Chapter 1

It was pouring rain, and I twisted my ankle. I called my boyfriend, Felix Tucker.

But he said he was busy with his work.

I stared at the dark office building where the power was cut and laughed.

"Felix, since you love lying so much, I'll help you keep up the act."

1

When I left the company, I was met with a rare torrential downpour.

The floodwaters surged like an unstoppable tide, swallowing the subway entrance whole.

My high heel got stuck in a storm drain cover.

I called Felix and said, "Can you pick me up? The rain is too heavy. "

Felix declined without much emotion. "I'm kind of busy working on a proposal."

He was always like that. He was focused and never did anything else when it came to work. I had long grown used to it.

And yet, I thought he was cool and irresistibly charming.

I said, "Alright then. I'll figure something out myself."

Perhaps he felt a little guilt, so he added, "You can book a hotel room for the night. The rain's really bad."

He was right. I suddenly remembered the weather forecast had warned of a typhoon days ago.

The storm had finally arrived at Jade Hollow after days of anticipation.

Hotels were fully booked, and ride-hailing apps showed nothing but red zones of congestion.

After waiting for ages, a taxi finally arrived, but my high heel was still stuck.

I took off the shoe directly.

The shoe didn't fit, so I just threw it away.

The taxi driver chatted casually as he drove. He planned to find shelter after finishing this ride.

He said, "Miss, the whole tech building lost power over there. You guys were still working there? You work so hard!"

Felix's excuse was so weak. It felt like he had given up even pretending in front of me.

"We're stuck again. It is completely gridlocked," the driver grumbled helplessly.

The windshield wipers struggled to keep up, and rainwater streamed down the windows in torrents.

The storm raged on, and it soaked into my heart and left it drenched and heavy.

We had been in love for ten years, and now our relationship was about to end.

After graduation, Felix and I moved to Jade Hollow together. We submitted resumes to several prestigious companies.

To avoid the strict policies against office romances, we accepted offers from different firms.

So we didn't fight shoulder-to-shoulder anymore and turned into rivals.

It was far more brutal than any office romance.

Felix once said jokingly, "I only want to win, no matter what I have to do. There's no love on the battlefield, only smoke and ashes."

Later, as I dried my hair in a hotel room, I scrolled through Clarissa Stephenson's social media.

Though her photos were carefully curated, I still noticed Felix's hand in the corner of one shot.

Felix was like my shadow, and I could recognize him anywhere.

Was she declaring war on me by doing so?

2

At three in the morning, the storm was still raging.

I was wide awake.

The signs were all there when I thought over everything in my mind.

It probably started at a gathering of our industry. I had gone to the restroom and accidentally caught Felix friending Clarissa on social media. His hand lightly rested on her shoulder.

When he saw me, he quickly walked away.

Later at home, he explained it to me, saying, "Salena, we need to avoid suspicion. So I didn't talk to you. You're not mad, are you?"

I wasn't mad. Back then, I was casual and didn't think much of it.

Did he avoid suspicion when he saw me?

But why didn't he need the same treatment in front of Clarissa? She worked in the same company under me.

I didn't know when he was attracted to Clarissa. Did it happen when he saw her designer handbag worth tens of thousands of dollars? Or did it happen when she casually hinted that she was qualified to obtain a license plate number in Jade Hollow?

It was ridiculous.

Another time, when Clarissa picked up her food delivery at the office, I happened to glance at the last four digits of the phone number and realized it looked familiar.

I seemed to have seen it before.

The requirement was unmistakably Felix's style.

It read, "Extra spicy, extra vinegar, thin noodles."

Felix and I had gone to that restaurant countless times. I always ordered wide noodles, but he insisted that thin ones tasted better.

Clarissa flitted around like a sparrow. "Salena, aren't you having lunch?" she chirped.

I replied weakly, "I'm waiting to have lunch with my boyfriend."

But Felix didn't show up. He said he was delivering a contract and couldn't make it back. Yet I clearly saw him downstairs, handing Clarissa two cups of mango drinks.

I had thought that maybe Felix had run into Clarissa by chance and brought me a drink.

But he knew fully well that I was allergic to mango.

Clarissa handed me a cup of drink.

"No, thanks," I said, forcing a smile.

The rain had stopped.

The last time it rained so heavily was ten years ago.

Back then, I spent the afternoon in the library and was oblivious to the rising floodwaters that had reached knee-high levels across campus.

I went out in the afternoon and saw Felix just after one glance.

He was drenched, but he draped a raincoat over me.

He crouched down and let me climb onto his back.

The distance to the dormitory was short, but it became the longest journey in my mind.

How starkly different love and indifference were!

I silently told myself to let us both go.

It was time to say goodbye.

I had such pure, warm love when I was at college, so I should not ask for more.

3

Five days later, the weather in Jade Hollow turned good.

Felix and I hadn't seen each other in five days.

We had long developed such an unspoken understanding. When we were working on proposals, we often kept our distance. One of us stayed at the dorm, and the other was at the office.

We would not see each other for a week, and both were uninterrupted by each other.

After we submitted our proposals, we would return home. Both of us were exhausted and collapsed onto the couch.

