There Goes Five Years of Love

"Arthur, do you realize you are acting out of line? Are you seriously flying out to see Ely Melor just because she has a minor bruise when your wife, Juniper Greene, is seriously injured? You are putting both yourself and Juniper in danger!"I heard Jeremiah Burnham, Arthur's friend's voice, spilling through the cracks of the wall.Stunned with shock, I stopped in my tracks.The villa had numerous secret rooms with excellent soundproofing. Voices would be muffled unless someone was speaking particularly loudly.A moment later, I heard the sound of something being smashed."What do you mean you only love Ely? Don’t you realize how many years Juniper has been her scapegoat? If you don't love her, why don't you let her go?! Think about it. If Ely were in Juniper's position, she would have thrown you under the bus!""Shut up! How am I supposed to guarantee Ely’s safety if I don’t use Juniper as my shield? Besides, you can’t say I have mistreated her if I had given her the luxury of b

It was a company that barely generated any revenue. The only income they had was the hundred million dollars Arthur funneled in, as well as various funds allocated by the Borne Corporation.Despite that, its business scope was vast. Every product would inevitably involve a girl named Ely Melor. Eventually, I tracked down Ely’s profile on social media. She was living the high life in her beachfront villa. Her latest post was a picture of her interlocking her fingers with a man.The caption read: "I love you until the end of time."I zoomed in on the picture. On the man’s ring finger was a ruby ring that matched Ely’s. I also spotted a pale band on his wrist that marked where something used to be.Arthur had once told me he did not like wearing rings. Therefore, we ticked off every standard item during our wedding except for a ring.I had naively believed him and proceeded to make him a bracelet to wear instead of a ring. He had kissed the bracelet and told me it would be his prot

Arthur suddenly clutched his phone.The words "divorce papers" replayed in his mind over and over again.He never expected me to divorce him, especially considering how madly in love I was with him when we were together. After all, I would have even died for him."What did you say? Say it again." His voice was a slow and deep rumble.On the other end of the line came Jeremiah’s voice, not just tinged with fear, but he sounded like he was on the verge of tears."Arthur, I can't get in touch with her. A lawyer just showed up, dropped off the divorce papers, then left. There is a clause about the division of assets. It lists the company you started abroad for Miss Ely."Do you think Juniper found out about you using her all this time? She's been with you for five years and must know a lot of confidential information. If she decides to leak them as revenge, we’re going to be screwed…""Shut up!" A wave of irritation slammed over Arthur like a raging tide. "Keep things hush for now a

Arthur pressed a hand to his chest. He had never cared about my feelings.But now that his friend was telling him this, he fell silent.Then, he started to recall our first meeting.I had held a bouquet of flowers and told him I wanted to live a serene life. All I needed was food on the table, a sense of normalcy, and maybe a few pets as companions. I wanted to live in a house facing the sea and watch the sun set.Ever since we got together, I never got to experience anything like that, not even once."What about Miss Melor? What are you going to do with her if Juniper comes back? Or are you going to tell me to shut up and fire me? Then, you can tell Juniper that you haven’t mistreated her since you have given her the privilege of becoming Mrs. Borne for all these years."Arthur rose abruptly and fixed a hard look at Jeremiah. After a long pause, all he said was, "Find her."After everyone left, silence descended on the room again.Arthur suddenly felt fear creeping up on him.

In the days that followed, he called me frequently, but I never answered any of his calls.Then, he turned to writing me letters through various channels.He would get children, who were none the wiser, to deliver the letters and read them out loud to me.He told me he had completely fallen in love with me at one point without even realizing it. He went on and on about how he could not fall asleep if he did not get to see me. I had seeped into his bones and become embedded in every part of his life.I grew tired of listening to him.At first, I would tell the children he sent to tell him to stop bothering me, that there couldn't be any romance between us.Later on, I simply moved away.When I got on the plane, I began to feel irritated. I decided I would move right into his enemies’ territory, where I figured I would find some peace and quiet.A year later, however, I did end up seeing him.At his funeral.“I never thought Mr. Borne would die so young.”“Nobody would have se