Pierse’s gaze dropped to my calf, where blood was still seeping from the wound.

His eyes widened instantly.

"What happened?"

The worry and pain in his expression felt so genuine, not a hint of pretense.

I opened my mouth to answer, but before I could say a word, tears suddenly spilled down my face.

"It… it hurts… so much."

The sharp sting of the wound touching water was nothing compared to the ache in my chest, an overwhelming helplessness threatening to drown me.

Pierse grabbed the first aid kit, took hold of my ankle, and carefully tended to the wound.

"Eva, how did this happen?"

I replied softly, "I was in a car accident on the way back today."

"Why didn’t you call me—"

Halfway through his sentence, he abruptly stopped.

Something seemed to click in his mind.

His gaze dropped sharply, focusing intently on my wound, as if studying it carefully—yet he deliberately avoided meeting my eyes.

I dug my nails into my palm, using every bit of strength to keep my voice steady.

"Yesterday, when we were on video call, you mentioned you had an important contract to negotiate today. I didn’t want to disturb you. How did it go? Everything go smoothly?"

Pierse’s lashes were long and thick, casting shadows over his eyes, concealing whatever emotion lay beneath.

He picked up a cotton swab soaked in iodine with tweezers and carefully disinfected my wound.

After a long pause, he finally murmured, "Yeah. It went well."

…

After treating my wound, Pierse went to take a shower.

I reached into the pocket of his coat and pulled out his phone.

It unlocked effortlessly.

He added my fingerprint to his phone a long time ago, but I never once used it.

We were together for ten years.

And for all those years, I gave him my complete, unwavering trust.

Just as I trusted him completely, he trusted me the same way, which was why he never even bothered to hide his affair.

The chat history was right there—blatant, undeniable, filled with flirtations between him and that young girl.

Her name was Dolly Thomas, a junior in our alma mater, seven years younger than us.

Pierse called her Doll.

She complained about not getting along with her roommates, so he rented her an apartment off-campus and even got her a car.

Dolly loved Disney plushies.

When Pierse went on a business trip to Celadon City, he bought her two whole boxes of them.

She lined them up on her couch, took a picture, and sent it to him.

"You only bought them for me, right? Your wife didn’t get any, did she?"

Pierse replied, "No, she’s not like you. She doesn’t like these things."

Dolly pouted. "So, are you calling me childish?"

"No, I find you adorable."

My finger slowly scrolled down the screen, feeling weaker with each passing message.

So that was why, just before New Year’s, Pierse suddenly taken a trip to Westin Heights.

He had hiked up a steep trail to a remote chapel to light a candle for Dolly, who was sick.

And in June, when he left our college reunion halfway, claiming something urgent had come up, it was because Dolly had gotten drunk, called a cab, and sobbed her way to him.

Long before I ever noticed, she had already slipped into every crack in my life with Pierse, weaving herself into the spaces between us.

I swallowed the pain threatening to make me tremble and scrolled to the very bottom of their messages.

It was from today—after my accident.

"I took your wedding ring and threw it away."

Dolly’s words were laced with entitlement. "Just looking at it pissed me off. It’s like that woman was flaunting her existence at me.”

"What’s so special about her anyway? She only met you first, that’s all."

"So, when are you finally getting a divorce?"

And just moments before he walked through the front door, Pierse had replied, "Just wait a little longer. I’ll talk to her soon."

…

By the time Pierse came out of the shower, I had already put his phone back in his coat pocket.

He didn’t notice anything off, just ruffled his damp hair with a towel and told me to get some rest.

I didn’t respond. My gaze locked onto his bare hand.

"You haven’t been wearing your wedding ring lately."

His expression shifted slightly. As if covering up his reaction, he glanced down at his hand.

"I must’ve lost it in the locker room when I was out golfing the other day. I’ll have my assistant look for it tomorrow."

Then, as if that settled it, he added, "You’re hurt. Get some rest, Eva."

A wave of emotion surged through me, thick as fog, swallowing me whole.

I could barely breathe.

I stayed silent for a long time before finally managing a hoarse response.

…

Late at night, Pierse called my name softly.

“Eva, are you asleep?”

His voice was gentle, as if making sure I was deep in sleep before he carefully got up and stepped onto the balcony to make a call.

“You saw my wife today?”

“Doll, divorce isn’t as simple as you think.”

“You’ve always been good, don’t start making a fuss now, okay?”

Just a few steps away, separated only by a glass door, my husband was soothing his young lover.

“Of course, I love you. I love you the most.”

His voice was soft, affectionate, laced with tenderness.

A faint curl of smoke rose from between his fingers.

I stared at him, frozen.

Then, as if sensing something, Pierse turned his head.

Through the glass, our eyes met.

He stiffened on the spot. “…Eva.”

I closed my eyes for a moment before rasping, “Pierse, who are you talking to?”

“No one special. There’s an issue with the new proposal. Tommy and the team needed my input.”

He put away his phone and walked toward me.

His tone was effortless, as if he had used the same hollow excuse countless times before.

I caught the lingering scent of smoke on him and coughed twice.

He immediately reached out and pressed his palm to my forehead in concern.

“You’re not running a fever, are you? It’s been raining all night, the temperature’s dropped. I’ll grab an extra blanket for you in a bit.”

As he spoke, his gaze flickered over my face, subtle but assessing.

He was trying to see if I had overheard his conversation just now.

I pulled my robe a little tighter around me and softly responded, “Alright.”

My voice was as calm and steady as always.

Pierse visibly relaxed.

