Chapter 4

Julian's "tomorrow" would never come.

After my resignation was smoothly processed, I moved in with my best friend.

Late at night, I ordered a bunch of fried chicken, and we curled up on the couch watching a horror movie. Just before the jump scare, I immediately started scrolling on my phone.

I saw Lydia's Instagram post and froze.

In the photo, Julian had his sleeves rolled up, offering a peeled apple to a white-haired elderly woman. Lydia was leaning against him.

The post's caption read:

[Grandma, I finally found a man who loves me! Look how handsome he is!]

What was interesting were the comments below:

[If Scarlett finds out Julian is pretending to be Lydia's boyfriend, won't she flip out?]

[Don't be jealous, Scarlett—Julian can't live without you.]

These two were his former teammates.

They'd always looked down on me, thinking I was too controlling, too old, not good enough for Julian.

Julian had let them mock and ridicule me more than once.

He always just laughed it off: "They're just joking. You know I can't live without you."

Turns out that dismissive comfort had become their inside joke to mock me.

"What are you looking at?"

Amber tapped my shoulder. Startled, I let her snatch my phone away.

She instantly turned red with anger. "Julian, that bastard! I'm going to kill him!"

She immediately called Julian.

He didn't answer.

"Forget it, forget it. I don't like him anymore anyway."

I wasn't heartbroken anymore. My eyes just felt a little sore.

Amber sighed and helped me block Julian on both phone and social media.

"I just feel like you deserved better."

There was no "deserving" about it. Seeing this relationship clearly now wasn't too late.

Amber's emotions came and went quickly.

When the delivery arrived, she still wanted to play rock-paper-scissors with me to see who'd get the door.

"You're cheating!" I said with a laugh.

I pulled open the door, and the smile froze on my face.

Outside stood Julian, looking weathered and haggard.

I was about to close the door when he braced it open with one hand, his eyes red as he asked hoarsely:

"Scarlett, you quit your job secretly and blocked me?"