What Ryan wanted, he would never easily give up.

I heard that his wife, who abused him, came back and caused a big scene.

He was once a high and mighty male god, but now fell to such a state. It was inevitable that people sigh.

Ariel was coming back later and later.

Just like she said, she wouldn't hide or deceive me anymore.

She hired the best lawyer for Ryan and fought for custody of the child with his ex-wife.

"Just to repay his mother's favor back then."

From the moment she said this, I knew that she would never be able to repay it in the future.

Favors are always the hardest to repay.

But Ariel was too straightforward and too eager to prove it to me.

As long as she was with Ryan, she would make video call to me.

So even though things were complicated, life could be considered peaceful.

One day, Ryan came to the door late at night.

The bruises all over his body told the story of his tragic experience.

As soon as Ariel opened the door, he hugged her tightly.

"Ariel..."

With red eyes, Ariel held him tightly, not even hearing what I said.

She sat on the bed in the secondary bedroom, holding Ryan gently and patting him, with gentle and loving movements.

But as soon as she left, Ryan grabbed her clothes and buried his head in her arms.

"Please, don't leave me, Ariel, I beg you, don't leave, I can't be without you..."

Even I was moved, let alone Ariel.

The expression on her face was angry, but when she looked at him, it became gentle.

"Are you planning to keep holding onto him like this?"

Ryan cautiously glanced at me, then tucked his head into Ariel's arms.

Ariel looked exhausted.

"Jay, he's already like this, why are you still so aggressive? Let's talk about it tomorrow, okay?"

I never expected that one day I would hear the word "aggressive" coming from her mouth.

Ryan started pretending again.

"Ariel, don't leave. I regret it. Please don't leave me."

Ariel whispered to him.

"Ryan, I won't leave. I'll stay here with you."

I didn't miss the satisfaction in Ryan's eyes.

It was intentional.

He might self-direct today's performance.

"Ariel, do you remember what you promised?"

She was stunned for a moment, but only for a moment.

"Jay, you've changed. Let's talk about our matters tomorrow. You should leave first. He doesn't want to see you now... Neither do I."

I turned around, not wanting to shed tears in front of her.

The night passed until dawn.

Ariel, just like before, lifted the blanket and leaned in.

"Don't come over."

I didn't move, softly uttering a few words.

She stuck to my back.

"I'm sorry, I was just afraid that he would do something extreme."

I closed my eyes and didn't look at her.

"Let's get a divorce."

She held me tightly, and there was still Ryan's smell on her body, which was very pungent.

I wanted to push her away, but I was afraid of hurting the baby, so I didn't dare to use force.

"Let go of me, I feel nauseous."

She cried, tears falling on my shoulder.

I stopped moving.

"Jay, without you, I really don't know how to live on. You can do whatever you want, just don't leave me, okay?"

This was the first time she had cried since we met.

But I could no longer tell if she was crying because she pitied Ryan or if she was really afraid of divorcing me.

I didn't say anything, and she hugged me tighter.

"Jay, for the sake of our baby, can you forgive me this time? Once his lawsuit is over, I will immediately cut ties with him. Our child cannot be without a father."

But Ariel, when you hold him, have you ever thought about the child for a moment?

I didn't say anything, but I didn't continue my actions either. In the end, I compromised.

After Ryan woke up, he shouted Ariel's name loudly in the room.

She held my hand and went out, and I could clearly feel Ryan's gaze on our hands.

"Ariel..."

He rushed up and hugged my wife tightly, bumping us away without a trace.

"I'm so scared of not seeing you again, really scared..."

She glanced at me, her arm paused in the air, neither hugging nor not hugging.

"You said you would never leave me, does it still count now?" Ryan stared at her affectionately, persistently asking.

Left aside by him, I didn't say anything. I just quietly watched Ariel.

"Our story is long gone. You should wake up, and I will let the lawyer continue to find a solution. You let go of me first."

She just gave a gentle push, and Ryan immediately fell to the ground, like he could break at any moment with his previous injuries.

"Is it because of him? Ariel, you clearly said..."

Ryan, sitting on the ground, was incoherent and in a bad state.

"Jay, I'll send him back first, I'll be back soon."

Ariel hugged me for a while, which was comforting.

When leaving, Ryan gave me a last glance, full of satisfaction.

An hour after they left, Ariel's phone and messages were both unreachable.

