Chapter 1

My boyfriend and I had been together four years when he proposed to me on Valentine's Day.

“I want to spend my whole life with you, take care of you, grow old with you.”

“Will you marry me?”

With tears in my eyes I said yes, and we agreed I'd visit his family a week later.

The day I came over, his parents had laid out a whole table of good food.

After a bit of small talk everyone started eating, and my boyfriend put a rib into my bowl.

I took a bite and asked him quietly.

“Isn't this a little too sweet?”

My boyfriend said nothing. His father slammed his chopsticks down on the table.

“Sweet ribs, that's how they're supposed to be. Are you questioning my cooking?”

I looked around the table, stood up, and set the rib down in front of his father.

“Since you think that's how it's supposed to be, then you can eat all of it.”

1

My boyfriend, Tristan Gilbert, and I met back in our freshman year.

From the moment he started chasing me, I'd told him.

“For all four years of college, I am absolutely not dating anyone.”

One sentence, and Tristan chased me for four years.

The day we graduated, I became his girlfriend.

“Why did you wait for me so long?”

“Because from the very start, I was in it for marriage.”

We joined the same company, assigned to different departments.

Four years into our relationship, Tristan filled the plaza outside our office with nine hundred and ninety-nine roses.

The moment I stepped out of the revolving door, he dropped to one knee, a ring in his hands.

“Jade Gray, I want to spend my whole life with you, take care of you, walk all the way to old age with you.”

“Marry me, will you?” Mm.

The whole company clapped and cheered.

Those four years, everyone had seen how much we loved each other.

We had our little spats now and then, but in the end we always made room for each other.

I stared at him for a long moment, then asked him seriously.

“You know my temper, so I want to ask you too. Are you ready for this?”

Tristan nodded, hard.

I bent down to help him up, tears in my eyes.

He slid the ring onto my finger and leaned in to kiss me.

“Jade, I love you.”

After everyone had gone, Tristan brought it up.

“Did you forget today's Valentine's Day?”

I gave him an embarrassed smile.

“I've got an account that's been keeping me busy lately, so yeah, I did forget.”

Back at our rented apartment, Tristan cooked himself, and I helped on the side.

Forty minutes later, the dishes were on the table, looking and smelling wonderful.

Tristan took the red wine he'd let breathe and poured it into the glasses.

“Can you finish that account within a week?”

I thought about it, then answered for sure.

“Should be fine. Probably won't even take that long.”

“Then there's something I want to ask. A week from now, come visit my family. Would that work?”

Tristan didn't say it like he had every right to.

Over all these years together, we both understood well that love was something you had to build together.

“Of course that's fine.”

The two glasses clinked, and I started dreaming about our future.

A week later, I rode in Tristan's black sedan to his family's house.

After we got out, the two of us pulled a heap of little gifts from the car.

Tristan sorted through them, a little helpless as he said to me,

“I think this is too much. Is all this really necessary?”

I shot him a glare, covering up the nerves inside me.

“It's my money, and these are gifts I'm bringing for your parents. Does any of it have anything to do with you?”

Tristan chuckled and said nothing more.

Their house was an old-style villa, a standalone three-story with a good-sized yard out front.

When he opened the yard gate, Tristan suddenly hesitated, glancing at me with a trace of uncertainty.

“Jade, there's something I have to tell you.”