Chapter 4

I slept on the couch all night, arms crossed, the food on the table untouched.

Early in the morning, the front door rattled violently.

The moment I opened it, my dad burst in, not caring if he bumped into me.

"Leo! What the hell were you thinking?! Are you out of your mind?!"

"Celeste is from an incredibly wealthy family! Having an ex-boyfriend is normal! Once you're married, you'll have everything you could ever want. Are you really going to ruin the wedding over something so trivial?!"

"All our relatives and friends were there! Where am I supposed to put my face?!"

My dad's incessant nagging made my head pound. I said weakly,

"Dad, didn't you see the video at the wedding?"

"She was checking into a hotel with her ex-boyfriend right before our wedding..."

My dad waved his hand dismissively, refusing to listen.

"Don't tell me all that!! Celeste is a fourth-generation heiress; plenty of men would jump at the chance to marry her. This only happened because you couldn't keep her. If you were capable enough to keep her devoted to you, none of this would have happened. You're on the verge of rising to the next social tier! You're just going to call it off? You're 30, where are you going to find another woman who can help you as much as Celeste?"

These words coming from my dad didn't surprise me at all.

He had no bottom line when it came to money, especially when it involved wealthy women.

But I couldn't do it.

"Dad, if you love Celeste so much, why don't you marry her yourself?"

My dad's face turned beet red with fury, and he raised his hand, ready to strike me.

I'd drunk too much last night and hadn't eaten a thing. This provocation made my stomach clench with pain, and I felt something rising.

I pushed my dad away and rushed to the toilet, throwing up wildly.

My dad's mouth wouldn't stop, lecturing me about being inflexible, having irregular eating habits, and drinking too much.

But every sentence ended with Celeste.

"Celeste is beautiful and well-behaved, from a top-tier family. If you can't hold onto her, she'll easily find someone more handsome, more capable, and more understanding than you. Then you'll have nothing but regrets."

His words echoed through the hallway, piercing my ears.

I remembered the sorrowful man from the bar last night.

The belated realization hit me like a sledgehammer, pounding against my heart.

"You're a grown man, can't even clean up after yourself. And why are there drops of blood on the floor?!"

"Only Celeste would put up with you. Any other woman would have torn the house down by now."

I slammed the door shut and buried myself under my duvet.

I curled up, wrapped tightly in the blanket, and wept silently.