Chapter 2

Dusk, three days later, happened to be the eve of my five-year anniversary with Jax.

It was funny. He used another woman's birthday as his phone passcode, yet I still clearly remembered the exact moment he first said he loved me.

Since he obeyed his advisor's every word, it was time for me to pursue my own future.

Perhaps sensing my unnatural calmness when I brought up the breakup that night, Jax did something unprecedented the next day. He offered to take me to his crew's exclusive gathering.

"Alright, baby, tuck that temper away."

"Haven't you always wanted to enter my circle? I'm taking you to meet my inner circle tonight, just to give that little head of yours some peace of mind. You should be satisfied now, right?"

When he was finally willing to bring me out into the open, I couldn't feel happy at all.

Only one thought remained in my mind. How many times did Vivienne have to approve this decision?

But in the end, I didn't speak up to argue.

Since the countdown to my departure had already begun, I might as well see with my own eyes just how rotten this relationship had become.

The moment we stepped into the cigar-smoke-filled VIP room, all the members were surrounding Vivienne, laughing and treating her like a star. Nobody spared half a glance for me, his actual girl.

There was only one main seat left next to Jax, and a broken folding chair by the service aisle.

Jax looked a bit awkward and tried to pull the chair to bring me to the main seat, but Vivienne stopped him.

"Oh my, Jax. You haven't even taken her to the altar, and our fierce Capo has already become so whipped?"

"Are you putting a woman before your crew? Don't let your boys laugh at you. Let Elise sit over there by the aisle. I'll have to teach her how to properly serve a man later."

These words essentially put Jax on the spot.

I watched him quietly, waiting for him to make a choice.

What I waited for was him pressing me down onto the folding chair, and then watching him push Vivienne into the seat next to him.

I sat isolated at the edge of the aisle. Looking at Jax across the swirling smoke, my memory suddenly drifted back to five years ago.

When we first got together, he would wait outside my apartment building every single day until I closed my curtains.

Some punks in the crew took pictures of his lovesick, foolish look and posted them in the crew's encrypted chat, mocking him for losing his edge over a woman.

But the Jax back then fired back fiercely, wearing that cheap label on his chest like a medal of honor.

"If protecting my woman makes me whipped, then I'm the proudest guy on the streets."

However, times had changed, and now everything was different.

While I was zoning out, Vivienne suddenly knocked on the table with mock secrecy, drawing everyone's attention to me.

"Boys, don't let Elise's serious look fool you. She's incredibly clingy behind closed doors."

As soon as she finished speaking, she pitched her voice high and started reading the messages I sent to Jax years ago.

"Jax, can you spare a little time for me?"

"Jax, I truly want a future with you. Can you stop being so cold to me all the time?"

She mocked them in an extremely exaggerated and artificial way, making the whole table roar with laughter.

Unable to suppress my anger, I spoke up coldly.

"Do you not even understand the most basic boundaries and privacy?"

Vivienne just covered her mouth and giggled playfully, rolling her eyes at me dramatically.

"Cut the crap, Elise. Why are you pretending to be an innocent saint? If you send a man such desperate messages, are you afraid people will see them?"

"I took screenshots and sent them to our inner group chat for everyone to enjoy over drinks a long time ago. Everyone said you were pretty pathetic."

So, the vulnerability I only ever showed to Jax had long been a running joke at their dinners.

In that instant, the humiliation suffocated me. My chest throbbed with pain.

Enduring a room full of piercing whistles and mockery, I looked at Jax, waiting for him to stop this farce.

But what I got was an even worse comment from Vivienne.

"What, are you feeling wronged again? Getting ready to cry to our Capo?"

"You probably don't know this, but the first time Jax kissed a woman, he didn't even know how to breathe."

"Considering his skills in bed and the kissing techniques I personally taught him, you owe me big time. You should really offer me a toast today."

What a great advisor. She even taught him how to kiss.

Thinking that every time Jax and I were tangled together over the past five years, her shadow was standing right behind us, I instantly felt dizzy.

I got up to leave, unable to sit there any longer.

Jax instinctively tried to follow me, but Vivienne grabbed him.

"Sit down! Can you act like a real man for once?"

"She's just playing hard to get. If you chase after her shamelessly now, you'll deserve it when this woman walks all over you and bosses you around from now on!"

Hearing this, I walked even faster.

I knew very well that Jax wouldn't chase after me.

Over the past five years, whenever Vivienne was involved in an argument, he never took my side, not even once.

And I no longer needed him to take my side anyway.

Feeling cold all over, I returned to my place and started packing my medical kit, doing a final sweep before I left.

The phone on my nightstand lit up, and a text from Jax popped up.

"Baby, I just had someone prepare your favorite dessert. It will be delivered to your apartment soon."

"Are you ready to forgive me?"

It had always been like this over the years.

When Vivienne was happy, she would send a few pretty words on his behalf to coax me.

When she was unhappy, she would find excuses to make me feel insecure and use words to stab me.

It wasn't that I couldn't tell who sent it. I just saw right through his absolute indifference, casually having someone find an excuse to brush me off.

But at this point, thinking of that woman using my feelings for entertainment and her smug face behind the screen, my whole body broke out in goosebumps.

I decisively typed out a line and sent it. "Vivienne, do you really think you're that clever?"