At night, a fire broke out in a residential building.

My boyfriend, ignoring my desperate plea for help, rushed into the house opposite my house. It was where his childhood sweetheart lived.

I ran out of the fire and wrapped myself in a wet blanket. My head was a little dizzy.

The last scene I saw before fainting was him rushing out of the fire for the second time to rescue a kitten for his childhood sweetheart.

When I woke up, it was the next day. His childhood sweetheart posted on Facebook.

The caption read: [We are more than childhood sweethearts.]

She added an emoji of heart-shaped love, attaching a photo showing how intimate the two of them were.

No one commented on the post. I knew they were all waiting for me, the official girlfriend, to make a statement.

"You all want to gossip, right? Alright, then I'll let you enjoy yourselves."

I commented: [Shameless people are destined to be together forever and ever. Congratulations!]

——

A day passed. Gavin Horne didn't even think of me, his official girlfriend.

But right after my comment was posted, he called me.

Seeing that I didn't answer, he went crazy and called me more than a dozen times.

"Scarlett Reid, are you out of your mind? Do you know what Jessa and I have been through? I gave the self-rescue rope at home to you. We two were almost trapped in the fire."

"But you... you said such things about us on Facebook. With your comment like this, how can others see Jessa? They don't know the truth. They would think we treated you badly!"

"A self-rescue rope? Trapped and died? If lying would get someone killed, Gavin probably would have shattered into pieces."

He never asked about my injuries or how I escaped from danger.

I used to have a glimmer of hope, but now I didn't care about these things anymore. It was like he had disappeared from this world and gone in my heart. Letting go of him was like this.

Gavin thought that his words affected me. In The end, I remained silent.

"Scarlett, if you have any conscience left, clarify everything as soon as possible. Jessa's cat was suffocated to death last night. She can't bear these false rumors anymore."

I remained silent and said, "I will explain it to everyone!"

"Stop throwing a tantrum. Stop making up stories. Thank you for your help," he said.

There was a hint of dissatisfaction and anger in Gavin's tone as if I had caused him a lot of trouble.

After hanging up the phone, I clicked open my Facebook account. Instead of commenting on Jessa's original post, I wrote a long paragraph.

It detailed the fire last night and everything I saw, including his rescue of the cat and everything we talked about on the phone.

"Being truthful is never wrong, right?"

In the end, I specifically remarked, [Wishing them a lifetime of happiness together.]

After doing all this, I turned off my cell phone and instructed the nurse not to disclose any information about my hospitalization to anyone.

On the fifth day, my fractured left leg was fixed with a steel plate. I was ready to be discharged.

"Scarlett, stop being stubborn. The doctor said you could be discharged. Let's have dinner together."

At this time, Gavin appeared at my bedside.

He even knew that I was discharged today. It seemed that he knew I was in this ward a long time ago.

Well, after all, I was his nominal girlfriend. He would get the truth from the doctor about his identity.

He had dark circles under his eyes. It seemed that he hadn't slept much these days while taking care of his sweetheart.

In all these years, he had never cared about me so much. He always came to my side only after he finished taking care of Jessa.

I was always in second place. It had never changed.

"Okay."

I nodded in agreement. It happened that I had something to talk to him about.

Since I wanted to break up, some things need to be discussed face to face.

"I'll send Jessa to her new place first. Let's meet in an hour and a half."

Gavin hurriedly left.

He looked as if he were afraid that I would keep him here and delay him from sending Jessa home.

Frankly speaking, I didn't expect him to help me go through the discharge procedures.

Seeing me limping and sweating up and down alone, a young nurse beside me couldn't bear to watch.

While she helped me, she said some comforting words to me.

People in the hospital liked to gossip. Even they knew about me and Gavin.

When the last procedure was done, the young nurse came to me with her cell phone.

On the cell phone, it showed a new Facebook post by Jessa.

The picture showed they were sitting in the back seat of a taxi, with Gavin sleeping and her leaning against his shoulder.

The caption read, [Poor child. He has someone that loves him.]

At this moment, I was calm as if I had anticipated everything.

This was what it felt like to be relieved!

Instead of waiting at the restaurant, I went straight home.

This was a house my parents left for me. It had been a while since I came back here.

