Chapter 3

Ryan's hand stopped at the places where the ink had blurred.

He knew those were my tears.

"Chloe… I…"

Ryan's words caught in his throat, unable to come out.

He opened the second note.

【Ryan, you're so silly! You didn't want to spend your birthday with me, so you lied and said you had to work overtime.】

【In that picture on your Ins, half of that girl's face was way too obvious!】

【But it's okay, I still pretended not to see it.】

【Oh, and next time, stop putting her things in your pockets and bringing them home.】

【I've already washed and packed them in that box in your study. After I die, remember to give them back to her.】

【It's best not to let her live in this house. After all, I once lived here.】

【After I die, just take your things and move into her apartment. It's in the building next door, quite close.】

【And don't forget to pay the utilities. I'm always the one paying your bills for that little place!】

Reading this, Ryan's tears dropped straight onto the floor.

He stumbled into the study and found the box I'd mentioned.

Inside the box were a few pairs of stockings, a red lace thong, some condoms, and a few gift receipts.

All belonging to that girl.

Ryan's brows furrowed slightly, his heart feeling as if something had ripped through it.

It hurt so much.

He thought he'd been seamless, but I had just been pretending not to know.

Ryan scrolled through my bank statements, only then realizing I had been paying the bills for his and Bree's apartment all this time.

"Chloe, you idiot!"

Actually, I wasn't an idiot.

I knew Ryan didn't love me anymore; he had betrayed me.

As a modern woman, I should just walk away and end things for good with him.

But I couldn't bear to.

During those five years Ryan stayed by my side through cancer, pouring his heart and soul into it, fighting with all his might, I survived because of him.

He was the one who loved me most, and the one I loved most.

I couldn't let go.

Ryan's phone rang, but he glanced at it and didn't answer.

He took a deep breath and pulled out the third note.

Before he could even read the words, the phone rang again.

"Ryan, why aren't you here yet? I can't sleep alone, and the light at my place is broken again."

Ryan's face was grim, his voice laced with annoyance.

"The light isn't broken; you probably just didn't pay the electricity bill. I'm busy right now, don't call me."

With that, Ryan hung up.

【Ryan, did you two arrange to meet every day at midnight?】

【Every time you answer the phone, the volume leaks, and I can hear her whining to you on the other end.】

【Sigh, if it weren't me you ran into, who would cover for you?】

【Ryan, the way you looked at her at the annual gala today, it made me so jealous!】

【I didn't ruin her dress at the gala, but Ryan, you didn't even believe me.】

At the annual gala earlier this year, Ryan initially didn't want to bring me.

"You're not well, you'll get tired if you go."

"I want to go."

Ryan was a bit unhappy, but he had no choice but to bring me.

He drove to the office to pick up Bree, and she instinctively opened the front passenger door.

"Chloe, I get car sick, and I'm used to the front passenger seat… Can I sit there?"