After the engagement party, Lily did not call or text me.

I thought my five-year relationship had ended.

It was not until Friday night that Lily suddenly showed up at my door with a full face of makeup on.

“Leon, I made some soup for you… Can we talk?”

She was carrying a thermos and was looking at the floor. She seemed meek, like she usually was.

I could smell the food she had prepared. It was similar to what she had made me in the past.

Despite being rich, she was willing to cook for me.

When I thought about that and our five-year relationship, my heart softened.

“I was wrong the other day… I shouldn’t have talked to you like that,” she said apologetically and hung her head low.

“But Ryan… his personality has always been like that. He doesn’t have any ill intentions. But you shouldn’t disrespect him like that in front of everyone. You should apologize to him, and we can all move forward from this, alright?”

She was here to speak up for Ryan.

My heart sank.

“He humiliated me, and you want me to be humiliated all over again? Lily, are you really that stupid or just delusional?”

Lily was enraged when she saw that I was not backing down.

“What do you want? What’s the point of holding a grudge? Isn’t it better to just move on?”

Just as we were stuck in an impasse, someone knocked on the door twice. Ryan showed up at my door with a displeased look on his face.

“Leon, I heard that you were still angry, so I’m here to apologize to you.

“I went overboard with a joke at your engagement party. I’m sorry about that.”

After that, he walked into my house uninvited and pointed at Lily’s thermos.

“Well, it’s not a big deal anyway. Let’s drink that soup, and let bygones be bygones.”

Lily looked at us in delight. She thought that we were about to reconcile.

However, as he picked up the thermos, he whispered sarcastically in my ear, “Why don’t you have a good look at yourself? You’re just a poor orphan. How can you compare with me?

“Lily treats you like her new toy, nothing more.”

After that, he dropped the hot soup on me!

My skin was immediately red and swollen. I stood up abruptly in pain and could not hold my anger back.

“Ryan, what the hell are you doing?”

My eyes were bloodshot as I aimed my fist at his face.

He dodged and pretended to lose his balance. He then dragged me along with him as he rammed into a rack.

The flower vase on the rack fell onto the floor and smashed into pieces.

When we fell to the floor, Ryan grabbed my hand and pushed it forcefully against the sharpest piece of porcelain!

The porcelain slashed the birthmark on my arm, and blood immediately soaked through my sleeve.

I could not speak because of the pain. Ryan looked smug. However, he immediately held his hand and yelled, “Ahh!!! My hand! Leon, why’d you hit me?”

Lily, who was stunned, snapped to the present. However, all her attention was focused on Ryan.

“Ryan, are you alright?” She held Ryan’s hand and examined it anxiously.

There was a thin red line on his wrist.

My arm, on the other hand, was bleeding profusely.

“Leon, you’re so heartless! Ryan came here to apologize to you in good faith. How could you hit him?”

I held my bleeding palm and stared at her in disbelief.

“He started this first, Lily. Look at me! I’m the one who’s injured!”

“Ryan just likes to joke around, and he definitely wouldn’t accuse someone innocent. You should stop slandering him!”

Lily looked at me in disappointment.

“Stop arguing with me right now. Ryan’s hands are important to him. He plays the piano! Will you compensate him if something happens to his hands? How can you be so careless?

“I’ll take him to the hospital. You should take care of yourself.”

At that moment, the pain from my wound could not compare to the pain I felt in my heart.

Lily helped Ryan up and rushed out of my apartment. She did not even spare me a glance before she left.

When I looked at them leaving, tears streamed down my cheeks from the pain. I had completely given up on Lily.

With my uninjured hand, I trembled and called the ambulance.

I got five stitches on my arm, and it left an ugly scar.

When we were in college, Lily would tear up at the most minor injury that I got from playing basketball. She would treat my wound with utmost care. She often said she was worried I did not take care of myself.

However, she had not even spared me a glance when Ryan had hurt me.

I felt uncomfortable with the stitches on my hand.

