Chapter 5

A moment later, the sound of passionate kissing rose from the other side of the wall.

Dylan's rough, low breathing followed close to my ear.

"Thrilling… letting Anthony listen to us through the wall."

"There's something even more exciting. Want to try it?"

I covered my ears.

But the sounds still seeped through my fingers.

Coldness crept into my heart in thin, merciless strands, until the pain forced me to curl up on the floor.

My mind fractured into two battling worlds.

One moment, it was Emily's kindness—her promises, her smiles. The next, those same sounds dragged up vivid images of her entangled with Dylan.

My head throbbed as if it were splitting apart. In a panic, I fumbled out my antidepressants and mechanically shoved pill after pill into my mouth.

I didn't know how much time passed before the door opened.

Emily stepped in, wrapped in a bath towel, looking down at me from above.

"Can't even handle this much? How are you supposed to survive till next year?"

Behind her, Dylan—his body marked with lingering traces of intimacy—laughed.

"Emily, you're not actually feeling sorry for him, are you?"

A flicker crossed Emily's eyes, but her smile remained cold.

"Impossible. I married Anthony just so he could experience the same pain I once did. Why would I ever feel sorry for him?"

I looked up at her in shock. Despair spread through my chest like a tide.

So it was all fake. Emily had never loved me—only carefully planned revenge.

At the edge of collapse, something inside me snapped. A surge of strength forced me upright, and I struck her across the face.

The sharp sound echoed through the room. The three of us froze at once.

Seconds later, Emily exploded in rage.

"You dare hit me? Anthony, fuck you!"

When pain reaches its peak, fear disappears. I laughed in utter despair.

"Didn't you bet that I'd slap you when I found out you cheated? Now I did. Why are you angry?"

My laughter grew louder.

"But if it were Jessica, I really wouldn't have hit her. I couldn't bear to."

At the mention of that name, Emily's face darkened completely. She stared at me for a long moment, then suddenly smiled.

"You're doing this on purpose? Fine. I'll give you exactly what you want."

She stepped back as the door slowly closed in front of me.

This time, I didn't stop it.

Instead, I climbed onto the bed with stiff, unresponsive limbs.

When the sounds from next door started again, I piled the blankets high, stepped on them, and opened the skylight she had custom-built for me.

I climbed upward, inch by inch, onto the roof.

With every step, a voice echoed in my head, 'Go ahead and die. Emily stopped loving you long ago. She only stayed to take revenge. Only in death will you finally be free.'

The moment the voice faded, I smiled and leapt from the roof.

My body fell past Emily's window.

"Anthony—NOO!"

Inside the room, Emily's expression shattered. She rushed toward the window.