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Chapter 2

Autor: Nuke Smoke
The next morning, my phone buzzed.

Evan had sent me a message.

[Tessa, have you calmed down after sleeping on it? Are you still angry?]

[Maya feels terrible about what happened yesterday, too. Her grandmother really wasn’t doing well, and I couldn’t get away.]

[Let me take you to your favorite restaurant tonight to make it up to you. How does that sound?]

I stared at the messages without replying.

He thought this was nothing more than a minor mistake. A meal and a few soothing words would be enough to make me forget about it.

I took a half-day off work, grabbed my spare key, and took a cab to Evan’s apartment.

Half of my belongings were still there.

I planned to collect the clothes and personal items I’d left behind and take everything with me.

The lock clicked softly.

I pushed open the door, then stopped in the entryway.

Beside the shoe cabinet sat a neatly arranged pair of silver women’s high heels.

They weren’t my size.

A moment later, the guest bedroom door opened.

Maya stepped out, rubbing her sleepy eyes.

She was wearing an oversized men’s shirt that fell just below her thighs, leaving her bare legs exposed.

It was the shirt I’d carefully picked out as Evan’s birthday present last month.

I’d told him then to wear it to important occasions.

Now Maya was wearing it as pajamas.

The moment she saw me, she froze. She instinctively tugged at the collar.

“Tessa... what are you doing here?”

The door to the master bedroom opened right after that.

Evan stepped out in a T-shirt and sweatpants. The moment he saw me standing in the entryway, the color drained from his face.

“Tessa?”

I looked at the two of them, my stomach churning with disgust.

“Wasn’t tonight supposed to be your way of making it up to me?

“You brought her to your apartment, and that’s your idea of making it up to me?”

Evan strode toward me and reached for my hand.

“Tessa, calm down! Let me explain!”

I took a step back, avoiding his touch.

“Explain what?” I pointed at the shirt Maya was wearing.

“Explain why she came out of your guest room, or explain why she’s wearing the shirt I bought for you?”

Evan frowned, his voice taking on a reproachful edge.

“Can you stop being so sensitive? Maya took care of her grandmother last night and fainted from low blood sugar in the hospital hallway.

“I couldn’t just leave her alone on the street, could I?

“She threw up on her clothes last night and ruined her dress, so she grabbed something from the closet.

“I didn’t even know that was something you bought for me.”

Something she just grabbed?

That shirt had been hanging in the most visible spot in the closet, still covered with its protective garment bag.

Maya shrank behind Evan, her eyes instantly turning red.

“Tessa, please don’t misunderstand. Mr. Carter stayed up late talking to my grandmother last night.

“He didn’t feel comfortable leaving me alone, so he let me stay in the guest room for the night.

“I accidentally ruined my clothes, so I borrowed one of Mr. Carter’s shirts.”

As she spoke, she hurriedly began undoing the buttons, tears rolling down her cheeks.

“I’m sorry, Tessa. I really didn’t know you bought this for him.

“I’ll take it off and give it back to you. Please don’t be angry with Mr. Carter...”

She made as if to remove the shirt.

Evan immediately grabbed her hand and stopped her. He turned to me, his eyes filled with disapproval.

“That’s enough, Tessa! She’s a woman. What do you expect her to wear if you make her take it off?”

I quietly watched Evan defend her.

Seven years.

I’d stayed by his side from the early days of his startup, when he worked through the night on business proposals, all the way to the successful executive he was today.

I thought what we had was unbreakable.

Apparently, all it took was one episode of low blood sugar, an old woman’s tears, and a stained shirt to shatter seven years of my life with him.

I pulled out the spare key and slapped it onto the shoe cabinet in the entryway.

“Keep it. I don’t want it back. It’s filthy.”

With that, I turned around and pushed open the apartment door.

Evan finally panicked and chased after me.

“Tessa Morgan!” His grip was painfully tight, his fingers digging into my bones.

“Don’t go! I’ll make her move out right now. I promise I’ll keep my distance from her from now on. Please don’t do this!”

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  • The Man Who Left, The Family Who Stayed   Chapter 8

    Evan stared at those few lines, his pupils trembling violently.He suddenly turned toward Maya.“What is this?! You said the doctor had declared your grandmother critically ill!”Maya frantically shook her head, stumbling over her words.“No… Mr. Carter, it’s fake… She forged it!”“The hospital’s records can be checked at any time.”I calmly delivered the final blow.Evan completely broke down.Only then did he realize that Maya had been manipulating him all along.“Liar…”His teeth clenched as he ripped the groom’s boutonniere from his chest and hurled it at Maya’s face.“You disgust me!“The wedding is canceled!” he shouted at the guests.Margaret finally understood what had happened. When she learned that her own granddaughter had pretended she was dying to manipulate a man into marrying her and had even tried to destroy someone else’s relationship, she became so furious that she struggled to catch her breath.“You wicked girl…”Those were the only words she managed b