Our eyes would meet, and love would fill the silence.

At home, we faced each other and embraced.

At work, we fought back-to-back.

But it was different this time. Neither of us said a word.

When I got home, Felix wasn't there. I noticed that Clarissa had posted a video where she went to the grocery store on social media.

So I guessed that, according to the time, Felix wouldn't be back until after dinner.

I finished packing up my belongings and was planning to leave quietly.

Just then, Felix came back. He looked surprised when he saw my packed belongings.

He said, "Salena, what are you doing? Is this really necessary? I just didn't pick you up. Do you have to leave? Alright, alright. It's my fault."

He reached out and intended to hug me, but I stepped away.

He said, "Are you done yet? You never used to get upset over such trivial things... I really don't understand you anymore."

He was always like that.

In his eyes, he never did anything wrong. But if I insisted on thinking that way, there was nothing he could do.

"Have you had dinner?" I asked in a flat tone.

He thought I wasn't angry anymore and started grinning again. "I've had dinner. What do you want for dinner? I'll cook for you, honey."

I said, "You already stuffed yourself outside, and now you're offering to cook. How considerate of you."

He caught the meaning behind my words.

He was angry, which was only a cover for his discomfort. "Salena, can you stop making a fuss over nothing?"

Honestly, I didn't want things to be like that. Even if he had just straightforwardly told me to break up, I would have respected him for being honest.

His hands, which had been gripping the suitcase, loosened.

Psychology told me that such subconscious actions revealed his inner thoughts that he had long wanted to push me away.

He said, "Salena, since you already know everything, let's break up. I'm sorry. You're too strong-willed. Being your boyfriend is too much pressure for me."

I took several deep breaths to calm down.

4

When I was in college, I juggled several part-time jobs at once.

When I worked promotions at a supermarket, I always cleaned up the venue and put away the tables and chairs after the event.

When I worked at a fast-food restaurant, I always arrived half an hour early for my shift.

As a tutor, when the mother of the child I tutored had a heart attack, I called for an ambulance, sent her to the hospital, and even paid the medical fees upfront until her family arrived.

As a ritual girl, I stood all day in four-inch heels, even though I was hungry and felt faint.

As a real estate agent, I showed clients more than twenty apartments a day, racking up tens of thousands of steps on my pedometer.

Back then, there were many elderly beggars near the bus station. Even though I was not rich, I couldn't give a little money to them.

At that time, Felix used to say, "Salena, you're too kind-hearted. You don't have to do all these jobs so perfectly. I worry that your kindness will make people take advantage of you when you start working. Let me protect you in the future."

So, his love didn't disappear, but the one he loved had changed.

When he loved me, I was kind-hearted. When he didn't love me, I was too strong-willed.

I was still the same, but he didn't love me anymore.

I said, "So are you afraid of losing to me in this bid?"

I thought of the recent bidding competition. As a strong contender, our company was undoubtedly making him nervous.

"Salena, sometimes you're just too confident," he said, with smug confidence.

"Then, can you explain why it had to be Clarissa?" I had to say it outright because I didn't want to keep dancing around the issue.

He said, "Salena, I hope you understand that we can't settle down in this city for the rest of our lives with you and me. Clarissa is different. She's a local, and she is not ambitious."

He stood in front of me, and the dim light in the room cast shifting shadows over his face.

He continued, "I just want an easier life. No one will refuse it, right?"

At that moment, I remembered the phone number on the takeout receipt.

It was Felix's number when he was in college.

After graduation, he said he'd canceled it, and I hadn't thought much of it. But now, it had become his secondary number.

I said, "Fine. I hope you get everything you want, including a happy family."

5

Felix didn't look happy, so I faintly thought he might still have feelings for me.

Later, I often thought that I would have forgiven him if Felix had just apologized to me at that moment.

"Salena, see you around." That was the last sentence he said to me.

I moved back into a hotel.

I didn't have much luggage, just a few clothes.

Out of habit, I thought about asking Clarissa to send me a file.

But now I thought it was ridiculous.

Such habits were involved in so many aspects of my life.

I called Cheryl Hall, the intern, and asked her to help me find an apartment.

Looking at the design proposal in my hands, my emotional defenses finally crumbled.

Felix and I had agreed that if neither of us succeeded in this bid, it was okay. But if one of us won, the other would willingly step back.

I didn't want to pretend not to know each other any longer.

I was sure to get a promotion and a raise. I'd use the money to buy a small apartment in the city.

I could even consider purchasing the car Felix liked. I even had planned that we could get a license plate for the suburb if we could not get it in the city.

That way, we could go on road trips on weekends.

Later on, we could save up and maybe open a studio together.

I had planned the future well with Felix, but he left now.

I hadn't told another thing yet. If I won the bid, I would resign.

I had trained Clarissa well, and she could easily take over the project.

I would pave the way for Felix's career, offering up all my resources and connections.

I never expected Felix and Clarissa not to wait a little longer.

"Felix, I once dreamed of helping you reach the stars with everything I had.

But it was just my own dream.

Clarissa posted a lot about her perfect life, complete with filters and effects.

I unfollowed her in a fit of anger.

That really wasn't like my style.