Chapter 5

I ended up taking the pills from the floor. Kieran let go of the bottle, and it clattered to the ground, rolling away. I scrambled to pick it up, gathering the scattered pills back into the bottle.

The neighbors had quietly left, leaving behind a semblance of decorum.

He just watched me coldly. "I never knew you were such a disgusting person," he said. "Ruan Lin Yue, you killed your sister. You brought this on yourself. You deserve to be in pain." I didn't look up, numbly continuing to gather the pills.

I can guess when Kieran found out. I never talked to him about my inner struggles. But after we got engaged, he kept hinting that I should introduce him to my parents. My relationship with my mother wasn't good;

childhood rifts still existed, and she already hated me. Later, Kieran stopped mentioning it.

A week ago, he disappeared for a day, and when he returned, his attitude toward me changed.

Three days ago, he brought his assistant home.

They were entangled on the sofa. I'm a light sleeper; the noise downstairs woke me. I thought he was working late.

Just as I was about to ask if he was hungry, I was frozen by the scene in front of me. Kieran’s assistant was beautiful, her long hair draped over his chest, leaning down to kiss him. Kieran didn’t dodge, allowing her to leave a pretty lipstick mark on his face.

Then he pulled her into his arms. The assistant exclaimed, coyly said, "Don’t be like this, Mr. Kieran, your girlfriend is still here." But her tone was full of unabashed pride.

The smell of alcohol was strong in the living room, so strong that I wanted to use it to deceive myself.

But Kieran saw me. His gaze fell on my face, contemptuous and disdainful, like a knife dipped in poison.

"Don’t worry about her," he said. "She doesn’t deserve it. If it weren’t for that face…" I didn’t hear the rest. The symptoms of depersonalization came quickly, nausea, a burning sensation rising from my stomach.

I stumbled into the bathroom, gagging. As tears fell, I remembered the words he said the first day we met. Don’t cry. Crying makes you ugly.

When I couldn’t vomit anymore, Kieran appeared in the doorway, his words devoid of warmth: "Can't handle this? But isn’t the most disgusting—" "You."