My boyfriend came from a wealthy family. We had been together for seven years, yet he had never given me a single gift. When he proposed, he even asked for the diamond ring back so he could return it for a refund. Later, when we were about to register our marriage, he complained that the paperwork fee was too expensive and said it wasn’t necessary.

However, not long after that, he registered his marriage with his childhood sweetheart instead. He even booked the most luxurious hotel in the entire city, eager to throw a grand engagement party.

The shock was too much for my grandmother, and she suffered a heart attack. I dropped to my knees and begged my boyfriend to return the salary I had entrusted to him over the years, as I needed the money to pay for my grandmother’s surgery.

He simply wrapped his arm around his childhood sweetheart and pretended not to know me. He said he would never help a lazy beggar who only knew how to freeload. Then, he ordered the security guards to throw me out.

Later, my grandmother died on New Year’s Eve, her final breaths drowned out by the sound of fireworks outside. While everyone else celebrated the holiday season, I handled my grandmother’s funeral alone. At the same time, I accepted a job offer from a major overseas company.

When I returned home to get my passport, the man—who had just finished introducing his sweetheart to his parents and was clearly in a good mood—saw me and assumed I was still throwing a tantrum.

For the first time, he spoke generously. “Alright. What could possibly have happened to your grandmother? At worst, I’ll make it up to you with a luxurious wedding.”

What he didn’t know was that from the moment my grandmother took her last breath, I no longer wanted to marry him.

I had just picked up my passport when a long, well-defined hand suddenly snatched it out of my grasp.

“What are you looking for that you didn’t even notice I came back?”

My boyfriend, Hudson Chase, had just returned home. The tip of his nose was red from the cold. When he realized it was a passport, the faint smile on his lips disappeared, and his sharp brows knitted together.

“What do you need a passport for? Are you planning to run off overseas?” he said. “Haven’t I explained it to you? Lara’s family has been pressuring her. Registering the marriage with her was just to help her deal with them. After a while, we’ll quietly get divorced.”

I didn’t even look up. Keeping a cold expression, I snatched the passport back.

He rubbed his chilled fingertips together. In the past, whenever he came home, I would always ask if he was cold and pour him a cup of hot tea. Today, though, I was unusually distant.

He reached out and cupped my face. The coldness of his hands brushed against my skin as he forced me to look at him.

“Sophie, aren’t you being a little too jealous?” he said. “Think about how many people from high society were watching that day. If word got back to my dad, neither of us would come out of it well.”

I let out a self-mocking laugh. To him, I was nothing more than a pastime he couldn’t publicly acknowledge.

I pried his hand away, but he clung to me again. His icy fingers lifted my chin as he carefully examined the small scratch on my cheek, his voice full of concern.

“Do those bodyguards have a death wish? They turned my Soph into a little stray cat. I’ll dock all their pay later.”

Here it was again. In the past, no matter how angry I was, I would eventually forgive him after he pestered me, but not this time.

Seven days ago, at the engagement party, the bodyguards—under Hudson’s orders—had thrown me out of the hotel and shoved me to the ground.

“Who do you think you are?” one of them sneered. “Mr. Hudson and Ms. Lara are a perfect match. I’ve seen plenty of gold diggers like you.”

People passing by pointed and mocked me. They laughed at how someone perfectly capable of working had instead knelt in front of a man, begging for money. I had long since lost all my dignity.

When I snapped back to the present, Hudson, seeing that I was still upset, finally brought out his trump card. He carried over a box of caviar from the doorway.

“These are for your grandma,” he said. “And don’t use that story about her needing surgery to trick me again just to get my attention. It’s not interesting.”

My grandma and I had depended on each other for years. She had said she wanted to witness the day Hudson and I registered our marriage so she could give us her blessings. However, when she saw Hudson registering his marriage with another woman, she collapsed on the spot.

The doctor told me that as long as I could come up with a hundred thousand dollars for the surgery, my grandma would still have a chance to live.

On New Year’s Eve, I humbled myself and called everyone I could think of, begging to get a loan. However, every call ended with them either rejecting the call outright or scolding me for bringing bad luck during the holiday. Amid the endless sound of the fireworks, my grandma closed her eyes, and just like that, I was the only one left.

At the thought of her pale face, my heart felt like it was being sliced apart. My eyes reddened instantly.

I didn’t take the box of caviar he had brought. Instead, I said, “Hudson, we–”

I wanted to call for a break-up, but before those words could leave my mouth, Hudson cut me off.

“Alright, enough. You spent the New Year with your grandma. You probably don’t have much money left, don’t you?”

With a flick of his finger, he transferred me two hundred dollars.

“Take this as the money I spent buying caviar for your grandma. No need to write an IOU.”

Thinking about it, I found it rather amusing. He was afraid I was a gold digger, so he made me hand over my salary to him. If I needed spending money, I had to wait for his approval, and every time he transferred money to me, he would make me write an IOU. After seven years of dating, I somehow ended up deeply in debt to Hudson.

Back then, I simply thought that his sensitivity to money was because his family ran a company. So, I indulged him and agreed to all his requests. However, his frugality was only ever directed at me. When it came to Lara, he could spend lavishly, buying her diamond necklaces worth a fortune or even purchasing villas for her. Every gesture made headlines. Well, as they said, where the money went was where the love was.

Snapping back to reality, I immediately transferred the two hundred dollars back to him and said, “No need. I don’t want it.”

Only then did Hudson finally look at me seriously. As if realizing something, he sighed helplessly.

