Independence Is a Good Look On Her

Everyone in Miranda Sutton and Hansel Johnson's friend circle knew that she was head-over-heels in love with him.

She loved him so much that her entire life revolved around him. There was no such thing as personal space for her, and she would've preferred it if she could be with him 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Every time they broke up, she'd come crawling back to him, asking to get back together within three days or less. Anyone could initiate a breakup with their partner, but not Miranda. She'd never bring those two words up.

So, when Hansel brought his new girlfriend, Ingrid York, into the room, everyone fell eerily silent for five whole seconds.

Miranda stopped peeling the clementine in her hands. "Why's everyone so quiet? And why are you all looking at me?"

Her friend looked at her in concern. "Mimi…"

Hansel didn't seem to care about anything as he guided Ingrid all the way to an empty spot on the couch with a hand around her waist. "Happy birthday, Cal."

He behaved blatantly, as though he wasn't doing anything wrong.

Miranda got up from her seat. It was Calvin Campbell's birthday that day, and she didn't want to make things ugly.

"I'm going to the bathroom."

As she closed the door behind her, she heard the people in the room start to talk.

"Hans! Didn't we tell you that Miranda was still here? Why did you still bring her here?"

"Exactly! You're going overboard this time, Hans!"

"It doesn't matter," Hansel said, finally removing his arm from Ingrid's waist. He then lit up a cigarette and started smoking.

There was a grin in his eyes as he puffed the cigarette smoke into the air, seeming like a playboy who loved fooling around with people just for the fun of it.

As for the rest of what he said, Miranda didn't hear it because the door had finally closed. She went into the bathroom and touched up her makeup. She couldn't help smiling pitifully at herself in the mirror.

"Hideous."

She lived such a hideously pitiful life.

Miranda took a deep breath as she made her decision.

However, when she went back to the private room and saw what was going on inside, she tightened her grip on the door handle and nearly went back on her words.

Hansel's lips were firmly pressed against Ingrid's lips, their saliva thoroughly wetting the thin piece of tissue that was preventing them from properly kissing. Everyone around them was laughing hard.

"Oh, my god! Hans, you sure know how to rile things up!"

"They're kissing! They're actually kissing!"

"I mean, since everyone's so excited, you guys might as well just kiss!"

Miranda felt her hand shaking against the door handle.

This was the man she'd loved for six years. Now, she felt like nothing but a laughingstock.

"Guys, tone it down," someone suddenly whispered, gesturing at the door. Everyone immediately looked toward the entrance.

"M-Mimi? You're back. Err, we're all just fooling around, you see. Don't mind—"

"Miranda." Hansel interrupted the person trying to explain the situation and just looked at Miranda with a calm expression on his face. "Since you're here, let me straighten things out with you."

"Okay. I'm listening."

"It's tiring breaking up and making up with you for so many years. The feelings between us have long died."

Miranda tightened her fist and dug her nails into her palm. However, it was as if she couldn't feel any pain at all.

They'd been dating for six years, but their relationship had ended with him saying his feelings were long gone.

"Ingy is a wonderful person, and I want to make things official with her."

Miranda nodded robotically. "Okay."

"Even though we've broken up, we can still stay friends. You can still come to me if you run into any problems in Jandersville."

"No thanks," Miranda said, forcing a smile on her face. It was a wan smile, but a smile nonetheless.

"Since we've broken up, it's better for us not to have any more contact with each other. That would only be fair to your new girlfriend."

Hansel raised an eyebrow, looking a little shocked.

"Cal," Miranda said, turning to look at the main character of the birthday party. "Happy birthday to you again.

"I hope you guys have a lot of fun tonight, but I'll be leaving now. Everyone, help yourselves to the plate of clementines I peeled on that table. Don't let it go to waste."

Hansel hated every type of fruit except clementines. However, he was picky about it and would pick off every single vein on the fruit before eating it.

For the past years, Miranda had meticulously peeled and cleaned clementines just the way he liked them before presenting them to him. She did it because she wanted him to at least get the vitamins and nutrients he needed from fruits.

