Chapter 4

After leaving the Landon residence, I went straight back to where I was staying. This time, I packed even faster and more thoroughly than I had the night before.

I didn't have many clothes to begin with. Aside from a few sets of work clothes I wore regularly, there wasn't much worth keeping. I didn't hesitate over the things on the table that were connected to Suzanne.

I took the framed photo of us off the wall and placed it face down on the table.

The drawer was still stuffed with little souvenirs she had brought back from business trips, along with a few notes she had casually written for me.

I looked through them one by one, but I felt strangely calm.

Only then did I realize how difficult it really was to completely pull myself out of a relationship that had lasted for so many years. Even so, throwing these things away was unexpectedly easy.

The sky gradually darkened.

I had only packed halfway when a message from Ivan came in.

He texted, "Chad, have you gone back? Things have gotten crazy on the mountain again. Suzanne intends to stay in the same room as Finley for the night!"

I opened the message and slowly read it.

According to the customs in our village, if a woman accepted a man's wedding wine, then took him to pray at the church and stayed overnight in the same room with him, the marriage was considered official.

Nowadays, hardly anyone openly mentioned such rules. But at the moment, Suzanne's friends were egging them on in their Instagram posts.

They said somewhat jokingly that since she'd already drunk the wine and gone to the church, they might as well go all the way and complete the final step.

Ivan cursed furiously in his messages and asked whether I wanted him to go over right then and wreck the whole place.

I stared at those few lines for a long time.

In the end, I replied with only two words. "Got it."

Then, I set my phone aside.

At this point, I couldn't even bring myself to get angry anymore. I was simply relieved. I was relieved that I'd finally stopped placing my hopes in whether Suzanne would come back to me.

The night stretched on.

The courtyard gate never opened. All that remained outside was the sound of wind and rain.

I packed the last of my belongings into my suitcase and pulled the zipper shut. Then, I sent a message home to let my family know I was safe.

While I waited for the car, I turned around and took one last look at the home where I had lived for so many years.

Suddenly, I remembered the basement we had lived in many years ago, when we had first left our hometown. The corners of the walls had been damp, and the winters had been so cold that I couldn't sleep.

Suzanne had held me in her arms and told me that one day, she would return to our hometown with me gloriously. She would let everyone know that I was the one she would most proudly call her husband.

Back then, I had truly believed her.

Looking back now, perhaps she hadn't been lying when she said those things. She had simply changed later.

Everything had changed, and nothing was the same anymore. And I had been lost in my own dream for far too long, waking up far too late.

I took the bottle of wine from my bag.

It had already started raining outside. The rain fell in a fine, steady drizzle, tapping against the window lattice.

I slowly uncorked the bottle.

The fragrance of the wine immediately spread through the room. It rushed into my nose along with the damp scent of rain.

This should have been the moment I had looked forward to most in my entire life. But now, all I could smell was irony.

Without hesitation, I picked up the bottle and slowly poured the wine onto the ground.

Just then, a delicate hand suddenly grabbed my wrist.

...

Meanwhile, Suzanne was in the room.

At first, it had only been some people egging them on. They pushed her and Finley toward a room and said that since she had accepted the wine, she should at least take responsibility for Finley.

Suzanne had initially said that they shouldn't take the joke too far.

But Finley soon took advantage of his drunkenness and pretended to be frightened. He asked her to go inside and keep him company for a while.

Outside the room, the roaring laughter and teasing continued.

The dim light cast hazy shadows, while the smell of alcohol mingled with a sweet fragrance. In an atmosphere like that, many boundaries that should have been firmly maintained suddenly became blurred.

In the end, Suzanne didn't push him away.

She also didn't see the message her friend had sent.

"Suzanne, hurry back! Chad is going to marry someone else!"