Chapter 3

I didn't argue with him or make a scene, but after Hailey called for him a few more times, whatever patience Liam had left for me finally ran out.

He turned and walked away without looking back, leaving me with one last weary remark.

"Nora, I'm getting tired of having to explain myself to you every day. Can't you try to be a little more understanding?"

Whenever Liam and I had a disagreement, he would always say something like that with exhaustion written all over his face, and every time, I would feel sorry for him and start wondering whether I had been too demanding.

Once I had talked myself out of my own feelings, I would go right back to losing myself in a relationship that had long since stopped being worth anything.

Liam left in an expensive suit with Hailey beside him in a haute couture gown, and as I watched them walk away together, I had to admit that they really did look like a perfect match.

Watching their retreating sillhouettes, I settled myself and began packing up my things.

Over the past nine years, Liam and I had made countless memories together, and for the longest time, I had truly believed he loved me.

Even the villa had been decorated entirely according to my tastes.

He had always preferred leaving the balcony open, saying that one day, when we had children, he wanted us all to sit out there together and soak up the sun.

But we never even made it as far as having children before he stopped loving me.

Back then, we hadn't hired a housekeeper or any other staff for the villa.

Knowing my stomach was sensitive, Liam would personally cook nutritious meals for me every day, but those days had long since faded into a blur of distant memories.

There had also been a time when he worried I would get cold on my way to work, so he secretly knitted me a scarf. His stitches were clumsy, but the scarf had been made with unmistakable affection.

"If everyone else gets one, then you should have one too."

As he wrapped it around my neck, he kissed me on the cheek, ruffled my hair, then nuzzled against my neck like an affectionate cat.

"Come home early after work, or your boyfriend's going to worry."

I couldn't remember exactly when Liam had grown tired of our relationship.

The first time I proposed to him, he told me we were still too young and that if we married too early, we might end up like all those other couples who eventually couldn't stand the sight of each other.

The second time, I had prepared an entire surprise for him, only to accidentally overhear a conversation between him and one of his friends.

"The excitement I used to feel with Nora is gone. Being with her is so boring now, but she's really good to me, so I don't want to break up with her.

"She's the one who keeps proposing to me, and I haven't shown the slightest interest. Can she seriously not tell I don't love her anymore?"

And the last time...

I had put everything on the line and told his parents that I wanted to marry Liam, even going so far as to say I didn't need any money from his family for the marriage.

Hailey, his childhood sweetheart, had been there too, and the moment she heard what I said, she became angry and jealous.

Liam panicked so completely that he seemed to forget the way he had once loved me.

The man who used to be unable to tolerate anyone hurting me had ended up pushing me down the stairs with his own hands.

After having every declaration of love rejected again and again, I finally understood who Liam had been waiting for all along.

A tear slipped from the corner of my eye and landed on the old, worn scarf in my hands. I wiped my face, took a deep breath, then hired someone to enclose the balcony with windows.

I tore up every diary entry I had written about Liam over the past nine years, and in a final flourish, took a lighter to the scarf until there was nothing left but ashes.

Throughout the next week, Liam didn't send me a single message, and by then, I had already moved all my belongings out of the villa.

He assumed I was throwing another tantrum and didn't bother paying me any attention. But after enough time passed, he seemed to remember that I existed.

Three days before I was due to leave the country, the day marking ten years since Liam and I had gotten together finally arrived, and for once, he called me.

"Nora, our tenth anniversary is coming up. I booked a restaurant. We should sit down and have a proper talk."

As soon as he finished speaking, a text came through with the address.

It was the same restaurant where Liam and I had officially gotten together all those years ago.

...

In keeping with what I'd done every year before, I prepared an anniversary gift for him.