When Hansel was in a good mood, he'd hug her and say, "My girlfriend is the best in the world. How could you be so good to me? Should I just marry you?"

He'd known what she'd wanted all along, but he'd never given it to her.

Hansel said, "I'll get Dan to drive you home."

"Don't worry about it. I've already called for a cab."

Calvin said, "Miranda, I'll see you to the door."

Miranda declined gratefully, shaking her hands at him before turning to leave.

"Hans, look what you… I think Miranda's really mad this time."

"I don't think so."

"Yeah, they've broken up so many times in the past, but Miranda always comes crawling back to him a few days later. She'll pretend nothing happened the next time we meet up again."

"I'm betting she'll be back in five days this time."

"Six days!"

Hansel looked at the door that wasn't shut properly and smiled coldly. "I say she'll be back looking for me in three hours."

"Okay, Hans wins. The whole world knows how crazy Miranda is for him."

"Damn. Why aren't there any women crazy over me like her?"

"You? Fuck off, buddy!"

"Hahaha!"

…

It was past midnight by the time Miranda got back to the mansion. She took half an hour to pack up all her things.

She'd lived here for three years, but now that she was leaving, her belongings only fit in a tiny suitcase. She didn't take any of the designer clothing or luxurious jewelry she'd never even worn before.

The only thing she wanted to take with her but couldn't was the wall of technical reference books. Luckily, she'd memorized all of their contents. The physical books weren't that important anymore.

Her gaze swept over the dressing table. She then walked toward it and pulled open a drawer.

There was a check at the bottom of the drawer for 50 million dollars. There was also a pile of documents under the check. The title on the first page read, "Land Title Transfer: Plot 3-5, No. 72, Easternia."

Although the plot of land was in the suburbs, it was still worth about 20 million dollars.

Hansel had already signed both the check and the land transfer deed. He'd signed them the last time they'd broken up, and the documents had been in the drawer ever since then.

He was sure that Miranda would never dare to take those two documents away; if she took them, it meant that their relationship was over for good.

Suddenly, Miranda thought she'd managed to strike a bargain.

Exchanging six years of her life for 70 million dollars didn't seem like a bad deal after all. Not many women were lucky enough to get so much compensation for years and years of their youth.

She tucked the two documents away in her bag. There was no reason not to take them since he'd already given them to her.

Even if she was out of love, at the very least, she wasn't out of money.

She wasn't like those stupid women in those sappy romance books who thought money was nothing compared to love.

"Hello, is this the cleaning company? Do you take urgent orders? I want a spring clean, and I don't mind paying extra for it."

Miranda then put the house keys in an agreed-upon hiding spot, piled her things into a cab, and set off for her best friend's condominium.

On the way, Miranda received another call from the cleaning company. "Miss, are you sure that you don't want these things anymore?"

"I don't. You can do whatever you want with them," Miranda replied before hanging up.

…

By the time Hansel got back home, it was nearly the crack of dawn. The people from the cleaning company had long gone by then.

Hansel had a migraine from the strong perfume scent hanging around him. He tugged at his collar and decided to rest for a while on the couch. However, he ended up falling asleep.

When he woke up the next morning, he heard the familiar sound of pots and pans clinking in the kitchen.

He pulled the blanket away from his body, massaging his temples as he reached for the glass of water on the coffee table.

However, there was no glass or water on the table. Hansel froze for a second.

A while later, the corners of his lips lifted. Miranda was back anyway, and she'd even covered him with a blanket sometime through the night.

How dare she not prepare him his usual glass of water to wake him up from his hangover?

How long had she been playing mind games with him? Her rebellion wasn't even wholehearted anyway. Wasn't she sick of it?

Hansel chuckled as he got up. "You'd better—"

"Mr. Johnson, are you up?"

"Martha?"

Martha Watson was Hansel's housekeeper. "Breakfast will be ready in a few minutes, Mr. Johnson, so you can go and wash up in the meantime.

"Oh, it wasn't too cold for you at night, was it? I turned on the heater but thought you might still catch a cold, so I draped the blanket over your body."

"Oh."