The wedding banquet was in progress. Suddenly, my fiancé’s cell phone rang. He said, “Regina… I am busy, you can take care of the rest.” Without saying anything, he left in a hurry.

The guests’ eyes were full of sympathy.

I stood up slowly and raised the wine glass. “Everyone, eat and drink well. Let’s have a divorce banquet.”

He and I did not get a marriage certificate. It couldn’t be considered a divorce banquet, but it ended perfectly.

Regina… This name was synonymous with Cecil’s childhood sweetheart to me.

On the way home from working overtime until late at night, I accidentally ran into Cecil and Regina huddled on the sofa, eating crayfish. He had his back to me.

Regina’s hand was casually placed on his shoulder. Seeing me, she smiled and slowly withdrew her hand.

Cecil, wearing the pajamas I gave him, with his chest muscles looming, muttered in dissatisfaction, “What a bummer.”

“Did you go shopping today?” I asked casually, but I already had the answer in my mind.

I was reminded of the 275 dollars card consumption reminder on the phone. It was a pair of men’s underwear. And I could only afford the kind that cost 1.38 dollars for 3 pairs on Amazon.

Regina’s eyes were a little provocative. “Miriam, does Cecil need to report to you when he goes out?”

I didn’t say much, picked up my bag and went straight back to the company.

“You’re right.” Cecil sneered and threw a bag of potato chips. “Waste.”

That was our first cold war.

For a full half month, I spent sleepless nights in the company.

Until, he sent a text message: [I have a fever.] He also attached a photo of him receiving an IV in the hospital.

I knew that he was giving me a way out. For Cecil, who always controlled the overall situation, this was rare tenderness.

He was my first love. As long as he was happy, I was willing to be humble. But now, my heart could no longer be rippled.

“I’ll go there after get off work.”

Cecil kept calling. I simply turned it to flight mode.

After getting off work, I turned on my phone. What greeted me was not a gentle hug, but Cecil’s rapid-fire reproaches.

Text messages came like a tide and every word was heart-wrenching.

Cecil: [Miriam, are you joking?]

Cecil: [You didn’t come when I was sick and work is more important than me?]

Cecil: [I drove to the hospital, but I didn’t find anyone.]

I asked the nurse where Cecil was, but I got an impatient glance from the other party. “He left with his girlfriend.”

I chuckled and turned away. The strange thing was, when I heard others say that Regina was his girlfriend, I was not angry.

After leaving the hospital, I called Cecil. He refused to answer as if in revenge. Finally, he simply blocked me.

Regina’s Instagram story were updated. It was the coconut chicken restaurant I had booked. Today, Cecil and Regina were sitting there.

“It’s so nice to drink a bowl of chicken soup with the one you love.”

The photo showed two bowls of coconut chicken soup and next to them were Cecil’s car keys.

I waited until late at night. The door was opened by Regina with a key. Cecil’s cheeks were flushed and the two hugged each other tightly.

“When did you get the key?”

She was stunned for a moment and then laughed disdainfully.

“Cecil gave it to me. There is no distinction between he and me, between us. He also has the key to my house.”

I ignored her. She muttered a few words and slammed the door.

I sat by the bed, quietly looking at him sleeping soundly, with mixed feelings in my heart.

In the middle of the night, he woke up in a daze and screamed in fear. “You scared me to death! What are you doing here in the middle of the night?” He complained, kicked me and asked me to get some water.

I didn’t ask the question after all.

“If you don’t go home tonight, where will you go?” Because I knew that the answer would only make myself more embarrassed.

He used to live a good life for the two of us. I worked day and night in the company. I got stomach problems. I tried to get his affirmation through the phone.

“Just take some medicine, it’s not a serious illness.” There was a cold busy tone on the other end of the phone.

Not long after, Regina posted a new update on her circle of friends. It was a close photo of her and Cecil. The two smiled as sweet as honey, as if announcing their happiness to the world.

I thought I would be heartbroken, but I unexpectedly calmed down. I began to carefully examine every detail of the background of the photo. That place was a location with a staggering consumption level. I remember that Regina did not have a stable job.

As expected, then the credit card spending records came flooding in. I contacted the bank immediately to freeze my supplementary card under Cecil’s name.

