Isabella didn't know when Sophie had left.

She only noticed that the next day, Ethan was even more attentive to her, almost carrying her downstairs for everything.

That evening, he took the initiative, "Bella, I've cleared my schedule tonight. Let me take you to the charity auction."

Isabella was a professional photographer with quite a reputation in the industry.

Every year she donated several photographs to charity auctions and attended to show support.

This year, despite having just awakened, she'd received an invitation.

But as soon as she and Ethan arrived at the auction venue, they spotted a familiar figure.

"Professor! Isabella!" Sophie ran over cheerfully. "You're here too!"

Ethan frowned slightly. "What are you doing here?"

"I have photographs in the auction too!" Sophie ducked her head shyly. "To be honest, Isabella, your influence inspired me to take up photography, and I even won an award!"

She gazed at Isabella with starry eyes.

"Isabella, you're my idol! I want to become just like you!"

Become like her?

Or rather, replace her entirely?

Isabella's lips curved sardonically, but she said nothing.

The auction began shortly.

Isabella and Ethan sat in a VIP box on the second floor, while Sophie took a seat in the main floor seating area.

As the most renowned photographer at this auction, Isabella's work was featured first.

"Our opening piece tonight is a work by Miss Isabella Winters from seven years ago, titled 'Memory.'"

The large screen displayed the photograph, and Ethan's expression changed instantly.

"Bella!" He whipped around to face her. "Why did you put this photograph up for sale?"

The screen showed two hands clasped together on a beach, both wearing wedding rings on their ring fingers.

This was Ethan and Isabella's most treasured piece—taken on the day he proposed.

Isabella had once considered this work priceless; she'd refused offers of ten million dollars for it.

But now, she was selling it.

Isabella looked up at Ethan. "Ethan, do you remember the promise you made me that day?"

Ethan answered without hesitation, "Of course I remember. I promised to love only you for the rest of my life, never to betray you."

He felt a pang of guilt afterward.

Could it be... did Bella know something? Was that why she was selling this photograph?

As he panicked internally, he heard Isabella laugh.

"Exactly. Since you remember so well, it's just a photograph after all. No need to keep it—might as well sell it for charity."

What she didn't say aloud was: broken promises make photographs meaningless anyway.

Meanwhile, the bidding had begun below—

"Fifty thousand."

"One hundred thousand."

"One hundred fifty thousand!"

As a well-known photographer, the piece immediately drew enthusiastic bidding.

Then Ethan raised his paddle.

"One million!"

The bid—ten times higher than the previous offer—made everyone gasp.

Ethan looked at Isabella earnestly.

"You may say that, but since this represents my promise to you, I want to keep it forever."

Amid the applause, Ethan won the photograph.

Acquaintances in the crowd joked good-naturedly.

"Well, well! Turns out Mr. Cross just wanted to donate a million dollars while showing off for his wife—we're all just watching a love show!"

Everyone laughed, but Isabella's smile never reached her eyes.

The auction continued.

Since tonight's guests were all wealthy and influential, the organizers had set a rule: each guest could bid on only one photograph.

So Ethan lost interest in the other pieces, focusing instead on peeling grapes for Isabella and feeding them to her one by one.

Until the host announced—

"Our next piece is from emerging photographer Sophie Shaw, titled 'Dreams'!"

The screen lit up again amid applause, but the next second, someone cried out in shock.

"What the heck is that!"

The photograph on screen showed Sophie herself.

And a man. Sophie was kneeling in front of him, her eyes in daze—anyone could see what was happening.

The man's face wasn't visible, but Isabella still recognized him as Ethan.

The venue erupted.

"What the hell! She's auctioning off this kind of photo? Has she lost her mind?"

"If I'm not mistaken, that's the photographer Sophie Shaw herself in the picture. Is she trying to create a scandal for attention?"

"I mean, there are artistic nude works out there, but this... it's just vulgar!"

Amid the chaos of voices, Sophie's face went ashen as she shook her head frantically.

"No... this isn't the photo I submitted. I swear it's not this one..."

