When I was locked in the elevator, suffering from claustrophobia and difficulty breathing and then collapsed to the ground, Lucas was in the office, flirting and laughing with the new secretary.

Even when his assistant told him that I had been rushed to the hospital for emergency treatment, he still couldn't tear his gaze away from the secretary's face for even a second.

On the way home from the hospital, I saw a wedding photo of him and the secretary in the car.

Before I could ask, Lucas swatted my hand away and coldly scolded me, "Who allowed you to touch my things?"

I softly said sorry, my gaze fixed on the engagement ring on my middle finger.

Then, without a word, I opened the window and threw it out. If it didn't belong to me, then let it be given to someone else.

——

As soon as the driver parked the car, Lucas couldn't wait to slam the door and rush into the house.

He threw the medicine I got from the hospital at my face. "If you knew you had claustrophobia, why didn't you take the stairs? You're wasting my time."

Saying this, Lucas carefully put the wedding photo with Mary into his bag.

Earlier, in the office, Mary had seen the wedding photo of me and Lucas on my phone screen. After I left, she whispered in Lucas’s ear, begging him to take a photo with her before the wedding, treating it as a birthday gift for this year.

To my surprise, Lucas agreed and treasured that photo as if it were something precious. Just a moment ago, he coldly scolded me for accidentally brushing against him in the car.

Ever since the new secretary started working in Lucas’s office, I often found myself arguing with him because of her inappropriate behavior. But this time, I didn’t react at all and didn’t even ask a single question.

I withdrew my gaze and calmly said, "Sorry, but your office is on the twenty-third floor."

Hearing this, Lucas paused for a moment, his eyes filled with irritation as he looked at me. "You're really useless."

The next second, his phone rang. It was a ringtone unlike any other, recorded specifically by Mary.

On the other end, the girl was crying, pleading for Lucas’s help. She was scared because the power at her place was out and it was raining outside.

If someone could just go to her house and keep her company, she would be so touched that she would offer herself to him, never wanting to leave his side.

As expected, just after the call ended, Lucas walked straight past me toward the door.

Without a single word of explanation, he left.

Listening to the car engine start outside, I found a lighter in the drawer and, without hesitation, set fire to the half-written wedding invitations in the box.

In the middle of the night, as I was packing up my belongings from Lucas’s house, I received a text message.

[Zinnia, I drank too much.]

Every time Lucas went out for business dinners or gatherings with friends and drank, he would ask me to pick him up. I used to think it was his way of introducing me to his friends. But now, thinking about it carefully, it was just because I was always available—a free, dependable caretaker.

I tossed my phone back onto the sofa, acting as if I hadn’t seen the message at all.

When I lay down in bed, a photo Mary posted on social media caught my attention. In the photo, Lucas was looking at her with a slightly tipsy gaze, his eyes full of affection and flirtation.

She had captioned it. [In his eyes, there are not only stars but also love.]

Many of Lucas’s employees liked and commented on the post. Seeing this, I tapped the “like” button as well. To my surprise, the employees who had liked it quickly withdrew their likes one by one. I couldn’t help but laugh, then set my phone down and drifted into a deep sleep.

Lucas returned early the next morning, just in time to see me having breakfast at the table.

He snatched the spoon from my hand, his gaze cold. "Didn't you see my message?"

I shook my head and he tossed the spoon back into my bowl, splashing soup onto my clothes.

I knew why he was so angry. In the past, if he didn’t come home at night, I would keep messaging him without waiting for him to contact me first. Not seeing his message would have been unheard of.

Ignoring him, I wiped my mouth and was about to go upstairs to change, but Lucas called out to stop me.

"Zinnia, have you finished writing our invitations? Don’t miss anyone on the list—those are important clients."

Then he changed his mind. "Forget it, you probably don’t understand anyway. Let me take a look."

My eyes fell on the ashes by the door that I hadn’t taken out yet. Just as I was about to confess, Mary’s special ringtone went off again.

Lucas, not caring that I was right in front of him, took the call without hesitation.

"Don’t worry, I’ll bring it to you soon, silly girl."

I turned and went back to my room, swallowing the words I’d wanted to say. Hearing the closet door close, I remembered the ashes by the door and went downstairs to throw them out.

It was raining outside and from the corner of my eye, I noticed an umbrella left on a chair, so I picked it up.

Just as I took a couple of steps out, Lucas’s scolding voice came from behind.

