My stomach flared up again after pulling an all-nighter at work, so I asked my fiancee to go home and grab my medicine.

Two hours later, she finally came back, but she was empty-handed.

"Where's the medicine?" I asked weakly.

"Oh, I forgot. Chris called last minute and said he had a fever, so I went to bring him some fever meds first."

After she said that, she dialed a number on her phone and asked worriedly, "Are you feeling any better now?"

On the other end of the line was the childhood friend she always talked about.

At that moment, I calmly pulled the IV needle out of my hand and told her we were done.

She frowned. "Just because I went to take care of Chris first?"

"I was on an IV drip. He just has a common cold."

I said each word slowly.

"Can you be a little more mature?" she asked with a look of disappointment on her face.

"Fine. If that's how you feel, then whatever."

She thought it was just an ordinary argument.

She had no idea that the moment she chose to forget the medicine that could've saved me, our relationship had already reached a point of no return.

I yanked the IV needle out of my hand. Blood from the open wound trickled down the back of my hand.

Wanda Lynch looked at me and frowned.

"Enzo Underwood, what are you doing now?"

Her tone sounded like she was scolding a misbehaving child.

I looked at her and felt my heart getting colder.

"Let's break up."

I said the words with unusual calm.

There was no anger or shouting.

Wanda froze for a moment. That familiar look of disappointment appeared on her face.

"Just because I forgot to get your medicine?

"Just because I went to see Chris first?"

She raised her voice as if I were the one being unreasonable.

"Can you stop being so childish and selfish?"

It was that line again.

I felt a sharp pain in my stomach, but it was nothing compared to the chill spreading through my chest.

Heartbreak was the worst kind of pain.

I looked at her. She was the woman I had loved for five years.

"Then let's end it."

She let out a dismissive scoff and turned around to leave.

She was certain I would chase after her, apologize, and beg her to come back like I always did.

She was certain I couldn't live without her. She was certain I didn't have the guts to really break up with her.

After all, our careers were tightly intertwined. She believed she had control over everything I had.

Or rather, she thought she did.

This time, she was wrong.

I watched her walk away and didn't say a word to stop her.

For the past five years, this one-sided dynamic had drained me completely.

I was truly tired.

Wanda had just reached the door when her phone rang.

She picked it up immediately. Her voice turned gentle.

"Chris, what's wrong?"

Chris Luther's weak voice came clearly through the phone.

"Wanda, come back. I'm scared of being alone."

There was a tremble in his voice. He sounded like a child who had been terribly wronged.

Wanda instantly switched to a soothing tone.

"Hey, it's okay. Don't be scared. I'll be right back.

"Lie down and pull the blanket over you. Don't catch a cold."

Her voice was extremely gentle.

It was completely different from the impatience and irritation she had just shown me.

I leaned back against the bed and listened as her gentle voice faded outside the door.

I listened as she poured all her care and attention into another man.

I smiled mockingly at myself.

How ridiculous.

My stomach condition had flared up. I was here on an IV drip.

She forgot my medicine and called me immature.

Chris just had a common cold, and she acted like the sky was falling.

He said he was scared.

How could a grown man in his twenties be scared of staying home alone?

Only Wanda would believe something that absurd.

Maybe it wasn't about believing. Maybe she was just willing to play along.

I closed my eyes. My heart had gone cold.

A scene from a year ago suddenly surfaced in my mind.

That day, Wanda ran a red light to take a shortcut.

A runaway truck came barreling toward us.

Without thinking, I shoved her out of the way.

My leg was crushed under the wheels.

I suffered a comminuted fracture.

After surgery, I lay in the hospital bed and was drenched in sweat from the pain.

Wanda only stayed with me until noon.

Chris called and said he'd just gone through a breakup. He was drinking at a bar and was contemplating suicide.

Wanda immediately stood up with panic written all over her face.

"Enzo, it's Chris. I need to go check on him."

I grabbed her hand and said hoarsely, "I just got out of surgery."

She shrugged me off. It was that familiar expression again.

It was a mix of disappointment and impatience.

"Chris is losing the will to live! You're already fine. Can you stop being so selfish?"

With that, she turned around and left without looking back.

