“Nathan, you’d better get over here fast! Someone dosed Kyle with an aphrodisiac and now she’s going crazy, screaming she needs to see you! Looks like she really needs a man to help her ‘detox’!”

Veins popped on Nathan’s forehead as he growled coldly, “Find out who drugged her and break their hand. Dare to touch my people? They must be tired of living.”

He strode quickly toward the door, glancing at Wendy and saying offhandedly, “I’ve been drinking and can’t drive. You take me.”

When they arrived at the bar, Kyle’s face was flushed unnaturally red. The moment she saw Nathan, she slithered over to him like a water snake, clinging to him.

She kept writhing, hands roaming all over his body. Everyone nearby looked toward Wendy, standing just behind Nathan, their expressions awkward.

Nathan’s Adam’s apple bobbed, a hint of desire flickering in his eyes.

Suddenly, he scooped Kyle into his arms and stuffed her into the car, then told Wendy to drive them home.

As soon as they entered the house, Kyle immediately began stripping off her clothes one piece at a time, gasping that she was hot, lifting her face toward Nathan, begging for a kiss.

Wendy stood still for a moment before speaking up, her voice calm, “I’ll step outside for some air. Take good care of her.”

She walked out the door and sat down weakly on the steps, choosing to torture herself by listening to the sounds inside.

Inside, Nathan’s voice came out hoarse. “You little troublemaker, who told you to go drinking at a bar? Now that you’ve been drugged, you come running to me?”

“Nathan, I want you… Please, help me, okay? Touch me, my body’s so hot…”

The sound of their breathless kissing grew more intense.

Outside, Wendy sat motionless at the door until she suddenly heard the crash of glass falling to the ground.

Then came Nathan’s quieter voice as if he’d finally snapped out of it. “Alright, I’ll get you some cold water to cool off. You need to calm down… Wendy will be back soon, we can’t do this here…”

The door suddenly swung open and Wendy found herself face-to-face with Nathan.

He blurted out, “Why are you sitting out here?”

Frowning, he added, “You don’t trust me with Kyle? Nothing happened between us, alright? Go inside and give her a cold shower. I’ll step out for a bit.”

Wendy staggered to her feet. Kyle, still inside, glared at her with eyes full of hatred, completely lucid, not at all like someone under the influence.

Then, in a sickeningly sweet voice, she said, “Nathan, it’s not like we haven’t slept together before. I’ve already been drugged, why not be my antidote one more time? Wendy won’t mind, will she?”

Nathan's expression shifted subtly. He instinctively glanced at Wendy to gauge her reaction, only to see her face calm and composed as if she didn't care at all about his past with Kyle.

For a moment, he felt suffocated.

Feigning a casual tone, he chuckled and said, “Yeah, Wendy, I’ll be Kyle’s antidote. You surely won’t mind, right?”

Though Wendy had mentally prepared herself, hearing Nathan say those words aloud still made her sway slightly. But she quickly regained her composure.

With a gentle and understanding smile, she replied, “Of course I won’t. You two grew up together, done everything together and clearly can still do anything. Just being her antidote once more? Why would I care?”

As soon as the words left her mouth, Nathan’s face darkened like a storm. He stared hard at her, trying to read her expression, then nearly growled through clenched teeth. “Wendy, you said that.”

He strode over and shoved Wendy out the door, slamming it shut with a loud bang. The force of it stirred a fine layer of dust from the doorframe, settling it onto her face.

She finally couldn’t hold back anymore. The tears she had been bottling up came pouring down in heavy drops.

How could she possibly not care? After so many years together, thousands of days and nights entangled with each other, in countless late nights, she had fallen asleep in Nathan’s arms. They had become so entwined in each other’s lives as if they were already one.

She suddenly recalled the promises they once made, their plans to visit Zurich, Venice and Jeju Island after the wedding. Back then, Nathan had carefully mapped out their future, telling her with unwavering seriousness, “Wendy, you’ll always be a part of my future.”

She wasn’t as carefree as she liked to believe. It still hurt. But she was already trying to pull herself away.

Letting the tears fall freely, she told herself. ‘When the day comes that love is auctioned off like a discarded item, I’ll finally be able to forget Nathan completely and walk away with nothing but peace.’

She didn’t know how much time had passed before the door creaked open.

Nathan stood there in a bathrobe, looking down at her from above. “Wendy, do you even have a heart?” he asked coldly. “I just slept with another woman and you don’t care at all?”

Wendy hurriedly stood up, flustered. Her legs were numb from crouching too long and she stumbled a bit. Nathan instinctively caught her in his arms.

Still, she remained expressionless.

His jaw clenched. He forced out a cruel laugh and sneered, “Since you’re so generous, how about going out and buying me some condoms? The more the better. I’m worried I won’t be able to stop once I get started!”

