I was determined to leave Kaison's world behind for good, leaving our signed divorce papers on the nightstand as my final gesture. As soon as I got to the hotel, my best friend Amelia whisked me away to her place.

While we were having dinner, she delicately asked, "Did Kaison and Alexis go on that trip to the Alps?"

I shrugged, "I have no clue."

In the past, whenever Kaison and Alexis traveled together, I'd be glued to Instagram, silently crying. But not anymore.

I had told Kaison countless times how much I wanted to bike along the shores of the Alps with him. He'd always find reasons to brush it off, yet now, without a hitch, he and Alexis were heading to the place I had longed to visit.

Amelia looked at me in surprise, "Girl, have you finally come to your senses?"

I replied with a bittersweet smile, "I decided to divorce him."

"Am I hearing this right?!" Amelia practically soared across the room to hug me, her voice brimming with excitement, "It’s about time you snapped out of it! I’ve been telling you to leave him ever since he started showing interest in Alexis!"

"What did you say back then?"

Amelia mimicked me, raising her voice to mimic mine, "He promised me he'd always love me, and I believed him!"

"Yeah, well, if you could trust a guy's sweet talk, pigs would fly!"

Hearing those familiar words, an image of my younger self flashed before me.

I grew up poor, relying on grit and hard work to earn a scholarship to an elite private school. It was my ticket to change my destiny, but also the beginning of a nightmare.

When I first arrived, my classmates ridiculed and bullied me because of my modest background.

Once, a group cornered me, taunting mercilessly.

Kaison was the one who stepped in.

He spoke to me gently, "Don't worry, I'm here."

From that moment, he became my protector. It felt natural for me to fall for him.

But when I finally gathered the courage to confess my feelings, his response was a cold reality check.

"I have a girlfriend," he said calmly, cutting through me like a knife.

That was when Alexis's name entered my life for the first time.

I remember feeling so humiliated and foolish back then.

After repeatedly assuring Amelia that I was fine, she finally let me return to the hotel. Deep down, I knew that this marriage had been a mistake from the start.

Years ago, Kaison and Alexis had a heated argument, and Alexis stormed out of the country in anger. I was there for Kaison, helping him drink his troubles away, and in that foggy state, I confessed my feelings to him again. He responded with a passionate, heartfelt kiss. The next morning, without needing words, we both understood what this meant, and our relationship officially began.

On our wedding day, he held my hand tightly and promised, “Elaine, I'll spend my life protecting you.” I believed him wholeheartedly.

But everything changed on my first birthday after our marriage when Alexis suddenly reappeared in Kaison’s life. My phone chimed with a message from him: "Why did you cancel your birthday dinner? Didn't you like the gift?"

I was a bit surprised, not expecting that even while he was with Alexis, he'd remember his wife in name. Perhaps my delayed reply prompted him to send another message shortly after: "Didn't you always love emeralds?"

I stared at his words for a moment, finding them rather amusing. The first gift Kaison ever gave me was an emerald necklace. He had said, "Emeralds are bold and vibrant, just like you." Although I didn’t like the color green, I developed a special fondness for emeralds because it was from him, which eventually led to my love for jewelry design. However, I later discovered that Alexis had majored in jewelry design in college, and emeralds were her favorite.

Coming back to my senses, I instinctively typed a message on my phone’s keyboard: "You gave the gift to the wrong person; I hate green." Hesitating for a moment, I deleted the message, retyped, and sent a different one: "Enjoy your time with Alexis."

After sending the message, there was no response from him. I laughed at myself, feeling a mix of irony and resignation.

The last day came sooner than I expected. Alexis unexpectedly reached out to arrange a meeting.

"It was me who kept Kaison away from you," she said with disdain in her eyes. "Three years have passed, and you still endure."

I replied with a calm smile, "Is that why you called me here, Ms. Marshall?"

She seemed a bit taken aback but quickly regained her composure. "I wanted to let you know that this time, Kaison is putting together a jewelry exhibition for me; that's why we returned earlier."

She paused, then added, "Preparing for the exhibition has been utterly draining, so..."

My heart skipped a beat as Alexis looked at me intently. "I thought I’d come cheer you up," she sneered.

Instinctively, I touched my wrist where it had been hurt before. "Last year, you had a bit of an accident during an exhibition, didn’t you?"

Alexis smiled, but her eyes were icy. "I remember it was when you were arranging the displays, a prop fell and injured your wrist."

Memories I had struggled to forget came rushing back like waves. On my birthday last year, Kaison had left me for Alexis. I was drowning in pain, looking through Facebook posts that felt like daggers to my heart.

The next day, dazed and confused, I showed up at the exhibition. While setting up the displays, I was so distracted that I didn’t notice a large decorative prop swaying dangerously above.

With a loud crash, the prop fell, and I couldn’t get out of the way in time. My wrist was struck hard, and I crumpled to the ground as blood oozed from the wound.

Seeing this, those around quickly called for an ambulance.

I remembered Kaison once assuring me that no matter what difficulty I faced, I should contact him immediately. Desperately, I reached for my phone with trembling hands to call him, but he never picked up.

During the surgery, he continued to ignore my calls and never showed up.

It was in that painful moment that I finally realized Kaison's heart had never truly been with me.

Alexis’s syrupy voice abruptly interrupted my thoughts as she thrust her phone in my face. "You know, at that time, Kaison and I were... right there."

The photo showed Alexis in a seductive gown, perched on a hotel bed. Kaison was kneeling beside her, lovingly massaging her feet, his gaze tender and affectionate. Other photos showed them in intimate moments on the bed.

I stared hard at the image of Kaison. He had always acted so entitled with me, expecting me to cater to his every need.

I had never known this deferential side of him.

The sadness mixed with anger surged within me like a storm. I swallowed the bitterness and stood up, saying, "If he truly loved you, he’d find a way to make you a legitimate part of his life, not let you be the other woman."

With that, I turned to leave.

Behind me, Alexis's voice rose sharply, "The one not truly loved is the mistress! Just wait and see which home Kaison returns to tonight!"