I wanted to get some fresh air. When I walked out of the emergency room, I bumped into Lily.

She was holding a tube of ointment for Ryan. She was momentarily stunned when she saw the stitches on my arm and stopped me.

“Leon…

“I was afraid that Ryan might’ve sought revenge against you. If his family’s legal team sued you, you wouldn’t have been able to recover from it.

“But… I’m sorry for neglecting you. Let’s go on a boat ride this weekend, just the two of us. Let me make it up to you, alright?” she said pleadingly.

In the past, I would have given in. However, at this moment, I just felt tired.

She left me and followed Ryan, and she could do that again.

I did not want to feel abandoned, and I wanted a proper closure for our five-year relationship.

“Alright.”

As the yacht sailed out into the sea, a person whom I wanted to see the least stepped out from the cabin. It was Ryan.

“Why are you here?” I suppressed my anger and asked.

“Ryan didn’t feel that we’d be safe on our own. He said that he knows how to sail a yacht, so it’d be safer with him here,” Lily said.

My biggest concern when it came to safety was Ryan.

“Either he leaves, or I do,” I said.

Lily’s smile froze on her face.

“Leon, it’s Ryan’s birthday today! Can’t you just sit down and have a proper conversation with him today?

“You’re my fiance, and he’s my lifesaver. Please don’t make this more difficult for me, alright?”

It seemed that this little outing she had put together for me had been for Ryan instead.

I felt numb.

At the same time, the yacht started to sway violently. It seemed like it was sinking.

“What’s wrong?” Lily looked petrified.

“There’s something wrong with the generator.

“Leon, the only other man here is you. Come with me to take a look.”

After that, he leaped into the sea.

However, just as he hit the water, he let out a piercing scream.

“Ah!!! My leg! My leg’s cramping!”

He yelled and flailed in the water. It seemed like he was drowning.

“Ryan!!!” Lily looked terrified and almost jumped in.

It was dangerous, so I stopped her.

“Wait, you don’t know how to swim. You almost drowned when you were younger. I’ll go.”

Just as I was about to reach Ryan in the water, he locked me in a death grip and dragged me under.

“Help! Help…” Ryan yelled as he tightened his grip on me.

He was doing that deliberately. He wanted to drown me!

“Lifebuoy! Lily, throw the lifebuoy!” I yelled as I did my best to pull myself free from Ryan. My legs were already cramping.

The lifebuoy could only support one person. Lily looked at the two of us struggling and hesitated.

She then threw the lifebuoy at Ryan with all her might.

“Leon, Ryan checked this area before. It’s a safe zone. It’s not too far from the shore. You know how to swim, so you can swim back to the shore!” she yelled at me, but the wind scattered her voice.

“Ryan can’t die! I can’t forgive myself if something happens to him!”

After that, she scrambled to pull Ryan onto the lifeboat she was on and left immediately.

I was alone in the middle of the vast ocean, alongside the sinking yacht.

She was right. I was good at swimming.

But was that enough of a reason to leave me deserted?

I lost my strength, and my limbs started to turn numb from the cold.

I felt an excruciating pain. I looked down and saw that a shark had bitten my leg!

The blood colored the water red.

“Help me! Is anyone there? Please… help…”

My survival instinct kicked in, and I tried to swim away.

A yacht sped toward me from a distance.

However, I began to lose consciousness because of the pain and blood loss.

…

“Aren’t Ryan and Lily here? Why don’t I see them?”

On the deck, a middle-aged woman dressed in luxury clothing stood beside a man with a confused expression on her face.

“Even though Ryan is just our adopted son, we treat him like he’s our own.

“If he knows that we took a boat out here to give him his birthday present, he’ll be ecstatic!”

Suddenly, she turned around and saw a young man struggling in the water.

“Dear, look!”

She pointed at that young man’s arm and teared up. She trembled and said, “The birthmark on his arm… Is that our son who went missing twenty years ago?

“Quick! Quick, save him!”