Lucille focused fully on her breakfast. She did not look up, nor did she pay attention to River’s replies.

She was about to leave after breakfast when she suddenly received a text on her phone. It came with a twenty thousand dollar transfer from Sophia.

Lucille looked up just in time to see Sophia’s provocative smirk. The text that came with the transfer read, [I really like the pictures you took yesterday, especially the one of the kiss! I’ll send them to River. I’m sure he’ll appreciate your handiwork!]

Lucille simply replied, [Received with thanks.]

She then clicked on her bank app. When she saw the three hundred thousand dollars in her account, she chuckled softly to herself.

While the rest of the family was still engrossed in their discussion, Lucille went upstairs, got changed, and then called a cab outside.

She had invited her besties out for a farewell luncheon. If she did not leave soon, she would be late.

In the end, Lucille arrived at the cafe at exactly twelve o’clock. Her besties crowded around her, looking lonely.

“Are you really going abroad, Lucy? For how long? Will you come back?”

“Yeah, I’ll be studying for three years. After that I plan to find a job in London and stay there, so I probably won’t be coming back.”

The other three girls were surprised. “Then what about your brother? He’ll stay here while you’ll move to London? Weren’t you planning to get married?”

She had told them all about their relationship. It was too big a secret to keep to herself, so she confided in her most trusted friends.

In response to their question, she just pursed her lips and said, “I’ve given up on him. I don’t like him anymore.”

She made it sound easy, but her friends knew how much she had struggled internally over the years. Although they did not know why she changed her mind so suddenly, they were still all on her side.

“Good, I’m glad you broke up! Now you don’t have to worry about breaking your mother’s heart if she finds out.”

“Yeah, and there are plenty of hot guys in England! You’re sure to find someone. You know, I’ve never been there before, so you gotta film a lot of videos when you get there. I want to feed pigeons in Trafalgar Square too!”

Their lively chatter gradually put a smile on Lucille’s face.

Yeah, she was starting a new phase of her life very soon. Why should she keep worrying over this dark part of her past?

River did not come home for the next few days, and Lucille did not care where he went.

She spent the rest of her time before her departure with her mother. They went shopping, took photos, and ate the food filled with her childhood memories. Victoria gave her a lot of advice about living alone.

Time ticked by peacefully. Five days before her flight, Victoria went outstation with Dan.

Just then, Lucille received a call from her paternal aunt, saying that her father’s cemetery was being regazetted for government use. As his next of kin, she and Victoria should take care of it.

Dan’s family had not been too happy with Victoria since they got married. Lucille did not want to cause her mother any more trouble with the in-laws, so she planned to handle everything on her own.

She quickly made some calls and bought an excellent plot in another cemetery. As she was heading out to collect the ashes, however, she bumped into River at the doorway. She had not seen him for a long time.

When she explained where she was going, he frowned and squeezed her hand. “Do you think of me as your boyfriend or not? Your father is mine, too. Why didn’t you ask me to help you with something this important?

“Get into the car. I’ll go with you!”

Lucille looked at his solemn expression. She really could not tell if his feelings for her were still an act.

She could not win the argument against him, and she was running late, so she had to take his car. Halfway to the destination, however, he suddenly made a detour, saying he had to pick up someone else.

Lucille paused when she saw Sophia. She wanted to ask, Why did they have to bring someone completely unrelated to pick up her father’s ashes? Were he and Sophia that inseparable?

However, time was running short. She swallowed her words.

On the way to the new cemetery, Lucille walked ahead of the others wordlessly, holding the urn. Everything was ready. Just as they were about to bury the urn, River’s phone.

He glanced at the number, frowned, and left the gravesite.

Lucille did not ask where he was going. She bent down to put down the urn, but Sophia stopped her with a smirk.

“River agreed to watch the sunset with me today. He only brought you here because it was along the way. I bet you didn’t know that!”

Lucille did not know that, but she also did not care. All she cared about was letting her father rest in peace.

That was why she ignored Sophia’s taunts and did not even look at her. She just wanted to put the ashes down.

Sophia had never been ignored like that before. She grabbed Lucille in a huff. “Stop pretending, Lucille. I’m talking to you!”

When she saw how carefully Lucille was holding the urn, she made a split-second decision. She snatched the urn from Lucille’s hands and smashed it to the ground!

It shattered into pieces on the steps, the grey ashes spilling all over the floor.

Lucille’s mind finally snapped. “Dad!”

She ran down the steps, sobbing as she knelt and tried to pick up the ashes. However, a gust of wind blew the last of her hopes away.

She could only watch as her father’s ashes were blown away by the wind. No matter how desperately she tried to retain them, she could not keep hold of a single speck.

That was her father! All that remained of him after he died was his ashes, but now she could not hold on to even that!

She was furious, and she could not hold it back anymore. She stormed back to Sophia and slapped her with all her strength.

“Sophia Song! Those were my father’s ashes! The last thing he left to me in this world! And now he’ll never rest in peace!”

Sophia’s fair face swelled up in an instant. She was stunned. Just as she was about to fight back, she suddenly saw River heading back this way.

She quickly regained her senses and fell backward, tumbling down the stairs.

River had no idea what was going on. When he saw Sophia falling, he hurriedly helped her back up. “What are you doing, Lucille?”

“What am I doing?! Why don’t you ask what the hell she did?!”

