So… Joseph valued Charlotte's life over his own.

Stacy had gotten the answer she wanted. She withdrew her hand, swallowed the anguished protests she yearned to make, and forced a smile for him.

"Fine, transfer yourself over there, if that's what you want. However, I'll have to let your sister know about all this, in case anything goes wrong along the way."

Then she turned sharply on her heel, and strode out of the room.

Just before the door closed shut behind her, she heard Joseph speak up, his tone anxious. "I won't transfer, then! Stacy, please don't tell my sister! She can't find out!"

What exactly was it he didn't want Jeanne finding out about? That he'd gotten hurt? Or that he'd been dating her best friend behind her back?

Stacy didn't know the answer to this question, and she honestly couldn't be bothered to care anymore.

Ultimately, she decided not to inform Jeanne. Her best friend was having a good time on vacation. No reason to ruin her mood.

She found two of the hospital's staff, and made arrangements for Joseph's stay.

When they served food to her own room there, they would often make some sort of report to her as well.

"Ms. Rivers, Mr. Dorne has been asking about you again. In particular, he's wondering if you're upset with him."

Stacy merely grunted in response.

After lunch, she visited Joseph's room. He wasn't there.

The staff were just finishing up with the cleaning. Seeing her, they said, "Mr. Dorne has applied to be transferred over to Southpoint Hospital."

He'd flown the coop. Stacy allowed herself a wry little smile.

She unlocked her phone, and scrolled through the messages Joseph had been sending her these past few days.

[Stacy, I'm bored… come over here and hang out with me.]

[It's been three days since we last spoke… Don't you miss me?]

[Please forgive me. I'll buy you something nice, once we're out of here. How's that sound?]

If she didn't know about Charlotte, it would have been easy for Stacy to believe that this boy was head-over-heels for her.

However, having now seen what he was like when he really loved a girl, she no longer bought into such delusions.

Returning to her place on her own, she contacted an agent, and put her condominium apartment up for sale online.

Over the next few days, half-a-dozen prospective buyers came by to inspect the premises.

Eager to complete the sale sooner rather than later, she'd offered it up at quite a bargain. Sure enough, it didn't take long at all to secure a deal.

Just as Stacy was signing off on the agreement, Joseph walked in. Surprised, he noted the company uniform worn by the real estate agent.

"Stacy, you're selling this place off?"

No point lying about it now. She nodded affirmatively.

He cocked an eyebrow, and then surveyed the room nonchalantly. "Yeah… this place has been feeling kinda cramped. You could move into my villa, in West Hills. I've had it for a while now, but it's mostly been left vacant."

Stacy didn't answer. Instead, she saw the agent out the door, and then changed the topic. "Are you feeling better these days?"

"Much better!" Joseph trilled cheerfully. "See, I knew you cared!" He strode up to her, wrapped his arms around her waist, and leaned in for a kiss.

His breath was hot, like the blast from a furnace. Stacy dodged aside reflexively.

Joseph stared at her, puzzled.

Keeping a straight face, she fibbed, "I'm on my period."

Joseph sighed faintly. "Stacy, it's not always like that… we haven't seen each other in a while. Is it so hard to believe that I just miss you? Just want to kiss you?"

Indeed, Stacy found that hard to believe.

She no longer had the patience to put up with his endless theatrics. Muttering various excuses, she went to wash up and go to bed.

The next couple of days, Joseph didn't leave.

Stacy brought out a box, containing all the mementos collected over the years they'd been together.

Matching mugs, a shaving razor she'd bought for him, gifts he'd given to her, couple of selfies, miscellaneous trinkets…

She gathered them all up, every single item, and stuffed them all into a rubbish bag.

Joseph emerged from the study, noticed how bare the whole house suddenly felt, and began to get nervous.

"Why are you throwing this all away?"

"Didn't you say something about moving to your spare villa? I'm just cleaning up some odds and ends."

This explanation allayed his doubts somewhat, but he nevertheless detected that she was in a peculiar sort of mood. That evening, he managed to convince her to accompany him to some sort of auction.

The first several pieces were jewelry, and Joseph bought them all without a moment's hesitation. Stacy received envious looks from all across the hall… but she wasn't the least bit interested in any of it.

As he was getting up from his seat, Joseph's phone rang.

Stacy glanced at the screen. It was Charlotte. Without a word, she headed off to the restroom.

When Stacy returned, she was shocked to find the auction hall in total uproar, people shrieking and running for their lives.

