The next time I saw Serena was at a dinner organized by friends.

Casper sat beside her. When he saw me, he flashed me a provocative smile. "Long time no see, Myles."

The moment Serena noticed me, she looked away, unusually silent.

Casper, however, persisted. "If you're still not over her, just say so. Why are you roping all these people in to help you patch things up with Serena? That's not a great look, Myles."

Benedict Clarke, my friend, immediately flew into a rage and grabbed Casper by the collar.

"Casper, this isn't your place to speak!" he snapped. "Serena, we organized this dinner for a reason. Do you really not get what this is about? You brought him here on purpose, just to rub it in everyone's faces, didn't you?"

Casper looked frightened and turned to Serena with a pitiful expression. "This is my fault. I shouldn't have come. If Myles is upset, he can take it out on me. Please don't get mad at Serena because of this…"

His little act instantly set Benedict off. Just as he was about to lash out, Serena stood up and positioned herself protectively in front of Casper.

"From now on, Casper's my partner. Don't you dare say a word against him. Myles, if you want to make things difficult for Casper, take it up with me. He isn't as shameless as you. He's not someone people can trample whenever they feel like it."

The color drained from everyone's faces. No one had expected that, this time, the divorce between Serena and me was real.

I watched her shield Casper, and for a brief moment, I was pulled back into the past.

She used to stand in front of me like that, too.

Back then, when my family refused to let us be together, she had taken the lashes that were meant for me. Her back had been torn open, blood soaking through her clothes. Even so, she still smiled at me through the pain, wiping away my tears.

"You're a grown man," she'd said. "Why are you crying? I'll prove to them that I'm good enough for you and that I won't let you down."

Now, the person she was protecting had changed.

After everything, the one who'd been betrayed was me.

Benedict finally lost it and surged forward, raising his hand to slap Casper.

I was just about to stop him when Casper suddenly covered his face and stumbled backward on his own, blood suddenly appearing at the corner of his mouth.

Serena instantly exploded, her gaze dark as she stared at Benedict. "Have I been too accommodating to the Clarke family all these years that you've forgotten who you're dealing with?"

Benedict froze. He didn't expect her to mean it this time.

Ever since Serena and I had gotten married, the Jacobs family had never been stingy when it came to investing in the Clarkes' projects.

Business ties like that ran deep. No matter how ugly things got between Serena and me in the past, business was always left untouched.

Benedict had never imagined she would threaten him over Casper.

The Clarke family was in the middle of bidding for an important piece of land. They couldn't afford to have funding pulled at a time like this.

Benedict's face flushed red with anger. I quickly pulled him behind me and bowed deeply to Serena and Casper.

"Benedict acted on impulse because he was defending me. I apologize on his behalf."

The room fell silent.

No one could've imagined that someone who used to be domineering and arrogant would one day bow his head to the person who had destroyed his marriage.

Benedict looked torn and opened his mouth to speak, but Serena cut him off.

She stared at me, her gaze burning. "An apology isn't enough to brush this aside. Casper and I are about to be married. How is he supposed to hold his head up in our circle after this debacle?"

My stomach had already begun to spasm. I only wanted to end this as quickly as possible.

I sighed. "Then what do you want me to do?"

Serena raised an eyebrow. She opened a bottle of liquor, filled a glass to the brim, and handed it to me. "Drink this, and let Casper see how sincere you really are."

Benedict couldn't take it anymore and reached out to stop me, but I held him back firmly.

I lifted my head, smiled at Casper, whose face was still bruised, and raised my glass.

"Casper, I'm sorry. I hope you and Serena grow old together and have a long, happy marriage."

With that, I drained the glass in one go.

The alcohol burned its way down my throat. My stomach flared with a sharp, searing pain so intense that my body shook. I had to grip the edge of the table just to stay on my feet.

As she watched me down the drink, Serena's expression darkened. She knew my stomach couldn't handle alcohol, and she knew how much I hated Casper.

That was why she'd made this demand in the first place. It was all to indulge her own cruel sense of amusement.

These games had played out between us countless times over the past ten years.

But this time, I didn't resist and took everything head-on.

Her face tightened. She grabbed Casper's hand and stormed out, slamming the door behind them.

As I watched their figures disappear, my vision blurred. I heard Benedict shout my name, and then I collapsed.

When I woke up, Benedict, a man who'd always prided himself on being staunch and iron-willed, was crying so hard that he'd completely lost all composure.

"Why didn't you tell us sooner?" he asked hoarsely. "Why didn't you say you were sick? Why did you give up treatment?"

I smiled faintly and reached up to wipe away his tears.

I was too far gone. In whatever time I had left, I didn't want to lose the last scraps of my pride, clinging to life in a hospital bed.

Benedict wiped his face, determined to find Serena.

"Didn't you end up with cancer because you drank and stayed up all night for Serena? Now she's turned her life around, even sent out wedding invitations, and you're lying here waiting for death. How is that fair?"

That was when I noticed an envelope by the bedside. I picked it up and opened it.

It was a wedding invitation. Serena and Casper were leaning close together in the photo, looking every bit like a well-matched couple.

I stared at it, then suddenly coughed up a mouthful of blood.

"Don't go looking for her," I said. "Everything I did back then was my own choice. The divorce was my decision too."

Benedict supported me as he continued cursing Serena under his breath.

Back then, when the Jacobs family collapsed overnight, the engagement between Serena and me was called off. Even so, I'd loved her. No matter how severely my family punished me, I refused to let go of her hand.

