All of a sudden, the door flew open, and Elaine came rushing over in tears.

She kneeled in front of my bed and bowed, saying, "I'm so sorry, Belle! It's all my fault! I had no clue the door to the cold storage would lock by itself. I was just desperate to get a chance to prove myself. I didn't want to be considered an airhead anymore."

She grabbed my hand and started slapping herself with it. Even more tears streamed down her face as she declared, "Go ahead and hit me! I won't be able to live with my guilt otherwise. You can even lock me in the cold storage if that makes you feel better."

Elaine was gripping my wound. Her nails dug deep into my flesh, and the pain made me push her away. She immediately stumbled backward, but Cameron and Ian both grabbed her before she fell to the floor.

Being quick to anger, Cameron immediately rebuked me, "I already told you that Elaine didn't do it on purpose! What more do you want? You're fine, aren't you?"

Even Ian was eyeing me coldly as he declared, "You've gone too far this time, Belle."

Covering her face, Elaine started running out of the room, declaring, "I'll lock myself in the cold storage right now. I'll do whatever it takes to appease Belle."

Panicked, Cameron and Ian ran after her. In the process, they ended up knocking the IV drip off of me, and the liquid dripped onto the floor instead.

As I stared at my blood filling the tube, I felt my heart turning to stone.

Once upon a time, Cameron, Ian, and I were three children who grew up together in the orphanage. When the older kids bullied me, Cameron fought them off with all his might.

Even when he was locked up in a cold room and forced to starve as punishment, he would still limp over to me and do whatever he could to make me laugh.

He opened his palm to reveal the small bell he was holding. It let out a clear chime in the breeze. He had willingly put himself in harm's way in order to save the only thing left to me by my parents before their demise.

I was moved, of course.

The orphanage director forbade everyone from giving food to Cameron, so I secretly saved my food in a container for him. When I saw him wolfing it down hungrily, I smiled, feeling warm and fuzzy on the inside.

At the time, Cameron was a ray of light that lit up the darkness of my life. He was the one who reached out and pulled me back from the abyss.

His presence moved me and gave me hope, reigniting my dried and shriveled soul.

At times like these, Ian would find ways to utilize the orphanage director's fondness for him. To get revenge on our behalf, he would come up with schemes to make sure the mean children were punished.

He was smart and had good grades. Many families who came to the orphanage expressed an interest in adopting him, but he rejected them for Cameron's and my sake.

Nevertheless, there would still be a trace of vulnerability in his eyes—one that he tried his hardest to hide—whenever he saw the other children leaving with their parents.

Therefore, rain or shine, I would always follow Ian to and from school. I would stand at the entrance and look around as I waited for his familiar silhouette to appear.

Ian felt a little exasperated, but he understood why I was doing it. The three of us were each other's salvation, and we relied heavily on each other.

Later on, we got into college together and left the small town we came from.

All of us earned fairly small salaries, but they would spend most of their money on me. We carried on living in this foreign city and worked hard for a living.

Ian was able to rise swiftly through the ranks, eventually becoming a senior executive at a pharmaceutical company. Under his guidance, I became a sales representative for the company as well.

He once pointed at the towering office building and promised me, "Belle, in the future, I'll buy you a house here in this expensive city. It'll be our home. I'll make sure you live a happy life."

Cameron patted me on the shoulder. With an earnest expression on his youthful face, he said, "Don't forget about me. I'll definitely buy us a house before Ian does."

I could still hear their promises echoing in my ear. Alas, everything changed when Elaine showed up half a year ago.

Initially, Ian detested Elaine for being a very clumsy intern. He couldn't stand her at all.

However, she was a bubbly person who seemed incapable of getting upset. She would always hover around him and pepper him with questions.

Ian looked stern when he didn't smile, so whenever he ended up making her cry, I was the one who comforted her.

I even foolishly introduced Elaine to Cameron, and when they first met, she specifically brought him a gift.

It was a model car, which was a favorite of his. She had heard me mention it before, so she bought one specifically for him.

However, Cameron tossed it into the trash and held me close as he declared, "I will only accept gifts from Belle. We're childhood sweethearts. I won't let anyone else into my life."

That day, Elaine left in the rain with her eyes red, but I didn't miss the slight flicker of remorse in Cameron's eyes when I looked back at him.

Elaine didn't give up, and I continued my efforts to help them get along—until the day I realized that Cameron and Ian would constantly bring up her name.

Initially, Ian would express his annoyance at her stupidity, but as time went on, he would always have a smile on his face whenever he mentioned her.

Later on, I found the model car Cameron had thrown away in his bedroom.

I slowly realized that I could no longer participate in their conversations, for all they talked about was Elaine.

Later on, I bought us tickets to Southsea, but Cameron and Ian declined to come with me. Ian said he was too busy with work, and Cameron said he needed to keep an eye on his business.

However, I saw Elaine's Instagram update and saw a picture of her by the beach. The two figures in the distance were impossibly familiar to me.

Cameron and Ian had rejected my invitation and hid the fact that they were accompanying Elaine to the beach for a holiday.

It was then that I felt as if someone was choking me by the neck. I drowned in the sense of betrayal and abandonment that washed over me.

My chest started heaving, and I could scarcely breathe. My nose prickled, and my tears fell uncontrollably.

From that day onward, the world that once consisted of the three of us became the four of us, and I was the odd one out who went unnoticed.

I also started realizing that the feelings and relationships I once assumed to be unshakable were actually rather flimsy.

The impending sense of failure felt like a noose that slowly circled around my heart, messing up my thoughts and my emotions. Time and time again, the feeling of being overlooked and cast aside drained me.

Still, relationships were like a worn sweater. Even if you no longer planned on wearing it, you couldn't bear to part with it either.

But now, I was forced to face reality. I couldn't continue avoiding it any longer.

I got myself discharged from the hospital without letting them know about it. I went back to my apartment alone and packed up all my things.

When I saw the photo of the tree of us standing under the oak tree at the orphanage, I couldn't resist laughing self-deprecatingly.

What was the point of keeping these things around when the people in the photos had all changed? I opened up the large photo album and tossed all of the photos into the fire.

All along, I kept the old love letters Cameron and Ian had written to me in the deepest corner of my drawer. Even though I couldn't give them an answer, I didn't want to ruin our relationship either.

Perhaps I had once felt something for Ian, but now, that feeling was completely gone. I set fire to every trace of our past and watched as the letters and photos went up in flames.

As I took one last look around the empty apartment, I felt as if I could see them sitting on the couch and smiling at me.

But I knew that at the very next second, Elaine would show up too. She was like a nightmare that haunted me.

While riding a cab to the airport, I sent Cameron and Ian a message.

"The game has officially begun. If you fail to find me, I'll vanish for good."

Soon after that, I got a call from Ian, but I rejected it. I tossed the SIM card out the window to be crushed under the wheels of the passing cars.