Chapter 3

On the day I confessed my feelings, I showed up in front of her holding a bouquet of roses.

I sincerely told her how I felt and how much I loved her.

“Will you be my girlfriend?”

As we spent more time together, I truly felt her affection. She wasn’t the type to say sweet things all the time, but she showed her love through everything she did.

Six months into our relationship, she had a falling-out with her roommate, so I rented an apartment for her off campus.

One day, I said I was craving grilled wings. She told me she would learn how to make them for me.

I thought she had only agreed to make me happy, but she really did try to learn how to cook.

She followed through on almost everything she promised.

As time passed, I fell deeper and deeper in love with her.

She was so wonderful. So pure. So flawless.

Back then, I felt like I had the whole world in my hands.

Romance. Courage. Devotion. Sincerity.

It was as if the entire world had turned pink with happiness.

On the day I graduated, she held me and told me how much she loved me and how much she needed me. She said she wanted us to stay together forever—to get married and have children.

Those memories played through my mind like scenes from a movie.

I didn’t dare imagine when our once-passionate love had turned into nothing but lies.

Sometimes, promises were like words from a con artist told to a fool.

Only a fool would believe them.

I picked up the glass of liquor in front of me and drained it in one go.

The alcohol numbed me enough to make me think clearly.

The birthday party next door was still going on. Seeing the state I was in, Ryan cursed angrily.

“Not to be rude, but what the hell are you doing? You’re a grown man. Why are you acting like a coward? Why are you still protecting a woman like that?”

“You’re seriously making me ashamed to know you.”

I forced out a bitter smile and stood up.

I walked out of the restaurant, with Ryan following angrily behind me.

His face was red, and the veins in his neck stood out.

“What are you planning to do? You’re not seriously going to keep paying for her while she spends your money on that pretty boy, are you?”

The car moved through the city streets.

I said nothing. Instead, I took my phone from my coat pocket and sent Chloe a message.

Are you free tonight?

She replied quickly.

I’m sorry, baby. I’ve been so busy lately that I haven’t had time to spend with you. Once I get my bonus, I’ll make it up to you.

I stared at her message and laughed.

I was laughing at myself.

I had been so stupid, letting one woman play me over and over again.

I was like a moth that knew it would be burned but still flew straight into the flame.

And I clearly remembered telling her from the very beginning that I hated being lied to.

Yet she still did it.

Again and again, she lied to me while doing everything she could to prove that she didn’t need me.

The car stopped outside the apartment I had bought for Chloe.

She had said taking the subway back and forth was inconvenient and that she didn’t want to drive, so I bought her a place near her office.

Before I closed the car door, I calmly said to Ryan, who was in the driver’s seat, “I’m not stupid. Wait for my signal.”

All I knew was that the wind was very strong that night.