Chapter 2

Gradually, night fell.

I had already waited by the roadside for a full three hours.

My skin no longer stung, but wearing only a thin dress, I began to feel cold.

Just then I received a social media post from Evelyn.

In the video, Evelyn stood intimately beside Lucien.

Lucien cut the birthday cake I had carefully prepared and fed it to Lily bite by bite with a smile.

The three of them looked like a family.

Laughter could be heard in the background. Then someone spoke up on my behalf:

“The birthday girl Camilla isn’t here yet. Why did you cut her birthday cake?”

“Lucien, aren’t you going to pick Camilla up? If she misses her own birthday, that would be too pitiful!”

Lucien’s hand froze. His movements stopped abruptly.

The cake in Lily’s hand slipped and fell to the ground.

Behind them, brilliant fireworks had already begun to bloom.

He looked conflicted.

After a long silence, he cut another piece of cake and finally murmured:

“The fireworks have already started. Lily and Evelyn like fireworks. It’s not too late to go back after watching them.”

“Camilla is very understanding. She won’t get angry.”

I closed the video before it finished playing.

Because I knew he was not coming back for me.

The seaside manor was only a two-hour drive from home, but six hours had passed and he still had not appeared.

I slowly stood up, took off my engagement ring, and threw it into the roadside trash can.

Lucien had changed.

He was no longer the man who used to care whether I was sad or whether I had been wronged.

It was almost midnight. The birthday party I had looked forward to had probably already ended.

And I, the birthday girl, had not even seen my own birthday cake.

The guests began packing up, preparing to stay overnight at the manor.

Evelyn and Lily had just stepped into the bedroom originally prepared for me when my friends stopped them.

“Get out! This room is prepared for Camilla. She hasn’t come back yet. What right do you have to stay in it?”

Evelyn had not brought a change of clothes and had not arranged lodging in advance.

Lucien tried to help her find an empty room, but by then all the guest rooms in the manor were full.

Evelyn looked at Lucien, tears welling up.

“Camilla must be angry.”

“It’s all my fault. If I hadn’t agreed to come to the party in the first place, if Lily hadn’t been so eager to see the fireworks, you wouldn’t have delayed so long because of us.”

She lowered her head, her voice growing softer.

“We shouldn’t have come here at all. Lily and I should just leave.”

Lucien’s breathing quickened.

But it was not because Evelyn said she wanted to leave.

It was because he suddenly remembered that after watching the fireworks, he had forgotten to go back and pick me up.

At that moment he truly wanted to drive back immediately.

But the manor was far from the city, and at this hour there was no suitable place nearby for them to stay. He could not just let them leave with a child.

Jack and Xavier naturally disagreed even more.

Lucien’s heart softened.

He grabbed Evelyn’s wrist.

“Enough. This has nothing to do with you. If Camilla is angry, she’s angry at me.”

“I’m driving back to find her right now.”

Lucien told Jack and Xavier to take good care of Evelyn and Lily, then turned to leave.

His steps were clearly much faster than usual.

But Evelyn quickly called him back.

“Let me go with you. If Camilla is unhappy, I can help explain.”

Lucien hesitated for a moment, then agreed.

Jack and Xavier also wanted to go find me.

Lucien knew my temper and was certain I would still be waiting for him to come back and pick me up.

Leaving me alone by the roadside this time, I would not forgive him easily.

In his view, women communicated more easily with each other.

Bringing Evelyn along might help calm me down.

But Lily was still a child. Without toys and a blanket, she could not endure a two-hour car ride.

Those things had to be brought.

By the time Evelyn finished packing everything, another hour had passed.

Lucien was usually impatient and hated waiting most of all.

Yet this time he actually sat in the car and patiently waited for Evelyn for a full hour.

Along the way, Evelyn worried he would get hungry while driving and personally fed him cookies.

She filmed the scene and posted it on her social media.

I saw it all clearly.

I downloaded every video.

Then I opened the chat window with Lucien and sent him a message.

“I’ve already gone home. Don’t come back looking for me.”

Then I booked myself a flight leaving in six hours.

I was not without a place to go.

In my email inbox lay a job offer.

It was just on another continent, a fifteen-hour flight away.

In the past I had been reluctant to leave my family, and even more reluctant to leave my fiancé.

But they had never stood by my side.

I accepted the offer.