Chapter 3

I frowned as I responded and pulled out my phone. Sure enough, there were messages from the landlord, along with several missed calls.

I must have already been drunk out of my mind at the time. That was why I had not seen or heard any of them.

It was only through our conversation that I learned Lynette had also just quit her job.

Her youth and spirited desire for freedom stirred a genuine sense of envy in me. When Lynette learned that I had just lost my job and ended a relationship, and saw the mess of empty bottles scattered across the floor, she spoke up at once.

“Aaron, why don’t we go see the ocean together? We get along so well, and we’re both newly unemployed. Let’s celebrate our freedom! I’ve been wanting to go to the beach, but none of my friends want to go with me. Come with me, okay?”

I looked at her face and realized I could not even remember the last time I had gone to see the ocean. Still, life was really just a handful of moments, was it not? Now that I was unemployed, what was there to be afraid of? I was not going to starve, after all.

Just like that, we went to a neighboring city to see the ocean. As the waves rolled up the shore and retreated again, a rare calm settled over me, and I found myself chatting with Lynette.

She was naturally outgoing. Perhaps that was how people were just a few years out of college. They were lively, untouched by years of workplace scheming and exhaustion.

We talked from dawn until sunset, watching the sun sink into the ocean. She had so many dreams, and every one of them filled me with quiet amazement.

“Aaron, I don’t think people should stay trapped in the past. When I first saw you, you were passed out on the living room couch, drunk out of your mind. I almost thought you were some kind of creep. You scared me!”

She went on animatedly about how she had found me. I laughed along, but my thoughts drifted back to my marriage. Looking back, every moment of it felt like being bound by shackles.

Since graduation, my life had been nothing but a straight line between two points—work and home. I was almost entirely devoted to the company and to Victoria.

I worked during the day and took care of Victoria at night, yet she never appreciated it. I constantly found myself anxious over her moods.

Not long after marrying me, she regretted it. When I asked, full of hope, when we would make it official, she shut me down on the spot. She did not want to make it official. She stayed in this relationship only because of her father’s dying wish.

At home, she filled the place with memories of the dead man she loved. Photo frames were stacked everywhere. They were painfully conspicuous.

Every time I moved something, even if it was just brushing against it while cleaning, she would explode in anger.

That constant emotional drain left me suffocating.

As I looked at Lynette’s youthful face, I let out a bitter smile and finally began talking about my life over the past few years.

I had never been good at opening up about pain. Partly because I was an adult man and partly because my relationship with Victoria was so tangled that I did not even know where to begin. I could not even say anymore what I truly felt for Victoria.

However, Lynette listened patiently from beginning to end as I stumbled through my story.

After talking with her, I suddenly felt a weight lift off my shoulders.

After the trip, we headed home and prepared to part ways. We returned to the rental apartment together. Lynette started packing up the things she had left behind. One of them was a small appliance, and dismantling it took some time.

I watched her busy figure and could not help but feel grateful that I had the chance to talk with her. However, Lynette had her own dreams and freedom to pursue. I was nothing more than an ordinary passerby—a friend—in her life.

Still, I was deeply grateful that she had listened and offered comfort.

I did not expect that the moment we stepped outside, we would find a group of uninvited guests waiting.

The man at the front was Victoria’s bodyguard. He gave me a polite nod before speaking. “Mr. Cabell, Ms. Quinn would like you to come back with us.”