I read the text message thrice.

I might not be the brightest, but even I could tell that this woman was taunting me.

Even though I had already guessed why Nathan was late, Lucille Young's text still left me feeling suffocated.

Nathan and I had grown up together. We were childhood sweethearts, practically inseparable. When I was little, I had vowed to marry him and become his wife when I grew up.

I had just started elementary school when I made that declaration. It also made our parents elated.

Nathan had always been close to me, too.

That was until we went to college.

For the first time ever, he brought another woman home—Lucille Young. I realized from their interaction that Nathan's closeness to me wasn't love.

That realization made me panic.

After we graduated from college, I jokingly suggested that we officially get married.

Our parents agreed to the idea, but Nathan did not—he turned me down mercilessly.

For the next eight years, I had asked him to get married dozens of times.

He had only agreed to seven of them—and every one of those seven times, he stood me up.

Every time, Lucille would send me a perfectly-timed text to taunt me.

Just then, my phone buzzed again.

Thinking it was Lucille, I instinctively moved to reject the call, only to see that it was a friend, Julia Hart, calling.

I was apparently invited to a gathering that evening.

Without thinking, I asked Julia whether Nathan was going to be present.

"Don't worry, Yvonne. I know about your relationship with Nathan. I've already talked to him ahead of time—he'll be there!" she said happily.

"Never mind," I replied. "If he's there, I'll give it a miss. Maybe next time."

There was a sudden silence on the other end of the line, as if Julia had been startled by what I said.

Everyone knew that I had been wooing Nathan for years.

I had shamelessly given him flowers at our graduation ceremony, did everything I could to get him a good job, and devoted my days to cleaning his house and cooking for him.

Once, at a friend's birthday party, someone said he was lucky to have found someone like me.

However, Nathan scoffed coldly at that. "She's annoying as hell. Who cares about what she does?"

Back then, I didn't care either. I thought he'd eventually change for me.

But now, I cared.

After ending the call, I sent a group message to our mutual friends. "From now on, don't bother inviting me to a gathering if Nathan is going to be there."

Then, I hailed a cab and went back to my rented apartment.

After taking a shower, I started sorting out Nathan's things. I packed them all into a suitcase and called a courier service to send them back to him.

My best friend, Anne Woodward, showed up at the same time as the courier, having heard what was going on.

When she saw the packed suitcase, she blurted out, "Yvonne, are you leaving?"

I laughed and opened the suitcase to show her what was inside. "What are you talking about? These are Nathan's things. I'm sending them back to him."

Anne stood there stunned for a while. After the courier took the suitcase away, she looked at me in disbelief. "Didn't you say you were going to register your marriage with Nathan today? Why the sudden change…"

Halfway through her sentence, she paused.

She knew about all the previous times that Nathan had stood me up, so it didn't take her long to put the pieces together. Practically vibrating with rage, she asked, "Did Nathan ditch you again? No wonder you sent that message to the group! Lucille must be behind him. Come on, let's confront her and get some answers!"

Despite my protests, Anne still dragged me to the gathering.

We had just reached the door of the private room when I heard Nathan's voice coming from the inside. "Oh, stop making a fuss. It's been so many years. Yvonne has said many harsh words, but in the end, she never really left me. She's just angry right now.

"Once she calms down, she'll come running back to me like always."

Outside, I bit the inside of my cheek so hard that I could taste blood.

Over the past years, I'd devoted myself to him and cared for him with all my heart, yet in his eyes, I was worth nothing.

Seeing my reddened eyes, Anne gently tugged on my hand.

Just as she was about to open the door, I stopped her.

At this point, I didn't even want to see Nathan again.

Grabbing Anne's hand, I turned to leave. Just as we rounded the corner, Nathan and Lucille walked out of the private room.

Lucille spoke. "Nathan, you're drunk. You should stop talking. If Yvvy heard you, she'd be heartbroken."

"Isn't that what you want?" Nathan retorted. "You were the one who made me agree to marry her, only to stand her up at the last minute. You're so mean, Lucy!"

I couldn't hold back my tears any longer when I heard what he said.

It turned out that they were just playing with me, making me out to be a joke. No wonder Nathan did not seem happy at all the first time he agreed to marry me.

I had been too caught up in the joy of the moment and failed to notice the disdain in his eyes.

Lucille leaned against Nathan, hitting his chest playfully. "I'm so mean? You came up with this idea!"

"I only did so to amuse you!"

As they bantered, they began kissing each other, completely ignoring their surroundings.

I was numb all over as Anne pulled me out of the restaurant.

The cool night breeze whipped against me. My heart felt like it was frozen.

"Yvonne, you've been too kind. That's why those two losers messed with you like this!" Anne ranted, still furious.

All I could do was smile faintly. When I opened my mouth, I could taste blood. "It's all in the past now. From now on, I have nothing to do with Nathan Seville."