She spent the whole night drinking with her heartbroken childhood friend.

She left me alone in that cold ward to endure the agony of fractured bones.

Back then, I still held onto a sliver of hope.

I thought she was only confused for a moment.

Now, I finally understood that it wasn't a coincidence.

It was a deeply rooted pattern.

In her world, Chris would always come first.

Every little thing about him mattered more than my life.

I was always the one who could be sacrificed and overlooked.

From now on, I would stop compromising.

Wanda didn't come.

She still didn't come. She didn't even call.

On the fourth day, I discharged myself from the hospital in disappointment.

I dragged my weak body back to the home Wanda and I shared.

It was the home I had personally designed, brick by brick.

The moment I pushed the door open, I froze.

The living room was a mess.

My limited-edition Galactic Fortress model, which I had kept as a prized collection, was completely dismantled.

Tiny pieces of it were scattered all over the floor.

Chris was sitting on the carpet.

He held a core energy reactor part and played with it joyfully.

When he saw me, there wasn't a trace of guilt or surprise.

Instead, he raised the part and showed it off to me.

"Enzo, look! This thing even lights up!"

At that moment, I felt all the blood in my body rush to my head.

I had spent countless sleepless nights assembling that model.

It was something I cherished the most.

Wanda walked out of the kitchen with a plate of cut fruit.

Seeing my expression, she said casually, "Chris likes it, so just let him play with it.

"It's just a toy. Aren't you a little too old to care about something like that?"

'A toy?'

My chest heaved as rage threatened to consume me.

I didn't look at her.

I stared directly at Chris.

Seeing that seemingly innocent smile on his face and my model's core piece in his hand made me clench my fists.

My joints were cracking.

All these years, I kept giving in.

In return, they kept crossing one boundary after another.

They treated everything I had as something they were entitled to.

They thought they could trample and discard everything at will.

Without saying a word, I walked over and bent forward.

I started picking up the shattered pieces.

'One, two, three–'

I carefully picked up each piece like they were part of my broken heart and not a model.

Wanda kept talking beside me.

"Look at you. Do you have to be that serious?

"Chris didn't do it on purpose."

Chris put down the core piece and stood up.

"Enzo, I'm sorry. Let me help you."

He reached out to pick up the pieces, but I suddenly looked up. My gaze was cold.

"Don't touch it."

I wasn't being loud, but Chris stopped moving completely.

I packed all the pieces into a box.

After that, I stood up, grabbed Chris by the collar, and dragged him to the door while he screamed in terror.

I opened the door and pushed him out.

Bang!

I closed the door.

The world fell silent.

Wanda was completely stunned.

When she came back to her senses, she let out a shrill scream.

"Enzo, have you lost your mind?

"You hurt Chris!"

She ran over, opened the door, and helped him up.

She nervously checked his arms and his legs.

"Chris, are you okay? Did you get hurt?"

The anxious look on her face seemed to suggest I was some unforgivable monster.

Meanwhile, her boyfriend had just recovered from a severe stomach condition, and his most treasured possession had been destroyed.

My pain meant nothing to her.

I felt both ridiculous and pitiful.

Chris hid behind Wanda. His face showed just the right amount of grievance.

His eyes welled with tears as if he had suffered a great injustice.

"Enzo, I'm sorry. I didn't know it meant so much to you–"

While he spoke, he tugged lightly at Wanda's sleeve.

"Wanda, don't argue with Enzo because of me. It's all my fault."

That sickeningly calculated act made my stomach churn.

Wanda, of course, fell for it.

She immediately turned around and glared at me.

"Enzo! You need to apologize to Chris!"

I looked at her and almost laughed.

'Apologize? Who exactly owes who an apology?'

I ignored her shouting.

Instead, I calmly retrieved my phone and turned on the camera.

I pointed the lens directly at Chris's innocent-looking face.

"Say that again."

My voice was ice-cold.

"Who told you to touch my stuff?"

Chris' expression changed instantly.

He instinctively glanced at Wanda. There was a flicker of panic in his eyes.

Wanda's rage seemed to vanish because of what I did.

She probably never expected this kind of pushback from me. I had always been tolerant.

"Enzo, put the phone down!"

