Ian once said that I was cold as ice and that he could never get close enough to me.

I explained that I didn’t need him to get close to me to know my thoughts. All I needed was his loyalty and unwavering companionship.

My mother’s marriage to Sebastian turned sour right before my eyes. One minute Sebastian was in love with my mother, the next he was parading his side chick, Rowena to my mother during her chemotherapy.

I had lost faith in men. The idea of love was a delusion to me. For a man to betray his partner in a heartbeat showed that the heart was a fickle thing. Thank goodness I held back a part of myself, so when things went wrong between us, I was able to stay composed.

I had no idea when Ian became acquainted with Roxy. In fact, the very mention of Roxy threw me off—she made my skin crawl.

Roxy and Rowena were forbidden subjects for me. During our three years together, there were moments of raw honesty where I bared my soul to Ian. I told him that I hated Roxy and Rowena the most. The last people I’d rather see were them. I even confessed to Ian that I wouldn’t be caught dead around the spots they frequented.

At the time, he ran his fingers along my hair lovingly and held my hand tight. He firmly yet gently assured me that he heard me. He promised to shield me from pain and to never go against my will to let me be in a room with the people I couldn’t stand.

Yet, he was the one who made sure Rowena and Roxy were at our engagement party. When I turned against Rowena and Roxy, Ian took their side and shielded them.

I put my suitcase in my old room. Baron always changed the sheets every fortnight. The bed looked clean, so I flopped myself onto the mattress.

I hadn’t felt secure anywhere in a long time, but the house was the only exception. I could let my guard down when I was at Baron’s place. He was the one constant who cared and never betrayed me.

Since Ian preferred Roxy, they could get engaged for all I cared. I was done with them.

“Are you honestly breaking up with Ian? He’s a good kid. You might not find someone better if you let him go.”

Baron could tell something was wrong, his eyes reflecting worry.

He approached my bed on his tiptoes, the words escaping his lips at last. “He’s a good kid. He probably didn’t set boundaries when being nice to Roxy too.”

Come to think of it, I had never fought with Ian before today.

I was pretty mean when we first started dating, so his advances were often met with my cold shoulder. I was hoping Ian would get angry and break up with me. At least, I wouldn’t have to go on dates with him against my will, and once Ian gave up on me, Baron couldn’t make me be with him.

To my surprise, Ian had the patience of a saint. He could put up with a lot. He treated me like a child, indulging in my every whim. I never thought of myself as demanding before meeting Ian, but at one point, I felt that I had gone too far.

One day, my conscience came back to bite me as he stuck out with my behavior. For the first time, I reached out to him, and from then on until three days ago, I thought he might be my salvation.

That was right.

Three days ago, I saw the shopping cart on Ian’s phone.

While planning for our engagement, we had been staying in our new home for the past week. The shared living arrangement would make the engagement discussion easier for us, but we stayed in separate rooms.

I stumbled upon his phone, purely by chance. At first, I assumed that he had bought something for me. However, I was never keen on the color red, and I didn’t want to compromise my preferences just to please him and the guests. Hence, I took it upon myself to contact the seller to talk about changing the color of the dress.

To my dismay, I tapped on his order details to find he’d been buying two of every gift he’d given me in the past six months. One delivery was made to my former home while the other was sent to my rented place. The packages were addressed to me and Roxy.

I recalled thinking it was a mere coincidence that the recipient shared the name of my half-sister. However, once I verified the phone number, I realized that Ian had been in touch with Roxy behind my back.

Overwhelmed with shock and disbelief, I tapped on his chats for the first time. Seemingly, upon discovering that Ian and I had been going out for a year, Roxy added Ian on social media under the pretense of mending our relationship.

Roxy and Ian were polite and distant in the beginning. With Ian showing off his lifestyle and posting videos and photos of how happy we were, Roxy switched it up and came on to him.

Apparently, Roxy got me a gift for my birthday last year, so Ian went out to meet her late at night after dropping me home. It had been a year, but I hadn’t seen or received the supposed gift, and the chat history showed that things got hot and heavy between Roxy and Ian that night.

For the following year, Ian played the role of my boyfriend while making time for Roxy. Ian even attended Rowena’s birthday celebration with the family as Roxy’s partner.

Roxy shared a family photo with Ian, featuring them together. Sebastian and Rowena sat in the front, Ian and Roxy stood behind them, and a three-tiered birthday cake was placed in front of them.

They looked at the camera, their faces beaming with happy smiles. The family of four looked good together.

I remembered a phone call from Rowena on her fiftieth birthday. However, I hung up the moment I heard her voice.

Ian played it cool once, asking whether I was available during the weekend to visit Sebastian, and I declined without hesitation. Back then, I assumed it was just small talk. Little did I know, he attended Rowena’s birthday celebration, which I had skipped out on, and today, he extended an invitation to Rowena and Roxy to our engagement party without informing me.

He was trying to force my hand and push me to accept the family back into my life. However, since I had always been accommodating, he didn’t think I would rip Roxy’s dress off her in public. I even went so far as to attack Rowena and Sebastian.

Thinking back, I wished I had been more ruthless. All Sebastian got was a glass of wine poured on him while Rowena got her toe stomped on.

“Ian is the son of a fellow comrade. He comes from a strict family, so he should know better than to pull that stunt. I guess I can’t keep up with the times.

“Just follow your heart, sweetheart. I won’t interfere anymore.

“Just remember this: don’t let anyone push you around. Your mother has suffered enough at the hands of your father. Do right by her and yourself.”