My phone rang almost immediately.

“Miriam, are you crazy? Are you trying to embarrass me?” On the other end of the phone, Cecil’s voice was angry. “Transfer me money quickly! Everyone is watching!”

I didn’t respond. I just silently liked the story. Then, I hung up the phone.

This man took my money to coax other women.

In the following days, I went to the hospital to get some medicine. Then, I found my boss.

“Boss, I heard that the company has an opportunity for transferring, can you consider me?”

These years, for Cecil, I would rather work overtime than to get transferred.

This time, I decided to change. I packed my luggage very quickly. A few pieces of clothing, necessary documents.

I put the house key on the shoe cabinet. This little nest that once belonged to us was now a thing of the past.

The fifth day after arriving, Cecil’s phone call arrived as expected, full of reproaches and abuse.

“Miriam, you have grown braver, huh? Who gave you the courage to leave?”

He finally realized that I was no longer in the same place. These days, Regina and he partied every night and I had long been forgotten in a corner of the world.

“I have something else to do, I’ll hang up first.” After saying that, I directly added his number to the blacklist.

The work pressure in the new environment was huge and a good deal of knowledge needed to be learned from scratch.

When I walked out of the company after work at two o’clock in the morning, my cell phone screen lit up.

Regina’s new dynamic came into view. In a hotel, she was soaking in a bathtub, holding a cup of coffee and the reflection of her shadow was two.

“Hot spring hotel, hot spring bath is comfortable.”

No other common friends liked it. Obviously, this was sent specifically for me to see.

I sneered and closed it. I recognized the hotel, so I sent them a “surprise” by asking someone to run errands - a bottle of lubricant.

Not long after, Regina called. It was Cecil who answered.

I put the phone away from my ear and listened to him questioning, “What do you want? Miriam, you sent someone to follow me and humiliate me in this way?”

His voice was not out of control, but it was trembling slightly.

“Have fun,” I said calmly.

Regina added fuel to the fire and said in a sarcastic tone, “Cecil, how could Miriam treat you like this? Does she really care about you?”

Under Regina’s instigation, Cecil angrily threw down a sentence. “Miriam, you disappoint me so much.”

I didn’t put the phone back in my pocket until he hung up the phone. My mother’s call followed closely, carefully asking about the situation between me and Cecil and why Cecil blocked her.

I was speechless and had to end the call hastily on the grounds that there was an emergency at work.

The cracks in the relationship can no longer be mended. Just like broken porcelain, it could never be restored. My indifference made the always proud Cecil even more angry.

Over the years, I had indeed been too humble. He and Regina showed off their love more and more in the Instagram story.

For this low-level revenge, I just felt disgusted.

After two months of cold war, he suddenly appeared in my new company. His arrogance remained the same.

“Miriam, have dinner with me,” Cecil said and turned to go downstairs.

Seeing that, I didn’t follow.

His voice couldn't help but rise a few points. “Who are you showing that stinky face to? I drove all the way here and you have this attitude?”

Colleagues working overtime around me looked at me sideways. I had no choice but to follow him.

“So hypocritical.” He walked ahead proudly like a triumphant general.

As soon as the car door opened, Regina grinned at me. “I’m carsick, do you mind if I sit in the passenger seat?”

“No.”

I was too tired. Even if he sat in Cecil’s arms, I couldn’t argue.

I closed my eyes. I heard Regina talking about the interesting stories of his and Cecil’s travels.

“It’s interesting, but I just want to rest now.” My head was buzzing and the long hours of work made me physically and mentally exhausted.

Cecil suddenly got angry. He parked the car on the side of the road. “Miriam, I drove hundreds of kilometers and you gave me this look?”

Regina also said, “Miriam, you are so impatient. Do you have someone else outside and you start to dislike our Cecil for having a bad temper? Are you cheating?”

I sighed. This was not the first time. A few words from Regina could easily provoke his dissatisfaction and suspicion of me.

“I’m just tired, don’t think too much.”

Cecil didn’t believe it and snatched my phone away. He looked through the chat records between me and the client: [Thank you, I’ll buy you coffee next time.]

