My Leaving, Her Regrets

[You have three days. If you still don't come back, then cut ties with the Jackson family.]

[Ben, Grandpa's seventieth birthday is the day after tomorrow. Come home and see him.]

Benjamin Jackson glanced at the messages from an unfamiliar number, his expression unreadable. He didn't bother replying. He simply pressed and held the screen, blocked the number, and deleted it.

Then, he opened the pinned chat at the top of his screen.

The last message was from six hours ago.

[A new project launched today. The company is holding a kickoff banquet. Don't wait up for me.]

The massive villa was silent and empty. Benjamin sat alone at the dining table, facing a spread of food that had long since gone cold.

The two scented candles were nearly burned out. Only a weak flame remained, flickering as if struggling to stay alive.

He set his phone down and looked out at the pitch-black window.

After a moment of distraction, he let out a soft, self-mocking laugh.

That pinned chat belonged to his fiancée.

No.

More accurately, his girlfriend.

Cassandra Dalton, CEO of Mist Technology. A famous beauty in Baycrest City and a rising star in the business world.

They had met in college. After a relentless pursuit on Benjamin's part, he finally won her over.

For Cassandra, Benjamin never hesitated. No matter what decision she made, he supported her with everything he had.

After graduation, they moved in together.

Cassandra had been pampered since childhood. She disliked letting others handle her things, yet she was too lazy to do them herself.

So, they never hired a housekeeper. Everything at home fell on Benjamin.

She didn't like takeout, so he learned how to cook. To satisfy her picky tastes, he studied recipes over and over, tweaking them until she was finally pleased.

She didn't like clothes washed in a machine, so he washed each piece by hand. They had to be spotless. No wrinkles allowed. After they dried, he even treated them with scented oils.

She said she wanted to start a business, so Benjamin began pulling sponsors, securing seed money, building external teams, courting investors...

That careful, all-encompassing way of his smoothed every possible obstacle from Cassandra's path forward.

Over six years, the two of them built Mist Technology from nothing, piece by piece, shaping it into a powerful new force filled with promise.

Cassandra rose overnight into Baycrest City's most talked-about star entrepreneur.

And Benjamin chose to stay in the shadows.

People only knew the beautiful CEO, Cassandra. No one knew about the nameless man standing quietly behind her.

On the night Mist Technology went public, Benjamin proposed.

Cassandra brushed it off with an excuse about being too busy with work.

At first, Benjamin thought Cassandra wanted something full of surprise and romance.

He racked his brain, planning the perfect proposal. When Cassandra came home, the room was filled with flowers and soft lights. He took a deep breath and held out the ring, the symbol of his love.

Yet, Cassandra's eyes were cold and distant. Without hesitation, she pushed the ring away. Her voice was calm yet firm.

"I'm sorry. I think things are fine the way they are. I'm not ready to get married right now."

Months of careful planning had ended in a quiet, disappointing failure.

Then one day, while Benjamin was out grocery shopping, he happened to see Cassandra laughing and chatting with another man as they walked into a hotel together.

Her smile was bright and radiant, a smile he couldn't remember the last time she had shown him.

When Benjamin asked about it that evening, Cassandra blew up.

"Were you following me? I can't believe I never realized how creepy you are! That's my assistant, William Quinton. He just graduated this year and is interning at Mist Tech. He was just with me to meet a client. Can you not think so badly of me?"

Faced with her aggressive anger, Benjamin could only force a bitter smile and swallow the questions he wanted to ask.

Little by little, they drifted toward the end of a relationship that looked whole on the surface but was hollow inside.

Cassandra's changes became impossible to ignore.

She went from leaving early and coming home late, to sometimes not coming home at all. Her daily video check-ins became occasional, perfunctory replies, and eventually stopped altogether, leaving messages on read.

When she did come home, she would be glued to her phone, smiling brightly at someone Benjamin didn't know. Sometimes she would suddenly change into formal clothes, say there was an urgent matter at the company, and rush out the door.

But friends who worked at Mist Technology quietly told Benjamin that Cassandra never went back to the office.

One day, Benjamin received a friend request on Instagram.

It was from William.

After Benjamin accepted it, he checked William's latest social media post and found just one photo.

It was one of those trendy couple shots that had been going viral online.

A slender figure lay on the bed, eyes half-closed, looking utterly alluring. Beside the pillow, their hands were tightly clasped, exuding intimacy.

The caption beneath the photo was simple.

[With you.]

No one had liked it. It seemed to be visible to Benjamin alone.

The faces weren't shown, but Benjamin recognized the woman on the bed at a glance.

It was Cassandra.

When Benjamin snapped out of his memories, he realized the candlelight had burned out. In his palm lay the ring he had never managed to give her.

Today, the temperature dropped.

-

At Heritage Hotel, Mist Technology's founding members and core team had all gathered together.

The hydrogen-deuterium energy project had driven Mist Technology's stock up by twenty percent. It was more than worth celebrating.

Someone grabbed a microphone and howled along terribly with the music.

