As my boyfriend’s beloved lover had returned to the US, Richie Arnolds always came home late. Sometimes, he helped her fix the faucet, took her on a hot air balloon ride and asserted his sovereignty as her boyfriend.

Richie quickly used up the 100 chances I gave him.

On the anniversary day, he abandoned me again.

Tiffany Chambers, his lover, also followed up with a mocking and boastful post. The caption read, [No more waiting, someone is in a hurry to meet my parents right now.]

I closed Instagram and sent him my last message.

[Letha: 0]

——

“Ms. Forbes, we sincerely invite you to join the Everwell Orchestra and become the principal violinist. This is a rare opportunity. Would you please consider it?”

Late at night, a man’s sincere voice came from the other end of the phone.

That was the third call he had made.

The man was the head of the foreign Everwell Orchestra. When I went to France to perform with the orchestra last month, he was impressed by my violin playing and then invited me to join the orchestra.

I was naturally tempted, but considering that I would have to travel abroad for a long time after agreeing, I refused.

But it was different at that moment.

I hesitated for a second and said, “Can you give me a few more days to think about it?”

“No problem!” The person on the phone did not expect me to suddenly agree. Surprised, he reminded her gently, “Please let me know when you agree with it, to give me some time to prepare.”

“Sure.”

I agreed and just as he hung up the phone, I heard some noise at the door.

I looked in the direction of the sound and saw Richie entering the house in the dark. 

His silver-gray haute couture suit showed off his broad shoulders and narrow waist. His every move was dignified and elegant.

I happily went over to greet him, “Why did you come back just now?”

Richie's tone was a little impatient, “I'm working overtime at the company.” He walked past me and went to the bathroom. 

Suddenly, he seemed to remember something, “By the way, where is the perfume I asked you to buy?”

“Oh! Here it is.” I hurriedly handed him the perfume that I had queued up for two hours to buy.

That morning, Richie sent me a message asking me to buy a bottle of high-end women's perfume, saying that it was for a gift. 

Although I was puzzled as Richie, who never gave gifts, would suddenly do that. But I still chose to leave work early to buy it.

Richie took it casually without saying anything more.

“By the way….” I followed behind, smiling and wanting to speak, but Richie slammed the bathroom door shut, blocking me from saying anything.

My eyes dimmed suddenly and before I could make a move, I suddenly saw Richie's phone, which he had casually placed on the table, light up and a message popped up. 

[Tiffany: Thank you for fixing my faucet today.]

My heart could not help but skip a beat. However, curiosity filled me, so I somehow picked up his phone and unlocked it.

As soon as I opened it, several messages came in one after another.

[Tiffany: Which one looks better?]

Below were two photos. On the screen, a woman was sitting on the bed wearing sexy suspender underwear. Her fair skin and curvy figure suddenly caught my eyes.

A month ago, I learned Richie's secret from a mutual friend.

He had a lover named ‘Tiff’ whom he could not have and he even gave up his life for her.

The scar on his wrist, deep enough to see the bone, was the testimony of their love.

I flipped through the records and found that the two had been in contact since the day Tiffany returned to the US.

From the beginning, the woman took the initiative to share her daily meals with him and complained that her boss was difficult to deal with, to the extent asking him to help choose pajamas.

They gradually changed from a few words to longer replies, sometimes even with cute emoticons.

The only thing that remained unchanged was his always timely response.

The scene in front of my eyes became blurry and distorted. I suppressed my bitterness and went to look for his dialog box.

But among all the work and personal chat boxes, my name had long been pushed to the bottom. 

I struggled to find it and opened it, but the screen was full of messages with no one responding, which finally made me burst into tears.

[Letha: I made chicken soup today. Would you like to come back and have some?]

[Letha: When will you be back? What do you want to eat tonight?]

[Letha: It's getting cold, keep warm outside.]

It turned out that the relationship was one-sided on my part from the beginning to the end.

Like a moth to a flame.

I and Richie met at a university lecture, where he gave a speech as an outstanding student. 

A white shirt and light-colored jeans easily outlined his extraordinary temperament. 

Elegant and superior facial features sparkled brightly under the spotlight, easily winning the hearts of many girls, including me.

From then on, I began to pursue Richie boldly.

I got up early to deliver food and deliberately created chance encounters to inquire about Richie's class schedule.

I tried my best to do everything I could think of, but he was like an iceberg that could not be melted.

It was not until that time that I accidentally learned that Richie was interning in the hospital and I bought some fruit to visit him.

Unexpectedly, as soon as I arrived at the hospital, I encountered a medical dispute.

The reason was that a patient developed an immune rejection reaction after undergoing a heart transplant operation and eventually died despite failed rescue efforts. 

The patient's family members were extreme in their belief that the doctor had deliberately harmed him.