She had always been a proud little princess. But for my sake, she'd been beaten until she was covered in wounds and waited in the rain all night.

I'd rushed into the downpour to shield her, only to come down with a raging fever the next day.

My parents finally relented.

Despite how weak I was, I started taking Serena to cocktail parties, searching for opportunities and partnerships.

In public, I never mentioned how much I helped her because I wanted to protect her pride. Behind the scenes, I bowed and scraped before potential partners to secure deals for her.

Everyone knew how prideful the eldest son of the Spencer family was, so they jeered and forced drinks on me relentlessly.

For Serena, I endured it all, drinking until my stomach bled. Eventually, she made her comeback, and we married as we'd always planned.

After we married, though, she never spoke of everything I'd done for her.

I understood her pride and respected her self-esteem. I would rather we both held our heads high than be the first to give in.

That was until the Spencer family ran into cash flow trouble, and she refused to help. Instead, she frowned at me and asked, "Myles, were you only with me back then so you could use me to bail your family out one day?"

My pride wouldn't allow me to ask again. So, I turned to cooperation with the Larsen family.

The moment Yvette and I were seen entering a hotel together, Serena misunderstood everything. She didn't even come to me for an explanation, and rumors about her and male celebrities spread almost immediately.

I knew she was acting out of anger, but she was the one who'd started it. Why should I be the one to explain myself?

Thus, I drifted through a sea of women, while she surrounded herself with male escorts.

Then, at a restaurant, in front of everyone, Serena wore a gentle smile on her face as she sang a birthday song to Casper.

She knew that the restaurant was where I'd celebrated my 21st birthday. She also remembered how I'd been surrounded by people back then, and how she'd sung to me before confessing her feelings.

The sparkle in her eyes that night had stayed with me for ten years.

Now, as I held the diagnosis report for my stomach cancer, all I could think about was how absurd those ten years had been.

Was it really all because of a birthday song?

Not entirely.

All of a sudden, I felt like I just didn't have the strength to keep fighting.

"Benedict, for whatever time I have left, I just want to be alone."

After Serena realized I had blocked her, she assumed it was just another round of me playing hard to get.

"Myles has hit his limit. Without me, he doesn't have much of a life left. Just wait until the wedding. He'll show up on his own."

The night before the wedding, she still acted relaxed in front of her friends.

Only she knew how unsettled she felt each time she opened her messages and saw that harsh red exclamation mark next to my name.

No matter how bad our fights had been in the past, I had never cut contact like this.

Had she gone too far this time?

But the divorce had been my decision.

"Serena," someone said. "Myles couldn't be contacted for a while now. Aren't you worried something might've happened?"

She snapped out of her thoughts and gave a short, humorless laugh. "He knows that trick doesn't work on me anymore, so now he's trying something else. Don't worry. Tomorrow, he won't be able to stay away."

As long as I was willing to back down first, she believed she could end things with Casper and reluctantly forgive me.

We had been locked in this cycle for more than ten years, and the truth was, she was exhausted too.

All Serena wanted was for me to be the one who gave in and coaxed her. How hard could that be?

Instead, I'd chosen the worst possible timing to talk about divorce, as if I genuinely believed she wouldn't bear to leave me.

Even so, she felt like something important was slipping out of reach, and her heart pounded uncontrollably.

Serena drank nonstop, trying to numb herself.

Her friends noticed the shift in her mood and sighed.

"We've watched you two go back and forth for years," one of them said. "Are you really ready to walk away from Myles? Don't forget. He was the one who stood by you through everything back then."

At the mention of that, her expression turned cold.

"It's getting late, Serena. We have a wedding tomorrow. We should head back," Casper said. He appeared at just the right moment and helped her up.

He had overheard plenty. My disappearance thrilled him as much as it terrified him.

If I had really left for good, that would be perfect. After all, he couldn't have me showing up tomorrow and ruining his wedding.

…

The next day, Serena remained distracted, her eyes drifting repeatedly toward the entrance.

She had sent out invitations everywhere. As long as I was still alive, she was certain one of them would reach me.

She was convinced I would come. After all, I had spent ten years of my life on her and sacrificed my reputation for her sake.

There was nowhere else for me to go. She didn't believe I would actually turn around and choose Yvette.

Watching her lose focus, Casper grew anxious. Still, he kept his voice gentle, trying to draw her attention back to him.

"Serena, today is our long-awaited wedding. I know Myles hurt you before. From now on, I'll do my best to give you a normal life, alright?"

He looked at her earnestly, but her expression darkened in an instant.

"What happened between Myles and me isn't for you to comment on!" she snapped.

Casper froze, caught off guard. He couldn't understand what he'd said wrong. Even now, was I still taboo?

She brushed past him and went straight to the entrance, choosing to wait there herself.

Just as she expected, she saw Benedict approaching.

In her mind, I was still too proud, still unwilling to give in, and choosing instead to send someone else. As long as I apologized properly, she told herself, forgiveness wasn't impossible.

She glanced at Benedict, smugness flickering in her eyes. "What's wrong? Is Myles too miserable to show his face, so he sent you to crash my wedding instead?"

Benedict sneered and threw a piece of paper at her face. "Myles isn't coming. You can go ahead with the wedding. Ms. Jacobs, no one is going to play these pointless games with you anymore."

With that, he staggered away.

Serena picked up the piece of paper in disbelief.

It was my funeral announcement.