Chapter 3

I turned and walked out of the banquet hall, not caring how they shouted after me.

I first took a taxi to the airport, and after the rain stopped, I flew back home.

First I went to the company and packed up all my things, and took back my new song as well.

This was my intellectual property.

When everything was packed up, I looked at the empty company and the ring I still hadn’t given out, and my memory instantly went back to before.

The year I graduated from college, I couldn’t find a job.

No music company was willing to take my work, and I had spent my very last penny.

As someone who grew up in an orphanage, I had always fought the world alone since I was little.

Until that day, when I could fight no more.

I stood alone on the overpass, looking at the traffic coming and going, and a death wish rose in my heart.

The world was so big, and so many people had a harbor and a place to rely on, yet I had nothing.

I stood there alone until midnight.

Alone on the city bridge, unseen by anyone, one star like the moon as I looked at it for a long time.

The surging traffic below the overpass had already stopped, leaving only the black, hard asphalt.

I didn’t want my death to land on someone else’s car roof and ruin someone else’s good mood.

I was just about to take one last look at the world when I saw the most beautiful sight in this world.

Sophie was holding up a bottle of liquor, smiling brightly.

“Don’t do anything rash. Have a bottle of liquor!”

I’ll never forget the taste of that bottle of liquor. It was bitter, sharp, and carried a hint of sweetness.

It was as if there was still a Sophie in this world.

That day we talked about everything under the sky and beyond, and when she left, she gave me 2,000 dollars.

She told me, “Keep going. Don’t give up!”

2,000 dollars wasn’t much, but it was enough for me to live.

And I really did gain the hope to keep living.

After that day, my biological parents suddenly found me and cried over me again and again in their arms.

They said they had searched for me for 20 years and only found me today.

Overnight, I went from a penniless orphan to the eldest son of the wealthiest family in Harbor City.

When I received the first money my parents gave me, I didn’t hesitate at all and immediately went to find Sophie.

Because I remembered that bottle of liquor, and I also remembered that she had said she wanted to build a music company of her own.

I threw all the money I had into Sophie’s company, and I became the company’s only core lyricist and composer.

She told me at the time that she wanted to release the most perfect song, so that people all over the world could appreciate the beauty of Chinese music, and that she wanted to stand on the International Hit Song Awards stage and proudly read her acceptance speech.

Back then I thought I had met my true love, but I never expected she already had a boyfriend, and that was Noah Brooks.

I can guarantee that I liked her more than anyone in the world, but I couldn’t do something like come between them.

So I could only bury my feelings and throw all my energy into music creation.

The first song the company used all its money to make and try to make a name with failed.

The song we had bought and placed all our hopes on faded into mediocrity, and the huge publicity budget didn’t even make a splash.

When Noah heard about it, he didn’t hesitate for a second. He immediately packed up all of Sophie’s remaining property and left her.

I knew Noah was with Sophie for money, for her assets, but Sophie didn’t know.

She started spending every day trying to get back together with Noah, with no mind to pay attention to music creation.

And Noah grew completely sick of her too. He sold the house Sophie had bought for him, went abroad, and cut off all contact.

Because Noah left, Sophie and I truly ended up together.

When I wanted to propose to Sophie, she shook her head and said to me, “When we win the International Hit Song Awards, then you can make up this proposal to me.”

We only got the marriage certificate. There was no wedding and no proposal.

Back then I thought I was the happiest person in the world, with the person I loved, the work I adored, and a company that was booming.

But now I finally know.

Sophie never forgot Noah Brooks. The one she truly loved was always Noah Brooks, no matter how much I gave her.

What she said about not wanting my proposal was probably just an excuse. She just wanted to leave her first times to the Noah Brooks she truly loved.

Ever since Noah came to the company, Sophie had been glued to his side.

Even though the two of us were already legally married and were real husband and wife.

I looked at the ring in my hand and gave a self-mocking laugh.

Maybe I was the only one left who still remembered that proposal promise.

I flung it straight into the company trash can.

Let it be. We’d never see each other again.