At a class reunion, I accidentally spilled red wine on my fiancé's beloved admirer, Taytum Elliott, soaking her high heels. Emilio, my fiancé, caused a commotion in front of everyone, insisting I clean her shoes. I refused, and he had me stripped down to my underwear and thrown out of the hotel.

A concerned classmate glanced back at me. "Isn't she your fiancée? You're overstepping the line."

Emilio shrugged it off. "Don’t worry. She’s obsessed with me. She’ll never leave me."

In that moment, I felt my heart break. I ended the engagement then and there and signed up to become a doctor in a conflict zone.

When I announced my decision to Princeton Mason, the hospital director, he was both pleased and confused. "It’s commendable that you want to go, but weren’t you planning to get married?"

I pressed my lips together, speaking resolutely. "There will be no wedding. I’m dedicating myself to being a doctor, saving lives."

Princeton paused for a moment but said no more. After completing all the necessary paperwork, I left the office, only to run into Taytum and Emilio in the corridor. Emilio walked into the lab with some test results, unaware of my presence. I wanted to avoid them, but Taytum blocked my path.

Her lips curled into a smug grin. "How does it feel to be publicly humiliated like that?"

"So, you’re about to marry Emilio? He’ll still stand up for me."

I wasn’t interested in arguing. "In that case, I’m giving him to you."

"Giving him to me? You don’t have a say in it. I always come out on top against you!"

Taytum's face twisted into a private smirk she saved for me. Then, suddenly, she looked down, her voice feigning sadness.

"I know you’re angry, sis, and I’m sorry, but don’t blame Emilio."

Just then, Emilio's voice cut through. "Adele! What’s going on?"

"Brother, please don’t be upset. After yesterday, it’s understandable she’d try to hit me."

Taytum bit her lip, tears in her eyes as she glanced at Emilio, looking pitiful. He comforted her, wrapping her in his arms, and glared at me.

"Adele! If you hadn’t been so spiteful, knowing those shoes couldn’t get wet—if you hadn’t ruined them on purpose—I wouldn’t have had to punish you!"

"Not only did you refuse to apologize to Taytum, but you actually tried to hit her. How could you be so heartless?"

"I'm telling you now, apologize to Taytum, or I'll postpone our wedding again!"

My heart, already cracked, shattered into pieces, leaving me speechless with pain. Emilio had postponed our wedding multiple times for Taytum. Out of love for him, I compromised time and again. I never imagined I’d become his bargaining chip.

Before Taytum, he promised that I was his priority. But since her arrival, everything changed. For her, he even humiliated me publicly, as he did the previous night.

Bitterness washed over me, overwhelming like a rising tide.

"Brother, don't blame her. It's Taytum who upset her..."

Taytum muttered apologies, but her eyes showed no remorse. Her mouth curled into a smile full of defiance.

I was burning with fever after last night's ordeal and had no desire to get entangled further with them. I turned to leave, finding myself too weak to stand steady.

Emilio noticed my frailty and reached out, saying, "Adele, you..."

But before he could finish, Taytum clutched her chest and began to cough violently.

"Brother... it hurts."

With that, Emilio rushed past me to her side. My vision blurred with tears, and my eyes burned as I steadied myself against the wall.

In the past, I would have been consumed by jealousy and started an argument with him. But now, my heart was like a withered leaf in the autumn wind—void of joy or sorrow.

I took a deep breath, forcing down the turmoil inside me. I said nothing. In three days, I would leave this place for good. Their world would have nothing to do with me anymore.

Before leaving, Emilio Williams offered me a terse, "You should think about what you've done," as he escorted Taytum Elliott out of the room.

I thought that once they left, I wouldn't have to deal with them again before my departure.

But when I returned home after completing my treatment, there she was—Taytum sitting on Emilio's lap, their eyes locked in a too-intimate gaze. Only when I cleared my throat did they reluctantly separate.

"Back so soon? We've been waiting for quite a while," Emilio looked up at me, his face showing no remorse for being caught.

I let out a soft chuckle, "Waiting for me? To put your little romance on display?"

"You—" Emilio began to retort, but held his tongue.

"Why don't you freshen up and make some shrimp risotto? Taytum's under the weather today, and it's the only thing she wants."

I instinctively rolled my eyes, "What she wants to eat is none of my concern. I'm not her caretaker."

Caught off guard by my refusal, Emilio's expression darkened. Though he realized the request was unreasonable, he couldn't back down after indulging Taytum's whims.

With that in mind, he pulled me aside. "Are you still upset about yesterday? Fine, I'll say I'm sorry, okay?"

