Even after graduation, our relationship stayed strong. He remained in Capital City to start his business while I went back home to find work.

This year, our families had already begun discussing wedding dates.

I'd resigned before the New Year specifically so I could move to Capital City afterward and find a job here. We'd never have to be apart again.

Now, all of that had turned to ash.

Kevin had found another girl—one he wanted to bring home to meet his parents.

He'd even started to despise me.

The words I'd once spoken to comfort him, tearing open my own wounds in the process—he'd turned them into jokes to share with someone else.

Darkness fell. The streets emptied.

I found a random hotel nearby.

I'd barely settled in when my phone lit up.

A message from Mom.

Sweetie, have you eaten yet? Dinner here is amazing!

A photo of the New Year's Eve feast followed.

Relatives crowded around the table, laughing, radiant.

A draft slipped through the hotel window and crept up my sleeves. I shivered.

I swallowed the bitterness rising in my throat and forced my voice to sound normal:

"The food's all ready! We're about to dig in. Don't worry about me."

I couldn't tell her the truth. I couldn't let my parents spend New Year's Eve worrying about me.

I found a random photo of a holiday dinner online and sent it to them.

Then, without thinking, I glanced at my chat with Kevin.

Empty as always.

At midnight, firecrackers erupted outside the window.

The celebration was so loud I couldn't sleep.

Like picking at a wound, I opened Kevin's social media, searching for any trace of his betrayal I might have missed.

He'd hidden it well. He'd kept her completely shielded.

I scrolled back and forth, over and over.

Finally, in a screenshot of a work group chat, I spotted Camille's username.

A distinctive name.

Something clicked. I searched for it across every platform I could think of.

Among dozens of accounts with similar names, I recognized her instantly.

The profile picture was painfully familiar—it was the matching half of Kevin's avatar.

When Kevin had changed his profile picture, I'd been so happy. I'd searched for the matching one and set it as my own.

His expression had soured.

He said it was just a random image. He didn't want to flaunt our relationship in front of friends and family.

In the end, he'd practically forced me to change it back.

Camille's account had only a handful of followers.

But hundreds of posts—chronicling her love story with Kevin.

It had started last May. That's when the first hints appeared.

Poor boss has been stuck at the office for a month straight, eating nothing but takeout. I brought him some homemade chicken soup today, and he actually teared up. Makes you wonder what kind of girlfriend he has.

That was when Kevin's father had broken his leg.

To let Kevin focus on the company without distraction, none of us had told him.

I'd taken a full month off work. I'd run myself ragged caring for Ronald until he was discharged.

Afterward, my supervisor had quietly removed my name from the promotion list.

Boss pushed back so many projects just to take me on business trips—basically a paid vacation! Being spoiled feels incredible.

That was our ten-year anniversary. It was also my birthday.

I'd pulled an all-nighter to finish a project, scraped together three days off, and planned to surprise him.

He'd told me he had an important business trip. He simply couldn't get out of it.

Boss bought me a designer bag! The charm that came with it was kind of ugly though, so I'm leaving that for him.

I froze.

My eyes drifted to my phone case.

An identical charm dangled there—Kevin's belated birthday gift to me.

I'd treasured it for so long. I'd even covered it with a protective film.

It took me two hours to get through every post on Camille's account.

When I finished, I felt nothing but cold.

Not a single photo showed Kevin's face clearly.

But that familiar hem of his shirt, the matching couple's ring on his finger—every detail screamed the truth about who he was with.

Kevin had been cheating on me for a long time.

In the distance, fireworks exploded into the sky.

I snapped out of my daze, yanked the charm off with all my strength, and hurled it into the trash.

Ding—

Camille had sent something new.

This time, a voice recording.

In it, she asked in that coy, bratty tone of hers:

"Kevin, between me and your girlfriend—who do you love more?"

"Hmm?"

Kevin's voice sounded drowsy. Tender. Intimate.

"You. I love you the most. She can't even compare to you."

"Baby, let's go again, okay?"

The violent rustling of fabric left nothing to the imagination.

I switched off my phone and bolted to the bathroom, retching violently over the sink.

When I finally looked up at the mirror—

Somewhere along the way, tears had soaked my face.

I booked a 7 a.m. train ticket for the next morning without thinking twice.

All I wanted was to get out of this city as fast as possible. Away from Kevin.

I don't remember how I got home.

By the time I came back to myself, it was already the sixth day of the new year.

Mom and Dad could tell something was wrong, but they didn't pry. Instead, they kept buying me little things, trying every trick they knew to coax a smile out of me.

That morning, Mom asked me gently:

"The James family invited you over for dinner. Do you want to go?"

I glanced at my phone.

Kevin had finally replied yesterday.

Two messages.

One was recalled.

The newest one contained a single word:

[Okay.]

I said yes anyway.

Some things just needed to be said face to face.

A crowd had gathered outside the James family's front door.

When they saw me approach, their expressions shifted—strange, loaded looks. Some pitying. Others hungry for drama.

My stomach dropped. The moment I stepped inside, I saw Kevin kneeling in the middle of the living room.

Standing awkwardly beside him was Camille.

