Chapter 1The Man Who Lost Her Too Late

At graduation, Liam and I broke up.

His eyes were full of hatred as he said he would definitely find a girl a hundred times better than me.

Eight years later, because of my husband’s project, our old classmates gathered again.

But Liam came with his girlfriend and handed out wedding invitations to us.

Our classmates all looked at me with sympathy, because back then, he and I had loved each other like our lives depended on it.

When the wedding invitation reached me, Liam gave me a half-smile.

"I heard that all these years, you were so afraid of thinking about me that you didn’t even dare contact our old classmates."

"But now I’ve found the girl who belongs to me, so you should forget me."

Just as I was about to speak, a little boy suddenly ran in from outside the door and threw himself at me.

He shouted, "Mommy.”

* * *

"Mommy!"

The entire private room went silent in an instant.

Dozens of pairs of eyes turned toward me all at once.

I looked at the little boy throwing himself at me, with his round face and big eyes, and he was completely unfamiliar.

This was not my child.

I was just about to speak when the door to the private room was suddenly shoved open.

A young woman rushed in, her face full of apology.

"I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry! Leo, I told you not to run around!"

She scooped up the child and kept bowing to everyone.

"I’m sorry for interrupting you."

The woman hurried away with the child in her arms, and everyone let out a breath of relief.

"I knew it, how could Lena already have a kid?"

It was Zoe, who had sat behind me back then, and she had always loved gossiping.

"If she got married, how could none of us old classmates know?"

Someone immediately chimed in, "Exactly, Liam isn’t even married yet, so how could she get married first?"

As soon as those words came out, everyone’s eyes swept back and forth between Liam and me again.

Liam and I dated for four years in college.

During those four years, he skipped required courses from the entire department for me and played guitar under my dorm building while singing off-key love songs.

I waited for him for three hours in heavy snow just to give him a scarf I had knitted by hand.

We squeezed into the cheapest rental near campus, shared a six-dollar bowl of beef noodles, and still thought it was the best food in the world.

But on the eve of graduation, I broke up with him.

I remembered his bloodshot eyes as he gripped my wrist tightly and asked, "Why?"

I could not give him a reason.

In the end, he flung me away, and the love in his eyes was swallowed by hatred.

"Lena, in this lifetime, I will definitely find a girl a hundred times better than you and make you regret it."

Now, he had done it.

He brought his fiancée and handed me that gold-embossed wedding invitation in front of all our old classmates.

How was that a wedding invitation? It was clearly a slap to my face.

Before I came, my roommate quietly told me that Liam had specifically asked in the group chat, "Is Lena coming?"

All his setup was prepared for me.

In the silence, Willa, who was beside Liam, suddenly stood up.

She held a glass of wine and smiled warmly and gracefully, but there was a faint hint of provocation in her eyes as she looked straight at me.

"What happened in the past is all in the past."

"I’m very grateful that someone took care of Liam for me during those years."

She said the words "for me"very lightly, but they stabbed like needles.

She paused, looked around the room, and finally turned her gaze back to Liam’s affectionate face, her voice firm.

"But from now on, the person who can stay by Liam’s side can only be me, Willa."

"Well said!"

Someone started it first.

Thunderous applause instantly rang through the private room, and someone even whistled.

"Liam is so lucky!"

"Willa said it perfectly!"

Liam took the chance to pull Willa into his arms, resting his chin on the top of her head with a doting expression.

He raised his glass toward everyone, smiling with total satisfaction.

"Thank you, everyone."

I picked up the coffee cup in front of me and calmly took a sip.

This situation had nothing to do with me.

The scalding coffee slid down my throat.

I lowered my eyes and pretended to study the delicate pattern on the rim of the cup.

But from the corner of my eye, Liam’s gaze kept drifting, intentionally or not, past the fiancée in his arms and landing on me.