But no one was listening.

The auctioneer, maintaining professional composure, began the bidding.

"This photograph has a starting bid of one hundred thousand. Do I hear any higher offers?"

The room fell dead silent.

Only a few sleazy men's crude laughter broke the quiet.

"A hundred grand for this? It's just a sex photo—you can find thousands online for free!"

"Exactly. A hundred thousand for the photo is ridiculous, but this girl clearly knows how to please a man. If she'd recreate what's in the photo live, then maybe a hundred grand would be worth it."

"Hahaha!"

The humiliating comments kept coming. Sophie's last trace of color drained from her face as she swayed on her feet.

Until—

"I bid two hundred thousand!"

Ethan's cold voice cut through the room, instantly silencing everyone.

People stared at Ethan in disbelief, whispering among themselves.

"Does Mr. Cross know this Sophie Shaw?"

"Oh, I remember now—Sophie Shaw is one of Mr. Cross's students..."

The auctioneer was also stunned but politely reminded him.

"Mr. Cross, according to our auction rules, each person can only bid on one item. If you wish to change your bid, you'll need to forfeit your previous purchase and offer a higher amount."

Ethan instinctively looked at Isabella, who kept her head down in silence.

Sophie below was already sobbing audibly.

"Professor, you don't need to help me. I uploaded the wrong photo by mistake. Please don't worry about me..."

Her voice grew smaller and smaller until she was crying uncontrollably. Ethan felt his heart clench and blurted out, "Fine. I bid two million for this photograph."

The entire room gasped. The auctioneer confirmed, "So Mr. Cross, you're forfeiting Miss Winters's photograph?"

Ethan again looked instinctively at Isabella, but this time she had already stood and left.

"Bella!"

Only then did Ethan panic, rushing to follow her. But at that moment, someone below shouted, "Sophie Shaw has fainted!"

Ethan's steps froze.

The scene descended into chaos. As Isabella left the auction house, she could only hear the auctioneer's voice:

"Congratulations to Mr. Cross for winning Miss Sophie Shaw's 'Dreams' at two million dollars!"

Isabella closed her eyes as the tears she'd been holding back finally fell.

In the end, he had chosen her after all.

...

For the next several days, Isabella didn't speak to Ethan.

No matter how much jewelry and designer bags he bought, no matter what novelties he brought home, she wouldn't even look at him.

Until Isabella's birthday.

Ethan practically got on his knees begging before she finally agreed to go out with him.

After driving for what felt like hours, the car stopped. Ethan covered her eyes as they walked, and after a long journey, he finally spoke.

"Okay, Bella, you can open your eyes now."

Isabella looked up to find they were at a marina.

Before them sat an enormous yacht, brilliantly lit, with words painted on its hull— The Winters

Isabella's eyes flashed with surprise as she looked at Ethan. "This is..."

Ethan took her hand.

"This is a yacht I had custom-made for you, named after you."

He said softly, "Bella, I'm truly sorry about the auction. Sophie is my student and the girl you've been sponsoring. I really was just trying to help her out of an embarrassing situation—nothing more.

"I asked her about the photo too. She said someone jealous of her photoshopped it. Please believe me. Besides..."

He paused, then said gently, "Didn't you want to sell the 'Memory' photograph for charity anyway? An extra donation is a good thing, right?"

Isabella's eyelashes trembled slightly.

‘Since this represents my promise to you, I want to keep it forever.’ His words from that day seemed to echo in her ears, but now his story had completely changed.

Isabella lowered her head, hiding the irony in her eyes. "We don't need to explain so much to each other."

Because I... stopped believing you long ago. And soon I'll forget all these sordid details anyway.

But Ethan misinterpreted her words as forgiveness. Joy flashed in his eyes as he eagerly took her hand.

"Come on, let's go aboard!"

Once on the yacht, Isabella saw that nearly everyone she knew was there.

Ethan had ordered a massive three-meter-tall cake, and everyone was celebrating her.