…

Once I finally managed to convince Anne to go home, I returned to my apartment.

Right before I arrived home, the courier called me.

He told me that he had arrived at the destination, but the recipient wasn’t answering the phone and couldn’t be reached.

It was then that I remembered that Nathan never picked up calls from strangers. I told the courier to wait a while before hanging up. Then, I called Nathan.

From the noise in the background, he was probably at a club. Still, I could hear the smugness in his voice. "Calling me so soon? Where did all that attitude from earlier go, when you left me standing alone in the street?"

If this were before, I would've swallowed my pride, apologized to him, and sweet-talked him a little.

All I did now was say calmly, "I've gotten someone to leave your things at your door. Make sure to grab them when you get home."

Nathan sounded even more smug at that. "What did you get me this time, Yvonne? Trying to butter me up again? You sent a message to all our friends saying that you wouldn't join any gathering if I were there, didn't you? What's this now, trying to win me back?"

Instead of answering, I just hung up.

Before I ended the call, I heard him asking again what I had bought him, and that he'd only decide to forgive me based on whether or not he liked the gift.

I scoffed, speechless.

After all these years of chasing after him like a fool, he probably thought that I had no dignity, but that was alright. One day, he would realize that he was wrong.

After that day, I did not have any further contact with Nathan.

I deleted his number from my phone and blocked him on all my social media accounts. Whenever our mutual friends asked me out, I would always ask beforehand if he would be there.

Eventually, everyone came to a silent understanding—they would only invite one of us to a gathering.

Soon, the day before our college's anniversary celebration arrived.

Anne had called me in advance to invite me to attend the event with her. As one of the college's distinguished graduates, I had also received a formal invitation from the college.

What I didn't expect was that Nathan would also be speaking at the celebration.

Then again, I shouldn't have been surprised. He had always been at the top of his class and even helped the college with new graduates' job placements after he graduated.

It was only natural for them to invite him.

When I arrived at the campus, the place was already packed with people. I skimmed through the programme the college had provided and immediately spotted Nathan's name.

His speech was the seventh program on the list.

I watched the first five performances with Anne. When the sixth performance started, I excused myself and left the auditorium.

As I was walking away, I vaguely heard someone calling my name from behind, but I didn't look back.

A while later, I received a text from my ex-counselor, Richard Holt. "Yvonne, why did you leave so quickly? I called your name several times, but you didn't respond. Your boyfriend's speech is up next. Aren't you going to stay and watch?"

"Thanks, Mr. Holt. Something came up and I had to leave early. Also, I'm single. I don't have a boyfriend." After texting Richard a reply, I couldn't help but shake my head.

I had been so openly obsessed with Nathan during my school days that even Richard knew about us.

Unbeknownst to me, Richard was sitting right next to Nathan at the moment, and he saw my reply.

Under the dim lights of the auditorium, it was hard to read his complicated expression.

After leaving the campus, I went to my office as I had forgotten my bag there in my hurry to attend the college's celebration.

When I arrived, I discovered a partnership proposal on one of our company's new projects.

More importantly, the partner listed in the proposal was Nathan's company.

I immediately called my boss, Adrian Green, to confirm the details. Then, I promptly resigned. "Mr. Green, I'd like to resign due to personal reasons."

"Yvonne, this is so sudden. I was just about to put you in charge of communicating with our partner on this project."

"Thanks, Mr. Green, but don't bother. I can't work with that company."

After ending the call, I opened my laptop and wrote a resignation letter right there at the office.

If my company were going to collaborate with Nathan, the best way for me to avoid him would be to quit.

After submitting the resignation letter, I left the office.

When I returned to the apartment, I noticed that the corridor light was on.

This was a two-unit apartment building, and no one lived in the other apartment on my floor. The corridor lights rarely came on when I wasn't home.

I took a few more steps and spotted Nathan smoking by the stairwell. The floor was littered with cigarette butts—he must have been waiting for a long time.

Thankfully, I had been cautious, so he hadn't noticed me.

I turned around immediately and pressed the button to call the elevator again.

Nathan stepped out of the stairwell just as the elevator doors were closing. I heard him shouting, "Yvonne, it's you, isn't it? You came home. You're in the elevator!"

After getting to the ground floor, I pressed every button on the panel to make sure Nathan couldn't follow me right away before allowing the elevator to make its way back up.

It wasn't the most considerate thing to do, but it worked.

Since I couldn't go home with Nathan loitering about my apartment, I went to a nearby hotel and decided to stay there for the night.

Just as I had finished checking in and turned to walk up the stairs, Nathan rushed in suddenly.

He was panting heavily, sweat dripping from his forehead, and his face was flushed from running. "Did someone just check into a room here? Did a woman named Yvonne Liesel check in? Tell me, quick!" he demanded.