Chapter 4

I received a call from Ruby. She said, "Ricky is my old friend's son. I can't just ignore him. I can find your dad another kidney."

I kept quiet.

Ruby sighed and changed the topic. "You got the suit already, right? Wear it tomorrow and meet me at the same place. I have something important to tell you."

I suddenly realized that tomorrow would be the day she proposed to me for the ninth time. Even now, she still wanted to toy with me.

But this time, I wasn't going to play along.

I had no use for your money anymore, Ruby. And I had no use for you either.

…

I didn't show up the next day, and I also threw the custom-made suit into the trash.

While I was arranging for Dad to be discharged from the hospital, Miriam suddenly showed up and dragged me away against my will.

"Ruby has been waiting for you. Why didn't you show up? Even though she has proposed so many times before, maybe this time she won't lose her memory again. You can't give up on her!"

Fireflies danced across the night sky. Even after seeing it eight times, I still couldn't stop my eyes from filling with tears.

I had always thought that I was Ruby's unwavering choice. But it turned out that I was the target of her unwavering revenge.

The sky was filled with fireflies. But this time, they were nothing but glaring.

I stared numbly at Ruby in the same white dress, saying the same proposal vows. I raised my hand and knocked the diamond ring away.

Ruby looked startled. "Archie, y-you don't want to marry me?"

I stared at her frostily. "Ruby, drop your act…"

Just then, Miriam ran over with her phone. The two of them looked at the phone, then instinctively glanced at me.

As if trying to hide something, Ruby shoved Miriam aside. "Can't you see I'm busy? It's nothing important. Leave!"

A deep sense of unease gripped me. I snatched the phone from Miriam and felt my heart stop beating for a split second.

It was a livestream of Dad standing on the hospital rooftop.

I scrambled to the side of the road and hailed a cab. All the way there, my hands trembled as I called Dad's caregiver and frantically left messages in the livestream chat.

"Dad, please come down…"

It hit me then that Dad couldn't see my message.

I told the streamer, "Please tell my dad that I'm on my way."

To my surprise, the streamer gave a cold laugh. "So you're his son! Your dad is doing this because of you! He's ashamed because his son is someone else's boy toy!"

My blood ran cold.

Dad's caregiver called me. "Archie, come over now! Around half an hour ago, a young man named Ricky told your dad you were someone's boy toy. Your dad thought his illness had ruined your life, so he wanted to end it all…"

I gripped the phone hard, my hatred nearly overwhelming me.

When I finally arrived at the hospital, I heard someone say, "Just jump already. Having a son like him is your biggest mistake!"

Then came a deafening bang. Dad fell and burst into a pool of blood right before my eyes.

"No!" I threw myself onto Dad and pulled him into my arms. My tears fell onto his face and mixed with his blood.

I looked around me, trying to plead for help, but no words came out. I could only silently beg them to save Dad.

[Host, time's up. Your mission has failed. Memory removal of all information regarding Ruby will now begin.]

…

Ruby had wanted to follow me to the hospital, but Ricky called her again, claiming his headache was back. After a brief hesitation, she went back to the villa. He kept pestering her until she had no choice but to stay and sleep with him.

She slept until late the next morning.

A message popped up in the group chat when she woke up.

"Ruby, are you going to lose your memory for the ninth time now?"

Ruby furrowed her brows, her fingers hovering above the screen. It wasn't until Ricky rolled over beside her that she finally replied, "Yeah."

After washing up, she sent her bodyguards to break my hand, just like the previous eight times. But this time, a sense of unease lingered in her heart, leaving her restless.

Two hours later, Ruby's bodyguard called, "Ms. Monroe, Mr. Klein is missing."