River had never seen Lucille so hysterical. He looked at her tear-stained face, his fury freezing in an instant. The next moment, Sophia wept in his arms.

“I accidentally knocked over Lucy’s father’s urn, River. The wind picked up, and now the ashes are all gone. Lucy shoved me down the stairs in anger. Look, I’m bleeding so much! Shouldn’t that count as punishment…?”

River’s heart tightened in his chest when he saw the remains of the urn. He wanted to comfort her, but the words came out differently. “Sophia didn’t mean to…”

“Get lost!” Lucille used up all her energy to roar those words.

River still wanted to explain, but Sophia tugged at his sleeve, sobbing. “River, it really hurts! Is my leg broken?”

River glanced at Lucille… but in the end, he chose to leave with Sophia in his arms!

The employees at the cemetery brought Lucille a brand-new urn. She carefully put the last specks of ash inside, buried the urn, and then knelt down, pressing her head against the grave.

“I’m sorry, Dad,” she whispered, her voice barely audible. “I let the wrong man into my life, and I couldn’t protect you.”

She paused, her fingers tracing the edge of the grave. “And now… I have to leave. I won’t be able to visit you for years, but I hope you’ll understand.”

After bowing three times, she raised her head. Crows cawed in the distance.

A drop of crimson blood slid down her forehead and the corner of her reddened eyes, like a tear of blood.

That evening, Lucille left the cemetery and went home alone. She brought all the things she had packed downstairs.

She burned the crush diary filled with River’s name. She threw away the matching clothing she had secretly brought. She cut the couple photos they had sneakily taken to pieces.

Once everything was done, she returned to her room. The moment she closed the door, she heard someone coming into the house downstairs.

She locked her room door, turned off her lights, and curled into her bed in the pitch-black darkness.

Before long, there was a knock on her door. Knock knock knock, knock knock knock.

“Lucy, open up.

“Lucy, I can explain.”

It was River.

Lucille ignored him, but she could not stop the tears.

Explain? Explain what?

That he did not take her as a tool for his revenge? That he did not stand with Sophia after she destroyed her father’s ashes?

Soon, the knocking stopped, but her phone began to ring. Lucille could see that River was still typing out a message, but she blocked him without a word and deleted his contact.

That night, she ignored anything he did or said outside her door.

She only opened the door the next morning when she heard her mother’s voice. She leaped into Victoria’s arms.

Victoria did not know what had happened, but she still patted her daughter’s back and soothed her, just like when Lucille was a kid.

River had not slept all night. When he saw the mother and daughter hugging, he fell silent for a long time and headed downstairs.

The next few days, Lucille slept in her mother’s room to evade River’s advances.

She and Victoria packed their bags together, slept hugging each other, and shared a lot of secrets only they knew.

In her mother’s arms, Lucille felt a rare sense of peace.

She still wanted to sleep with her mother the night before she left, but Victoria was worried she would not be able to rest well, so she sent Lucille back to her room.

Lucille had no choice but to stare at the ceiling blankly.

At midnight, someone unlocked her door.

It was River. He snuck in with the spare key and pulled her into his arms.

“Are you still mad at me? I’m sorry, okay? Please forgive me.

“You’ve been mad at me for three days. If you keep ignoring me, I’ll really lose my mind.”

Lucille said nothing and closed her eyes.

River was exasperated when he heard her even breathing. He knew she had it rough the past few days, and he did not want to wear her out anymore. All he did was kiss his forehead.

Listening to the heartbeat right next to hers, Lucille could not sleep at all that night.

In the wee hours of the morning, River’s phone suddenly rang.

Lucille picked it up and saw Sophia’s name. She shook him awake and handed him the phone. River answered the call in a daze.

Within seconds, he let go of Lucille’s waist and sat up with a jolt.

After hanging up, he turned around and said softly, “Lucy, I…”

“Go. Don’t turn on the lights.” Her voice was barely audible in the darkness. He could not read her tone at all.

He thought she was not angry at him anymore, so he nodded and got up to leave. Before he left the door, however, he suddenly panicked for some reason. He could not help but turn back to the figure curled up in bed.

“Lucy, I’ll be right back. Wait for me.”

Lucille would never wait for him again. They were over.

She heard the car start outside the mansion and watched River leave before turning on the lights. After that, she got up, got changed, and brushed her teeth as usual.

As soon as she was done, Victoria knocked on her door, calling her down for breakfast.

She ate everything while her stepfather ordered her servants to take all her luggage downstairs.

As the last of her luggage disappeared out the door, she suddenly thought of something. She went back to her empty room, opened her drawer, and took out the bank card and breakup letter she had prepared.

She then took them to River’s room, putting them where he would see them instantly.

“River, this time, I’m dumping you.”

Just then, Victoria called out to her gently. “Hurry, Lucy, or you’ll miss your flight!”

“Okay!” Lucille hurried down the stairs.

The cab was already waiting outside. Lucille said goodbye to her parents and got into the car.

Victoria’s voice was thick with tears. “Take care, Lucy.

“I put your childhood friend’s number in your pocket. If you need any help at all, call him.

“Go ahead and chase your dreams. Don’t worry about us at home.”

Lucille nodded to everything she said through the car window, her eyes red. It was only after her mother faded from view that she finally looked ahead.

The weather outside was bright and sunny, without a cloud in sight. Just like her life from now on…