Pushing against the flow of the crowd, she made her way back to where Joseph was, and spotted him attacking another man, livid with rage. The other man's face was already badly bruised and swollen, yet he continued to bellow some sort of manic tirade.

"That chick you were just talking to on the phone? A couple of years ago, when I was in university, she was a regular in my bed! She's the campus bicycle, everyone's taken her for a ride, and foreigners are her type! Killing me won't change the truth! I've got a bunch of her photos right here on my phone! Hey, you wanna watch a video together?!"

With a shaking hand, the heckler offered up his phone. Joseph's face flushed bright red, veins throbbing in his forehead.

He reached out hesitantly for the truth… but then, Charlotte came running in, screaming his name, "Joseph!"

Joseph turned to her, his eyes brimming with conflicting emotions. Unconcealed shock, disbelieving reluctance, fathomless confusion, excruciating agony…

His opponent caught sight of Charlotte as well, and became greatly agitated.

"That's her! Here, take it! There's an album under her name, the password is her birthday… you'll see I'm not lying! She's a total freak in the sack! Definitely nothing like the pure, innocent angel she pretends to be!"

Charlotte saw who was saying these things about her, and the color drained from her face. She rushed forward and flung herself onto Joseph, talking frantically.

"It's not like that, Joseph! I was forced into doing those things! He was chasing me so desperately, so I took pity and went out on one date with him, but then he slipped something into my drink!"

"I could swear you were the one who was desperately coming on to me! Just look at how much fun you're having here, in this shot… nobody forced you to do any of that!"

That was more than Joseph would allow. He began attacking the man with everything within reach: chairs, wine bottles…

Broken glass cut deep into the man's eye. Blood came spurting out. He rolled around on the floor, clutching his mangled face and howling in pain.

Joseph swept Charlotte into his arms, laying a hand protectively over her eyes.

"It's alright, Charlotte. I'll handle this. Don't worry. I won't let any of this get around."

Saying so, he hurled the man's smartphone onto the ground, crushed it into smithereens, then doused it with whiskey, and lit the whole mess on fire.

The flames licked high into the air. All the memory chips inside that phone would be scorched beyond salvaging.

Standing not far off, Stacy watched the way Joseph pampered and consoled Charlotte, "I promise you, Charlotte, this scoundrel will be put behind bars. Pretend it was all just a bad dream. I swear I'll never let this kind of filth come near you, ever again."

Charlotte clung to him tight, tears streaming down her face. "Joseph, do you really mean all that? You don't think I'm… disgusting?"

Carefully, Joseph wiped her tears away, while holding back his own. "Perish the thought. In my eyes, you'll always be perfect. In my heart, you'll always be my angel."

And with that, he swept her off her feet, and carried her away from this scene of misery.

Soundlessly, Stacy laughed at the comedy that was life. She went over to retrieve her handbag from her seat.

Several event staff were cowering nearby, and they hissed urgently at her now, "Ma'am, Mr. Dorne has yet to collect all the jewelry he bought for you!"

She turned to them, meaning to decline, but then Joseph's former adversary suddenly leapt to his feet, battered and bloody. Snatching up a bottle of champagne, he smashed it against the back of Stacy's head.

"Damn him! He's going to ruin my life, on the word of that witch?!" the man snarled, full of hatred and fury. "Here's another one of your precious pets, eh? Well, say goodbye to her!"

Hot blood flowed down her neck, rapidly staining her white dress crimson. Stacy toppled forwards onto the floor, her mind plunged into the darkness of a stormcloud, coursing with errant flashes of lightning.

Her eyes stared forward at nothing. Her ears echoed with the vague sound of screams all around.

"Help! Someone's been murdered!"

"Mr. Dorne, it's your girlfriend!"

In a fleeting moment of lucidity, Stacy caught sight of Joseph disappearing into the crowd, unheeding as he walked away, Charlotte safe within his arms.

He never looked back, even once.

Stacy's last week in Balmora was spent in the hospital.

The whole time, Joseph never contacted her even once.

But on the day she was discharged from the hospital, Joseph somehow found out, and came hurrying over at last.

Seeing her head all wrapped up with bandages, Joseph was visibly stricken with guilt and concern. "Stacy, I've been so preoccupied lately, I wasn't even aware you'd gotten hurt! What happened to you?!"

"Some guy yelled something about vengeance, and whacked me with a glass bottle," Stacy answered vaguely. Who cared anymore, at this point?

Joseph gaped at her, eyes alight with outrage. "Which hooligan dared to lay a hand on you? I'll kill him!"

