Chapter 1

During the five years Sophia Delgado and I were in a long-distance relationship, she never once came to see me.

It wasn't until my twenty-sixth birthday that I finally worked up the courage to text her.

"Today's my birthday. I miss you so much. Could you come be with me?"

I waited for what felt like forever, but he didn't answer, so I sent another message.

"Are you busy? Am I bothering you?"

Hours passed before he finally replied.

Just a few cold words.

【In a meeting. Can’t talk.】

So I ordered myself a cake and went to the restaurant, only to find Sophia—the woman who claimed she was too busy to come see me—sitting right there.

A young man was sitting across from her. I recognized him. It was Arthur Fox, the new intern at her company.

"Ms. Delgado, I was using your phone this morning and saw it's Terry's birthday today. Are you sure you don't need to be with him?"

Sophia smiled, her expression softening with affection.

"I didn't like the idea of you traveling alone for work. It's just a birthday. Missing one birthday won't change anything."

The man smiled sweetly and asked playfully. "So that means I matter more than he does?"

Sophia didn't say a word. She just nodded.

The cake box slipped from my hands and hit the floor.

A staff member hurried over. "Excuse me, sir. Is there anything I can help you with?"

I shook my head, turned, and walked out of the restaurant.

I didn't want to celebrate my birthday anymore, and I didn't want her anymore, either.

……

As I stepped outside, I looked back one more time and saw Sophia take out a watch and fasten it around Arthur's wrist.

I'd seen that watch before. It was from a luxury jewelry brand's latest collection.

I'd shown it to Sophia once. She'd barely glanced at it before she said, "If you want it, go buy it yourself. Don't drop hints at me. I don't have time to play guessing games."

I never brought it up again, but I secretly wondered if she would remember and surprise me with it on my birthday.

She had bought it after all. It just wasn't for me.

So it wasn't that she didn't have time. It was just that I wasn't worth making time for.

Arthur happily leaned against his shoulder and kissed his cheek, and Sophia wrapped an arm around him naturally, as if it were the most normal thing in the world.

I picked up my phone and sent Sophia one last message, almost as if I needed an answer from her.

"Where are you?"

She glanced at her phone, then put it aside without hesitation. No reply.

I remembered how, back when we were still in a long-distance relationship, Sophia would often go a whole day before answering me.

I always told myself she was busy with work, that she didn't have much time to look at her phone.

But I never imagined that she had seen every message all along and simply chosen not to reply.

Just then, a woman's voice broke into my thoughts.

"Sir, your cake was ruined earlier. This is a little something on the house from us. Happy birthday. I hope you like it."

I turned to look. It was the waitress from before, holding a small slice of cake.

Happy birthday. Just four simple words, yet they were exactly the words I'd been waiting all day to hear from her.

Seeing me looking over at Sophia and Arthur, the waitress spoke up with a trace of envy. "They're really such a sweet couple. Mr. Fox loves our chestnut Basque cake. Every time Ms. Delgado is here on a business trip, she brings him here, and more than once she's driven over herself just to buy a slice."

"Just now Mr. Fox said he couldn't eat another bite, and she still boxed up an extra one. She's so thoughtful."

I froze. It was a long moment before I managed to speak. "Every time? She drove all the way here just to buy a slice of cake for him?"

The waitress nodded. "That's right. Ms. Delgado comes almost every week. I don't know how someone gets lucky enough to find a girlfriend like that."

So she was willing to spend her time on those little things for someone else.

I thanked the waitress, turned around, and stepped back into the cold night.

Tears slid down my cheeks, drying in the cold wind before I even noticed.