Chapter 1

For four long years, Elena had been deeply in love with her partner. Her heart was captured from the moment they first met, when Bruno stood there with his long hair, holding a guitar.

Ever since they moved in together, Elena made him the absolute center of her world, constantly striving to build a solid foundation for their shared future.

So when she arrived home from work to find Bruno packing his belongings, it caught her completely off guard. Stepping forward, she asked in confusion, "Bruno, are you heading somewhere?"

Bruno gave no response. He simply glanced at her, picked up his freshly packed bags, and made his way toward the exit.

Only then did Elena realize the severity of the situation. Panicking, she rushed to grab his arm. "What on earth are you doing?"

He looked down at her hand on his sleeve, his face clouding over. "I'm leaving to follow my dreams, Elena. We're over."

"Over?" The words hit her like a thunderbolt. Stunned, she stammered, "Why, Bruno? I've never stood in the way of your ambitions. I'll stand by you through anything. Please, can't we fix this?"

Looking at her, his annoyance only deepened. "Honestly, Elena, I'm calling it quits because I can't take this anymore. You're far too overbearing and controlling." As he spoke, he forcibly pried her fingers off his arm.

"You even pushed me to set up a shared bank account. I refuse to live with my freedom locked away like this. It's over." His harsh words caused Elena's grip to go completely limp.

Seeing that she had let go, Bruno picked up the bag he had dropped and walked out the door.

He walked away without a single backward glance.

Elena spent the entire night sitting on the cold floor, plagued by relentless self-doubt. Why? Did I fall short somewhere? Was I truly too bossy? But wasn't everything I did meant to secure our future together?

The next morning at dawn, her alarm went off. To build that future with Bruno, she had been working part-time at a convenience store alongside her grueling PhD studies.

Despite her heartbreak, she had no choice but to get up, wash her face, and head into work to make ends meet.

Her mind was completely elsewhere after she arrived. While organizing items on the shelf, her phone buzzed with a notification. Hoping it was a message from Bruno wanting to reconcile, she hurriedly pulled out her phone. To her horror, it was an alert from their joint savings account: every last cent had been drained.

"Hey, Elena. What are you standing around for? Help the customer," her manager yelled from across the room. "Elena. Do you hear me?"

Snapping back to reality at her boss's shouting, she squeezed her phone tightly in her fist. Ignoring her manager's glaring look, she blurted out, "I need to step out for a moment." Before he could even respond, she ripped off her work vest and bolted out the door, leaving her boss fuming behind her.

Though she was usually extremely thrifty, Elena immediately hailed a taxi to reach Bruno's new place as fast as possible. Fortunately, she had cleverly obtained his new address from a mutual friend earlier that morning.

The second she arrived at the building, she began pounding frantically on his door.

"Is that you, babe?" Bruno opened the door with a bright grin, but his expression instantly turned sour when he saw her. "What are you doing here? I thought I made it clear that we're finished."

Ignoring his cold reception, Elena demanded, "Why did you wipe out our joint savings? I put in 70% of that money."

"Oh, that?" Bruno scoffed disdainfully. "Consider it compensation for all the years I spent with you. Are you seriously begging me for money? You're so petty."

His cruel words made her tremble with rage. "How much did you ever actually contribute? Give me back my share." She reached out to pull on his clothes.

Before she could grab him, he shoved her away. "Don't touch me, or I'll call the cops. To be frank, you have terrible style and a horrible body—you look like an old woman. It makes me sick just looking at you. If you hadn't been so obsessed with me, I would have thrown you out ages ago."

Without waiting for her reaction, Bruno turned on his heel and slammed the door shut. "There's no money left to give you. Stay here and wait if you want."

Devastated by his cruel insult, Elena stood paralyzed outside the door.

A moment later, her phone chimed repeatedly in her pocket before she finally snapped out of her daze to answer. Her manager's furious voice boomed through the speaker: "Elena, you're fired. And don't expect a single penny of your two-week pay." He hung up instantly.

Elena let out a bitter, hollow smile. In less than twenty-four hours, she had lost both her job and her relationship.

Rain began to pour on her way back, as if even the heavens were weeping over her misery.

Drenched to the bone, Elena finally made it back to her apartment. But as she reached for her keys, she noticed a pile of items dumped near her doorway. Crouching down to inspect them, she was stunned to see her own belongings. "Why are all my things thrown out here?"

Confused, she quickly inserted her key into the lock, but the knob wouldn't budge. "Did someone replace the lock?"

Before she could process what was happening, her phone rang—it was her landlord. "Elena, your rent is officially a week overdue. The new tenant arrives tomorrow, so I packed up your stuff and left it outside."

"Overdue? But I gave the money to Bruno. Didn't he hand it over to you?" Elena pleaded, her voice trembling with anxiety.

"I haven't received a single cent from him. Go settle that with him yourself. Regardless, I've already swapped the locks, so you'll need to find somewhere else to stay." Without another word, he hung up on her.

With night already upon her, Elena had no choice but to drag her luggage to a cheap motel nearby. By the time she finished settling in, dawn was already breaking. She still couldn't comprehend how Bruno could turn into a completely different person overnight—stealing all their joint savings, dumping her without hesitation, and abandoning the rent payments. Was their entire history together just a lie? Curling up on the bed, she clutched her blanket and sobbed silently.