Stacy lowered her gaze, but decided to tell him after all, how he'd abandoned her and left her at the mercy of that bloodthirsty thug…

Just then, however, Charlotte strode in. "Stacy, I heard that you were in the hospital again! Are you alright?"

At the sight of her, Stacy changed her mind once again. "It's nothing. I've already been cleared to leave," she announced coldly.

They exchanged a few more lines of polite courtesy, and then a nurse came out and called for her. In her stead, Joseph went off with the nurse to handle some minor formalities.

Stacy checked that she had all her things with her. When she looked up again, she found herself looking into Charlotte's icy glare.

"Well then, now that Joseph's gone, you can drop the pitiful act. Let's get something straight. Joseph's been in love with me forever, since we were in high school together. You'll never stand a chance against me, so you might as well just forget about him!"

Stacy somehow found it easier to contend with Charlotte, now that she'd dropped her usual angelic facade. As serene as a moonlit pool on a quiet night, she replied, "I know. I know all that, already. I never planned to compete with you."

"So you say… and yet, you're still hanging around him. You think you still have a chance to turn this all around in your favor. I know your sort, gold-diggers whose only value is a pretty face and an eager body. He probably got tired of you long before you even began to sag!"

Coming under such vicious assault, Stacy frowned, and decided to return fire. "I've heard that you've slept around with plenty of guys at your university. You're no angel, yourself."

At this, Charlotte's countenance became a nasty sight, indeed. "What's it to you?"

"So it's true, then."

Incensed, Charlotte slapped her hard across the face. "It's none of your damned business! You're better off worrying about finding an honest man to latch yourself on to! You're not getting any younger, and before much longer your womb will be all dried up, and you'll spend the rest of your days childless and alone!"

Stacy exhaled sharply in pain. Her face stung. She reached up and felt the spot where she'd been slapped. Already, it was beginning to swell up.

She wiggled her fingers idly for a moment… and then, with every ounce of strength she could muster, she slapped her rival right back.

Charlotte wouldn't stand for this. She lunged forward and seized a fistful of Stacy's hair, just as a door was opened nearby.

Joseph appeared. Immediately, Charlotte flung herself into his arms, tears welling up on command. "Joseph! Stacy told me some tale about being your lover in secret, and when I said I didn't believe her, she lost her temper and slapped me!"

Sure enough, there was a visible handprint on the side of Charlotte's face. Joseph could feel his blood coming swiftly to a boil. He enveloped Charlotte in a protective embrace, then glared darkly at the other woman, behind her.

"What's the matter with you, Stacy Rivers?!" he growled menacingly.

In their five years together, it was the first time Joseph had ever raised his voice to her.

All because of Charlotte.

However, it was far from the first time Stacy had seen him placing Charlotte above all, so she didn't actually feel any disappointment, sorrow, or anger over this.

Instead, with a frigid tone of voice, utterly devoid of any trace of emotion, she replied, "I hit her, as retaliation for her hitting me. An eye for an eye. Why didn't you try to find out the whole story beforehand?"

It was only after she'd said this that Joseph noticed Stacy's face was swollen on one side.

Realizing that he might be missing something, he was just about to ask… but then Charlotte passed out in his arms.

Alarmed, he picked her up, and hurried to get help for her. He only paused long enough to say to Stacy, "You can head back first. We'll discuss this further next time."

Stacy watched him hurry off down the hospital corridor, and chuckled wryly as she muttered beneath her breath, "There'll be no next time."

She returned to her condominium apartment, and turned the key over to her agent.

"I've left a bag inside. Could I trouble you to have it delivered to No. 4015, in West Hills? Payment on receipt, that's fine."

The real estate agent observed the veritable fleet of luggage Stacy was herding about. "Are you leaving Balmora, Ms. Rivers? Do you suppose you'll be back someday?"

"No, I'm leaving for good."

There was nothing more for Stacy in this city.

She gave the place one last, long look, then headed downstairs, and hailed a taxi to the airport.

Before taking off, the stewardesses went up and down the aisles, reminding passengers to switch off their phones. Stacy sent a final message to Joseph.

[I heard what everyone was talking about at that party.]

[Hatred is born from affection, but I no longer hate you as much, these days. I suppose that means I don't love you anymore.]

[We began this relationship without anyone knowing, so let's break up as well without any drama.]

[I wish you every happiness in this world, with the true love of your life.]

And then she deleted his number.

She put her phone away, just as the plane began rumbling down the tarmac.