  • The Man Who Left, The Family Who Stayed   Chapter 7

    The wedding ceremony was about to begin.The music changed to a solemn wedding march.Maya pushed her grandmother’s wheelchair while holding onto Evan’s arm as they walked toward the flower-covered stage under the watchful eyes of the guests.The ceremony proceeded as planned.The priest stood on the stage with a Bible in his hands and began reciting the wedding vows.“Mr. Carter, do you take Maya Collins to be your wife, to have and to hold, in sickness and in health, for richer or poorer, to love her, care for her, respect her, and remain faithful to her until the end of your life?”The priest’s voice fell silent.Evan didn’t answer immediately.Standing on the stage, he kept glancing toward me.The priest repeated the question.Maya’s eyes filled with tears as she softly called out, “Mr. Carter…”Evan finally looked away and swallowed.After a moment of hesitation, he leaned toward the microphone and uttered two words.“I do.”Maya covered her mouth in excitement as te

  • The Man Who Left, The Family Who Stayed   Chapter 6

    The wheelchair rolled over the thick carpet with a faint squeak.Maya hurried over to Evan and naturally slipped her arm through his.Her eyes were red, and she turned to me with the same pitiful expression she had used before.“Tessa, what are you doing here?” she asked, biting her lower lip as her voice broke.“Please don’t blame Mr. Carter. He’s only doing this for my grandmother…”She pointed toward the elderly woman in the wheelchair.“Grandma really isn’t doing well. She could die at any moment.“Please, try to be understanding. Just let Mr. Carter go through with the ceremony with me.“When today is over, I promise I’ll give him back to you exactly as he is.”Every word was designed to make me look heartless if I refused.Her grandmother, Margaret Collins, clearly had no idea what was really going on. All she saw was a beautifully dressed woman standing at her granddaughter’s wedding while Maya was crying.“Miss, my poor Maya has had a hard life. Her parents passed aw

  • The Man Who Left, The Family Who Stayed   Chapter 5

    The soft melody of a violin drifted through the air.Evan stared at the invitation in my hand, his first reaction one of sheer disbelief.His brows knitted together.“Where did you get an invitation from the Morgan family?“Tessa, I went through a lot of connections to get this invitation delivered to Morgan Group. It’s not something you can just take and use to make a scene!“Where did you get it? Give it back!”He reached for the invitation, trying to snatch it from my hand.A strong hand emerged from behind me and firmly caught his wrist.With a sharp slap, Julian roughly knocked Evan’s hand away.“Mr. Carter, you went to all that trouble to get the Morgan family to attend, didn’t you?”A mocking smile tugged at the corner of Julian’s lips as he coldly pointed out, “My sister came here personally to congratulate you. What, you’re not happy to see her?”Evan froze.A few days ago, outside the apartment building, this same man had slapped his hand away and driven off with

  • The Man Who Left, The Family Who Stayed   Chapter 4

    He didn’t bother responding to Evan. Instead, he turned around and opened the passenger door, his voice softening slightly.“Get in the car.”I stood there in shock, staring at Julian, who had stepped in front of me.When he saw that I wasn’t moving, Julian reached out, grabbed my wrist, and guided me into the car.In the rearview mirror, Evan stood frozen in disbelief while Maya stumbled out of the apartment and clung to his arm.After Julian took me home, I came down with a high fever that lasted for two days and two nights.The first thing I did after my fever broke was write a resignation letter and send it to Evan’s company’s HR department.As soon as I sent it, there was a knock on my door.The housekeeper told me my father wanted to see me in his study.A moment later, my father sat behind his mahogany desk. A gold-embossed invitation lay on the desk in front of him.“Sit.”He gestured toward the chair across from him, his tone as detached as ever.I sat down, my eye

  • The Man Who Left, The Family Who Stayed   Chapter 3

    The elevator stopped on the first floor.Evan still had a tight grip on my wrist.“Tessa, after seven years together, are you really going to break up with me over this misunderstanding?”I looked into his red-rimmed eyes. I was about to answer when the apartment door suddenly flew open.Maya came running out barefoot, clutching her phone tightly in one hand. She was crying so hard she could barely breathe.“Mr. Carter... Mr. Carter!”Evan instinctively turned around.“What happened?”Maya sobbed between gasps.“The hospital just called... Grandma was declared critically ill.“The doctor said her organs are failing. She might not make it through the month...”She covered her face and slowly slid down the wall until she was sitting on the floor.“She woke up for a moment and told me that her greatest wish was to see me in a wedding dress before she closed her eyes for good...“But where am I supposed to find a groom for her?”Evan’s grip on my wrist immediately loosened wh

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