Chapter 2

2

At six in the evening, while I was visiting a real estate sales office, my phone rang. It was Chase.

He sounded as if he had just remembered our anniversary, turning around to blame me instead.

“Why didn't you remind me yesterday was our anniversary?”

I stayed silent.

He continued dismissively, “Fine, I'll make it up to you with a gift later.”

“Liam is hosting a housewarming party today. Wait for me at the corner outside our street, and I'll pick you up.”

Without waiting for my response, he hung up in a hurry.

I scoffed inwardly. Our old neighborhood had narrow roads and no parking spots.

He never drove his car into our alley, preferring to leave it in the paid lot down the road.

Whenever he dropped me off, he never brought me to our building, making me walk the rest of the way alone.

I had no desire to visit his friend's house, so I ignored his instruction.

Half an hour later, I returned to the apartment. Just as I set my bag down, I heard Leila's sweet, whiny voice coming from the hallway.

“Chase, the bathroom in your old place is just terrible!”

“The floor was all wet, and I almost slipped and fell.”

Chase replied in an overly tender tone, “I've already told my assistant to arrange a complete renovation.”

Because the building was old, the plumbing was ancient and frequently leaked.

Every time I brought it up, Chase told me to endure it, claiming it was a waste of money to remodel.

Yet now, over a single complaint from Leila, he immediately ordered a renovation.

When the two of them walked out of the room and saw me, Chase's expression instantly shifted to annoyance.

“Why did you come back? Are you seriously checking up on me in my own home?”

I sneered. “You're flattering yourself. This is my home too. Am I not allowed back?”

Leila quickly spoke up with faux innocence.

“Zoe, please don't misunderstand. I just stopped by on the way to use the restroom.”

I glanced at her and said flatly, “I didn't misunderstand anything.”

When they got ready to leave, Chase firmly grabbed my arm and dragged me along to Liam's party.

Downstairs, his car was parked right at the entrance of the narrow alley.

He offered a rare explanation. “Leila isn't feeling well, so she can't walk very far.”

I remembered when I was discharged from the hospital after a leg injury and asked him to drive me to our doorstep.

He had refused, claiming it was too hard to park, forcing me to limp all the way back on crutches.

Our building had no elevator, and I had to drag myself up seven flights of stairs in the sweltering summer heat.

That was the moment I begged Chase to move somewhere else.

I wanted an accessible community with an elevator, but he had coldly shut me down.

“Zoe, I'm under immense pressure at work! Where am I supposed to find the money to buy a new place for you?”

Yet back then, his company was thriving and had just gone public.

It had quickly grown into a well-known firm in the industry, landing project after project.

Everyone praised Chase for being a loyal, humble man who remembered his roots.

They admired how he still lived in the modest apartment from his struggling startup days despite being rich.

He claimed he had grown too attached to the place and couldn't bear to leave a home filled with memories.

So I stayed by his side, enduring year after year in that damp, cramped rental.

It was only when he bought Leila a multi-million-dollar villa without a second thought that the harsh truth hit me.

His so-called nostalgia was nothing more than a disguise for his fading feelings.

He simply didn't love me anymore. He didn't care about my comfort, and he didn't want to spend money on me.

Thinking of this, I looked at Leila sitting comfortably in the passenger seat.

Without a word, I opened the back door, got in, and pulled it shut.

When we arrived at the upscale gated community, an automated smart concierge rolled up to greet us at the entrance.

It bowed politely. “Welcome home, Mr. Vance and Ms. Hayes.”

Chase casually explained, “Leila and I came here before to help Liam look at properties.”

“The system probably mistook us for the homeowners.”

After saying that, he claimed Leila felt sick and hurried to escort her inside first.

He gave me the unit number and told me to grab the gifts from the trunk.

I knew how smart community systems worked; they only greeted residents whose biometric profiles were registered.

Noticeably, it hadn't said welcome home to me.

I didn't call him out on his lie, but my heart sank entirely to rock bottom.

After grabbing the boxes, I reached Liam's front door, only to hear lively chatter from inside.