The next morning, after Damian had gone to work, Bella showed up at his home.

The house was pretty empty, save for the ragdoll cat that had curled into itself on the couch. It happily ran toward Bella and rubbed against her feet in welcome.

She picked the cat up and ran her fingers through its soft, fluffy fur. "Come on. Time to get you a new home now that I've made up my mind."

She brought the cat back to her place and started browsing Amazon for some pet supplies and a house for the new owner. The cat rested on her lap, occasionally looking up at her, as though it suspected something.

After a while, Bella thought she should just buy those things from a pet store. She took the cat with her and drove to a nearby pet store.

A board was erected outside. Curious, Bella approached it to take a good look.

One of the pictures immediately grabbed her attention. It showed none other than Dakota and Damian standing close to each other, their smiles as natural and cheery as they could possibly be, with a cat nestling in her arm. It was the picture of a happy family.

Bella squeezed her arms a little. The cat cried out a little, sensing the change in her mood.

The shopkeeper noticed her standing outside and came to greet her. "Good morning, ma'am. Oh, fancy seeing you again, kitty-cat!"

Bella reeled. "Huh? I mean, when was this photo taken?"

"Hmm… Probably last summer. They were here to get something for Lil' Buddy over here. The man said this was their cat and the family's most precious little baby."

Bella's heart sank. She hung her head, deep in thought.

She was abroad last summer. The days were always so back-breakingly busy, and yet the nights stubbornly stayed sleepless for hours.

She had missed home. She had missed Damian.

She had asked if he could take a picture of himself with the cat. He replied, "For real?! I don't have the time for childish things like this, Bella! Please respect my time!"

He was impatient. "Would it kill you to be a little more mature, Bella? I really have no time for this juvenile request."

As it turned out, he did take that picture with the cat. He could not send it over because he took that picture with Dakota.

Bella felt a pang in her chest.

"Um, ma'am? Are you alright?"

The shopkeeper's voice snapped her out of her trance. Bella shook her head and forced a smile. "Sorry. I spaced out there. I'm fine."

She left the store and drove to visit a friend who had been clamoring to keep a cat as her pet. Seeing the ragdoll sent her over the moon. "Really, Bella?! I can keep it?! It's sooooo cute!"

Belal grinned and patted the cat's head. "Please take good care of it."

The cat burrowed itself into her chest. It did not want to leave Bella yet…

But this was it—Bella had made up her mind. She gave the cat one last, longing look before placing it on her friend's arms.

She left.

Bella buried herself on the couch as she cried wordlessly. Tears broke out of her closed eyes like water from broken dams.

It took her this long to realize that the sweet, cherished memories of two had always just been the dreams and delusions of one all along.

Bella packed up her things and went to her parents' home.

The place was as she remembered: a lavish villa boasting grandeur and elegance. The villa next door, meanwhile, belonged to the Fox family.

Damian and Bella were childhood sweethearts. Everyone who watched them grow up knew he treated her as royalty—the queen of his heart. Bella, for her part, was never seen apart from Damian.

Her mom had said that even as a toddler, Bella was laser-focused on Damian alone. She would hug him tightly and would not let go.

Damian, who was five when she first did that, simply reciprocated her hug. He did not even push her away.

The families had joked that this was the first time Damian looked so serious. He had always been a perpetual frowner even as a kid, but he had never looked so protective until that day. It was such a cherished memory that their families still mentioned it from time to time.

Her parents were pretty jealous of the bond between Bella and Damian, too. The first word Bella learned to say, incidentally, was not "Mama" or "Papa." It was "Damian."

The entire house was a memory capsule. Every little thing here reminded Bella of him.

Rodrigue and Stella Valdez were surprised to see Bella home, but pure joy at seeing their daughter supplanted it soon. Stella made a feast boasting all of Bella's favorite foods to commemorate her visit that evening, and it was a genuinely happy dinner.

However, Bella spoke precious little during the meal. She sat in sullen silence most of the time.

She visited Rodrigue's study after dinner. He leaned against his chair and affected a cheery tone, but his eyes showed curiosity. "What's wrong, darling? You look despondent."

Bella rummaged through her bag and presented a photo of Damian and Dakota together.

Rodrigue examined it carefully. His easy smile faltered.

He could read the subtext of the photo way too fine: Damian was giving his heart to a different woman. He also knew that Bella hated sharing her favorites with others.

