Chapter 3

3.

By the time I pulled up to my office building, the phone was still vibrating.

I didn't answer. I just turned it off.

But as I stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows, my thoughts drifted back despite my best efforts.

Evie and I had known each other since we were kids.

My home life was a tragedy. My parents divorced when I was young.

My mother started a new family and didn't want me, so I was stuck with my father.

But my father was a drunk who turned violent whenever he hit the bottle.

I spent most of my childhood covered in bruises, hiding in dark corners.

One freezing winter day, Evie took off her own scarf and wrapped it around me.

“Don't be scared. My mom says once you grow up into a big man, you’ll be able to protect yourself.”

Later, my dad drank himself to death from stomach cancer.

By then, my mom was long gone and out of touch. My grandparents had passed away, so I ended up in a local group home.

I was a loner, quiet and withdrawn. The other kids treated me like a freak.

Only Evie kept coming to find me. She was like a little sun, always revolving around me.

Once, I got in trouble and the staff locked me in a dark room for reflection, telling me I couldn't eat for a day.

When she found out, she snuck food from her house and insisted on staying there with me.

“Quinn, you’re my absolute best friend!”

Back then, there was a wall between us, but our hearts were pressed tightly together.

In high school, my grades were top-tier, and people stopped caring so much about my past.

More and more people tried to get close to me.

But I only cared about the girl who had been my warmth when everything was cold.

I didn't know when it started, but I began craving her presence every day. She was the star of my dreams.

When she smiled, I felt like I was flying.

When she cried, my heart broke into pieces.

I made a silent vow that I would spend the rest of my life making her laugh.

Whenever she talked to other guys, it felt like I had swallowed a lemon.

I finally realized what it meant to “love” someone.

After high school graduation, I bought a bouquet of red roses and handed them to her, my heart racing.

“Evie, I love you. Be my girlfriend.”

“I’ll work harder than anyone to give you the life you deserve.”

Evie accepted my confession and said she had wanted to marry me since we were kids.

At that moment, I thought I was the luckiest man on earth.

I kept my promise, but when did her heart start wandering away?

...

We both started our own companies and supported each other in the industry.

In the beginning, my ideas were too simple and I was impulsive. Evie complained that I was immature and lacked stability.

So, I learned to be calculated and smooth. I handled my own failures and never let her worry about me.

My company grew stronger and my reputation in the industry skyrocketed.

Once I was on solid ground, I proposed, wanting to finally build a home together.

But she turned me down, using her own company’s instability as an excuse.

To help her career, I took on endless business dinners and pushed my body to the breaking point.

I never imagined that as her business flourished, she would forget our vows and fall for a young, energetic guy.

While she was being intimate with her new lover, did she ever think of me waiting for her at home?