Chapter 3

By the time I arrived at the office, the repair workers were already in the middle of fixing the glass window.

My colleagues were still shaken. "Damn! It's a good thing we got off work early yesterday. Otherwise, it would've been really terrifying."

When they caught sight of me, my colleagues greeted me. "Stella, your boyfriend picked you up last night, right?"

I let out a chuckle and said, "No. He was busy driving his female colleague home."

The entire office fell silent, and someone asked cautiously, "So did you take a cab home yourself yesterday?"

"I spent the night in the break room."

Everyone's breath caught. After a long time, my colleagues patted my shoulder reassuringly. "Stella, you're really strong."

I didn't think there was anything wrong with telling them about what happened. After all, I wasn't the one who messed up.

When it was almost time to get off work, Tommy sent me a message. "I'm downstairs at your office."

My eyes flickered slightly. It had been almost a year since Tommy last picked me up from work.

Sometimes, he would promise to pick me up, but in the end, he would always bail on me because of Ariel.

When I got downstairs, his car was indeed waiting there, so I headed over. Just as I was about to reach for the passenger door handle, the car window rolled down, revealing Ariel's doll-like face.

"Hey, Stella."

In the driver's seat, Tommy explained, "Ariel said there's a new restaurant near your office that serves really good hot wings. I've already booked us a table. Want to join us?"

I looked at him, my voice soft yet flat as I said, "Tommy, I can't eat spicy food."

Tommy froze for a moment as a flicker of embarrassment crossed his face.

In the end, they left.

Tommy hadn't come to pick me up from work. He had only thought of me because my office happened to be on his way. He even forgot that I couldn't eat spicy food.

Back then, when he forgot to remind the chef not to make the food spicy, he would carefully pick out all peppers from my food one by one.

My eyes stung slightly, but the wind quickly dried my tears.

I was about to tell Tommy that I wanted to break up, but he suddenly told me something huge was happening this Saturday and asked me to be at a location early.

I froze. Our seventh anniversary fell on Saturday. So he did remember after all.

Even though I had no idea what he was up to, I decided that I would end things with him that day.

Tommy told me to be there by 10:00 am, but the roads were congested, so I arrived at 10:30 am.

As I walked toward the private room, memories flashed through my mind. For our past anniversaries, he had always racked his brain to plan all kinds of surprises.

He had used candles to lay out the date of when we first met. He had secretly learned to play guitar so he could sing a song I had briefly mentioned in passing. He had even put together a photo album filled with all our memories.

But for the past three years, every anniversary had been ruined.

Three years ago, Ariel had fallen ill. Tommy said we would have many more anniversaries together, and he felt sorry to leave her alone in the hospital.

Two years ago, Ariel claimed that someone was stalking her. Tommy left the half-cut cake behind and rushed over.

Last year, Ariel got drunk at a bar. Tommy said he was only going to take her home, but he didn't come back all night.

This time, I wasn't holding out much hope. I just wanted to eat with him without any interruptions and say what I wanted to say.

As soon as I opened the door, confetti burst into the air before falling on my face. Many people were inside the room, but they were all unfamiliar faces.

When they saw it was me, they froze in surprise.

"Huh? It's not Ariel."

"Didn't you say those footsteps sounded like hers?"

"Quick. Set everything up again. She'll be the next one for sure!"

I was rooted to the spot, looking dazed.

Tommy then pulled me aside and shoved a confetti popper into my hands. "Didn't I ask you to come by earlier? Hurry. When Ariel comes in later, just pop this."

After a long time, I finally found my voice. It was so absurd that I almost laughed.

I looked at Tommy and asked, "What's all these for?"