Chapter 3

Actually, I had always known that in Emily’s heart, I would never compare to Ryan.

Ryan, Emily, and I were classmates in college.

Ryan had once been my best brother too.

After he found out I had liked Emily for a long time, he came up with a plan and said he would help me win her over.

But later, I saw them walking hand in hand on the school track.

After he got back to the dorm, I grabbed his collar and demanded, “Why did you do this to me?”

He just smiled and said, “Ethan, you know feelings can’t be forced.”

From that day on, Ryan and I were done.

I originally thought he would treat Emily well, but who knew he would keep flirting with other girls nonstop.

I could not help reminding Emily again and again.

She accused me of trying to split them up.

As expected, not long after that, Ryan asked Emily to break up.

His reason was that things had lost their freshness.

In a fit of rage, Emily confessed to me.

Actually, I knew she was only doing it to perform for Ryan.

But I still agreed, because I really liked her.

I wanted to use my real actions to make her change her mind.

So after we got together, I did everything I could to treat her well.

If she wanted something, it would show up in front of her the next day.

I even picked up a part-time job just to earn money and take her traveling.

But I never expected that the better I treated her, the more spoiled she became.

She started keeping her phone on her at all times, chatting with other people until midnight every day, and she would not let me ask too many questions.

One night, after Emily fell asleep, I quietly tried to open her phone, only to find that she had already changed the passcode.

So I lay back down, looked at her, and started crying without meaning to.

I knew we would not make it to the end. I knew we would break up sooner or later, but I kept holding on.

I kept trying to spend more time with her, to cling to her and talk more, trying to warm up our relationship.

But I forgot that my soft heart was exactly where my pain came from.

I put our wedding invitations into a metal basin and burned them all at once.

Suddenly, my phone rang.

I picked it up and saw it was Emily calling.

I hesitated, but I still answered, maybe because there was still some hope I should not have had in my heart.

I picked up and could not help asking in expectation, “What is it?”

Emily said with a hint of teasing, “Ethan, you really are stubborn. It’s been so many days and you still haven’t apologized to me.”

I lowered my head and laughed at how foolish I had just been, then asked back, “Why should I apologize?”

Emily paused first, then continued, “If you kneel and apologize to me now, I can let go of the past and forgive you, and ...”

“No need.” I could not help interrupting her.

“What do you mean?” Emily sounded a little disbelieving.

“Emily, I originally thought that even if you did not love me, you would at least feel a little reluctant to give up on so many years together.”

“But now I realize you have no heart at all.” With that, I hung up immediately.

I lay on the bed, staring at the ceiling.

I often wished I was someone with a bad memory, but for some reason I remembered every single thing Emily had ever done to hurt me.

In this relationship, the only one trapped was always me.

I took a deep breath and slowly calmed myself down.

My life and work still had to go on. I could not let one person control everything.

I got up and cleaned the house, and soon I packed up everything related to Emily.

Including the couple necklaces and couple rings I had once bought.

I packed everything into a cardboard box and mailed it back to Emily.

This relationship needed an ending.

“Ding dong.” A text message came in on my phone.

It was my shared-card spending statement.

I scrolled up through the statement little by little, and I could not even see the end.

I still remember that back then, because Emily’s family was not well-off, she had a strong sense of vanity.

She would act spoiled all day and cling to me, making me buy her designer bags, designer clothes, and designer shoes.

I gave her one of my cards.

But her appetite only got bigger.

She was no longer satisfied with having access to just one card.

So she secretly linked a shared card to my phone.

After I found out, she did not feel guilty at all. Instead, she blamed me. “What’s wrong with me spending a little of your money? If you’re already this petty now, how am I supposed to feel safe marrying you?”

I had no choice but to let it go, only because I loved her.

When I came back to my senses, I lowered my head and laughed at myself. “I’ve been a simp for so long, and I still haven’t even gotten a decent card in return.”

So I unlinked the shared card on the spot, and I canceled the latest card I had given Emily too.

A relationship like this was better off gone.

I did not want to keep making myself miserable for love anymore.