After saying that, he waited for Wendy to get angry, to curse at him or slap him. But instead, she simply nodded calmly, then turned and left to buy condoms for him.

He stared blankly at Wendy’s thin and fragile back, a sharp ache piercing through his heart. Suddenly, he punched the wall with such force that his hand bled, but he didn’t care at all.

Inside the room, Kyle watched the scene intently. Seeing Nathan subconsciously testing Wendy, she felt a tightness in her chest, a creeping sense of insecurity beginning to rise.

During all that time earlier, Nathan had thoughtfully prepared cold water for her, even laid out clean underwear, yet he hadn't touched her at all.

She finally understood. Even asking Wendy to go buy condoms was merely to provoke her, to try and get a reaction out of her.

She heard footsteps approaching and rushed to the door, tiptoeing to press a sudden kiss on Nathan’s lips while stripping off all her clothes.

She thought confidently. ‘Isn't it my body that Nathan loved the most?’

Sure enough, once she was bare, Nathan didn’t push her away. Instead, he stared at her intently, even reaching out instinctively to touch the red birthmark on her neck.

When Wendy walked in, what she saw was a completely naked Kyle and a gentle, intimate Nathan caressing her.

In that moment, she felt as if she’d been nailed to the spot, her blood rushing in reverse.

This was what it felt like to witness Nathan baring himself to another woman with her own eyes.

The moment Nathan saw Wendy, it was as if he finally snapped back to reality.

The laughable part was when his hand touched the red birthmark on Kyle’s neck, the person in his mind was actually Wendy.

It was absurd. All along, Wendy had merely been a stand-in for Kyle’s body. He pinched the space between his brows, feeling as if something was silently shifting inside him.

As he stared at Wendy obediently handing over the condoms she had bought, he didn’t take them. He simply stared at her coldly.

Wendy felt as if her entire body were ablaze, the pain unbearable. She still couldn’t act like an outsider, nor could she bear watching them commit such a shameful act.

Suddenly, she shoved the plastic bag into Nathan’s arms and fled in near panic.

She no longer cared about the reaction of those behind her. She walked alone down the street in the dead of night. The temperature was below freezing, her body was cold, yet nothing could compare to the chill in her heart.

Tomorrow was the day of the emotional auction, the moment she would finally leave this place for good. Nearly all the prominent figures in town would attend the auction, including Nathan.

In the early hours of the morning, Wendy’s phone was flooded with a series of provocative photos from Kyle.

Nathan was asleep, red marks dotting his neck, his bathrobe hanging loosely open. And Kyle, completely nude, was lying across his chest, the image of a pair of intimate lovers.

"Wendy, you're such a joke. Who would've thought you'd one day personally buy condoms for me and Nathan? We did it for three whole hours. He touched me over and over, saying how lucky he was to have me back, that he no longer wanted to mourn me through a substitute. Tomorrow, he's taking me to the emotional auction too. He'll buy anything I want for me. And you? You’re wandering some street corner right now. How pitiful you are!"

Perhaps muddled by the lateness of night, Kyle continued to speak without restraint, "If I hadn't gotten bored abroad, I wouldn’t even bother stealing your man. But snatching him from your hands? That felt good. Men overseas are all fickle. Only he… that foolish man waited for me, over and over hurting you because of me. Watching you get falsely accused without being able to explain yourself is hilarious."

Wendy slowly put down her phone without replying. Expressionless, she blocked both Kyle and Nathan’s contacts, then arrived early at the emotional auction and extracted all her feelings for Nathan.

In that instant, she felt a profound sense of relief as if all the struggles, hesitation and pain she had endured over those years vanished from her mind in a flash.

When she thought of Nathan again, there wasn’t even the slightest ripple in her heart. It was as if he were merely someone she knew, with whom she had never shared any emotional entanglement.

As part of her wish, the bank manager would send Wendy to a scenic island, where she would never have to worry about food or clothing again and where she would be nearly impossible to find.

When the auction began, Nathan entered with Kyle at his side. He had called Wendy countless times, wanting to tell her that he hadn’t touched Kyle, but every call went unanswered. It was then he realized he had already been blocked.

A strange and unshakable panic clung tightly to Nathan. Beside him, Kyle gently reminded him that the auction was starting. As he looked up, his entire body froze in place.

On the stage, a montage of his memories with Wendy began playing.

The auctioneer’s voice narrated calmly, “Item up for bid: Wendy. Auctioned item: her love. After the auction is completed, Ms. Sullivan will feel no emotional fluctuations toward this relationship, as if she had never experienced it at all. The person who purchases this love will assume her perspective and feel all the joys, sorrows and heartaches she once went through.”