Chapter 4

“That’s a no!”

“Deal.”

Donovan froze, turning his head to look at me in surprise.

Looking ahead without flinching, I nodded at Lily:

“It’s a deal.”

Donovan’s expression turned icy.

Lily let out a sound that was practically a squeal of joy:

“A deal’s a deal!”

I raised five fingers, fixing my gaze on her.

“I’ll start.

“I lived in a basement apartment with Donovan.”

Five years ago, when Donovan first started his business, his partner scammed him out of all his money.

Fiercely proud, he refused to ask his family for money, leaving him only able to afford a basement room in an old, dilapidated building.

In the summer, rainwater flooded in, and mosquitoes swarmed the place.

In the winter, when temperatures dropped below freezing, the thin blanket didn’t help much.

In such conditions, I stayed by his side for two years.

Lily unwillingly folded down one finger.

I continued:

“I sold my mother’s heirloom jewelry to raise capital for Donovan.”

During those same two years, Donovan’s company was hemorrhaging money and teetering on the edge of bankruptcy.

Time and time again, I saw him trying to drown his troubles in alcohol, asking me if he was truly useless.

I couldn’t bear to see him like that.

In secret, I sold the heirloom bracelet my mother had left me, scraping together a hundred thousand dollars for him.

Donovan’s hand holding his glass froze in midair. As if dredged in memories, his eyes softened.

Lily bit her lip, reluctantly curling down another finger.

“Are you done yet? Isn’t it my turn?”

She glared at me, flustered and exasperated.

I smiled faintly.

“Not yet.

“I was pregnant with Donovan’s child.”

“What?”

Shock rippled through everyone in the room.

“How come we never heard about this?”

“Donovan, did you know?”

The glass in Donovan’s hand trembled slightly, spilling a few drops of liquor onto the tabletop.

With that, he was dragged back down memory’s lane.

That was during our third year together.

That day, Lily had spirited him away with a single phone call announcing a stomachache.

That was also the day my checkup had flagged an abnormality—the moment I needed him the most.

We had an explosive fight. He told me to stop making a fuss out of nothing.

I ran out into the pouring rain and fell down the stairs.

When I woke up, I was lying on an operating table.

The doctor told me I had been pregnant.

And that I had miscarried.

When he received the news, Donovan slapped himself hard across the face right in front of me.

With bloodshot eyes, he apologized and swore one day he would take me as wife.

He said we would bring back the child we had lost.

For the sake of those words, I had proposed to him five times over the next two years.

I had believed that once we were married, my child would come back to me.

But now, I could no longer keep fooling myself.

The air in the room turned dead silent.

Donovan’s Adam’s apple bobbed. He stared at me with a mix of emotions in his eyes, as though a heavy weight was suffocating him.

His fingers mindlessly traced the rim of the empty glass, his knuckles turning white from the strain.

Watching all that unfold, Lily boiled over into near fury.

She shrieked:

“Are you trying to play the pity card here?

“So what if you’ve been with Donovan for five years?

“I was the one who won the game yesterday!”

She raised her hand, ready to strike me.

Donovan grabbed her arm in a flash.

“Are you crazy? She’s my girlfriend!”

“Then why did you go watch the sunrise with me?”

Lily screamed with reddened eyes.

Donovan froze for a fraction of a second, then released her hand like he had been struck by lightning, turning to look at me.

His eyes were brimming with guilt and panic.

Ignoring him, I kept my eyes on Lily, my tone still calm as before.

“I proposed to Donovan five times.”

Lily looked as if ready for murder as she folded down her fourth finger.

The whole room held its breath, waiting for me to deliver the final blow.

I paused, taking a deep breath, then…

“Lastly...

“I’ve decided to break up with Donovan.”

As the words left my mouth, everyone saw how red Donovan’s eyes had turned.