Chapter 3

When I woke up, Benedict, a man who'd always prided himself on being staunch and iron-willed, was crying so hard that he'd completely lost all composure.

"Why didn't you tell us sooner?" he asked hoarsely. "Why didn't you say you were sick? Why did you give up treatment?"

I smiled faintly and reached up to wipe away his tears.

I was too far gone. In whatever time I had left, I didn't want to lose the last scraps of my pride, clinging to life in a hospital bed.

Benedict wiped his face, determined to find Serena.

"Didn't you end up with cancer because you drank and stayed up all night for Serena? Now she's turned her life around, even sent out wedding invitations, and you're lying here waiting for death. How is that fair?"

That was when I noticed an envelope by the bedside. I picked it up and opened it.

It was a wedding invitation. Serena and Casper were leaning close together in the photo, looking every bit like a well-matched couple.

I stared at it, then suddenly coughed up a mouthful of blood.

"Don't go looking for her," I said. "Everything I did back then was my own choice. The divorce was my decision too."

Benedict supported me as he continued cursing Serena under his breath.

Back then, when the Jacobs family collapsed overnight, the engagement between Serena and me was called off. Even so, I'd loved her. No matter how severely my family punished me, I refused to let go of her hand.

She had always been a proud little princess. But for my sake, she'd been beaten until she was covered in wounds and waited in the rain all night.

I'd rushed into the downpour to shield her, only to come down with a raging fever the next day.

My parents finally relented.

Despite how weak I was, I started taking Serena to cocktail parties, searching for opportunities and partnerships.

In public, I never mentioned how much I helped her because I wanted to protect her pride. Behind the scenes, I bowed and scraped before potential partners to secure deals for her.

Everyone knew how prideful the eldest son of the Spencer family was, so they jeered and forced drinks on me relentlessly.

For Serena, I endured it all, drinking until my stomach bled. Eventually, she made her comeback, and we married as we'd always planned.

After we married, though, she never spoke of everything I'd done for her.

I understood her pride and respected her self-esteem. I would rather we both held our heads high than be the first to give in.

That was until the Spencer family ran into cash flow trouble, and she refused to help. Instead, she frowned at me and asked, "Myles, were you only with me back then so you could use me to bail your family out one day?"

My pride wouldn't allow me to ask again. So, I turned to cooperation with the Larsen family.

The moment Yvette and I were seen entering a hotel together, Serena misunderstood everything. She didn't even come to me for an explanation, and rumors about her and male celebrities spread almost immediately.

I knew she was acting out of anger, but she was the one who'd started it. Why should I be the one to explain myself?

Thus, I drifted through a sea of women, while she surrounded herself with male escorts.

Then, at a restaurant, in front of everyone, Serena wore a gentle smile on her face as she sang a birthday song to Casper.

She knew that the restaurant was where I'd celebrated my 21st birthday. She also remembered how I'd been surrounded by people back then, and how she'd sung to me before confessing her feelings.

The sparkle in her eyes that night had stayed with me for ten years.

Now, as I held the diagnosis report for my stomach cancer, all I could think about was how absurd those ten years had been.

Was it really all because of a birthday song?

Not entirely.

All of a sudden, I felt like I just didn't have the strength to keep fighting.

"Benedict, for whatever time I have left, I just want to be alone."