Chapter 3

Ethan rushed out to block my path. "Sean, you're not actually angry because you had to hand over the CTO role, are you?"

"Serena was just speaking in the heat of the moment. She doesn't really want a divorce. You're misunderstanding everything—there is truly nothing inappropriate going on between Serena and me!"

As he spoke, Ethan shoved me toward the banquet hall.

"Sean, go in and eat. I'll take care of cleaning up the conference room."

Oh, right. During our little confrontation, Serena had demoted me to the facility maintenance department.

Ethan was deliberately reminding me that I was now nothing more than a janitor.

He grabbed a broom and began sweeping the floor with dramatic flair, making it look to everyone watching like I was being an ungrateful, petty husband throwing a tantrum while he was the humble, self-sacrificing peacemaker.

Sure enough, Ethan playing the victim triggered Serena immediately.

She marched over, snatched the broom from Ethan's hands, and looked at him with heartbreak in her eyes. "Ethan, why are you degrading yourself by doing this?"

"You are the Chief Technology Officer! Your hands are precious—they are meant to build the future of this company! Doing menial labor like this is an insult to your talent."

"It's fine, Serena. I just want to help Sean out with some chores. As long as he isn't mad at me, I'll do anything," Ethan said, pretending to wipe sweat from his brow with a look of quiet suffering.

Serena couldn't stand it. She whipped around and shoved the broom hard against my chest.

"Haven't you thrown enough tantrums today? Clean this entire room before you step a foot inside!"

"Do your own job. If you don't finish sweeping, don't even think about having lunch!"

It had always been like this. To prove she was impartial and maintain the secret of our marriage, she constantly ordered me around at the office like a servant.

It was as if I were a stray dog she kept on a leash, rather than the husband who built her company from the dirt up.

I was completely, utterly done with this life.

While Ethan was dragging the mop across the floor, he deliberately swung the filthy, blackened mop head across the toes of my shoes.

Those shoes were the birthday gift Serena had bought me years ago.

Ethan immediately gasped, putting on a show of remorse. "Oh, Sean, I'm so sorry! I didn't see your shoes there. You won't hold it against me, will you?"

His words sounded apologetic, but his eyes were filled with blatant mockery.

It was as if he were whispering: See? I am the only one Serena actually cares about.

Everyone in the hallway assumed I would swallow the insult like I always did.

The next second, a muffled, agonized shriek echoed down the corridor.

I shoved the filthy, dripping mop head straight into Ethan's open mouth.

Ethan stumbled backward, gagging and spitting in pure rage. "Are you insane?! Are you that jealous that I took your job?!"

I looked at him coldly. "When you're full of garbage, everything looks like trash to you. Why would I be jealous of a parasite?"

"I just don't like clowns trying to lecture me. You make me sick."

Ethan's face turned crimson with humiliation. He opened his mouth to shout, but I turned around and walked out the front doors.

Staying in that building for even one more second felt like degrading myself. Breathing the same air as them made me feel dirty.

Without realizing it, I wandered across town to our old college campus.

That was where Serena and I had first met, right outside the university gates.

Back then, she was the brilliant, untouchable campus queen, and I was just an ordinary guy from a small town working three jobs to pay tuition.

A terrifying armed robbery on the street corner gave a nobody like me the chance to shield her. I threw myself in front of the blade, taking two deep stab wounds to protect her, nearly bleeding out on the pavement.

As she shook in terror in my arms, the only thing I had on me was a small paper crane I had folded, which I pressed into her trembling hands to comfort her. At that moment, a quiet vow settled in my chest: I was going to protect this girl for the rest of my life.

I survived, but I never imagined that someone else would steal that credit.

Ethan, who was in the same engineering cohort, claimed he was the one who fought off the attacker and saved her life. He used that heroic lie to get close to her and completely won her heart.

Only then did I learn that loving someone wasn't about watching silently from afar; you had to make your move.

Watching Serena and Ethan look so radiantly happy together, I stepped back into the shadows, guarding her from a distance as nothing more than a casual acquaintance.

I never expected that Ethan was only playing with her.

Once he had her, he stopped caring entirely.

When faced with the choice between staying with her or taking a scholarship to study abroad, Ethan abandoned Serena without a second thought.

He even cruelly told everyone that their family backgrounds were too different for them to ever work out, claiming that ripping off the band-aid was better than dragging it out.

After the breakup, Serena fell into a severe clinical depression. The smile vanished from her face, and she attempted suicide multiple times.

I stayed by her side through every dark night, talking her through the pain, slowly pulling her out of that deadly emotional abyss.

Eventually, our bond grew naturally, we got married, and I poured everything I had into helping her launch her startup.

She once held me tearfully and promised that she would only ever love me for the rest of her life.

Unfortunately, promises don't last forever.