Do the math, I thought bitterly. The second he saw my message, he must have rushed to bring her home.

Inside, Mrs. James's face was flushed crimson with rage. Her palm slammed against the table so hard the dishes rattled.

"You ungrateful wretch! How could you do this to Millicent?!"

Kevin looked disheveled, but his jaw was set with stubborn resolve.

"I'll explain everything to her. I don't love her anymore. Camille is my girlfriend now."

My heart clenched like a fist had closed around it.

Hearing him say it out loud—it still shattered me.

Mrs. James let out a laugh of pure disbelief.

"Then by all means, enlighten me. Tell me what's so wonderful about this woman that you'd throw away ten years with Millicent."

Kevin's face lit up, like someone had flipped a switch. Happiness. Sweetness. Devotion.

"She cooks for me. She irons my shirts—the ones that are always wrinkled."

"When the company hit a crisis, she pulled all-nighters with me, stayed by my side through every minute of it."

"Millicent? She just hid away in her hometown. Didn't check on me, didn't care. Couldn't even bring me a hot meal."

"So why should I stay with her?!"

He spoke with such righteous conviction, such passionate certainty.

As if he wasn't just convincing his parents—but himself.

Whispers rippled through the crowd of relatives and neighbors.

"Well, when you put it that way, maybe the Simmons girl really wasn't good enough. Isn't the whole point of dating to have someone who actually cares for you?"

I stopped in my tracks. A bitter lump lodged itself in my throat.

How laughable.

None of them knew—I had planned to stay in Capital City.

The opportunities here were endless. My dream job was everywhere I looked.

But Kevin wanted to start his business, and his parents were worried sick.

His parents were getting older. More than anything, they wanted their son to settle down somewhere close.

To support his dream of starting a business, I abandoned my own plans.

I took an ordinary job and stayed behind in his hometown to look after them.

During the hardest years of his startup, every paycheck I earned went straight to him—every last cent. I lived off his parents, eating their food, sleeping under their roof.

When they got sick, when anything needed handling, I was the one running around taking care of it.

And now, he was telling me he valued another woman's company more.

My nails dug into my palms without my realizing it.

The moment I walked in, Alma hurried over and took my hands.

"I'm so sorry, Millicent. Kevin's just—he's lost his mind. Let me talk some sense into him..."

Kevin's agitation spiked.

"Millicent, you're the one who brought up breaking up! Tell them!" He jabbed a finger toward his parents. "Tell them Camille isn't a homewrecker!"

Ronald James had heard enough. His foot connected with Kevin's chest, sending him sprawling.

"You worthless bastard!"

"Throw that woman out and apologize to Millicent. Now. Or you can get the hell out of this house."

Kevin curled on the floor, too winded to get up.

Camille let out a sharp yelp and scurried over, helping him to his feet. Then she lifted her chin, defiance glittering in her eyes.

"Mr. James, Mrs. James—this is the modern age. People fall in and out of love. Kevin doesn't have feelings for Millicent anymore."

Her gaze slid toward me. Subtle. Calculated.

My stomach dropped.

And then, just as I feared, she raised her voice.

"You can't guilt your son into spending the rest of his life taking care of her just because you feel sorry for what happened to her as a child." Her lips curled. "Because she was violated. That's not fair to him."

The words detonated in my ears like thunder.

Stifled gasps rippled through the crowd.

Every pair of eyes locked onto me. Heads leaned together. Fingers pointed. Whispers slithered.

My mind went blank.

The thing I'd been terrified of my entire life had finally happened.

Fear and fury crashed over me in a single, drowning wave.

I lost control.

I lunged at Camille, shoving her to the ground, my fingers tangling in her hair as we grappled.

A brutal force seized my arm and wrenched me away.

My body slammed into the corner of a table. Pain exploded through me, and my vision went black at the edges.

Kevin pulled Camille into his arms, shielding her. His eyes blazed with rage.

"Have you lost your mind, Millicent?!"

My voice came out raw, shredded. "You didn't see that she did it on purpose?! She said it loud enough for everyone to hear!"

"So what if she did!"

Kevin cut me off, his voice venomous.

"She was telling the truth!"

The murmurs around us sharpened into clarity.

"Oh my god, it's actually true? That poor girl..."

"Still, she shouldn't have hidden it. That's basically tricking an honest man into cleaning up someone else's mess. Making him look like a fool."

Pity. Contempt. The words stabbed into my back like needles.

I swallowed past the lump choking my throat, but tears spilled over anyway.

"I told you about this in confidence," I rasped. "Was that so you could announce it to the whole world?"

The tenderness Kevin used to look at me with was gone. Erased. As if it had never existed.

"You're the one who told me. You clearly didn't care that much about keeping it secret—why should I have to cover for you?"

He wasn't done.

"Besides, how come you're the one this happened to?"

His lip curled.

"Takes two to tango. Maybe if you hadn't dressed so provocatively back then, it wouldn't have—"

CRACK.

Kevin's head snapped to the side. A vivid handprint bloomed across his cheek.

Alma stood there, chest heaving, her palm still raised. Her eyes held nothing but devastation.

"You animal."

"Do you have any idea that what happened to Millicent is because of you?"