It was just a short sentence, but it was enough to ignite his anger. He immediately dialed the phone. “Don’t you know that Miriam already has a fiancé? What’s your intention in inviting her for coffee?”

I snatched the phone back and said “sorry” to the other end of the phone. Then, I said to Cecil, “Stop being unreasonable.”

Cecil was stunned and slapped the steering wheel angrily. “You left without saying a word just to find another man?!”

Regina fanned the flames. “Men outside are all after your money.”

“Cecil, I thought you should understand me after so many years.” I pushed open the car door and the cold wind rushed toward me, penetrating my bones.

He cursed, turned the car around and left me alone in the suburbs late at night.

I couldn’t get a taxi. I walked along the roadside, staggering step by step towards the rental house.

When I got downstairs, my legs felt like they were filled with lead and were heavy. My eyelids were so heavy that I could hardly lift them. I was extremely sleepy.

Cecil walked over from the parking lot, his voice as cold as ice.

“I’ll give you one last chance. As long as that man can explain it to me in person, I’ll pretend that nothing happened.”

His figure swayed in front of my eyes and gradually blurred. My ears were buzzing and I lost consciousness.

When I woke up, I was already in the hospital. Cecil fell asleep beside me. Hearing the noise, his eyes flashed a little evasive.

“You didn’t tell me that you were sick? You pretended to be pitiful and wanted me to apologize? I tell you, no way, cheating is cheating, pretending to be weak is useless.”

He never apologized for his mistakes. In our world, no matter what happened, it was always my fault.

Regina brought in the porridge and gently placed it on the bedside. “Are you still playing the trick of self-torture? Cecil was so anxious that he cried just now. You really went too far this time.”

I barely got up and my head was splitting. Pointing to the door, I said, “Out!”

“Cecil, she cheated on you and still has the nerve to blame me!” Regina pointed at herself in disbelief and turned to Cecil.

“Get out, or I’ll call the police.” I raised my voice, my face grim.

Cecil looked at me reproachfully. “Miriam, don’t lose your temper. Regina is right.”

“You should leave too.”

“Miriam, what do you mean?”

“Cecil, take your ‘pet’ with you.” I closed my eyes and spoke coldly.

Cecil suppressed his anger. “Miriam, Regina meant well. That man asked you to have coffee in the middle of the night! Who knows what he was up to?”

I opened my eyes, enduring the headache. My eyes were calm. “You also understand that it is not appropriate to be alone with the opposite sex late at night.”

Regina stood at the door, looking down at me with a provocative look in her eyes. “Cecil and I have been friends for more than ten years. Miriam, can you stop targeting me?”

I looked up and asked, “Are you leaving or am I leaving?”

Regina shut up and left reluctantly. Cecil was full of anger, but I didn’t care.

Even if the sky fell, my heart had long been numb. Since high school, Cecil had been pursuing Regina, silently giving and caring for her every day. However, Regina never accepted him. The love of youth was immature and long.

I once said disapprovingly, “I will make him forget that person. After all, it has been so long.”

When I launched an offensive against Cecil with confidence. Regina appeared again.

From the moment she appeared, Cecil’s heart was no longer calm. He even did it for Regina. He even didn’t want to work anymore.

He used to have a job. His boss called me and asked angrily, “Cecil has been absent from work for a week. His previous work was full of mistakes. Does he not want to work anymore?”

I apologized humbly. At the same time, I called Cecil.

Holding a gift in hand, I was ready to go to his leader’s house to apologize. “Why don’t you help me with it? I’m too busy here. I don’t have time. I’m hanging up.”

His indifference to work surprised me. I thought he had encountered something big.

Later, I learned that Regina had broken up. Cecil felt sorry for her being trapped in love and for a whole half month, he stayed by her side.

For half a month, he accompanied Regina to relieve the pain of breaking up.

At this moment, I had an extremely clear conclusion in my heart, I no longer loved him.

Even if Regina deliberately teased me, my heart was no longer turbulent.

Cecil stood outside the ward, looking pale. “Miriam, you are still sick. I won’t bother with you and don’t get angry with Regina. No one owes you anything.”

I closed my eyes. He was silent, turned, went downstairs, pulled out a folding bed and settled down there to sleep.