The yacht set sail as fireworks lit up the sky—everything was so beautiful it felt like a dream.

Even Isabella felt momentarily dazed.

As if they were back in their happiest days, sweet and inseparable.

Until Ethan's phone buzzed and he looked down at it.

Isabella glanced over and realized he wasn't reading a message—he was checking social media.

Understanding dawned. She opened her own social media to find Sophie had just posted a photo.

The image showed Sophie sitting alone at a table in darkness with a cake and a single lonely candle. The caption read: "My 23rd birthday, spending it alone again."

From that moment on, Ethan seemed distracted.

When the fireworks ended, he finally couldn't hold back anymore. He grasped Isabella's hand apologetically.

"Bella, there's an emergency at the company. I have to go back. I promise I'll make it up to you tomorrow, okay?"

Isabella looked up at him with an unreadable expression. "What kind of work is so urgent that you have to rush back from a yacht?"

Ethan stiffened slightly. "It's about some AI intellectual property issues. Only I can sign off on them. I promise I'll make it up to you—please don't be angry."

He kissed her forehead and hurried away.

Isabella walked to the deck and watched Ethan board a speedboat with staff members, roaring off into the darkness.

White foam split across the sea like her fractured heart.

An hour later, Isabella's phone suddenly rang.

It was Sophie.

Isabella hesitated for a moment, then understood immediately.

She debated for a second before answering, but the caller didn't speak. Instead, muffled voices came through—

"Professor! You actually came to celebrate my birthday! But... but today is Isabella's birthday too. Don't you need to be with her?"

"It's fine. She has lots of friends and family there, but you only have me, don't you?"

"Professor..."

The girl's moved sobs were suddenly muffled, then transformed into erotic moans...

Isabella finally couldn't take it anymore and hung up.

She thought she'd be devastated, but found she couldn't even cry.

Perhaps when disappointment reaches its peak, tears simply won't come.

She took a deep breath and dialed a number.

"Hello." As soon as the call connected, she spoke immediately. "Did you get all the photos?"

...

Ethan didn't come home that night.

The yacht was scheduled for a three-day, three-night cruise, but early the next morning, Isabella also took a speedboat back to shore.

When she got home, she found what she'd been waiting for in her mailbox.

It was an envelope full of photographs of Ethan and Sophie.

Kissing in a car, embracing in his office, even in the university library...

All taken by the private investigator Isabella had hired.

Even though she'd prepared herself mentally, Isabella's hands still trembled as she looked at the photos.

The frequency...

Almost every time Ethan said he had work and left, he was with Sophie...

Isabella slammed the envelope shut and went upstairs to retrieve a photo album from her safe.

This was her album with Ethan.

Being a photographer herself, Isabella had always loved documenting life's moments in pictures.

When she'd learned about her brain tumor, she'd been terrified of losing her memories of Ethan someday, so she'd collected all their photos together.

She'd hoped that even if she lost her memory, she could learn about their sweet past through these photographs.

But now...

Isabella's lips curved in a bitter smile as she unhesitatingly lit the photos with her lighter—

The first: Ethan carrying her on his back along the beach.

Because she'd said her father died young and no one had ever carried her, he'd carried her all night long.

The second: When she'd first been diagnosed and wanted to break up with Ethan.

But he'd deployed over ten thousand drones to spell out her name in the sky when he proposed.

The third: During her five-year coma, Ethan stood by her bed, carefully cleaning every inch of her skin.

For seven whole years, her life had been filled entirely with Ethan.

But now all those memories and beautiful moments were being consumed by flames, turning to ash...

After burning those photos, Isabella placed all the sordid pictures of Ethan and Sophie into the album instead.

She didn't want to remember the love that had turned rotten.

But this betrayal—she could never forget.

...

By the time she finished burning the photos, it was deep into the night.

Isabella fell into a restless sleep. After what felt like hours, her wrist was suddenly grabbed frantically.

She woke with a start to see Ethan's pale face in the darkness.

"Bella." His voice trembled uncontrollably. "You... you burned all our photos?"