Chapter 3

The abusive man was about to slap Celia, but I got in the way. That was how I met her.

After a while, that same couple reconciled and filed a complaint against us, causing us to get fired.

At the time, I did not know Celia came from a wealthy family. She was just working there to see how working-class people lived. Afraid she might not have enough to eat, I paid for all her meals.

She came to my place every day and never minded our messy, cramped living conditions. She even complimented my cooking.

On top of that, she was incredibly attentive to Cyrus. She often tutored him in his schoolwork and even became his free language tutor.

Soon, we started dating.

I discovered her true identity after graduation. I had taken a side job as a server at a wealthy family’s birthday party. I never expected the birthday girl to be Celia.

That day, I made a mistake and knocked over a glass. A client had slapped me hard and humiliated me.

Everyone kept their distance, but she gathered her dress and ran to me under the spotlight.

She bravely defended me. “How dare you slap my boyfriend? Do you have a death wish?!”

That scene almost felt like it came from a romance film.

But no one supported us. Everyone said that Celia was way out of my league. Even I thought that was the end of it.

Unexpectedly, she was willing to cut off her parents just to marry me.

After we got our marriage license, her parents cut off all her allowance. I felt sorry that a privileged young lady like her had to suffer hardship with me, so I voluntarily handed over my bank card.

For a few years, we were poor, but we were happy.

Eventually, her parents could not bear to see her struggle anymore, so they reluctantly gave in.

Yet nothing changed between us. We still shared with each other about our every expense.

My coworkers mocked me as a pushover. I just laughed and told them they would not understand it. For an orphan, being cared for was more important than money.

I was happy, and I thought it would last forever.

But everything changed after a fire two years ago.

After Celia was rescued from the fire by her bodyguards, she gave everyone a raise. She showed special treatment to Mason, the most handsome of them all.

She often had meals with him, bought him gifts, and even bought him a car and a house.

Every time I asked about it, she would say she was simply grateful for his help.

It was laughable how many times I naively believed her. I had even been looking forward to our wedding.

I stood before Cyrus’ body, sobbing uncontrollably.

If I had not kept bringing up the wedding, my brother would not have been so furious when he saw Celia and Mason getting married.

If Cyrus had still been working the part-time job with me and never gone to that intersection road, the accident may not have happened.

But there were no ifs. In the end, I was the reason he died.

Just then, my phone buzzed violently, pulling me back to reality.

It was Celia.

[Are you coming home tonight?]

I sent a reply. [No.]

[What are you doing? Why aren’t you coming home?]

When I saw her text, I simply held Cyrus’ cold and stiff hand. I did not want to talk to her any longer.

After a long while, Celia did not send anymore messages.

The mortician came by. He told me that restoring Cyrus’ body would be difficult and would cost ten thousand dollars.

I could not afford that fee. I had no relatives, and I was not very close with my coworkers. There was simply no one I could borrow money from.

I thought it over and decided that I still had to go find Celia and get my bank card back.