Chapter 2

Ever since Evelyn became Lucian's assistant, incidents seemed to follow without end.

She would throw away important gift boxes as trash, only to end up mailing actual rubbish to my house. During a publicity task, Evelyn even uploaded an unedited, high-resolution close-up photo of me to the company's website.

Every time she messed up, Lucian would tear into her mercilessly.

Ironically enough, he was well-known among Dravoria's business circles for his remarkably good temper. I'd never seen him lose his temper in the past five years since we'd started dating.

But when it came to Evelyn, he seemed almost eager to use the most vicious and cruel words imaginable to humiliate her.

Lucian would mock her for not checking the weather forecast during an outdoor banquet, only to drape the blanket he'd prepared for me over her shoulders moments later.

He would reprimand Evelyn for her clumsiness during the company's team-building event, only to stand by the grill and carefully barbecue every skewer for her. Even his threats of dismissal never ended up being carried through.

And today, Lucian even laughed out loud when he saw the can tab in the ring box. "That's quite a unique ring we have here. It's completely different from anyone else's," he teased.

He had completely forgotten how difficult things were when we first started out. Back then, we were so exhausted that we could barely stand straight.

The two of us lay sprawled on the company rooftop to rest. That day, he held my hand and swore, "One day, I'll definitely buy you a big, sparkling diamond ring."

However, despite noticing the serious look on my expression now, Lucian still found it in him to joke with me in the city hall.

"Does it really matter that much to you? Are you actually going to break up with me because I don't have a million-dollar diamond ring?" he asked.

One million dollars used to be the amount I'd casually spend on a purse. However, I still nodded in response. "That's right. If you don't have it, then we're done." I replied.

Only then did Lucian start to panic. He immediately sent his men to comb the route we'd taken for the ring. In fact, he even promised to make it up to me with a diamond ring worth ten million dollars.

Given his current wealth, spending ten million dollars on a diamond ring would barely leave a dent in his wallet, but it was all too late.

I was sick of the ambiguous relationship between him and Evelyn.

I watched as Lucian drove away in his Maybach with Evelyn in tow. Then, I dialed a number.

"Dad, I was in the wrong. I'll be home in a week," I said before ending the call.

Breaking things up with Lucian was bound to be a complicated process. After all, five years' worth of relationship had long since tangled our lives together.

I drove to Grandview Villa, located in Dravoria's most prestigious riverfront residential district.

In order to build our dream home back then, I'd emptied all of my personal savings without hesitation to purchase the riverside villa.

But now, it'd become the biggest burden I wanted to get rid of.

Who would've thought that the first time I set foot here would be to sell it off?

However, my car had just reached the entrance when I was stopped by security. "The system doesn't have your facial recognition data, miss. I'm afraid we can't let you through."

When I first bought the villa, Lucian had sworn earnestly, "Since you're the one paying, I'll make sure to pour all my effort into the renovation."

Throughout the renovation, I only had to voice out my preferences. Lucian would personally oversee all the work down to the details, but now, I wasn't even allowed inside.

I called him multiple times in a row, but every call went straight to voicemail.

Just then, Evelyn uploaded a new post on her Instagram. It turned out that all it took was some cooking oil for the doctor to remove the ring from her finger.

Even when Lucian berated Evelyn for her stupidity, he still went through every convenience store around the hospital just to buy her favourite strawberry popsicle and ice her swollen finger.

But in the five years I'd been with Lucian, he would only urge the housekeeper to hurry with the medicine even when I was down with a 104°F fever.

It was painfully obvious who held a special place in Lucian's heart.

In the end, I managed to enter the compound by showing my property deed. Before this, Lucian always insisted that he wanted to save our house as a surprise until we'd obtained our marriage certificate.

However, my breath still caught for a moment when I pushed the door open.