I waited for a long time until a anonymous number sent me a few photos.

In the photos, Ariel was topless, leaning on Ryan's chest, looking dependent.

There were no any words, but everything was already said.

I trembled and dialed the number, but no one answered.

That day, Ariel didn't come back.

After being unreachable for a whole day, she came back and then knelt on the floor of the living room.

"Sorry, Jay..."

She moved to me with her knees.

I squatted down and unbuttoned her buttons one by one.

Her fair skin was covered with dense red marks.

"Don't look, don't look, Jay, please don't look..."

She covered my eyes tightly and held her clothes together, but one shoulder strap had already been torn apart, loose and ridiculous.

During the waiting time, I kept comforting myself that the photos were edited with Photoshop, but now it seemed to be self-deception.

"Jay, can you listen to me?"

Without waiting for my answer, she suddenly started slapping herself, rubbing her skin hard on her chest. She rubbed it red, even peeling it off.

The more intense her actions were, the more painful my heart was.

But I still dodged when she wanted to touch me.

"Dirty..."

A word separated the distance between us.

The air was silent for a long time. The things on the coffee table fell to the ground, making a crisp sound, which brought us back.

Her lips moved, pale without any blood, and her face was even more pale.

Ariel didn't say anything, silently went into the bathroom, and when she came out, I was shocked.

The originally marked places were all red, completely covering up the original ambiguous appearance.

"You..."

I looked at her, shocked and unable to speak.

"Jay, there isn't any mark now. I've already cleaned up. Don't reject me, okay?"

She looked at me with grievances and lowered her head.

"He drugged me, and I had no strength to resist. But I swear, nothing really happened between us."

She raised her hand in a swearing gesture, with a determined and burning look in her eyes.

As soon as my hand touched her skin, she took a sharp breath.

Then she looked at me with surprise.

"Jay, do you believe me now?"

I nodded helplessly, and she burst into laughter, which made her wounds hurt and she looked particularly funny.

Because of this incident, Ariel consciously distanced herself from Ryan and left all matters to the lawyer.

Our relationship gradually warmed up.

But when everything was going well, something bad was bound to happen.

Ryan climbed to the top of the 26th floor.

There were many fire trucks, and all measures were taken. But it was not the 6th floor, but the 26th floor. As long as he jumped down, everything was in vain.

When I received the news, Ariel was nestled in my arms reading.

She didn't even have time to change her clothes and hurriedly went out.

I followed her and stood at the exit of the underground parking lot, watching her pass by me without even a glance.

I took a taxi and followed her all the way to the place where Ryan was going to jump off the building.

"What can't be said properly? It's such a pity. He is so young."

"Uncle, why are so many people gathered here?"

I couldn't find Ariel, so I turned and asked a passerby.

"Didn't you see a young man standing at the top floor, about to jump off the building?"

I looked up and the sunlight was too harsh to see anything clearly.

I didn't know if it was a coincidence, but all the elevators in this building were broken.

I climbed up step by step until I reached the top floor.

Ryan stood outside the fence, with a calm expression.

"Ariel."

I called her, but got no response.

Instead, Ryan became more excited when he heard my voice.

"Jayden, what are you doing here? Are you here to make fun of me?"

He laughed at himself twice, and the next second he roared again.

"Get lost, make him get lost."

"Ryan, don't get excited."

After Ariel comforted him, she turned and shouted at me.

"What are you here for? Do you really want to see him jump down? Get lost."

I was stunned by her shout. Before I could react, I was taken out by the firefighters.

This was the first time she had been so fierce to me.

I was just trying to persuade myself that she was also afraid that Ryan would be too excited and do something stupid.

But soon, I couldn't comfort myself anymore.

The place where I was taken away was separated from them by a glass door. Ryan couldn't see me from his perspective, but I could see everything clearly.

Ariel approached him step by step, and Ryan just cried, but didn't refuse.

"Be good, come down, okay?"

"You don't want me anymore. What's the point of me being alive?"

He was wearing the white shirt from his student days, and I could vaguely see the appearance of the young man who was once full of spirit.

"Ari, it's been a long time since I called you that. When my mom passed away, she told you to stay with me. But I knew I was not worthy of you. I knew your parents didn't like me, so I left the hometown alone, thinking that I could let go of you this way.

"But I can't do it, really can't do it...