During the tenth year I had a crush on Ron, I was diagnosed with advanced stomach cancer. With a critically ill notice in hand, I stood at the door to the room where my former classmates gathered, and I heard Ron holding his crush and cooing at her, “Just ignore it. Willow has been bothering me for ten years. If there was even a possibility of us getting together, we would have done so a long time ago. Honestly, I would never like her. Even if she continues bothering me for another ten or twenty years, I still won’t like her.”

My former classmates cheered, and Ron looked like he was about to kiss her. I stood at the door and cried so hard that I trembled, but I did not dare make a sound.

Ron, I would not be able to bother you for another twenty years.

I was about to die.

“Miss River, your cancer is almost at the stage where it’s uncontrollable. You can’t drag this out any further.”

Even when I was about to reach the door of the private room where my former classmates had gathered, I could still hear the doctor’s words echoing in my head.

How could my cancer have reached such a serious stage?

My mind was blank.

Just when I was about to turn the doorknob, I heard loud cheering from inside.

Through the small gap, I saw Ron Stone sitting down.

Beside him was a familiar woman.

The womanizing Ron had one woman he loved the most—Flora Lorde, his first love.

Oh. She was back in the country.

That must be why Ron was seldom at the company nowadays.

In the past, I would be really anxious and panicky about Flora’s presence.

But at present, I only laughed at myself.

My body was like a candle in the wind. I no longer had the strength to fight for anything anymore.

For some reason, I did not go in.

Despite having one person missing from the gathering, it remained lively inside.

Suddenly, someone said, “Since Flora’s back, that means Willow won’t have a chance with Ron anymore.”

The atmosphere instantly cooled down.

Flora looked at Ron in shock after she heard this. “Ron, what did he mean by that? Are you dating Willow?

“If that’s the case, I shouldn’t have come back. I just knew that you were still angry at me for leaving without a goodbye. I’m sorry.”

Tears streamed down her face, and everyone started comforting her.

“Don’t read too much into this, Flora!”

“That’s right. There’s nothing between Ron and Willow! He’s a company president, but he immediately set aside all of his tasks to pick you up from the airport the moment he heard you came back. We all know just how he feels about you.”

“Exactly, and you know just how crazy Willow is about Ron. She was already head over heels for him when we were students, and she’s even more in love with him now.”

“All she did was pester Ron into letting her join his side when something went wrong in his family and he needed all the helpers he could get. That’s why Ron holds her job as his secretary, because he does value her loyalty. By the way, all this happened while you were gone.”

“Even so, Ron still doesn't like her. She’s just staying by his side due to wishful thinking! Hahaha!”

I listened to all the things they said, like a masochist. All the while, I stared straight at Ron, as if searching for an answer.

Then, Ron gently held Flora.

“Don’t mind it. Willow has been bothering me for ten years. If there was even a possibility that we could have gotten together, we would have done so a long time ago.

“Honestly, I will never fall in love with her. Even if she continues bothering me for another ten or twenty years, I still won’t like her.”

My former classmates started cheering for them to get together.

Flora blushed, and she kissed Ron on the lips.

Ron was stunned for a moment before he kissed her back passionately.

Flora was a prideful person, so this must be her most forward display of affection toward Ron.

How wonderful.

They were such a perfect match.

They must be so happy.

But I just felt like crying.

Unwilling to make a sound, I bit down on my lip. It was my complaint toward my ten-year-long crush as I thought, ‘Ron, I won’t be bothering you for another twenty years.

‘I’m about to die.’

In the end, I did not go in.

I went back home instead. With a face full of tears, I turned on my laptop and typed my resignation letter.

I did run for Ron’s secretary all for Ron’s sake.

But I was actually overqualified for it.

To tell the truth, Stone Corp had not even met my expectations at that time because it was on the verge of going under.

But I was cheap and naive. All I thought about was how I could help Ron while he was in trouble and after Flora abandoned him to pursue her studies abroad.

I kept on helping until this very moment, and all I did was make others think I was being a bother.

I wiped away the tears that were about to fall from my eyes.

I had to thank Flora for coming back.

She made me see the truth and let me have the courage to be my own self in the final moments of my life.

The next afternoon, someone came into my office. Although I was expecting her, I was still surprised to see her.

“How may I help you, Miss Lorde?”

Flora raised her chin coldly and proudly before ordering me, “I couldn’t get through to Ron’s phone, and his employees said that I need your permission before entering his office.

“What a bunch of ignorant idiots. I want to go in. Did you hear me?” She pointed at me impatiently.

I sighed in my heart.

Flora had always been like this since we were students. She only showed her gentle and dignified demeanor to people like Ron.

She always looked down on the rest of her classmates, especially me.

I did not want to say much else to her, but we were in the company, so I still had to ask her a question according to procedure. “Mr. Stone is in a meeting. Do you have an appointment, Miss Lorde?”

Flora giggled as if she heard something funny.