“Go back to sleep.”

…

Back in bed, he dozed off quickly.

He had tucked the blankets snugly around me, yet I lay there staring at the dark ceiling, wide awake.

The moment I closed my eyes, memories flooded in.

I was twelve when Pierse and his mother moved to town while she recovered from an illness. That was when we met.

Back then, I was always hungry.

Whenever my parents fought, my mother would punish me by making me stand outside in the yard for hours.

My little brother grinned smugly, gnawing on a drumstick right in front of me.

"Hey, worthless girl. Mom said you’ll only ever get my leftovers."

Pierse would march right in, grab my wrist in front of both my mom and brother, and drag me away to his house for dinner.

My mother, still seething from her latest fight with my father, couldn’t take her anger out on me.

Instead, she shouted after us, furious,

"If you like her so much, why don’t you just marry her?"

Pierse suddenly stopped, turned back, and smiled.

"That’s fine by me. It’s much better than letting her starve in your house."

…

After high school, my parents finally ended their toxic marriage.

My father walked away without looking back.

My mother, on the other hand, made it clear.

"Eva, you’re eighteen now. An adult. I have no obligation to support you anymore. Don’t expect another cent from me."

I scraped my way through four years of college, surviving on student loans and scholarships.

Meanwhile, Pierse worked himself to the bone, saving up every dollar until he finally had enough to start his own business.

In our senior year, he missed my birthday because of a business dinner.

But late that night, he still showed up outside my dorm, out of breath, clutching a bouquet of flowers.

He shoved them into my arms and pulled me into a tight hug.

"Eva, I’m going to give you the best life."

…

As time went on, our lives only got better.

On our wedding day, Pierse held my hand and made a solemn vow.

"In a world where everything changes, my love for you never will. Eva, I will love you forever. I will never waver, never betray you."

And I believed him wholeheartedly until I discovered Dolly.

Before that, I had always thought I was his one and only.

By the time I woke up the next morning, the rain had long stopped.

Sunlight poured in through the window, bright and clear, as if the whole world had never known a shadow.

For a fleeting moment, I almost believed that everything from yesterday was just a bad dream.

Then I shifted slightly, and a sharp sting shot through my injured leg.

With the pain came everything else—a tidal wave of tangled memories from the day before, crashing over me all at once.

Dolly.

The moment her name crossed my mind, a crushing weight settled over my chest.

Her strange hostility in the clinic yesterday, and her taunting words.

Now, it all made sense.

I reached for my phone and saw a message from Pierse.

"Eva, you’re hurt. Get some rest. I already took care of things at work, so you don’t have to worry about going in today."

"Something came up at the office, so I’ll be home late. Don’t wait for me for dinner."

I didn’t reply.

Instead, I got in a cab and headed straight to our old university.

It was just after class, and students streamed out of the buildings.

Dolly walked out with her head high, looking every bit the picture of confidence.

The moment she spotted Pierse’s Bentley parked by the gate, she ran straight to it, throwing herself into his arms.

"Pierse, I missed you so much."

He wrapped an arm around her and smiled, pressing a quick kiss to the tip of her nose. "Still mad at me?"

"Of course I am! Unless you make it up to me properly today."

"Alright, today I'll do whatever you want."

Then, right there on the street, they kissed—long and deep—before finally pulling apart.

I sat in the car, silently watching as the Bentley disappeared into the distance.

The driver glanced at me through the rearview mirror and asked cautiously. “Do you want me to follow them?”

I shook my head. “No. Just take me home.”

…

It didn’t take much effort to track down Dolly’s social media using the phone number I saw in Pierse’s messages.

She hadn’t bothered to hide their relationship at all.

Hundreds of posts chronicled every little moment between them.

"Had another fight with my roommates. Such a bunch of morons. My mom just tells me to reflect on myself, but Pierse? He immediately got me a luxury apartment. Being loved feels amazing."

A memory surfaced in my mind.

Back in college, I refused to help my roommates cheat on an exam, and things had never been easy between us after that.

They would even lock me out of the dorm when I went to shower, just to make things harder for me.

Pierse wanted me to move out, to get a place off-campus so I wouldn’t have to deal with them.

But back then, we were just broke students.

Even a simple studio apartment was more than we could afford, something we had to carefully consider.

And now, he could rent a high-end apartment for Dolly without a second thought.

I had turned down the idea of moving out back then.

We even fought about it.

"I can just call the dorm supervisor to handle it. There’s no need to waste money on an apartment."

Pierse pressed his lips together, watching me intently. "I just want you to have a better life."

I sighed softly. "I know how hard you work to make money, and I just want to make things easier for you too."

In the end, he didn’t say anything else—just pulled me into his arms, his eyes turning red.

…

"I really wanted to go to Disney, and the moment I mentioned it, Pierse booked the tickets right away. Full VIP access, no lines, no hassle. Just imagining my mom sweating in line with her brat while I got the royal treatment makes me feel amazing."

I gripped my phone tightly, the sudden wave of pain doubling me over.

I thought of that summer when I was fifteen—the rare time my parents weren’t fighting.

They locked me at home and took my little brother to Disney.

Pierse showed up that day and took me to a small amusement park in a nearby city instead.

The roller coaster cost three dollars a ride, the carousel two dollars a turn.

The rides were old and worn, but I still had the time of my life because no one had ever taken me anywhere like that before.

Pierse stood off to the side, watching me the whole time, his eyes gradually turning red.

On the way back, we walked under the moonlight, and I heard him say, "Eva, one day, I’ll take you to Disney too."