After a rough cleaning of the room, I collapsed on the bed, feeling exhausted.

As I turned on my cell phone, numerous messages flooded in, most of which were reproaches from Gavin, along with an explanation from Jessa.

After filtering out these messages, I opened the WhatsApp chat window with my teacher.

As if telepathic, a video call from my teacher rang out at that moment.

"Scarlett, an opportunity to take part in the World Painting Contest is rare. With your painting skills and the unique ethereal artistic conception in your paintings, you can win the contest. I know you are preparing for your wedding, but this is truly a rare opportunity for you. If you didn't participate, it would be such a pity. Can you discuss it with your boyfriend and postpone the wedding for a while? It doesn't have to be too long. The preparation before the contest and the exhibition tour after the winning will only take two or three years at most. You are both still young. You can get married later."

My teacher looked somewhat sad. He was worried about this matter.

From childhood, I had been dreaming of becoming a painter, using my brush to depict the vastness of the universe in my heart, and making myself known to the world.

Whether I was in college or postgraduate school, my painting skills had always been among the best.

Now that I finally had an opportunity, I chose to give it up.

Gavin said he wanted to marry me and give me a grand wedding. I knew that I could only be the second in his heart. Despite this, I gave up my dream because he wanted to marry me.

Perhaps it was a joke from fate or a redemption for me. A fire accident made me see everything.

It was so close. I would have given up the long-awaited opportunity and the dream in my heart for the illusory promise he had given to me.

"There's no need to discuss it with him."

With determination, I shook my head.

"Scarlett, this opportunity is indeed rare. You need to think it through. There are only a few hours left until the deadline for submitting the list. After midnight, it will be too late."

I could see that my teacher was disappointed. She tried to persuade me as best as she could.

"Teacher, you misunderstood. What I meant is the other way. Could you please help me sign up?"

In the past, I had been thinking about Gavin wholeheartedly. Thus, it seemed I only had him in this world.

Now it was time for me to take everything back and go to conquer my vast world.

This room was the source of my inspiration. From that moment until the competition started, I would not leave except for getting essential needs of life.

I should have broken up with Gavin decisively, but I didn't.

I was well aware of who Gavin and Jessa were. Instead of being repeatedly harassed by them and breaking up with Gavin now, I'd better keep myself peaceful.

They were such a perfect match. I would wish them eternal happiness.

It was a good thing that the two of them were bound together so that they could no longer harm others.

I hadn't been painting for over a year. Despite this, the brush was like my old friend. Even if we hadn't seen each other for a long time, our bond remained unaffected.

In the following period, I immersed myself in the paintings that belonged only to me.

At night, the stars twinkled. The sea beat with blue tears, sparkling with a surge of brilliant blue. In the painting, a little girl was dressed in a long dress. Standing on her tiptoes, she was kicking the water and smiling with satisfaction. Behind her, there was a carefully attended flower field. Next to it, there was a wooden shabby house. As the light shone down vertically, the distant mountains were lit up, and the girl's happiness was plausible.

When I put down the brush and finished the painting, I was at peace.

"After you finish painting, come and have a meal. These are all specially made by Jessa for you."

Maybe the sound insulation effect of the garden was too good, or maybe I was too immersed in my world, so I didn't even notice when Gavin and Jessa arrived.

"It seems that I need to change the lock at home."

"I'm not hungry. You guys should go ahead."

Being disturbed, I was extremely displeased in my heart.

"What's your attitude? Jessa has been busy all morning making these delicious dishes for you. She was afraid of disturbing you, so she waited in the room for you for two hours while hungry. She is still a patient, and her body has not fully recovered. You should have thanked her, but you treat her like this instead. Do you have any conscience?"

Maybe it was my words that provoked Gavin when I asked them out, or maybe he had prepared his words. He snapped at me in front of Jessa.

If it were normal times, I would probably make excuses and take the initiative to admit my mistake. After all, I knew that the consequence of not doing so was that he would stop talking to me for two or three days at least, or even a week.

Every time, it was me who had to bow my head to reconcile with him.

"Gavin, it's been almost half a month since the fire broke out. This should be our first meeting, right?"

My sudden retort caught Gavin off guard.

Not only did it catch him off guard, but it also caused the eavesdropping Jessa to panic.