He looked up at his daughter. "What are you planning to do?"

Bella cast her eyes to the floor. "Call off our engagement."

Bella and Damian had only gotten together after they finished high school. Then, on that very same day, Damian and his family came to propose their engagement. It was so abrupt that it didn’t sit well with Rodrigue.

Rodrigue nodded. "Got it. Once the Foxes are home, we'll bring this up with them."

Silence. Warm tears rolled out of Bella's downcast eyes and splashed onto the backs of her hands.

Pained, Rodrigue tried to pry open Bella's clenched fingers to comfort her.

He discovered her nails had dug so deeply into her palms that they'd broken the skin.

"Oh God!" he whispered. Carefully, he tended to the wounds.

Bella gritted her teeth in silence. When he finished, she finally looked up. "I'm fine, Dad."

Damian called her that night. He was panicking. "Kitty's gone, Bella! I came home and it's not where it should be!"

"I gave it away," Bella said coldly.

He froze.

In that silence, she heard an angry female voice crying out, "How could you, Bella?! How could you give Kitty away?! Who do you think you are? This is irresponsible!"

So, Dakota was there, too. She continued sharply, "You've had Kitty for a long time! How could you be so heartless to give Kitty away just like that?!"

Bella's grip tightened around her phone. Her chest undulated in pain. Was she upset that Dakota was shouting at her through Damian's phone, who passively allowed her to do so while saying nothing? Or was she upset that these two were still together?

"Dakota, enough," he finally spoke up tiredly. "I'll buy you a cat, alright?"

Bella hung up the call and bolted into the bathroom. Her stomach was churning. After some retching, she threw up. She had to steady herself with the sink after that before blacklisting Damian's number.

-

Claire could tell Bella was in a bad mood. She decided to drag her unhappy friend out of the house to go shopping. Bella was not that interested, but she relented.

It was a warm, sunny day. The streets were bustling.

Claire had always loved decking herself in all kinds of accessories. She was especially defenseless against expensive jewelry, so as usual, Claire brought Bella into one of these shops.

Seeing the blinding light reflecting off the jewelry display across the glass cabinets made Bella feel a little relaxed. Growing up as the lonely child in a super wealthy family, Bella was never left wanting for these things.

Damian also loved buying all sorts of delicate gifts for Bella ever since they were children. Once they got older, he would buy her things that would only number in millions of dollars.

Bella used to think these were all representations of his undying love for her, but now? It just made her feel bitter.

Claire got what she wanted. They were about to return happily when Claire froze and asked quietly, "Is that Damian?"

Bella followed her gaze. Damian and Dakota were holding hands as they perused a row of bracelets.

Claire pursed her lips, frowning. "Those two are disgusting. Let's get outta here!"

Unfortunately, Dakota had already noticed them. She made her way to them, beaming. "Oh my, is that you, Bella? Fancy seeing you here, too! Wanna join us on our shopping? Damian's buying me a necklace."

"Oh, I see," Bella replied icily.

"It's not what you think," Damian added quickly. "Dakota was crying the entire night because of Kitty, so I originally wanted to buy a new pet cat to make her feel better…"

"Sure," Bella remarked quietly. She looked at him as though he were a stranger.

"Well…" Dakota interjected sweetly, "Damian thought it might not be a good idea to buy a cat. I mean, what if it dies or goes away someday? I might feel bad and cry the whole day again! So he decided to buy me a cute cat-shaped necklace instead! Isn't he just the sweetest?"

She raised her hand. A silvery necklace dangled from her palm. A cat-shaped pendant gleamed softly.

"It looks good," Bella remarked flatly.

Damian could tell something was wrong from her tone. "Look, this was nothing, okay? It was just… whatever."

"Oh, really?" Bella scoffed. "What happened to being busy with work? I wouldn't expect you to have enough free time to spend hours on a 'whatever' gift."

"It's not like that! Dakota's feeling upset, okay? I just wanted her to feel better."

Bella glared at him icily. "So, when she's upset, you wanna do things to make her feel better. When I'm upset, you want me to shut up and stop throwing tantrums."

He opened his mouth, but nothing came out.

"Save your breath," Bella continued. "Come on, Claire. Let's not waste time over here."

She circled around Damian and Dakota and left the shop.

Damian watched her darkly. Dakota, meanwhile, caressed her necklace with a small, satisfied smile.