“Willow, are you an idiot?

“You were at the door yesterday, weren’t you? You must have heard what Ron said.”

I looked up at her in disbelief.

She seemed to be delighted by my expression. With a smirk, she walked over to me. “Ron knows too. He even said you were. A. Bother.

“I wonder if he did it on purpose to make sure you heard it? He was worried I’d be sad. Heh. Willow, even if I chose to leave the country, it doesn’t matter. Now that I’m back, all of this is still mine!

“I’m Ron’s girlfriend now, and I’ll be his wife in the future! All of the Stone family will belong to me! How dare you stop me, when you’re someone no one even wants?!”

Flora’s words cut into me like knives. The pain made it hard for me to calm down, and I glared at her. “You’re not worthy.”

Flora glared at me and brought her hand up to teach me a lesson while she yelled, “Willow, you’re just an unwanted piece of trash! You have no right to say that I’m unwort—”

Before she finished speaking, I grabbed her hand.

“Because you left when Ron was in his darkest hour!

“Flora, you always pretend to be a righteous person who’s above us all! You keep claiming that you won’t ever be a slave to money. But it’s been a long time since you have known about Ron’s family background. Am I right?

“He kept a low profile while we were still students, but you still managed to figure him out. That’s why you got closer to him and pretended to be a non-materialistic person.

“But in the end, what did you do? When the Stone family was in trouble, you said that you got an offer from a school abroad. How could it be so coincidental? You just didn’t want to go through hardships together with Ron!”

Flora’s face turned pale because of what I said. She staggered backward and stammered in disbelief, “W-What on earth are you saying…?”

Judging by her actions, I knew that I was right on the money.

At that moment, someone spoke at my door.

“Mr. Stone?”

While I was taken aback by the knowledge that Ron was at the door, Flora broke free of my grasp and fell to the side.

“Ah!”

When Ron came in, he saw Flora falling on the floor.

“Flora!” He quickly rushed over and carefully helped her up.

I had never seen him so anxious before.

“Willow, are you crazy?!” he practically yelled.

Feeling at a loss, I tried to defend myself. “I did not—”

But Flora interrupted me.

“Ron, don’t blame her… She’s just fulfilling her duties as a secretary and didn’t want me to go into your office to look for you. Then, I accidentally…” As she spoke, she started crying. Everyone in the office aside from me thought that she had suffered some great injustice.

Ron gently picked Flora up and gave me a cold sneer. “Miss River, you’re just a secretary. Stop vying for things that will never come to be. Flora is a kind soul, so she won’t hold this against you. But if this happens again…”

He gave me the ruthless expression I was incredibly familiar with.

Whenever the company was in trouble or he ran into a problematic person, he would show this expression, and I would take care of the problem for him.

But this time, he was directing that expression at me.

“Tell everyone that Flora won’t need any appointments or prior notifications to go anywhere in the company.

“As for Willow, since she hurt someone in the company, she won’t need to come to the company over the rest of the month.”

With that said, he turned around unhesitatingly and wanted to bring Flora to the hospital to get her checked.

“Ron.”

He turned around and stared at me with an impatient scowl.

“Did you know that I was at the door yesterday?”

He was stunned for a moment. When Flora whined in pain in his arms, he seemed to have finally registered what I was saying and said, “You look ugly while crying.”

Then, he stormed off, as if he was worried about Flora being in pain.

Honestly, we had cameras in our offices.

But that did not matter. Ron was partial toward her, and he had plenty of other ways to pin the blame on me, then punish me for it.

The people gathered in the office looked at each other before they left.

I bowed my head, and my tears gathered into a puddle on the floor.

Why was I crying again?

Ron was right.

I looked ugly while crying.

While I was on my way back, I fainted on the roadside.

When I woke up, I was told that I needed to be hospitalized.

I was surrounded by the smell of disinfectant when I handed in my resignation letter.

I did not need any severance, so I deleted all the contact numbers of my colleagues at work.

The doctor urged me to go through surgery again.

I just smiled and said that surgery would hurt a lot, and the success rate was not high, anyway.

The doctor angrily admonished my views before sighing and comforting me by saying that I had to be strong and keep on fighting courageously, even if I was alone.

But I had no hope to continue living.

I was too tired.

If I was alive, no one would be happy for me.

If I died, no one would be sad either.

That was good too.

At night, I slept, and I dreamed.

In my dream, I was surrounded by a group of people as they hit and cursed at me. They tried to blackmail me so that I could clear my father’s debt.

I fought back like a mad woman, but I could not win against the men.

Just when I wondered whether I should just take my own life, Ron showed up.

He put his school jacket over my head and said, “Don’t be afraid.”

When I saw light again, those people were gone.

I did not know how he did it.

He did not tell me how either. He just told me that those people were not going to pester me anymore.

From then on, I was sick.

It was a sickness of love, and the cause of it was Ron.

I was head over heels for him for ten years, and I never once complained about it.