My lab key went "missing", and I lost a critical experimental window because of it.

When the security footage was reviewed, Victoria just so happened to have captured someone lingering near my locker, subtly implying I'd misplaced it myself.

The night prior to my presentation at an important academic conference, my laptop suddenly crashed. Every single PowerPoint file was corrupted.

Victoria generously offered to lend me her laptop.

The next day, I discovered she'd already forwarded my research highlights to her best friend.

I was no match for someone as calculating as Victoria. Her schemes were meticulous, with layer upon layer.

No matter how I tried to explain, Ethan always chose to believe her.

One day, I found out Victoria had stolen the only necklace Mom left me. It was a cheap silver chain. Victoria had thrown it into a biohazard waste bin at the hospital.

It was the last gift Mom bought for me as a Nurses' Day present with her final paycheck. It was the only thing I had left of her in this world.

I lost control. I stormed toward Victoria and slapped her across the face.

The sharp sound echoed through the corridor.

Victoria covered her cheek, tears flooding her eyes instantly.

Ethan, who'd just walked out of surgery, saw everything.

He rushed forward and stood protectively in front of Victoria, glaring at me. "Leah, have you lost your mind?"

"It was her! She threw away my mom's necklace!" My voice broke as I pointed at Victoria. "That was the only—"

"Enough!" Ethan cut me off. "Leah, I'm truly disappointed in you."

He helped Victoria away and left me standing alone in the hallway.

That was the moment my heart shattered completely.

After that, Ethan brought up breaking up again and again because of Victoria.

And I backed down every time to make peace.

I wanted to find flaws in Victoria's mask and make Ethan see who she really was, but she was too good at pretending.

When she learned that Ethan and I had agreed to try to stay at Redwood General Hospital together, she even tried to sabotage my residency application.

While I was on a night shift, she used her master key to enter my office and attempted to alter my submitted Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS) application.

Fortunately, a nurse on duty saw her before she could cause irreparable damage.

Victoria was shameless.

In private, she used every dirty trick imaginable against me. But in public, she was flawless.

She would cry delicately at the slightest provocation, mention Seth's heart condition, and talk about how much she'd sacrificed for Ethan's career.

I didn't know whether Ethan had truly fallen for her or whether he was simply leveraging her connections.

All I knew was that he hurt me again and again for her sake.

And I humiliated myself again and again trying to win him back.

I couldn't bear to leave him.

For four years, Ethan had guided and supported me. He'd become an irreplaceable part of my life. Tearing myself away from him felt like ripping out my own heart.

So whenever he turned cold and threatened to leave me because of Victoria, I retreated and apologized.

But this time, after hearing the impatience and indifference in his voice on that recording, I finally realized how pathetic I'd become.

It turned out that Ethan's distrust in me wasn't because Victoria was clever. It was because he'd already grown tired of me.

He wanted to get rid of me. That was why he always stood on the opposite side.

That night, I sat alone in my room and played the recording over and over again. Eventually, my tears dried, and my heart went numb.

Fine, then. I would give Ethan exactly what he wanted.

I was done backing down and begging for him to stay with me.

As for the research project they destroyed, I wasn't going to save it anymore.

I picked up the phone and called Dr. Adam Vance, the residency director at Northview Memorial Hospital in Fedria, who'd once offered me a position.

"Dr. Vance, I've made up my mind. I accept your offer to join Northview Memorial Hospital's internal medicine residency program."

Relief warmed his voice. "That's great, Leah. Given your circumstances, we'll provide you with a generous living stipend. You won't need to worry about financial pressure."

I opened my inbox and sent a formal acceptance email to Northview Memorial Hospital. Then, I withdrew my application to Redwood General Hospital.

When it was done, I lay back on my bed.

That night, I slept peacefully.

I didn't stay up late worrying about why Ethan wasn't home, nor did I bother calling to ask where he was.

The shackles that held me for four years had finally been cast off.

The next morning, I scrolled through Instagram and saw Victoria's story.

"Had to take care of a certain doctor who drank too much last night. I'm exhausted!"

The picture showed her in her BeaconHill mansion bedroom, with Ethan in just a white T-shirt, sleeping on her bed.

He'd actually gone to Victoria's house and stayed the night. He'd even slept in her bed.

It hurt. I felt like my heart was being cut with a dull knife. But it was better than before. Maybe it was because my heart was already hollow that it stopped hurting as much.

I got up, washed up, changed my clothes, and headed out to the store to buy some storage boxes and tape.

As I carried my bags inside, I opened the door and immediately heard Victoria's soft laughter.

In the living room, Victoria and Ethan were sitting side by side on the couch, both holding a tablet, looking at something.