I knew she was hiding there. Jessa was the most faulty and pretentious girl in the world, but she was not clever. She didn't even notice her shadow stretched out by the sunlight.

"You know it. Jessa lost her parents when she was young. She has been alone for so many years. The incident that day scared her, and her cat died in the fire. She can't handle all this alone. She needs someone to accompany her. I thought you were generous enough, and you wouldn't mind these things."

As expected of Gavin, even when defending himself, he blamed me.

If I went along with his words at this time, it would make me look petty. In the end, it would turn into me being unreasonable and driving them away. Besides misunderstanding them, I drove them away.

Similar things had happened more than once. I knew very well what kind of people they were.

"I know she's always timid. I didn't mean to blame you. Her health hasn't recovered yet, so you should take her back soon, or it could get worse."

"Scarlett, don't be like this. I know you're angry with me, but you need to understand me..."

"I understand you, and I'm not angry. You and her are innocent, I know. I'm just concerned about her health. I don't mean anything else."

What I said is true. Since he appeared, my emotions have been stable. They were no longer worth my anger. All I wanted now was for them to leave my home as soon as possible so I could regain my peace and immerse myself in the painting.

"Scarlett, if you're not angry, can you explain it to everyone? Jessa feels a lot of pressure and guilt about this. She woke up early today and made a table of dishes to apologize to you. I did something wrong at that time, but your cell phone was turned off. I couldn't find you, so I couldn't go to you to accompany you. What I want to say is, can you..."

Gavin spoke hesitantly. I wondered if it was because of the guilt in his heart or because he felt ashamed of his words.

Until this moment, I finally understood the purpose of their visit.

"That's right, if it weren't for being scolded, they wouldn't have gone through so much trouble to find me."

Normally, I wouldn't just let it go like this, but now all I wanted was peace.

Before he could finish her words, I picked up my cell phone and deleted that post on my Facebook account in front of him.

"Well, I was wrong in this matter. I will make it up to you. Look, what is this?"

Gavin took out two concert tickets from his pocket. The tickets were for the concert of my favorite star. They were hard-to-get front-row tickets.

I had long wanted to go to this concert, and I had been pestering him for a while.

But now, he took the initiative to please me in this way because of Jessa

Sure enough, I was in second place. It had never changed.

I didn't touch the tickets. I was very tired from staying up all night and painting. I walked through the living room and went back to my room. Then I hit the sack.

"What should we do? Scarlett seems to be angry with me. Gavin, maybe you shouldn't accompany me today. You should accompany Scarlett here."

Jessa's voice came through the crack of the door. I could instantly know that she must be lowering her head and looking aggrieved.

I have been in this kind of situation too many times.

"She is always like this. She will be fine in a few days. Let's eat first!"

After Gavin finished speaking, he pretended to call me once, but I was too tired. I was in no mood to pay attention to him. I just wanted to have a good sleep.

I slept until the evening. I didn't know when they had left. When I opened the refrigerator to get water, I saw a sticky note.

[Be good. Stay at home alone. The food is in the refrigerator. Heat it in the microwave, but be careful not to burn yourself. I'll be back later to accompany you.]

The notes were written by Gavin, but the tone indicated that it was Jessa's idea.

Before, I used to leave sticky notes for him over and over again. This was the first time he left one for me.

Sure enough, Gavin was willing to do anything for her.

The next morning, they showed up again.

This time, Jessa seemed enthusiastic. As soon as we met, she suddenly hugged me.

The sudden hug brought my thoughts back to the night when the fire happened.

That night, the sudden big fire scared me, and I didn't know what to do. I threw myself into Gavin's arms like this. But he didn't even say a word of comfort. Citing that Jessa was at home, he pushed me away and quickly ran out of the door.

The sudden surge of thick smoke almost choked me to death.

Because of the fire, the water and electricity were all cut off. Fortunately, I had the habit of taking a bath before bed, so I filled the bathtub with water early on.

But when I ran to the bathroom with my blanket, I saw the two of them, who were wrapped in a damp blanket, running out from inside.

I wondered if anyone could understand the feeling of having my water used up by others so openly when the fire broke out.

I was so powerless and desperate at that time. No one could relate to me!