Chapter 4

Today was supposed to be the day we had scheduled for our wedding photos.

When I woke up, I found myself curled up on the cold tile floor, my body icy and the entire house empty-Luca was nowhere to be found.

After a night of emotional turmoil and no rest, my head was pounding.

I picked up my phone, and the last message from Luca was three days ago when I asked him where to buy a wedding dress; he hadn't replied.

Apart from that, there were only messages from the photographer and the project team, along with the professor reminding me to handle the paperwork for studying abroad at school.

I first apologized to the photographer and settled the remaining payment.

Then, I called Luca: "Where are you?"

"I'm busy. There's so much going on at the company. Not everyone can just sit around like you, being a decoration," Luca replied impatiently.

"You're hanging up whether you're busy or not."

I forced a smile, realizing he had completely forgotten what day it was.

Just as I was about to respond to the professor's message, a WeChat notification from one of Luca's friends popped up.

He sent a photo from Lola's social media, along with the caption: "Brothers, this is what a perfect match looks like."

I instinctively saved it before he could retract it.

Sure enough, a second later, Luca's friend retracted the message and sent a follow-up: "My bad, don't think too much, Mrs. Marshall."

That "Mrs." sounded reluctant, and I could almost picture his mocking expression.

But it didn't matter anymore.

My gaze fell on Lola's post.

The caption read: "The most important person in my life is helping me shop for gifts. Hmph, he didn't give me anything for my birthday yesterday, so I'm definitely going to 'extort' him today!"

The accompanying photos included her kissing Luca's cheek, him affectionately stroking her head, and images from a luxury store.

There was even a photo of Luca buying a row of bags for Lola.

Suddenly, it hit me.

He claimed that his team had named a small asteroid after me, but it was just a capital letter "L."

L.

It could stand for Lola or Lilly.

I forwarded the screenshot of Lola's post to Luca with the message: "The payment for the wedding photographer has been settled."

After that, I went to school. Since I would be studying abroad with the professor, I had a lot of work to hand over.

I spent the entire day in the lab, busy to the point of dizziness, with my phone turned off.

Finally finishing my work, it was already eleven at night, and it was completely dark outside.

I walked over to the calendar and made a black mark on the second-to-last day.

Now, there was only one day left before I left for abroad.

I turned my phone back on, and there were two new messages from Luca.

One asked why I hadn't come back yet, and the other insisted that he and Lola were just friends.

I couldn't help but curl my lips in a self-deprecating smile; he clearly knew why I cared, but he had never bothered to explain it before.

To Luca, I had pursued him for ten years, and no matter how much he hurt me, I had always accepted it.

What he didn't expect was that I had really given up.

After all, this relationship was just my own shackle.