Wanda snapped out of it and ran toward me. She tried to snatch my phone away.

I sidestepped her. The camera stayed locked on Chris.

"Say it," I uttered coldly.

Chris avoided my gaze and stammered, but he couldn't get a single word out.

When Wanda failed to snatch the phone, she started throwing a fit.

"Fine. Fine!"

She pointed at me. Her entire body was trembling with anger.

"Enzo, we're going cold!"

With that, she grabbed Chris and stormed out without looking back.

Bang!

The door slammed shut.

This was her usual tactic to force me into apologizing.

Every time we argued, she would say we're going cold and block me on everything.

Within three days, I'd have no choice but to reach out because of work.

Then came the apology and reconciliation.

She was certain this time would be no different.

After all, the company we built together revolved around its core technology, the Nord Ark system. It was my life's work.

She believed that for the sake of my career, I would never dare to truly fall out with her.

She thought I was still the same Enzo she could control at will.

I looked at the closed door and slowly lowered my phone.

I saved the silent video that had captured everything.

'Going cold, huh?'

This time, I wouldn't be the one to reach out.

A week later, it was the review meeting for the company's core project, the Nord Ark system.

My team and I had pulled countless all-nighters for it.

Every line of code carried our effort and sacrifice.

As the project lead, I was about to go on stage to present, but Wanda beat me to it.

Dressed in a sharp business suit, she wore a polished smile.

"Greetings, dear investors and colleagues.

"Today, I'm honored to introduce our newly appointed technical director, Mr. Chris Luther."

I froze.

Chris? Since when did he become the technical director?

Behind me, my team erupted in murmurs.

Chris walked onto the stage in a brand-new suit. He looked composed and confident next to Wanda.

Wanda looped her arm through his and announced warmly, "The breakthrough progress of the Nord Ark system is entirely thanks to Mr. Luther.

"It was he who provided the revolutionary inspiration and core architecture!"

There were whispers in the room.

My team members' faces were filled with shock and anger.

I stared at the two of them on stage. All I could feel was a chill rising from my feet to the rest of my body.

Theft. This was blatant theft.

Chris stood next to her with a seemingly modest smile.

"It's all thanks to the team, especially Wanda, who gave me so much support."

He even glanced in my direction. There was a trace of provocation in his eyes.

I clenched my jaw and looked at them coldly.

The investors began whispering among themselves.

A senior investor, Mr. Lionel, adjusted his glasses and raised a question.

"Mr. Luther, I've heard a lot about you.

"I'm particularly interested in the underlying logic of the Nord Ark system, especially its data encryption algorithm. Could you elaborate?"

The smile on Chris' face disappeared.

He stammered, and his eyes darted around.

"W-Well, the algorithm is quite complex.

"I-It mainly uses a new type of encryption model–"

He couldn't even produce a single proper technical term.

The atmosphere in the room turned awkward instantly.

Wanda quickly stepped in. "Mr. Luther has just taken over the project. He's still getting familiar with the details."

Mr. Lionel frowned. He was clearly dissatisfied with the answer.

He asked a few more questions about system stability and future iterations.

Chris' answers were even worse. They were full of holes and completely off track.

The investors' expressions darkened.

Just as things were about to spiral out of control, I calmly stood up.

All eyes were on me.

I didn't look at Wanda or Chris.

I walked to the front and picked up the microphone.

"Mr. Lionel, I'll take those questions."

I answered every one of them with clear logic and precise structure.

From the core algorithm to system architecture and future commercial applications, every detail was laid out perfectly.

The investors nodded frequently. Their looks of approval were obvious.

At the end, I pulled up the system's backend demo.

"To ensure the originality and security of the system–"

While I spoke, I casually displayed the core code page.

At the bottom of the code was a clear digital signature.

[Enzo.]

There was also a precise timestamp for the finalized version.

It was generated one week ago.

That was when Wanda had blocked me. It was the period we had gone cold.

There was no way Chris, the so-called new technical director, could have completed it.

The conference room fell silent.

Every investor's expression had changed.

They looked at me, then at Wanda and Chris, whose faces had gone pale.

Their eyes were filled with curiosity and scrutiny.