I stood frozen, lifting my head to look at Babur in disbelief.

His eyes were cold, as if he were looking at someone who meant nothing to him.

"We're done. Valeria. Take your things and leave my house."

It felt as though every drop of blood in my body had turned to ice. I opened my mouth, ready to ask if he was joking.

But when I saw the seriousness in his eyes, the words died in my throat.

After what felt like forever, I finally heard my own trembling voice.

"Why?"

Babur's gaze swept over me from head to toe, as though he were evaluating merchandise.

"Take a good look at yourself, Valeria. What can you do besides dress up?" His voice carried disgust, edged with mockery.

He opened an acceptance letter and held it out in front of me.

"I got into the Redmont Finance Department. Valeria. I'm heading to Gilded Row. I'll be one of the elites in the financial world. I'll be on business news, admired by everyone. And you? Dressed up like a Christmas tree, nothing but a pretty face. How could you ever be worthy of me?"

I felt something cold trail down my face. When I turned my head, the window reflected my smeared makeup and tear-streaked cheeks.

"It's not like that… Babur, you used to say you loved me exactly this way… You said all I had to do was look pretty and wait for you at home… Did you forget?"

I couldn't hold back my sobs. I grabbed his hand and broke down. "I don't want to break up, Babur. I'll learn. I'll work hard. I'll become someone worthy of you."

Babur shook off my hand and let me fall to the floor.

His eyes remained just as cold, as if I weren't the woman he had loved for three years but a tenant overstaying her welcome.

"Enough. Valeria. You'll never be able to do it. And I'm done wasting my money on an eye candy."

He dialed a number, and soon I heard his indifferent voice.

"Lacey, come pick up your best friend from my place. Or I'll demand the hundred thousand dollars I lent you back right now."

When Lacey Morgan arrived, I was still clinging to Babur, begging him not to throw me out.

My voice had grown hoarse from pleading. Tears blurred my vision until I couldn't even see his expression clearly.

The Babur who used to panic at the sight of my tears now forcefully pulled me away.

Like he was discarding trash, he shoved me toward Lacey.

"Listen, Lacey. I still have the IOU you signed. If you don't want me to reclaim that hundred thousand dollars, keep her away from me."

I felt my heart shatter.

Back then, Babur had been the one who insisted on lending Lacey the money. He said my friends were his friends.

Now he was using that same favor to threaten me into disappearing from his life.

I opened my mouth, but only a broken sound came out. Lacey grabbed my hand and dragged me into the car.

As the engine started, I pounded desperately on the window, watching Babur stand there, growing smaller and smaller in the distance.

Until he was gone.

I cried until I couldn't breathe and blacked out in the back seat.

When I woke up, I was lying on Lacey's bed.

Babur had supported me for three years. Other than depending on him, I knew how to do nothing.

I had no job, no savings, not even a place to stay.

Lacey took me in.

I could feel how worried she was.

She even took time off work to stay by my side.

But I couldn't forget Babur. In my dreams, I saw our past over and over again. He stood there smiling, arms open, waiting for me.

Yet whenever I ran toward him, the man whose eyes once overflowed with love would shove me away in disgust.

"You're not worthy of me, Valeria."

I would wake up screaming, tears streaming down my face.

Those words became a curse, echoing endlessly in my ears.

Two days passed like that. My world seemed to consist of nothing but grief.

Night after night, I jolted awake as if chased by demons. I couldn't eat. In just two days, I felt as though I no longer belonged among the living.

"Don't do this to yourself, Valeria."

Lacey sighed and took out a necklace, the exact style I had once told Babur I loved.

"I don't know who left it at my door, but I think it might be Babur. Valeria, he loved you so much before. He even went against his parents to be with you. Maybe this time he just acted on impulse. You two went through so much without breaking up. Maybe this is just a test. Valeria, you have to pull yourself together if you want to go back to him."

I clutched the necklace, remembering how Babur used to buy me jewelry every time he upset me. A sudden surge of joy and courage rose inside me.

"You're right, Lacey. I can't stay like this. I'm going to win him back."

I decided to see Babur one more time and talk things through. I would tell him I didn't blame him for what he had said.

As long as he still loved me, I would stay with him.

I would even start learning how to be a proper wife. One day, I would stand by his side and fight my way up Gilded Row with him.

I told Lacey every detail of my plan. Her eyes flickered for a moment, but she didn't interrupt.

As we were heading out, she gently removed the necklace from my neck.

"Valeria, Babur said he didn't like you looking like that. Maybe he wants you to dress more… simply?"

Lacey handed me a few photos. I recognized the girl in them. She had been the top student in our class, and I'd heard she was already studying at an outstanding school.

I styled myself to match the photos.

I tied up my long blonde hair, removed my manicure, skipped the makeup, and put on a plain pair of glasses.

The sexy mini skirts were replaced with jeans that covered my legs completely.

"Oh my God, Valerie, you look like a total academic overachiever now," Lacey exclaimed dramatically.

I looked at myself in the mirror and managed a small smile.

This time, I thought, Babur would finally believe I was serious.

I would tell him I wasn't just someone who knew how to dress up. For him, I could learn anything.

I left quickly and headed toward the apartment where I had lived for three years.

Every minute on the way, I replayed the scene of our reunion in my mind.

He would hold me like he used to, kiss my face, apologize for everything. Maybe he would even take out a ring and propose, fulfilling the promise we had made.

With that hope, I hurried all the way to Babur's place.

Babur was indeed kissing a girl. She had golden curls, flawless makeup, and the trendiest manicure.

A sexy mini dress clung to her curves. She looked so much like the old me.

And the man who had claimed he hated that version of me was kissing her like he meant it.

My body reacted before my mind could catch up. I screamed and rushed forward, forcing them apart.

