When Mimi ran off again, Madeline said slowly and surely, "Mimi was my birthday gift. It's just that I was immunocompromised at that time, and I'd get itchy rashes all over my skin as soon as Mimi came near me.

"My boyfriend felt sorry for me, so we decided to give Mimi away, although it broke our hearts. He told me that he'd given it to his old college friend. Turns out, it's you!

"Maybe I should reintroduce myself to you, Ms. Houston."

Madeline then straightened her clothes and flashed Lacey a smile as she formally said, "Hello, my name is Madeline Carlton, and I'm Timothy Bloomberg's girlfriend."

Lacey looked elsewhere and said faintly, "Ha, I never thought you'd be smarter than I imagined."

Madeline chuckled self-deprecatingly and said, "Well, if my boyfriend's ex-girlfriend did everything she could to make public appearances with him, made up random excuses every time to call him away, or even pretended to bump into the actual girlfriend and called it a coincidence… Any woman with a sixth sense would be able to figure it out at once. You must have really thought I was daft."

Madeline said everything in an unhurried way, the corners of her lips lifting upward in a half-smile.

Sure, she'd already decided to leave Timothy before this, but it didn't mean she'd allow herself to be belittled or picked on by Lacey.

"Ms. Houston, I don't know what motive you have in trying to get close to me. Is this premeditated 'coincidence' a special way you use to make friends?"

Lacey couldn't hold back anymore. "What do you mean by that?"

Madeline shrugged. "Nothing. I don't care about your past with Timothy, but I hope you stop disgusting me with whatever is going on between you and him right now. If you keep loitering around and appearing in my life like a homeless stray again, I swear that I will not be treating you as civilly as I am right now."

Her tone was hostile and aggravating, but her eyes were still smiling at Lacey. The stark contrast was enough to send a chill down anyone else's spine.

She turned to leave, but Lacey called out to her, her expression calm. "I pity you."

"What did you say?" Madeline said, stopping and turning back.

Lacey got to her feet so she was on eye-level with Madeline. Then, she repeated in her infuriatingly soft and gentle voice. "I said that I pity you.

"You keep saying that you're Timothy's girlfriend, but that's all that you're ever going to be. What else do you have other than that empty label? Do you dare to bet that he's truly in love with you? Have you ever truly owned his heart?"

Madeline wanted to slap Lacey out of instinct, but she suppressed it with all her might.

She stilled for a few seconds, her raised hand clenching and unclenching in silence.

"I think you're the pitiful one instead," Madeline said. "You sacrificed your dignity and the most basic human decency to try and rob other people of their boyfriends. How shameless is that?

"As for whether or not he truly loves me, or if I've ever owned his heart—I honestly don't know. But I do know that at least, you still don't have it yet."

Madeline turned around to face Lacey and punctuated each of her next words. "As long as I am still dating Timothy, you will forever be his shameful side piece."

Lacey's face paled. All sorts of colorful words and curses immediately appeared in her head as she felt immense hate and discomfort toward Madeline. However, Lacey ultimately listened to her rationale and suppressed them all.

Madeline's eyes shone victoriously when she saw that Lacey was beginning to lose her composure. She then waved at Lacey and said, "See you, Ms. Houston."

The way back home was supposed to be short, but it felt long for Madeline. She kept walking away as her smug facial expression gradually faded away.

The smile on her face disappeared. She drew her lips in a thin line and bit on them as a sad expression gradually took over. She wanted to pretend that she was happy, but it just turned out weird.

Had she truly won in that exchange just now?

If she hadn't won, then why did she feel so good about it?

But if she had won, then why did her heart still hurt so much?

After getting back home, Madeline stared at the lit-up night light by her bed while a flash of sadness appeared in her eyes.

There was a picture of a couple leaning against each other on the night light, reminding her of the times when Timothy used to protect her in his arms back in their earlier days.

However, everything was now in the past. Madeline just sighed softly before turning off the night light.

She found the suitcase she used when she was a college student. If she was going to be stationed overseas at a project site, she didn't need to bring with her any of her non-essential belongings.

She hadn't packed the daily necessities in the room yet. However, she began packing all of her other items into her suitcase.

There was a lucky amulet on the glass shelf that Timothy had gotten for her in Icehill, and a bottle of perfume that he had personally concocted for her in Furlough.

Plenty of other limited releases, luxury items, jewelry, and even designer clothing were laid down on their bed.

Needless to say, Timothy had been very generous in showering her with all sorts of expensive gifts.

"Maddie, I can give you the entire world if that's what you want.

"Maddie, this will be our home from now on!"

"Maddie, you used to be alone in the past, but it's not the same anymore. You've got me now."

Madeline felt as though she could still hear those touching words from him. However, the more she thought of it, the more hilarious and pathetic she realized it was.

She grabbed a pair of scissors and destroyed all of the jewelry and designer clothing that she hadn't even touched before throwing them into the trash. Every snip was firm and decisive.

The suitcase started filling up with her belongings, but ironically, her heart grew emptier instead. It felt as though a hole had been torn in the walls of her heart, and a cold draft was blowing in through that hole.

She suppressed the melancholy in her heart and opened the bottom drawer of her dresser. There was a diary inside with yellowing pages, filled with her younger self's handwriting as they jotted down memories of her childhood.

The contents of the diary started off being about mundane bits and pieces in her life. Gradually, the messy handwriting turned neater, and the pages began describing more and more of her interactions and daily musings about Timothy.

