Chapter 2

Originally, Alex was just an extra.

But Mandy insisted on signing him, bringing him into every production she was in.

She even gave him a stage name, Alex Lu.

Over the years, Mandy had many men around her, coming and going too many to count.

But besides me, he lasted the longest.

Because he really looked too much like Lucas.

Like that sunny, tall Lucas who had gone abroad and never been heard from again.

How could she not like him?

I stood up and cleared the ashtray.

With a beep, my phone received a message.

"Have you considered it? This arranged marriage would benefit both our families."

"Little Ethan, you've been drifting outside for that actress for so long. It's time to come home."

I paused, looking back at the house I had shared with Mandy for years.

Empty and cold.

Yes, indeed there was nothing worth staying for anymore.

I let out a sigh, opened my phone, typed a line and hit send.

"Sis, I've broken up."

"I'll attend the engagement party as scheduled next week."

I turned off my phone and tossed it into the bathtub behind me.

The surface was covered with red rose petals, scattered as the phone fell in.

Red roses were Mandy's favorite.

If she knew I had thrown my phone in there, she would definitely be angry.

But what did it matter?

In a week, everything would be over.

Ten years ago today, I met Mandy.

I had been orphaned since birth, but fortunately, I had a fabulously wealthy CEO sister.

She had me receive an elite education from a young age.

As the sole heir to the Zhou Group, my sister secretly groomed me for my safety.

Ten years ago, I skipped grades and was admitted to the top finance program at a prestigious university in the country.

That's when I met Mandy.

She was my senior, three years older than me.

After starting university, it was my first time interacting with people outside the family.

Mandy provided me with a lot of help and encouragement, making me quickly let my guard down.

On my eighteenth birthday, my sister was busy with an international conference and had no time for my birthday.

From childhood,

I had always been taught that birthdays were meaningless, that it didn't matter whether they were celebrated or not.

But that night, for the first time, someone celebrated my birthday.

It was also the first time someone taught me the meaning of birthdays.

It was very late that day, and it was pouring rain.

Somehow Mandy found me, holding an umbrella, with a cake in her hand.

The usually elegant and intellectual Mandy had messy hair, runs in her stockings, and was soaking wet, looking completely disheveled.

But when she found me, the first thing she said was,

"Ethan, are you cold?"

In that instant, I completely let down all my defenses.

Not long after, we naturally got together, and she took me to meet her friends.

When her friends saw me, they exchanged glances.

"Mandy, this guy doesn't look anything like Lucas Lu."

"Have you moved on?"

At that time, I didn't know who this Lucas Lu was that they were talking about.

Every time I wanted to ask, Mandy would interrupt me.

"It's nothing, just a friend."

"I've forgotten all about him."

But later, as I gradually became more involved in Mandy's life,

I discovered that this man called Lucas Lu was actually Mandy's first love.

Although Mandy said she had forgotten him, traces of him were everywhere in her life.

From the small photo she always kept in her wallet,

To the fact that every boyfriend she had besides me looked very much like Lucas Lu.

Even her choice to become a celebrity was so Lucas Lu would see her.

She lied to me, and to herself.

She had never forgotten Lucas Lu from the very beginning.

But I still held onto hope.

To make Mandy completely let go of him, to marry her and have children and live an ordinary life, I forced myself to ignore all of this.

For a full ten years.

I accompanied Mandy from being unknown to becoming the lead actress in hit dramas.

After graduation, I gave up inheriting the family business to become her personal assistant, earning a pitiful monthly salary.

$300, not even enough to buy what I used to in the past.

But in these ten years, Mandy never agreed to my proposals.

She even had an abortion without discussing it with me.

"I will never marry you, give up that idea."

"If you're willing, you can always stay by my side as my personal assistant."

Lucas Lu was her bottom line, not to be touched by anyone.

Naturally, that included me.

Countless times in the middle of the night, when she was sound asleep, she would mutter "Lucas, Brother Lucas."

And when she woke up and saw it was me, her eyes were full of disappointment and loneliness.

"...Oh, it's you."

Then Mandy would always sigh softly and bury her face in my arms, coyly saying with her head down,

"Ethan, I'm hungry."

And I would always remain silent for a long time.

Looking at her face that had become thinner and thinner for the camera, I would get up and light a cigarette.

"What do you want to eat?"