I looked directly into his eyes. In the past, whenever we argued, I was always the one who relented, whether or not I was at fault. This was the first time he offered an apology, but only because he wanted me to make risotto for Taytum.

Turns out, love isn't earned by how much you give. Some people get everything without lifting a finger, while others never have it despite giving their all.

"I'll accept your apology, but I won't make the risotto," I said coolly.

"Emilio, I don't want to trouble her. I can manage without it," Taytum murmured, tears shimmering in her eyes. Her delicate frame looked even more fragile and pitiful at that moment.

Emilio quickly reassured her, "It's already late. It's not safe for you to go home. I'll have the maid prepare a room for you; you can stay overnight."

Hearing this, Taytum's once demure face briefly flashed a triumphant expression before she looked at me with wide, innocent eyes, "No, she'll be upset."

Done with their antics, I turned to leave. I managed only a few steps before Emilio caught my arm. "Adele, don't you have anything to say?"

Surprised, I looked at him blankly. Emilio's face fell, and his tone became slightly admonishing.

"Taytum is just a young girl. Isn't it right for us to offer a little help?"

"It's late... she wants to stay, can't you just agree and be supportive? Why do you have to make it difficult for her?"

"I'm exhausted," I said impatiently. "Do whatever you want. Share a bed, get engaged, get married, I don't care. I truly don't care about your business anymore."

Emilio froze at my words, his expression shifting instantly. Before he could respond, Taytum ran up and grabbed my hand.

"Sister, I want to sleep in his room. I'm scared to sleep alone in a strange place," she pleaded.

I thought Emilio would finally speak up and decline, but when I saw him just standing there silently, I felt a wave of numbness wash over me.

I raised an eyebrow and looked Taytum squarely in the eye, slowly withdrawing my hand.

"Fine, do whatever makes you happy. I'll sleep in the study. Just don't touch anything in my room."

That night, perhaps because my heart had long grown numb, I surprisingly slept well. But when I saw Taytum Elliott holding an emerald pendant, now broken in two, I fell apart completely.

"Is this yours? I accidentally broke it..." she said with an air of innocence.

The familiar emerald hue sent a shiver down my spine. I seized Taytum's hand, my eyes blazing with anger. "Who gave you the right to touch my things? Why would you break it?"

I usually kept the pendant safely tucked away in a small box in my drawer. It was obvious Taytum had broken it on purpose. Staring at the only thing my grandmother had left me, now in pieces, I couldn't hold back my fury any longer. I snatched the fragments from Taytum's hand.

As if performing in a play, Taytum suddenly fell backward, knocking over the wine glass rack on the table. The sound of shattering glass echoed as she collapsed onto the nearby carpet.

Before I could react, Emilio Williams rushed in and shoved me into a heap of broken glass, making my wrist bleed.

"What are you, out of your mind?!" Emilio shouted, his face a mix of shock and anger. Upon seeing the blood on my wrist, he merely frowned.

He then looked away and hurried over to help Taytum up. "Sis, I broke the pendant; it was my fault. You can hit me or scold me..."

Emilio's gaze flitted between us before finally settling on a furious glare at me. "Adele Reynolds, it's just a pendant! Did you really have to lose it like that?"

I screamed, "That was the only thing my grandmother left me before she passed!"

Emilio paused, but his expression quickly hardened again. "People die, and memories fade. Keeping a pendant doesn't bring them back. If it's broken, it's broken. I'll get you a replica if that's what you want."

His insensitive words made my hands tremble with rage. He knew perfectly well that my grandmother was the only family I'd ever had. He knew how much that pendant meant to me. He knew, yet he still said such things...

The room seemed to spin around me. I almost shouted, "I kept that pendant locked in a cabinet, so why was it in her hands?!"

"Emilio Williams! Do you even have a heart?"

Seeing my emotional state, Taytum began to cry, looking pitiful. "Sister, I didn't mean to...please forgive me..."

With that, she even looked like she was going to kneel. Emilio quickly pulled her up, shooting an irritated glance at me. "Look what you've done! You've scared her!"

"She's crying and apologizing to you. What more do you want?"

His words were dripping with impatience, and his icy stare felt as if it could pierce right through me. It was as if I had been unreasonable from beginning to end.

Taytum, nestled in Emilio's arms, gazed at me with tear-filled eyes, playing the victim. And I, biting my lip hard, let my bloodstained wrist drip onto the carpet.

At that moment, I realized with painful clarity that this relationship was beyond saving. Before I could speak again, Emilio was already walking away, hand in hand with Taytum.

Watching their retreating figures, I felt a rush of blood to my head. I stood there, my heart feeling as though it had been struck by a heavy hammer, aching unbearably.

Never before had I wished so desperately for the day to come when I could leave all this behind.