Madeline flipped through the pages one by one, her vision gradually blurring with tears. The last page was a line from Timothy, written there after their high school graduation, just before he flew abroad for college.

"Maddie, don't forget to eat healthily and live happily while I'm overseas. Take good care of yourself. If anyone dares to bully you, you can just tell me and I'll immediately fly back to beat them up for you."

Two teardrops slid down silently and dripped onto the diary page, smudging the writing.

Madeline put her thoughts away and suppressed the noise in her head. Then, she tore every page and letter in that diary into tiny pieces.

With every page torn from her diary, that meant another memory with Timothy had also been destroyed. After tearing through every single page, she threw the scrap papers into a box and sealed it up.

Then, she brought the box downstairs and threw it out. She wanted to erase every last trace of her existence, including the memories she once shared with him.

Possibly due to the constant stress from the last two days, or maybe it was the change in the weather—but ever since throwing the memories away, Madeline couldn't stop shaking.

Her stomach also started hurting from time to time. Thinking that it was just her period arriving earlier than usual, Madeline went on a hunt for a cafe nearby to grab a warm, soothing drink.

However, as soon as she reached the cafe entrance, she suddenly found the two people sitting by the window looking a little more than familiar.

Timothy, who was supposed to be away right now, was currently on a date with Lacey.

Madeline felt her heart lurch. She froze in her spot on instinct. It wasn't until she snapped back to her senses that she walked slowly to the corner and stood there, watching them.

Timothy wasn't wearing his formal suit today. He was in casual clothing instead, wearing a baggy gray jersey with a pair of black leather shoes on his feet. He had a suitcase right next to him too, so he must have just gotten off his flight and come here at once.

Madeline didn't know what they were talking about because of the window between them. However, judging from the fond look on Timothy's face, they seemed very happy to be together.

Timothy held Lacey's hand in his own almost too naturally at this point. Every intimate action between them both was like driving a spear through Madeline's eyes.

He had just called her and told her that he wouldn't be back for another few days. But minutes later, she caught him red-handed on a date with another woman. What was going on? Did Timothy like going out behind her back now?

Madeline's hand, still holding her phone, began to shake. She looked up again and immediately was met with Timothy's smiling eyes, just as he looked at Lacey with great fondness. Suddenly, his eyes flashed with a hint of anxiety when he saw Madeline.

She felt as though someone was crushing her heart from the inside. It hurt so badly that she clutched a hand to her left chest and gasped for breath, unable to breathe.

Timothy sensed something was off and bolted out. "Maddie, what's wrong?"

The concern in his eyes didn't seem faked. It was almost as if he would die on the spot if something were to go wrong with Madeline. He was seemingly desperately in love with her, yet he was also the one who'd kept so many things from her.

Madeline tried to rein in her emotions. "Nothing's wrong. I just couldn't catch my breath for a second."

She looked up at him. "Weren't you away on a business trip? What are you doing here?"

Timothy looked rather diffident as he smiled and said, "I wanted to surprise you. I didn't expect you to run right into me."

He helped rub her chest. Then, he took her home so she could rest until he was sure she was fine.

On the way home, he kept talking about interesting things he'd noticed, not mentioning Lacey even once. However, nothing he said cheered Madeleine up.

He asked carefully, "Maddie, are you angry?"

"No," she said, finally breaking her silence. "I'm just thinking about an article I read today."

Timothy looked relieved. He smiled and asked, "What was it about?"

Madeline turned to look into his eyes. "The man and the woman in the article were initially very much in love, but the man later fell for someone else…"

She scrutinized him, wanting to catch even the most minute changes in his expression. However, he hastily cut her off before she could continue. "You're the woman I love most, Maddie. I swear I won't betray you."

He sounded confident and assuring, but the words only made her feel like she'd been stabbed in the heart. He claimed he loved her, yet he'd still cheated…

Timothy put his things down when they got home. Then, he looked around and frowned. "Why do I feel like many things are gone?"

Madeline said, "We weren't using them, and they were only taking up space. I cleared them out."

He nodded, taking her word for good. He didn't notice the mockery in her eyes deepen.

Timothy was perceptive, and he usually noticed even the slightest change at home. Yet now, his senses seemed to have dulled when it came to her.

In truth, if he took a closer look, he would realize that the things that had been cleared out were all Madeline's. It all boiled down to the fact that he didn't care.

But after that day, Timothy seemed to become a different person. He turned down dinner plans with his friends and came home on time every day after work. When he returned, he would bring Madeline her favorite chestnut cake.

Meanwhile, to avoid alerting him and letting him learn that she was planning to leave, she started learning how to care for him.

She would tie his tie for him before he left for work every morning. He was tall, so she had to stand on her tiptoes to reach him. Whenever this happened, he would chuckle and lean down slightly to kiss her.

They acted like a genuinely loving couple, not knowing that each harbored their own intentions.

The illusion didn't last long. On Joseph's birthday, Madeline went to the parking lot to wait for Timothy after getting off work. They'd agreed to head over together.

However, he never showed, nor did he reply to her messages. It was only when she was almost going to be late that she headed upstairs to his office to look for him.

It was empty—no one was in sight. Madeline's expression darkened slightly as she asked an employee who was still working. "Where's Timothy?"

The employee was taken aback. "Mr. Bloomberg left ages ago. He was with his girlfriend, Lacey Houston."

Madeline swayed on her feet. Did everyone at the company already know that Timothy and Lacey were an item?