They rushed into the hospital with a kitchen knife and wanted to kill the doctor who was performing the operation.

Richie was pushed to the front in the chaos. 

Seeing that the kitchen knife was about to chop him, I did not think twice, threw away the fruit and rushed over.

The kitchen knife hit my back and my eyes went dark due to the pain. Before I passed out, I saw that Richie, who was usually indifferent, changed his expression.

“Letha!”

“I…."

I wanted to smile at him, but soon lost consciousness.

By the time I regained consciousness, it was already the afternoon of the next day. 

Richie was standing by my bed, with a faint stubble on his chin and wrinkled clothes, looking in an indescribable state.

Complex emotions flashing in his dark eyes. After a moment, he suddenly held my hand.

“Letha, let's be together.”

I looked up in astonishment. The unbearable pain in my back disappeared instantly. It was as if fireworks exploded in my mind, making me dizzy.

As a result, Richie and I became boyfriend and girlfriend, but we did not become closer.

Most of the time, he was busy with various academic papers and internships. I was by his side, preparing everything for him. As long as I could get a look from him occasionally, I would be happy for a long time.

Sometimes I would feel unsatisfied, but I would quickly suppress the emotion.

After all, Richie had always been like that, cold and calm, indifferent to everything.

But it was not until a month ago that I realized that he just did not care.

No matter how calm and steady Richie was, he had fought and raced cars for that girl and resisted everything for her. 

In the end, when he was powerless, he even struggled by committing suicide.

What was funny was that I spent countless days and nights caressing the wound with heartache, secretly wondering what desperate thing he must have encountered that made him act without hesitation.

It turned out that it was for the lover in his heart that he loved but could not have.

A bitter feeling welled up in my nose.

Suddenly, my hands were empty. I turned around and saw Richie looking at me with a cold face. “Who allowed you to touch my phone without permission?”

I felt a slight pain in my heart. I pursed her lips and suddenly had an impulse, “I'm your girlfriend, can't I even look at your phone?”

Richie looked impatient, “There is some confidential information in it, which cannot be disclosed at will.”

“Are you hiding something from me?”

My questioning made Richie's expression pause slightly.

“That's enough. If you have time to guess here, why don't you go out for a walk?” He suddenly said angrily, “I'm very busy. I do not have time to play detective games with you.”

“I have something to do tonight, so I won't go back to my room to sleep.”

After Richie finished speaking, he left quickly.

My heart trembled and he reflexively followed out to explain.

But when I was about to reach the door of the study, I suddenly stopped. 

Through the crack in the door, I saw Richie sitting at the desk, looking at his mobile phone intently, with a faint smile on his eyes and eyebrows.

This smile turned into a sharp blade, piercing into my chest, causing me to tremble with pain.

It turned out that he could also smile so gently, but the object was someone else.

...

I returned to the room and sent a WhatsApp message to Richie, [5.]

That was not the first time I had sent out a number. It started with ‘100,’ and then the number decreased with every disappointment and hurt I felt.

Richie asked me what I meant and I smiled and leaned on his shoulder, saying half-truthfully.

“I will remember every time you hurt me, Richie. When you have used up all your chances, I promise that the Letha who loves you will be gone. Since I do not want you anymore.”

Richie did not believe it and thought I was talking nonsense again.

After all, I loved him to my core, so how could I leave?

On the other side, Richie looked at the number that suddenly popped up, his eyes full of annoyance. He casually set the dialog box to not disturb and never opened it again.

**

The next day, I got up early, changed into a smoky pink halter dress, a white knitted cardigan and put on some light makeup to cover my slightly haggard face.

While preparing breakfast, Richie also got up and went downstairs.

Perhaps because of the quarrel last night, he did not say a word and just sat at the table to eat. Apart from the occasional sound of dishes and chopsticks colliding, there was only endless silence on the table.

The sound of a cell phone notification broke the silence. Richie glanced at it casually and a smile suddenly broke out on his gentle face. He picked up his coat and prepared to leave.

I asked anxiously, “Where are you going?”

Richie glanced sideways, my brows revealing the most common annoyance I had recently. “Of course I'm going to the hospital to work. Can you stop asking nonsense questions?”

He left after saying that.

Only me was left sitting at the table, staring at the table full of food in a trance.

Not long ago, when Richie returned home, he was in a rare good mood and proposed to take me to ride a hot air balloon and said that he had already switched shifts with his colleagues.

After hearing that, I was overjoyed and made various plans early, just waiting for that day's trip.

Unfortunately, it seemed to be just a casual promise on his part and he did not take it to heart.

Just like our relationship.

Silent silence surrounded me from all directions. I sat there for an unknown amount of time, my gaze slowly falling on a shelf nearby.