Chapter 2

Half a year ago, I saw a conversation between her and Ryan on a friend’s Instagram post.

Ryan posted a very emo caption: I missed it in this life. I regret it deeply, and I’m heartbroken.

Then Bella commented below: There was nothing wrong with our love. We were just missing a little luck. Now I have my own life, but there’s not a trace of passion in it. So many times I’ve wondered, if our parents hadn’t opposed us back then, would we be the enviable couple we are now?

When I saw that comment, I was completely stunned.

Actually, my relationship with Bella had always been pretty good. It wasn’t at all like she said, with no passion whatsoever. Everything she said only started after Ryan showed up in our lives.

She started coming home late and going on frequent business trips. And for the past six months, in order to see her more and talk to her more, I began reversing my sleep schedule and wrecking my body.

Even after I put in all that effort, our relationship didn’t improve. Instead, it got worse and worse, and her life seemed to contain only Ryan.

Gradually, I also realized that Bella’s heart had already shifted.

She had shifted toward Ryan without any reason at all.

Her words, her actions, her whole self no longer belonged to me.

Every time I lay alone in bed late at night, I wondered if maybe, if I just worked a little harder, she’d look back. If I made myself the best I could be and gave Bella nothing to criticize, would she look back at me?

But I was wrong. She kept proving with her actions that Ryan’s place in her heart was higher than mine, and I had already been pushed to the edge.

On this day three months ago, while she was in the shower, I secretly checked her phone and saw her chat history with Ryan again.

I could no longer keep deceiving myself.

Every single word between them looked shamelessly intimate to me, the content direct and explicit.

Even when I confronted her, she could still say “We’re just friends” with a straight face.

I kept breaking my own boundaries for Bella again and again, while she kept dancing on the edge of my red line, trampling on my feelings. Thinking about it now, it was really fucking stupid!

It was also from that day on that I began investigating Ryan.

Ryan was a local in City B. He’d known Bella since middle school, and the reason they never ended up together was because Ryan’s parents opposed it.

His family had been in business for three generations and was well off. Even though Bella’s family also ran a small shop, in Ryan’s parents’ eyes, they were still beneath the table.

I heard that when they were in college and still deeply in love, Ryan’s parents directly sent him overseas to separate them. After that, Bella could never find any trace of him again.

Some people even said Ryan had simply vanished from the face of the earth.

As for me, my family background was also pretty good. The reason I met Bella was because her family needed a storefront and came looking at the mall my family owned.

The first time I saw Bella, I was attracted to her immediately. Back then, I didn’t confess my feelings to her. First, because we had just met and still needed more time to get to know each other. Second, I was afraid that being too hasty would make her think I was a casual guy.

Instead, Bella was the one who came to me first and added my contact.

And later, we naturally ended up together.

My parents had also opposed it at first, but they couldn’t beat how much I liked her, so in the end they gave in.

At the beginning, our life was very happy and full of ritual, but the only regrettable thing was probably that after five years, we still didn’t have a child of our own.

My parents brought it up to me many times too, but every time, I would first follow Bella’s wishes.

If she didn’t want it, I wouldn’t force her.

I knew I hadn’t done enough myself and hadn’t given her enough security. I could wait, wait until she had no worries left and was willing to have a child with me.

Even if we ended up being child-free for life, I would still respect her.

But with something like this, I found out it wasn’t something I could fix just by trying.

Just like with love—no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t shake Ryan’s place in her heart.

My thoughts came back to me, and I pushed the divorce agreement toward her again.

“Ethan! Enough. Are you trying to get my attention this way?”

“Isn’t it just because of Ryan? You can be jealous, but there has to be a limit. Don’t push my bottom line!”

She snatched the divorce agreement from my hand, tore it to pieces, and threw it in my face before walking away without looking back.

As she passed me, I clearly smelled the scent of cologne mixed with a faint hint of tobacco.

That was Ryan’s scent.

I had smelled it countless times on her car before.