“Is that too little? Fine. I’ll agree to have a wedding with you, alright? That’ll make your vain grandma proud, too, wouldn’t it? Honestly, you’re all the same…”

His words pierced my ears. Yet, I had endured it for seven years. All I had ever wanted was a normal relationship—exchanging gifts and going shopping together like any other couple. However, he always accused me of being vain and comparing myself to others. He claimed I was after his family’s money.

“There’s no need for a wedding. We’re not real husband and wife anyway.”

Hudson’s handsome face darkened, revealing the familiar expression of irritation I knew all too well. Just then, someone knocked on the door. He shot me an annoyed glance before turning to open it.

The next second, his voice suddenly rose in surprise. “What are you doing here?”

I turned my head. Standing at the doorway was Lara, wearing a matching couple’s down jacket, the same style as Hudson’s.

She lightly punched his chest and laughed brightly. “My prince, my girlfriends are visiting today. They’d like to see what my husband looks like. Come spend another day with me.”

Then, she looked past Hudson at me, blinking her large innocent eyes in open provocation.

“Sophie, you won’t be angry about it, will you? You weren’t angry the other day either. Hudson and I are just best friends. You know that.”

As she spoke, she deliberately shivered, as if to complain it was cold, and intertwined her fingers with Hudson’s. The pair of matching wedding rings on their hands was impossible to miss.

Hudson looked at her with affection and, with practiced ease, slipped her hand into his pocket to warm it.

“What would she be angry about? Don’t worry. I’ll make sure you look good in front of your girlfriends.”

As he spoke, Hudson grabbed his car keys and turned to leave. After taking two steps, he seemed to remember me. He released Lara’s hand, walked over, cupped my face, and kissed the corner of my lips.

“Don’t worry. This will be the last time. After this, I’ll spend every day with you.”

Unfortunately, for Hudson, there would be no “after this” for us anymore.

I wiped my lips hard, watching as the two of them laughed and walked away together. Then, I turned around and picked up the resignation letter that had been prepared on the table.

…

As it was a week since the New Year, my coworkers had returned to work. When I arrived late, they all covered their mouths and laughed knowingly.

“How dare Sophie show herself at the company? She must be crazy for money. She caused a scene on the day Mr. Hudson got married. She even begged him for money. She has no shame at all!”

“She usually comes across as rather stuck-up, acting all high and mighty just because she's been with Mr. Hudson for seven years, but she's more obsequious when demanding money than my dog is when begging for food. Serves her right!”

I ignored the mockery and walked into the HR office, my expression the same.

The HR manager smirked and said, “Your application has been submitted. Once Mr. Hudson approves it, you can pack up and leave. In your situation, the company won’t be giving you any compensation.”

I nodded, said nothing, and turned to leave the company.

The sun was setting, and the streets were full of couples or families of three. I, on the other hand, was alone. Loneliness weighed on my chest. The only family I had left, the career I had fought for all these years, and the man I loved… all of them were gone.

As I walked along the road I had taken for seven years, the road between my home and the company, memories began to flood my mind. My parents died in a car accident when I was seven years old. The compensation money was divided up by cruel relatives, leaving only my grandma and me to rely on each other.

Later, by sheer coincidence, my grandma saved Hudson, who had fallen off a cliff while traveling in a mountain village, and cared for him as if he were her own grandson. That was how I first crossed paths with him.

At the time, I was just a university student, working several part-time jobs every day just to survive. As such, Hudson volunteered to visit my grandma for me and would often send me updates about her. Whenever I felt like I couldn’t go on anymore, he would hold me while I broke down and softly comfort me, promising that he would always stay by my side and never abandon me.

Back then, he really loved me, so much so that he wanted to be with me every day. Even though I dressed simply, he would lace his fingers through mine and proudly introduce me to everyone.

“This is my girlfriend. Isn’t she beautiful? She’s the best girlfriend in the world!”

Gradually, however, he started looking at me with suspicion, afraid I was after his family’s wealth. That was when he demanded that I hand over all of my salary so he could manage it. After that, his need for control only grew stronger. Even when I asked for five dollars to buy a cup of coffee, he would become suspicious and question me endlessly.

Then, three months ago, on the very day Lara returned to the country, he happily bought her a priceless gemstone ring. He even spent a fortune to display a message on giant screens across the city. It read, “Welcome home, Lara!”

That night was the first time he didn’t come home.

When I brought the police to look for him, he was drunk, his eyes red as he grabbed Lara’s arm and demanded hoarsely, “When we were five years old, you said you were the princess and I was the prince. You said you would marry me. So why did you leave without a word?”

A chill ran down my spine.

After he sobered up, we had a huge fight. I asked him who exactly had his heart, but he said I was overthinking things. He told me I knew the answer, that if Lara had never left back then, I would never have had the chance to cross paths with him at all.

It wasn’t until the day Lara posted on social media saying she wanted to get married that Hudson finally ended our fight by going down on one knee and asking if I would marry him. Ridiculously, I was overjoyed. I thought that in the end, he had chosen me. So, with tears in my eyes, I said yes, and now, this absurd relationship was finally coming to an end.

When I came back to my senses, I realized I had walked much farther than I intended. Suddenly, loud voices reached my ears.

“Hudson! You can’t back out of Truth or Dare! Lara is getting impatient!”

At the entrance of a nearby karaoke bar, Hudson was surrounded by a group of people. He was gripping Lara’s hand tightly as he shouted at the top of his lungs, “Lara is the only person I love!”

He shouted it three times, each time louder than the last and more certain than before. Soon, passersby all along the street had stopped to watch.