"Zinnia, do you just love touching other people’s things? Such poor manners. Didn’t your mother teach you better?"

Before I could react, he slapped my hand holding the umbrella. I winced in pain as the umbrella fell to the ground, leaving me standing there, drenched.

"I... I’m your fiancée. Can’t I at least use an umbrella?" I asked.

He looked unfazed, even letting out a cold laugh. "Don’t think being my fiancée gives you the right to test my patience."

With that, he didn’t spare me another glance. He picked up the umbrella, pushed my shoulder aside and headed straight to the garage.

Facing another cold response from Lucas, a wave of exhaustion and heartbreak washed over me. Back in my room, I lay in the bathtub, absentmindedly opening Instagram.

This time, Mary hadn’t posted in her story. Instead, she sent me a direct message.

[Zinnia, I’m so sorry you got caught in the rain. Lucas was just worried I might get wet since I didn’t have an umbrella.]

So that’s it. No wonder Lucas was so upset. When it came to Mary, I was always the one left behind.

I focused on the first message Mary sent me:

[Zinnia, you’re so lucky to have such a great boyfriend like Lucas! I really envy you!]

I couldn't help but laugh at myself. It turned out that she had already had a crush on Lucas at that time.

[As long as you’re happy.]

After replying, I went through my profile and deleted all the engagement photos I had pinned, including the one featuring Lucas.

As the elevator doors opened, before I could step out, I saw Lucas and Mary walking ahead of me.

Lucas had one arm around Mary as they playfully teased each other while walking. When they spotted me, Mary pretended to be angry, struggling to break free from Lucas’s embrace, but he pulled her back effortlessly.

“Zinnia, you have to help me! Lucas is being such a pain and insists on me carrying him!”

Before I could respond, Lucas smiled and patted Mary on the head. “If you keep calling me a pain, then I won’t take you out for dinner or buy you a bag later.”

With that, he made her so flustered that she couldn’t say anything in return. Then, when he turned to me, his gaze was filled with impatience.

“What are you doing here? Didn’t I tell you not to come looking for me if nothing’s important? And don’t bring me food; it creates a bad impression.”

In the past, I would bring Lucas’ meals just to spend more time with him. The last time I did that, he finally snapped and dumped the food into the trash can in front of his assistant.

I thought maybe I had cooked poorly and I held back my tears. Then I suggested we go eat at the restaurant downstairs instead. But he still refused.

“Oh, come on, Lucas! What are you talking about? Zinnia is just concerned about you.” Mary chimed in, pulling away from Lucas to take my hand. “Let’s go eat together!”

“I’m here to deliver the company project documents.”

Seeing me brush off Mary's hand, Lucas’s expression darkened immediately. His gaze fell on the documents I was holding.

“Give it to me.”

Just as I was about to hand the documents to him, he suddenly pulled his hand back and suddenly let out a cold laugh. The documents fell to the floor in a mess.

Mary feigned surprise and looked down at me, her eyes filled with smugness and provocation.

“You can’t even hold onto a document properly? Pick it up and put it on my desk. I’ll take her to eat first.”

I knew that Lucas was just taking out his frustrations on me for Mary’s sake. He couldn’t stand to see his flustered secretary being neglected by me and didn’t even bother to ask if I had eaten.

I silently picked up the documents from the floor and called a real estate agent. “Hello, please help me find a new house as soon as possible.”

That evening, Lucas surprisingly returned home early. He came over and pulled out a brand-new dress. Just an hour ago, I received a message from his number.

[The dress is beautiful, but unfortunately, it’s not my size. I’ll let Lucas give it to you.]

Then came the photo Mary had secretly taken of Lucas trying on a suit.

This suit looked familiar. I suddenly remembered it was the one I had specifically ordered for him to wear at our wedding.

A week ago, I had tried to persuade Lucas several times to go suit shopping with me, but he had refused each time, saying he was too busy with work. I never expected he would go to the suit store with Mary instead.

“Here, I bought this just for you. It should suit you perfectly,” Lucas’s voice pulled me back to reality.

I thanked him flatly, not even bothering to look at him.

Lucas seemed surprised by my reaction. In his mind, I should be excited and running up to hug him.

“You’re acting like this when I’m being nice to you?” he asked.

I didn’t respond to him but continued typing up my resignation message on my phone. The company still had business dealings with Lucas, after all.