Chapter 4

"Ms. Jetrow, please don't get mad... Mr. Woods, how much is the brooch? I'll pay you back. I'll go borrow the money right now..."

I stood still.

"I'm not throwing a tantrum."

Lisa's entire face tightened. She gritted her teeth and forcefully nodded her chin.

"Alright, since you want to call off the engagement, then get out of my house!"

My heart sank.

The house was our home.

We each paid half for it. I oversaw the renovation and personally picked out every single piece of furniture.

On moving day, she hugged me tightly and wouldn't let go for anything.

We dreamed of planting flowers and sharing meals in this house.

The middle room would be for the kids, and the small room would be our shared study.

Back then, she said, "This is our home."

Now, she said it was her house, and told me to scram.

I swallowed the lump in my throat and walked back to the bedroom as if treading on broken glass.

All my luggage had already been sent away, so there were only a few small items left.

As I quickly stuffed things into my bag, I heard Henry's anxious voice from outside.

"Ms. Jetrow, Mr. Woods will never leave you, I'm sure of it. Hurry up and talk him out of it. He only said those things out of anger."

Lisa's voice was filled with irritation. "Of course he won't leave. He's head over heels for me. He's just taking advantage of my kindness, using his grandma as an excuse to force me to get married. If I don't fix his bad habit today, who knows what else he'll try to do in the future!"

Henry hesitated for a couple of seconds, then cautiously asked, "But what if he really leaves...?"

Lisa scoffed. "He doesn't have the guts. He'll just go and stay somewhere for a few days. Once he calms down, he'll beg me to let him come back."

I took off the engagement ring and placed it on the bedside table.

I recalled the day I proposed to Lisa.

It was snowing, and I was so nervous my face was completely flushed.

My friends were cheering me on, and before I could even get down on one knee, she was shouting even louder than me.

"Jeffrey, I want to spend the rest of my life with you!"

She cried so much her makeup was all smeared.

But now, she's saying I'm forcing her to get married.

After eight years of dating, this was the first time she told me to get lost.

And it would be the last time.

With my bag on my back, I opened the bedroom door and walked out.

Henry was still sitting on the couch, and Lisa was offering him pineapple.

She looked up, saw my backpack, and gave me an "I knew it" look.

I didn't stop.

The elevator went down, and my phone vibrated.

"I'm downstairs."

I got into Susan Sanderson's passenger seat.

"If we avoid the holidays, the highway won't be too jammed. Let's try to reach the hospital before dawn."

I nodded in response, opened the ticket booking app, and cancelled both the tickets.

A few seconds later, I received a notification that the refund was successful, and $650 was returned to my bank account.

After refreshing again, I saw that those two tickets were already snapped up by someone else.

Susan turned on the air conditioning.

"Take a nap. I'll wake you when we get there."

"Wake me up at the service area. We can take turns driving."

The car drove out of the neighborhood.

In the rearview mirror, the balcony light got further and further away from me.

When we turned the corner, I couldn't see any light anymore.

On the morning of the first day of the holidays, Lisa picked Henry up. The trunk of her car was full of gifts for Henry to take back home.

She hadn't slept well these past two days.

Jeffrey had actually left, just as he said he would. She was so furious she didn't even want to go into the bedroom, so she just made do in the guest room for two days.

Henry was worried about her driving when she was tired, so he told her to slow down.

But she didn't want to drive slow.

She was in a hurry to go home with Henry to see his mother because she had to rush back in a couple of days.

She figured Jeffrey just needed another two days to cool off, and he'd come crawling back.

But when they arrived at the train station, they suddenly found they couldn't collect their tickets.

A staff member walked past, took one look and said, "Ma'am, this message means your ticket has been cancelled."