My boyfriend of six years, Liam Sherman, proposes to his long-time crush, Vivi Johansen, on my birthday. With that, the passionate love between us is a thing of the past.

I come to my senses and distance myself from him, choosing to put our relationship behind us. As such, I decided to go along with the arranged marriage my family has planned.

In the sixth year of our relationship, I found a gift box containing an engagement ring in the coat pocket of my boyfriend, Liam Sherman.

On the day of my birthday, I was filled with anticipation, only to see a post of him visiting a high-end restaurant frequented by couples with another woman.

I hurriedly took a taxi to that restaurant and personally witnessed him getting down on one knee to propose to someone else. Everyone around them was teasing them, encouraging them to get together.

Even though I was filled with disappointment, I didn't kick up a fuss like before. Instead, I quietly made a call to my father, Adam Southwell.

"I agree to the arranged marriage with the Chandler family, Dad. Let's start preparing for the wedding," I said.

…

After he heard what I said, Adam was stunned, but it was quickly replaced with elation. "It looks like you've finally thought things through, dear Mimi. The most important thing in marriage is to find yourself a good match.

"It's alright if you want to try dating all those average Joes out there, but you can't settle for average for the rest of your life!"

I hummed softly in acknowledgement. As I stood alone in the lobby of the high-end restaurant, I watched Liam and that woman kiss as the crowd erupted.

Amidst the cheering, I remained motionless, my limbs as stiff and heavy as stone.

Adam heard the commotion on my end and urged, "When will you be coming home to meet the young heir of the Chandler family, then? They've been urging us to proceed with the engagement for quite some time."

"Three days later, I'd say. I'll head home immediately after I've tied up all my loose ends here," I replied.

As I hung up, Liam shakily helped the woman put on the ring. He noticed me as he got up, perhaps because I stood out so starkly from the enthusiastic crowd surrounding him.

The two of us gazed at each other through the crowd. Seemingly rather surprised by my presence here, he frowned before leading the woman back to her seat.

Roses, champagne, melodious piano music, and a romantic candlelight dinner… In the six years we'd been together, I'd never had a meal with him in such a place.

I turned to leave. Liam's good friends were all here. In fact, one of them had been the one to make the post I'd seen before.

Before I left, I even heard them wolf-whistling and clapping.

"You two really are a perfect match! After so many years, you've finally gotten together!"

"Come on! Cheers, everyone! Let's drink to the new couple and wish them a happy marriage!"

Inwardly, I smiled bitterly. During the six years I'd been with Liam, none of his good friends even knew about our relationship. Yet, they were all aware of the relationship between him and that woman.

An unnamed bitterness clawed at my heart. The sweet warmth that I'd felt when I first discovered the ring in his pocket had now turned into a bitter coldness.

After taking a taxi home, I saw that a birthday cake had been delivered to the house. The gift card hanging on the outside of the box had Liam's handwriting on it.

It read, "Happy birthday to you, babe. May all your wishes come true."

The deliveryman smiled enviously at me. "Your boyfriend treats you so well, miss. He ordered the most expensive cake in our store and even personally wrote you a message!"

I opened the door and placed the cake on the table without much care. It turned out he still remembered that today was my birthday. Why, then, had he done all that today?

I lay down on the couch as if I've lost my skeleton. I subconsciously started tearing up at the sight of the empty room.

The room was filled with signs of the life we shared together, yet Liam had bought an engagement ring to propose to another woman.

When I looked at the birthday cake now, I simply felt sick to the stomach.

After lying on the couch for a long time, to the point where I'd almost lost track of time, the apartment door was suddenly pushed open.

Liam returned, worn out, while he held a bouquet of fresh flowers in his arms. Then, he walked toward me without any trace of guilt or apology on his face. "I brought you your favorite lisianthuses, Michelle."

lisianthuses, a symbol of loyalty and love. But they looked like nothing but a joke in Liam's arms.

As I took the bouquet from him, Liam assumed that I'd stopped being angry and began to explain himself.

He said, "Vivi has bone cancer, and her only wish is to marry me. I grew up with her, so I can't just not help her attain her wish. I'll be getting engaged to her in three days. You've always been a considerate person, so you surely understand where I'm coming from, right?"

