Chapter 1

On our sixth trip to City Hall, Roxanne and I still walked away without a marriage certificate.

Over the three years following our divorce, this was our sixth attempt to remarry.

Every single time on the day we picked, she always had an emergency and left.

I watched our names flash on the screen and tried to hold her back.

"It is almost our turn. It will only take a couple of minutes."

"Is your thing really that urgent? You do not even have time to sign the papers?"

Roxanne looked at me with open annoyance.

"Corbin, it is not like we have never been married before. Is a piece of paper really that important?"

"Besides, I genuinely have an emergency right now. Stop making a scene."

"Once I handle this, we can come back and register anytime."

1 I listened to her treat our marriage like a charitable handout and fell silent.

Roxanne walked away, decisive and fast, not even giving me a chance to speak.

I quietly watched her retreating back, standing alone in City Hall like a walking corpse.

The intercom kept announcing our names over and over.

The bride was gone. How could we possibly get married?

Roxanne and I used to be married, though it started as a merger between two wealthy families.

There was no real love at first.

Later, I threw myself into work and had little time for her.

Cracks deepened between us, and we eventually divorced.

After the divorce, Roxanne found herself a young boyfriend.

Both Roxanne and I were already in our thirties, but her little boyfriend was barely twenty.

It instantly became the biggest joke in our social circle.

It humiliated her, and it humiliated me.

People gossiped behind my back, wondering if I was inadequate in bed since she went looking for young meat.

In the second year after our divorce, her family business crumbled, and Roxanne broke up with her young boyfriend, Kyle.

For the sake of our past, I chose to step in and help her.

Over the next five years, I rebuilt her family empire back to its former glory, making it even stronger than before.

Roxanne finally realized how good I was to her, and my feelings toward her softened, so we agreed to remarry.

Yet every time we went to get the license, she would vanish without warning.

I knew deep down she was running off to see Kyle.

I had met Kyle before, and the shameless kid had even added me on social media.

Sure enough, I soon saw Kyle's new post online.

【It is Valentine's Day. I told her I missed her, and she dropped everything to rush to my side.】

【She is still the same as before, coming whenever I call and pampering me endlessly.】

Beneath the caption was a photo of Roxanne gently strapping a luxury watch onto his wrist.

Valentine's Day, and she had not even prepared a simple card for me.

This entire situation gnawed at me constantly.

I had confronted Roxanne many times about it.

If she still had feelings for Kyle, there was no need to get back together with me.

Yet Roxanne always accused me of being petty and gave me her irritated explanations.

"When I broke up with him, he fell into severe depression and almost ended his life. I owe him."

"Do not worry, all I feel for him is guilt. That is all. I do not love him anymore."

"Can you be a man and stop acting so jealous? What if he really does something fatal to himself?"

Listening to her excuses, my heart remained dead calm.

End his life? If he actually had the courage to do it, I might even respect him.

I would gladly stand by his grave for three days straight.

Did he truly want to die? He just wanted Roxanne's attention.

He knew Roxanne would not dare abandon him.

In Kyle's eyes, Roxanne still belonged to him.

I walked down the sidewalk alone, feeling entirely hollow.

Memories of the past few years flashed before my eyes.

I realized that I genuinely loved Roxanne.

Otherwise, why would I have sacrificed so much to help her?

Yet in Roxanne's heart, I was never the only one.

Aimlessly, I wandered into a downtown bar.

Just before I got completely drunk, I snapped a photo and posted it online.

【Valentine's Day. Drink tonight away, cheers...】

In the photo was a tired selfie of my exhausted face.

Messages from friends and family instantly flooded in.

【Bro, what happened? Drinking alone without the boys?】

【Where is your girl? Why aren't you two spending Valentine's together?】

【Hold on man, I am heading over to drink with you!】

Scrolling through the comments, I caught one from Roxanne.

【What kind of tantrum are you throwing now? Why aren't you home?】

Looking at her words, I let out a self-mocking laugh and tossed my phone aside.

Whenever Kyle had an issue, she rushed over in a heartbeat.

Whenever I felt hurt, I was just making a scene.

It seemed I was always the one in the wrong.

That night, I drank until sunrise with my buddies at the bar.