3
<
“Lucas, when are you going to marry me?”
But the result was always a polite refusal.
This time was no exception.
“Why are you asking about this again?”
“Didn’t I tell you before? We’ll talk about these things
the company is more stable.”
I wanted to argue – what exactly counted as stable?
The company had already gone public, wasn’t that enough?
But I didn’t ask.
I just nodded and went to bed.
I hadn’t really expected him to agree anyway.
I was just asking one last time, for the sake of these five years.
The bedroom was very cozy, with warm color tones.
It allowed my mind to relax a little whenever I was exhausted from work.
Lucas and I had chosen it together.
There were still many stuffed animals on the bed, remnants of our honeymoon phase.
Back then, he would say:
“What guy plays with these things?”
While shouting loudly to me:
“Baby, come quick, this stuffed animal is so cute!”
Those sweet memories flashed through my mind, but ultimately froze on the image of Lucas embracing and kissing that young woman today.
I paused, then packed up my things and went to the guest room.
As expected, Lucas didn’t ask me a single question.
I slept until dawn.
When I woke up, there was probably still a smile on my face.
Because in my dream, I had seen those beautiful memories from the past.
In the dream, 23–year–old Lucas was still holding my hand, loudly promising:
“We’ll be together forever!”
But when I woke up, I had to face the reality of 28–year–old Lucas’s betrayal,
The huge gap left me feeling disoriented.
I decided to move out.
D
10:25 PM
<
When I made this decision, I felt a bit sad.
Not for any other reason.
But because the house was under Lucas’s name.
If it had been under my name, I could have asked Lucas to move out now.
Instead of having to leave myself.
I realized again that Lucas probably stopped loving me long ago.
If it was the Lucas from before, he should have put the house under my name when we bought it last year.
For men, where the money goes is where the love goes.
No exceptions.
As I was packing, I ran into a problem.
In the short year since moving in, I had already accumulated many items.
Things that seemed insignificant in daily life all needed to be taken when moving.
I was packing frantically, not even noticing when Lucas woke up,
“What are you doing?”
Maybe the dream from this morning still had too much of an effect, because hearing his voice made me feel a bit nauseous.
I held my chest, patting it lightly.
Before I could speak, he spoke first.
“You’re not pregnant, are you?”
Pregnant?
Realizing my period was late this month, my face instantly turned pale.
Although Lucas and I always used protection, what if…?
Lucas must have noticed something was off, because he immediately took me to the hospital.
The whole way there, Lucas seemed to have returned to how he was before.
Asking if I was feeling alright, constantly checking if I was uncomfortable.
If I didn’t know about his betrayal, I might have been fooled by this facade.
This all lasted until we ran into that young woman at the hospital.
“Jasmine, why are you here?” Lucas immediately let go of my arm when he saw her.
The worried look on his face was something I hadn’t seen in a long time.
I looked at the young woman.
Before this, I hadn’t planned on confronting her.
Because I had thought that maybe she was tricked by Lucas.
M
C
C
<
That she didn’t know Lucas already had a girlfriend.
But it wasn’t until I clearly saw her face that I realized.
She and I were actually old acquaintances.
Jasmine.
Jasmine Lin.
The junior I had personally mentored.
I stood there, watching them fuss over each other in front of me.
After a while, Lucas finally brought Jasmine over.
“Senior” Jasmine greeted me sweetly, not showing any sign of guilt.
“Jasmine wasn’t feeling well, and she’s never been to a hospital before, so she’s not familiar with the procedures. I’m going to help her out.”
“You’re more familiar with hospitals, and it’s probably nothing serious anyway, so why don’t you go first? I’ll come pick you up when I’m done.”
Lucas had some nerve, accompanying an employee to see the doctor while leaving his official girlfriend behind.
It was truly laughable.
But right now I was anxious to confirm whether I was pregnant or not, so I didn’t have the energy to deal with them.
If I wasn’t pregnant, that would be fine.
But if I really was pregnant, I’d have to suffer through it.
Fortunately, my streak of bad luck didn’t continue.
It was just an irregular period.
I left the hospital, planning to take a cab home by myself.
But then I heard Jasmine’s voice.
