Chapter 1

[Susanna's POV]

Just as it was about time to leave work, I knocked on my department manager's door to hand her the signed contract.

She was rather shocked. "Ms. Robins, didn't you say that you didn't want to go through a long-distance relationship as your boyfriend is here in our country?"

Because most employees at the company had families of their own, my manager first thought of me for this opportunity.

To be posted overseas was an excellent career opportunity. However, the moment I thought about being separated from my boyfriend, Robert Howell, I passed on this opportunity without a second thought.

I smiled and explained, "I wasn't thinking straight back then. I actually believed love could conquer all."

My manager glanced at me with a seemingly knowing look. She accepted the paperwork and gave me a pat on my shoulder.

It took me a while to flag down a cab late at night. I stood by the side of the road, enduring chilly winds as I watched my colleagues get picked up by their loved ones one by one.

One of my colleagues who used to live in the same area as me noticed that I had no one to pick me up, so she offered to give me a lift.

"It's hard to flag down a cab at night. I guess that Mr. Howell is away on a business trip. Let me give you a ride on his behalf, then. Just get him to treat me to a drink when he returns!"

I smiled and refused. "Thanks for the offer, but I've moved. It wouldn't be on your way."

My colleague assumed I was just trying to politely decline the invitation. It wasn't until I told them the name of the residential area I was in that they finally believed me.

"I've managed to book a ride. Don't worry about me."

After standing in the freezing night breeze for an hour, I finally managed to get a ride through a ride-hailing service.

The upscale, tightly secured neighborhood I used to live in was only a ten-minute walk from my workplace. Worried about me traveling home alone late at night, Robert used to always wait for me downstairs to pick me up.

Now that I had moved to the same residential area as Daisy Baldwin, I would need one and a half hours to travel to my workplace by car.

Nevertheless, Robert never once asked for my opinion on the matter.

It was one in the morning. I rubbed my freezing and stiffened palms together. The moment I turned my phone on, messages from my colleagues asking me how I was doing flooded in.

I replied to them one by one, but my pinned conversation with Robert remained just as it was. I smiled silently, then tapped to open Facebook.

The first post at the top was by Daisy. "Thank you Mr. Howell, for picking me up from work. You are the best boyfriend in the world."

The attached photo was of Robert's side profile as he sat in the driver's seat. It was a photo taken by Daisy herself. Meanwhile, she was in the passenger seat—the seat Robert used to reserve just for me.

Beneath her post, everyone was shipping them.

One by one, Daisy replied to them. "Oh dear, it was a typo. Please don't misunderstand, everyone. Mr. Howell and I are just friends!"

Out of everyone who liked her post, Robert's profile photo stood out like a sore thumb.

I, too, liked her post conveniently before closing my Facebook app and unpinning my conversation with Robert.

By the time my ride arrived at the address Robert specified, it was already three in the morning.

I fumbled my way to the entrance, where I found a digital keylock at the door. Instinctively, I entered my birthdate.

When it indicated that the passcode was wrong, I entered my anniversary with Robert. Nevertheless, the passcode was still wrong.