Chapter 4

Adam's POV

On my last day before leaving, I calmly wrapped up every single handover.

The file box had already been picked up by the shipping company and sent to Orvale. A photo of the keys to the residency housing had also been sent to my new phone.

Just like the average traveler leaving after a business trip, I erased every last trace of myself from the place.

When Kristy came home, I was deleting the very last file from the computer. It was the wedding intro video that didn't have a single face in it, only landscapes.

Noticing my swollen wrist, she instinctively grabbed ointment and an old brace from the medical kit, then applied it for me with practiced ease.

That fleeting moment of tenderness almost made me pause. Maybe she still cared about me deep down.

But the next words out of her mouth dragged me right back to reality.

"Is your wrist feeling better now?" she asked. "If it is, go and tweak the wedding video a little more. I think the color grading is too cold."

She still believed that the wedding would happen as planned.

I looked at her and asked one last question.

"Kristy, have you ever considered that maybe I don't want things to continue like this?"

She looked at me as if she'd just heard the funniest joke. "You don't want to? Adam Cox, aren't you done with your tantrum yet?"

She walked right up to me, a mocking smile on her face.

"Didn't you delete the photos from the wedding display and skip out on the family portrait just so you could force me to go public with us? Well, let me tell you something. I hate being threatened."

As it turned out, my silence and compromises had been nothing more than a tantrum in her eyes.

I smiled, not bothering to explain anymore.

Just then, her phone started ringing. It was the person in charge of the animal welfare center, calling in a panic.

"Kristy! It's bad! A piece of equipment fell from high up while Victor was livestreaming, and he got hit while trying to protect the cats!"

Kristy's expression changed instantly. She grabbed her coat and bolted out the door without even glancing at me. She didn't even remember that we had to finalize our wedding program that afternoon.

Once again, she was absent because of Victor.

I didn't go after her. Instead, I clicked on that familiar livestream link.

The feed was shaking badly, and the scene was in chaos. Yet, I still saw everything clearly.

Kristy rushed into the frame and pulled Victor tightly against her, using her own back to shield him from anything else that might fall.

She kept checking him over again and again, her voice trembling with a panic I'd never heard before.

"Are you okay? Where are you hurt?"

Even after confirming that Victor had only been startled, she still didn't let go of him. Instead, right in front of tens of thousands of viewers, she pulled him into a long, lingering embrace.

Someone on set wanted to cut the stream, but she stopped them.

"Don't turn it off. Keep streaming. We don't want this to affect the account's numbers."

Three years ago, for the sake of "keeping a low profile", she'd forced me to delete a photo of us right in the middle of the street. Three years later, for the sake of another man's account metrics, she willingly chose to broadcast herself shielding him for the entire world to see.

She didn't hate being on camera. She just hated having me in the frame.

The live chat had already gone wild.

"My goodness! Kristy's a total badass!"

"This couple is the real deal! This definitely isn't staged!"

"Kristy and Victor have to stay together forever!"

I slowly scrolled through the messages of support and congratulations and gave one of them a like. Then, I closed the livestream, deactivated my old number, walked to the entryway, and gently placed my access card on the shoe cabinet.

Goodbye, Kristy.

I closed the door—the one I'd never walk through again.

…

The night was pitch black when I stood alone on the platform for the overnight train.

The moment I boarded the carriage, I used my new number to send out a mass notification to all our wedding guests, informing them the wedding was canceled.

The train slowly pulled away. The neon lights of the city rapidly receded into a blurry haze behind me.

At the same time, Kristy had just finished calming Victor down and was about to call me, demanding an explanation, when she received a final confirmation message from the wedding planner.

"Dear Ms. Simpson, as requested by Mr. Adam Cox seven days ago, all arrangements for your wedding to Mr. Cox have been unilaterally canceled. Notifications to the wedding guests have just been sent out."

Outside the window, the world was completely dark. Only the lights inside the train illuminated my calm face.

While Kristy was frantic with worry over another man, she'd permanently lost her groom.