At the sound of the door, they turned to look.

Ethan glanced at me, then quickly looked away with complete indifference. The way he looked at me was as though he was looking at a stranger.

But Victoria stood up and walked toward me with a gentle smile. "Leah, welcome back. You bought so much stuff. Do you need help carrying it?"

As she said that, she reached out to take my things, but I moved my hands away.

The next moment…

"Ah!"

Victoria lost her balance and "fell" to the floor.

It was the same old trick again.

Ethan shot up and rushed to her. As he helped her up, he glared at me with fury. "Leah, what are you doing? Why did you push Victoria?"

"I didn't." My voice was calm.

"You're still denying it? If you didn't push her, why would she fall?"

Ethan's gaze was full of anger and accusation. "Is this because I went out with her last night? Because I stayed at her place after drinking too much? If you're mad, take it out on me, not her!"

I hadn't even touched Victoria. She just fell on her own.

I looked at Ethan and suddenly felt it was all so ridiculous.

"If you don't believe me, you can check the security footage," I said quietly.

Hearing me suggest we watch the footage, Victoria, who'd been silently teary-eyed, finally spoke. "It's not Leah's fault. I just lost my balance. It hurts…"

Her voice was weak and innocent, like a hurt little animal.

Ethan's face went rigid the moment he realized he'd wrongly accused me. Yet, the apology never came.

He just helped Victoria while looking at her with a face full of concern. "You've scraped your knee. Let me take care of it."

I saw the smug, triumphant glint in Victoria's eyes. I turned away, grabbed my things, and went upstairs.

Victoria probably thought I would lose my mind, cry, or break down like before.

That was the old me. The new me wouldn't make those same mistakes anymore.

I didn't go back downstairs. I stayed quietly in my room, packing up everything Ethan had given me over the past four years. I placed them all into a box.

Medical textbooks, a stethoscope, a watch, the lab coat with my name stitched on the tag…

Every piece carried a memory. Every piece once made me believe we would last forever.

How ridiculous.

At dinnertime, my roommate, Emma Whitley, came upstairs to call me.

Victoria still hadn't left and was busy in the kitchen.

When she passed by me carrying a bowl of steaming clam chowder, I instinctively stood up and stepped aside.

It was a reflex I'd developed after being set up by Victoria again and again.

But this time, she'd already predicted my move. The moment I stood, I collided straight into her.

"Ah!" Victoria screamed.

Most of the scalding soup spilled onto her, though some splashed onto my arm as well.

She burst into tears. Her voice was full of pain and grievance as she said, "Leah, I was just bringing you some soup. How could you…"

She'd learned. When framing me for pushing her in the living room failed, she'd staged an "accidental" collision instead.

I had no way to defend myself.

Ethan looked at me with open disappointment. His gaze was filled with disgust as he shoved me hard. I lost my balance and slammed my back into the edge of the dining table. The pain shot through me.

Yet Ethan didn't spare me a single glance. He rushed to tend to Victoria's burns, never once looking my way.

He didn't notice that hot soup had splashed onto my arm as well, leaving angry red burn marks.

He didn't notice that he'd shoved me so roughly that my back had hit the table edge. It hurt so much that I could barely stand.

The burn throbbed, but it hurt far less than the pain in my heart.

After a while, Ethan came out, supporting Victoria, who'd had burn cream applied.

He coldly ordered, "Apologize."

I raised my head and met his eyes.

Four years of depending on each other and being together day and night. Yet, I couldn't find a single trace of tenderness in Ethan's eyes. All that remained was disgust and cold indifference.

He warned me, enunciating word by word, "Victoria is being forgiving and letting this go. All you need to do is apologize, and we'll move on."

I stayed silent for a long time. "What if I say no?"

"Leah, are you really going to blow this up?" Ethan's tone sharpened. "If you don't want to break up, you'd better apologize."

He once promised he would be with me for life. Now, he used breaking up as a weapon.

He was certain I couldn't leave him and that I would give in.

But this time, he was wrong.

I looked straight into his eyes and said slowly, "I won't apologize. Do whatever you want."

Ethan's face turned dark with rage. He grabbed Victoria and stormed out of the apartment.

I left soon after.

My arm hurt badly from the burns. I called an Uber and went to the ER at Estain Medical Center.

The ER doctor treated my burns and bruises, prescribed topical medication, and gave me care instructions.

On the way back, I got a call from Emma. "Leah, did you and Ethan fight again? He just took Victoria and a group of doctors to that rooftop bar to celebrate his promotion."

She sounded furious. "And did you see Ethan's post on Instagram? He said he's thinking about ending the relationship. 100 likes and it's over. It's already at 99."

My chest tightened.

He was doing this again.