He sounded more like he was informing me of something rather than giving me an explanation.

So, he was going to be engaged to Vivi in three days, was he? It was certainly a coincidence, as I was also preparing to leave in three days.

I nodded silently.

In the past, he hated when I threw tantrums like a spoiled princess. He told me that every time I encountered a trivial problem, I'd try to gain his attention by asking him over and over again whether he loved me. Later, I gradually mended my ways and learned to be tolerant.

Right now, I wasn't making a fuss or forcing him to tell me whether or not he loved me, and it actually made him glance at me with surprise.

"I'll be moving out to live with Vivi tomorrow. You might have to put up with living alone for the next few months. Vivi is sick, so she needs me more than you right now," he said.

I smiled and put the bouquet down. Seeing that I wasn't raising any objections, Liam moved closer to me and tried to touch my face.

I smoothly evaded his grasp. There were still obvious lipstick smudges on his shirt collar, and a sweet perfume invaded my nose, making me gag.

My rejection angered Liam, and he quickly left the apartment without saying anything else.

I, on the other hand, tossed the flowers and cake into the trash. Then, I started packing my things.

I didn't want the flowers, and I no longer wanted Liam either. I no longer had any attachments to this home that I'd lived in for six years.

After I returned to my company the next day, I sat at my station and started to print out my resignation letter.

Liam and I met and fell in love in university. He later started working at a technology company, and I followed him to that same company. I refused my parents' arrangements for me and started working with him from the bottom of the hierarchy.

After I got together with him, I'd also previously hinted at marriage. However, Liam was busy with work and always insisted that he hadn't successfully carved out a career for himself yet.

He said that he was afraid my parents wouldn't be willing to let me, their beloved daughter, marry him. He'd always told me that he wanted to establish a career before starting a family.

In order to avoid burdening him, I had no choice but to tactfully convince my parents not to mention anything about our family background to him. I was afraid that revealing anything about my family origins would put even more pressure on him.

Now, he had become the vice president of the company. The moment I found the ring in his pocket, I'd been expecting him to finally make the decision to propose to me. In the end, it'd all been wishful thinking on my part.

A colleague of mine, Lina Lindsey, walked over and saw the resignation letter on my computer screen.

"Were you not going to be promoted to technical director soon, Michelle? Why are you resigning all of a sudden?" she asked, looking slightly shocked.

I smiled and replied, "I'm going to get married soon. When that time comes, I may switch over to another company."

Lina smiled in return and congratulated me. "Why have there been so many good things happening around our company recently? I also saw Mr. Sherman's post about him getting engaged last night!

"I must say, Mr. Sherman and his girlfriend really are a good match. Apparently, they were also childhood friends who grew up together, and they had mutual crushes on each other."

I suddenly struggled to keep the smile on my face. I used my phone to check and realized that Liam had blocked me on both his main and alt accounts long ago.

Liam's main account was his personal one, and he'd blocked me on it after leaving the apartment last night.

On the other hand, he used his alt account as a business account. When I looked through our private messages, I saw that the only chat history left consisted of some ordinary messages between a superior and his subordinate.

At that moment, Liam walked into the office with Vivi in tow. The two of them stood closely to each other.

Vivi had a rosy complexion and a bright smile on her face, not at all like a sick person.

Liam then introduced her to everyone. "This is the company's new technical director, Vivi Johansen. Let's all get to know each other and work together in harmony from now on."

Lina was stunned. She looked between me and Vivi, then eventually greeted Vivi with a wave. "Hello, Ms. Johansen!"

I didn't say anything, my hands clenching tightly around my resignation letter.

Liam looked at me in displeasure. "Everyone else has already greeted the new technical director, Michelle Southwell. What kind of attitude is that?"

Vivi chuckled and extended a hand. "We'll be working in the same company in the future, so please take good care of me."

Just as I was about to reach my hand out, Liam pulled Vivi's hand back. "You're the technical director. There's no need to care about the feelings of some low-level employee. Let's go. I'll help you familiarize yourself with this new environment."

The two of them then left, leaving me standing where I was with my hand outstretched, looking like a clown.