Chapter 3

“Livia was speaking up for you and looking out for your best interests. How could you treat her with that kind of attitude?”

I looked at the door lock that he had just broken, listening to his words, and suddenly found it absurd.

“Looking out for my best interests? Holding hands and kissing my boyfriend, acting all intimate with you publicly at someone else’s wedding, and now coming to my house, wearing your shirt, and using my bathroom? Is that the kind of ‘best interests’ you’re talking about?”

Matteo opened his mouth but didn’t say anything right away.

Soon enough, he recovered his usual self-righteous composure. “Don’t make it sound so ugly. Livia and I are innocent. Her dress was ruined by red wine, so she came over to use the bathroom and clean up.”

Innocent. I had heard that word far too many times. When Livia was afraid of the dark, and he drove over in the middle of the night to keep her company, that was innocent. When Livia got drunk, and he carried her back to a hotel suite, that was innocent. When Livia fell ill, and he stayed by her bedside all night long, ignoring my calls and never replying to my messages, that was also innocent.

I pinched the bridge of my nose, suddenly finding all of this pointless. “Are you done? If there’s nothing else, I want to get some rest.”

Matteo froze. In the past, I would have cried, thrown a tantrum, demanded answers, and begged him to explain himself. However, this time, I just felt exhausted.

He cleared his throat, raising his chin slightly as he said, “Livia said that as long as I make things up to her sixty times, she will agree to let me marry you. As for the remaining favors, I can slowly make them up to her after we get married.”

He walked over and grabbed my hand. “See? She’s actually very kind. You two even went to the same university and have similar tastes, so why can’t you learn to be more understanding of each other?”

I pulled my hand back. “I’ve given you up to her. Isn’t that understanding enough of me?”

Matteo’s hand froze mid-air, a look of confusion surfacing in his eyes. He didn’t get it, but I didn’t want to explain myself anymore.

Over the past five years, I had been more than understanding. When the power went out at Livia’s place, and she claimed she was afraid of the dark, insisting that Matteo go over to accompany her, I stepped aside.

That same night, a water pipe burst in my apartment. To prevent my documents and account books from being ruined, I crouched by the pipe and watched over it all night long. The next day, I ran a high fever of over a hundred and four degrees Fahrenheit. I had called him and told him to come back, but he didn’t. He said Livia was crying and he couldn’t leave her, so I swallowed my anger.

When Livia went for a walk, sprained her ankle, and cried for him to massage her foot, I stepped aside again. He had left in such a rush that he forgot to turn off the gas in the kitchen. I ended up with carbon monoxide poisoning and nearly died right there in the living room.

Before I was rolled into the emergency room, the private hospital scrambled everywhere looking for a family member to sign the consent forms. Meanwhile, Matteo was busy tucking Livia into bed and was nowhere to be seen in the hospital.

I had put up with all those things, so just how much more understanding was I supposed to be to make way for his love for Livia? Did I actually have to die?

Matteo slapped my hand away, kicking aside a house slipper near his foot. “Serena, you really don’t change. This is just the anger talking again. If you were truly willing to let go, you would’ve left a long time ago. Why else would you still be with me to this day? Admit it, you love me, and you can’t live without me. Without me, you wouldn’t even know how to function. Since that’s the case, you should be thanking Livia for her generosity instead of throwing a tantrum with me here.”

I looked at him and smiled. So this was the real Matteo. He turned a blind eye to my humiliation and took amusement in my heartbreak. My hysteria, in his eyes, was nothing more than proof of his own charm. Yet, for some reason, I felt a sense of relief at this very moment. It was as if the emotions piled up over the years had finally found an exit. The resentment in my heart that refused to back down had vanished, and a sense of clarity followed.

I said calmly, “Matteo, I will not marry you. And as for whatever happens between you and Livia, I don’t care.”

With that, I pushed him out the door and locked it behind him.

He slammed against the door from the outside. “Serena, when are you going to grow up? You’ve been looking forward to marrying me more than anyone else, so why are you pretending you don’t now?”

I didn’t give him an answer. Instead, I opened my suitcase and picked up the pace, packing away the rest of my things.