For a split second, panic flickered in Babur's eyes. Then it hardened into contempt.

"Who is she?" the girl asked, confused.

Then I heard Babur's cold voice. "A fan. You know how it is. I used to be captain of the school baseball team. Plenty of girls had crushes on me. I just didn't expect her to be crazy enough to follow me home."

Babur's words pierced my heart like arrows.

All the strength drained from my body.

Even as he wrapped his arm around the girl and walked away, I couldn't move to stop him.

I watched Babur help her into the car. The smile on his face was sweet, just like the one he used to give me.

The car drove off, shrinking into the distance until it disappeared completely.

I leaned against the wall and slowly slid down to the ground. The pavement was hard. The rug I had once bought for the doorway was gone.

I remembered when we first moved in together. I told him I loved pink, and he had laughed, wrapping his arm around my waist, indulging me as I replaced all the furniture with pink pieces.

"Valerie, this is our home. You can turn it into anything you like."

He knew I had grown up living in my aunt's house, always longing for a place of my own.

He had placed the key in my palm and promised that I would be the only lady of this home.

I had believed him. Slowly, I had left pieces of myself in every corner of that house.

And now, those traces had been wiped away by his own hands, just like his love for me, erased without a mark.

Leaning against the door, I felt sorrow spreading through me.

How had it come to this?

He said he didn't like girls who only cared about dressing up. So I traded my pretty mini skirts for plain jeans.

Yet he had just been kissing another girl dressed exactly the way I used to be.

The image of their intimacy replayed in my mind again and again.

Tears kept spilling from the corners of my eyes.

I had to ask him.

Why was it acceptable for someone else, but unforgivable for me?

I didn't know how long I had been sitting there. My tears had nearly run dry when headlights suddenly washed over my face.

I opened my eyes just in time to see Babur stepping out of a car.

The girl was gone. He glanced at me, frowned, said nothing, and tried to walk past.

Just as he was about to close the door, I gathered what little strength I had left and forced my way inside.

I shoved Babur with all my strength, knocking him to the floor.

He looked up at me, disgust written all over his face.

"What are you doing, Valerie? If you don't get out right now, I'm calling the police and reporting you for trespassing."

Babur's voice was vicious, as if I weren't the woman he had loved for three years but a burglar breaking into his home.

Humiliation and panic rose in my chest.

But I refused to leave. I needed answers.

"I'm not going anywhere, Babur. Who was that woman? We just broke up. Are you already with someone else?"

I leaned in on purpose, as if trying to prove I still had some pull over him.

Before, that was all it took. He would wrap his arm around my waist, kiss me, carry me back to the bedroom.

This time, he scoffed and shoved me away.

"That's none of your business. Valerie, I've made myself clear. We're over."

It felt like something sharp was stabbing my heart over and over again.

"I never agreed to this," I said, my voice thick with bitterness and pleading. "I don't want to break up, Babur. Have you forgotten the three years we spent together?"

I searched his eyes, begging to find even a trace of reluctance.

But there was nothing there. No regret. No softness. Just cold contempt.

"Stop making a scene, Valerie. Don't make me hate you even more."

He lit a cigarette and sat back on the couch. Then he grabbed a magazine and tossed it in front of me.

On the cover was a handsome man, and beside him stood the girl I had just seen kissing Babur.

"Look carefully, Valerie. That's Daphne Smith. The youngest daughter of the Smith family. Her brother is the richest man in Ardania. Her mother is one of the most renowned professors in finance. And she herself is a student at Redmont University."

His tone brimmed with admiration as he praised Daphne's beauty and intelligence. Then he looked at me, a mocking curl tugging at his lips.

"And you? Valerie. A near-zero exam scorer who stayed home waiting for a man to support her like a parasite. How could you ever compare to her?"

His cruelty cut through me like a blade.

He seemed to have forgotten that I could have worked. My grades had been terrible, yes, but I also had a beautiful face, which gave me other options.

When we graduated, a talent scout had approached me about becoming a model or an actress.

Babur had refused on my behalf.

He said he would work hard and provide for me, that all I needed to do was stay beautiful and wait to be his wife.

And now he was calling me a parasite living under his roof.

Shame, humiliation, heartbreak flooded my chest.

I should have stood up and walked away, preserved what little dignity I had left.

But I couldn't let go of three years so easily.

He was the first man I had ever loved. I had even imagined the names of our future children.

I bit my lip to keep from crying.

I couldn't give up without fighting for one last chance.

If nothing else, I owed it to those three years.

I stared at his handsome face, and a desperate idea took root.

"If I get into Redmont University too… would you come back to me?"

Babur paused mid-drag. He turned to look at me, something amused flickering in his eyes.

I lowered my head in embarrassment. He must have thought I'd lost my mind.

Someone like me, who always ranked last in exams, getting into Redmont? It sounded ridiculous.

I kept my head down, letting Babur's gaze roam over me.

After a long silence, he finally spoke. "Fine. Valerie. Show me how serious you are."

He actually agreed.

A spark flared inside my chest.

In my excitement, I almost forgot he had just broken up with me. I stood up and threw my arms around him.

"Thank you, Babur. Thank you for giving me a chance."

He didn't push me away. Instead, he lightly wrapped an arm around my waist, his tone laced with something almost playful.

"I'm looking forward to your results."

For a moment, he seemed like the gentle Babur I used to know.

He drove me back to Lacey's place.

When Lacey saw me stepping out of his car, she rushed over and grabbed my hand.

"Valerie, did you get back together with Babur?"

"No, not yet. But he promised that if I get into Redmont, we'll get back together."

Just thinking about Babur returning to my side filled me with endless courage.

I clenched my fists, determination hardening inside me.

"I will get into Redmont University. I'll become a woman worthy of Babur."