Everyone else formed a large circle, playing a game of Truth or Dare.

Cassandra sat in a corner. Compared to the excitement around her, there was a trace of unease on her expression.

She checked her phone again and again. Aside from a stream of hollow congratulations and thinly veiled dinner invitations, the one message she wanted most never appeared.

"Cass, let me toast you." William, who was sitting beside her, raised two glasses of wine.

After a brief hesitation, Cassandra accepted one.

Whether it was low tolerance or something else, William started coughing violently after a single sip.

Cassandra let out a soft laugh and picked up a handkerchief to wipe the wine from William's lips. Her face was full of concern.

"If you can't drink, then don't force it. We're all friends here."

Their intimate exchange immediately drew more than a few curious looks.

"Oooh..."

Someone teased, "Our CEO is always so independent, yet she insists she has a boyfriend and never says who it is. Looks like he's not far away, after all."

"And a younger boyfriend, too..."

Faced with the crowd's playful teasing, Cassandra only smiled. She didn't explain.

On the other hand, William looked a little shy.

"Cass was just taking care of me, that's all."

Just then, the spinning bottle landed on Cassandra.

"Truth," she said quickly.

This beautiful CEO was admired by countless people in Baycrest City. The men chasing her could line up for miles.

Yet Cassandra always claimed she had a boyfriend, even though no one had ever seen him. Over time, people naturally assumed it was just an excuse to turn others down.

Now, it seemed that the mysterious younger boyfriend might be right there beside her.

"First question. Do you really have a boyfriend?"

"I do."

"What's his name?"

Cassandra lifted her glass and drained it in one go.

"Then... Is he from Mist Tech?"

Benjamin's face surfaced in her mind.

Although he no longer held a position at Mist Tech, he had contributed to its creation. In a way, he was still part of it.

She nodded. "Yes."

The moment she answered, William's eyes lit up.

"Is he younger than you?"

She nodded again. "Yes."

"Have all of us met him?"

Cassandra fell into thought once more. During Mist Technology's early days, Benjamin had worked in the building for a long time as an external consultant. He had interacted with everyone there.

"Yes."

At that, the crowd erupted into cheers again.

William smiled shyly, looking almost flustered.

To them, Cassandra's answers couldn't have been clearer.

When the game ended, someone pulled out a stack of paper slips.

"Secret Crush," they announced. "Everyone writes down one name on the paper. If two people match, they have to complete a task together."

Then they added pointedly, "To prevent cheating, you can only write the name of someone who's here. Anyone not present doesn't count."

Slip in hand, Cassandra was about to write Benjamin's name. After hearing the rules, she froze.

In that brief moment of hesitation, she looked up and met William's hopeful gaze. With a quiet sigh, she had no choice but to write his name instead.

The result was exactly what everyone expected.

Only Cassandra and William matched.

"Kiss! Kiss!"

Someone shouted it first, and the chant instantly spread through the room.

William stared at Cassandra, his face tense, his eyes burning with desire and urgency.

Cassandra let out a helpless breath. She opened her arms first.

"Let's just hug."

Disappointment flickered across William's eyes, but he obediently nodded.

Amid roaring cheers, the two of them wrapped their arms tightly around each other.

Creak…

The sound of the door opening was swallowed by the noise of the crowd.

As Mist Technology's former external consultant, Benjamin knew exactly where they would be celebrating.

He had arrived late, walking in just in time to see the two of them locked in an intimate embrace. They held each other tightly, basking in applause and cheers, showing no sign of letting go.

"Heh."

The last light in Benjamin's eyes went out.

There was no greater sorrow than a heart that had given up.

He casually hung the coat in his arms by the door, then turned and left.

Meanwhile, the atmosphere at the event reached its peak.

Seizing a moment when no one was paying attention, Cassandra leaned close and whispered into William's ear.

"Don't let this happen again."

William, who had been brimming with excitement just moments ago, suddenly stiffened.

The smile froze on his face, and his already anxious heart sank all over again.

When he looked at Cassandra once more, there was a clear trace of indifference in her eyes.

Before long, the banquet came to an end.

As they were about to leave, William was unwilling to give up. He hurried after Cassandra. "It's really cold tonight. Why don't I take you home?"

"No need. Thank you."

Cassandra stepped out of the banquet hall. As she passed the entrance, she paused.

The coat hanging there looked strangely familiar.

She didn't dwell on it and quickly left the hotel.

The early morning air was indeed cold. Having just had a drink, she shivered uncontrollably as the wind brushed past.

Just then, a hotel staff member jogged after her, holding the coat that had been left by the door. "Ms. Dalton, you forgot your coat."

This coat was Cassandra's favorite, and she wore it almost every time she attended an important event. Among everyone at the banquet just now, she was the only one who would wear it.

"This isn't…" She instinctively started to refuse, yet the coat in the staff member's hands looked increasingly familiar.

She took it, and a familiar scent filled her nose.

Her eyes flickered in shock. This really did seem to be her coat.

Her heart skipped, and her thoughts spiraled into chaos.

Had he been here?