy.

With innocent, dreamy eyes, she said to me, “I’m giving you candy. If you eat it, it won’t hurt anymore.”

That was the first time I had ever seen such a beautiful girl. Her cute, lovely smile was like an angel descending to earth, carving a deep mark into my heart.

That piece of candy, along with the girl’s smile that day, was deeply etched into my heart and became a treasure I would never forget.

Later, I worked my way into college on my own. Then I saw someone, and it felt as if she had grown into the girl in my mind.

Later, I learned her name. It was Mia.

But by then, she was already with Lucas, so I could only bury my feelings deep in my heart.

Then Mia’s family suffered a huge disaster, fell into decline, and Lucas decisively chose to break up with Mia and go abroad.

Mia cried every day, and how could I bear to let my angel shed tears?

I used every method I could think of to make her smile.

Then, by pure coincidence, my company hit a huge business boom, my net worth skyrocketed, and I used all the money in my personal account to help Mia’s family through the crisis.

They invited me to dinner at their home, and that night, Mia was sent into my arms by her parents.

I knew they were after my money, but I just so happened to have more money than I could ever spend in my lifetime.

I was willing to spend it on the person I loved, on the angel in my heart.

No matter what they asked for, I did everything I could to make it happen.

I knew Mia still loved Lucas at the time.

And I naively believed that as long as I loved her with everything I had, I would one day replace Lucas in her heart.

I treated her like the sun in my world and doted on her without holding back.

A moth rushing into a flame had finally burned me badly today.

I looked at all the things in the house that proved Mia and I had been together.

Tears once again spilled from my eyes.

I remembered the day I bought this house. Mia was standing beside me in a mask.

Her big eyes were blinking with excitement as she stared at the villa, muttering about our future life.

Back then, I thought I had already completely replaced Lucas.

But maybe all she was thinking about even then was Lucas.

My phone also lit up at the wrong time with a hotel booking notification.

Mia didn’t have her own card. Every single payment she made was charged to mine.

And as long as I checked the spending records, I knew exactly what she bought and what she did.

I knew she had taken the wedding dress and gone to a hotel with Lucas.

And just a moment ago, I had still been holding her hand and asking if she was willing to marry me.

Why did the sweet little angel I once knew rot into someone like this?

I covered my eyes and lay down on the sofa as tears slowly came out.

Three days passed, and I finally finished packing up everything in the house, planning to box it all up and return it to Mia.

I sat on the sofa, looking at the empty room, waiting for the delivery truck to arrive.

Then the front door of the villa suddenly opened.

Mia was leaning into Lucas’s arms, and the two of them walked into the villa smiling.