Chapter 3

Ruby froze. It was not difficult to figure out what Lars was doing.

This was supposed to be their sanctuary. He had never brought anyone else here in the past.

However, here he was, holding Vera in his arms. Her hands were pressed firmly against the photo Ruby had taken with Lars in the past.

"It's so cramped here. Is that why you're getting more excited than usual?"

Vera's sugary voice made Lars grow more excited. He gripped her arm tighter.

"Don't you get the feeling that we're a pair of lovers seizing our last moment to be together before we're separated? Doing it in this shabby little house makes it more intense, doesn't it?"

Ruby clenched her fists tightly. With a slow exhale, she closed the door.

She turned around and said apologetically, "I'm sorry, I don't think I can show you the house today. Can we schedule another time?"

The buyer was a young woman. She overheard the voices inside the house as well.

She looked at Ruby sympathetically before suggesting, "Are you sure you don't want to go in? There are two of us. I'm sure it'll be fine even if a fight breaks out."

Ruby shook her head and thanked her meekly, "It's fine, I don't care anymore. Let's reschedule."

Why rush inside?

Even if she started shouting like a madwoman and bawling her eyes out about how much she had sacrificed for him, it would have ended the same.

Lars' heart now belonged to someone else. Even if she took him back, he would just be a shell of himself.

When Ruby was pacing downstairs in a hurry, Lars caught up just in time and seized her from behind.

He was panting. His shirt was unbuttoned.

"Did you just go back to our house? Did you... Hear anything?"

Ruby pulled her hand away and shook her head. "I was just passing by. I forgot my keys so I didn't go inside."

Lars breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this. He assumed Ruby had only been wandering around aimlessly because she was sad about him not returning home.

It was true that she could not live without him.

With that, he offered a flimsy explanation, "I've been busy at work over the last three days. I'm sure you know how things are. They can't manage without me. I figured I'd stay here for now to avoid disturbing your rest since you just got discharged."

Ruby could not be bothered to expose his lies. With that, she turned around to leave.

Flames suddenly erupted from their apartment.

Lars' eyes immediately became bloodshot with rage. Without warning, he grabbed Ruby by her chin, his eyes furious as he said, "Is that what you came here for? To set this place on fire?! I was a fool to think that you had finally learned to be understanding!

"Listen up, I was the one who allowed Vera to stay here! If anything happens to her, I won't let you get away with it!"

With that, he shoved her aside and rushed back into the burning unit.

Ruby nearly fell over from the sheer force he put into the shove.

She suddenly remembered a particular episode from the past. At the time when things were beginning to look up for them, she was robbed at knifepoint in an alleyway near the run-down apartment.

At the time, she was carrying ten thousand dollars she had painstakingly saved. The robber had her pinned to the ground with a knife only inches away from plunging into her neck.

It was in that decisive moment when Lars burst in and grabbed the knife with his bare hands. Warm blood dripped onto Ruby's face.

After Lars pinned the robber to the ground, he repeatedly punched the robber in the face.

"She's the most important person in my life. You'll have to pay if something happens to her!"

In merely a few years, someone else had taken Ruby's place as the person Lars considered his entire life.

Just as Ruby was about to leave, she suddenly recalled she had left the divorce papers in the closet of the rented unit.

It was her only proof that Lars had agreed to let her go!

With that, she risked her life, squirming through the sweltering heat to make it back to the rental unit.

There, she saw Lars with his arm badly burned. He was helping Vera out of the unit.

"Are you here to see her die?"

Ruby ignored his taunt. She frantically made her way toward the bedroom where tongues of flame swirled with greater intensity.

"Cut it out and come with me! The fire is getting stronger!"

Lars reached for her hand.

Suddenly, a nearby glass door shattered from the surging temperature. Lars' first instinct was to shield Vera from the projectile.

Meanwhile, Ruby was cut by the shards of glass scattered in every direction and dropped to the ground. At the same time, a nearby closet was toppling over and crashed on top of her.

She barely managed to grab a wooden box to protect it with her body before she faded out of consciousness.

In that state, she drifted into a deep slumber and dreamt of many memories from the past.

Ruby dreamt of an eighteen-year-old Lars holding her hand and vowing to take care of her for life.

There was twenty-two-year-old Lars who was drunk from a business dinner. When she found him drunk by the roadside, he was clutching a bag of roasted potatoes, which he knew was her favorite snack.

At twenty-four, he went down on one knee and proposed to her. He swore to stay with her forever.

At twenty-eight, he wore a terrible grimace and shouted at her. He claimed that he had supported her all these years and that she should be eternally grateful to him.

When Ruby awoke again, she found herself in the hospital.

Lars was opening the same box she risked her life to salvage from the burning apartment.