When Snow Falls, Frost Never Comes

The next day, Luke knocked on the door of Melissa’s office.

“Ms. Dawn, I’d like to resign.”

His low voice broke the quiet stillness of the office.

Melissa’s hand paused as she flipped through the documents. She lifted her gaze slightly, and her tone was as indifferent as ever.

“Resign? And why is that?”

“I’m married. I have new plans for my future and I don’t think I can continue working by your side.”

Luke’s tone was utterly sincere. Melissa, however, reacted as though he had just told her the most ridiculous joke.

“Married? When did that happen? And where was the wedding?”

Her three questions came one after another, leaving the office steeped in silence for a long moment. Luke kept his gaze lowered for quite awhile before finally meeting her eyes.

“My wife had to go abroad on short notice. We’ll hold the wedding once she returns.”

At the word wife, Melissa put on a faint, knowing smile, one that hinted at something far more inscrutable beneath the surface.

“Your wife? And who, exactly, did you marry?”

The barely concealed mockery in her voice made Luke stop just short of saying the name on his lips.

When they got their marriage license the day before, Giselle had been gentle and kind toward him.

However, their marriage had come about so suddenly that Luke was not sure whether she wanted their relationship made public. Therefore, he chose to remain silent.

The prolonged silence only confirmed Melissa’s suspicions. His sudden announcement about resigning and getting married was nothing more than an elaborate act, staged after he learned that Reuben had returned to the country. He was simply trying to get her attention.

Under ordinary circumstances, she might have humored him a little. Unfortunately, she had neither the time nor the mood to indulge him in such a ridiculous performance.

Her phone suddenly rang. She answered, and as she listened to the voice on the other end, the cold expression on her face melted into an unexpected look of tenderness.

“Reuben? I’ll be right there.”

The very next second, she rose to her feet, grabbed her coat, and walked past Luke, tossing out a casual remark as she went.

“If you want to resign, then follow the proper procedure.”

She was already out of sight before she finished her sentence.

Had she agreed?

If he followed the standard procedure, all he needed was one month to complete the handover before he could leave for good.

Luke could feel the tension drain from his body, hardly daring to believe things had gone this smoothly.

He made his way back to the assistants’ office with his head bowed. His mind was a tangled mess of memories.

When he was sixteen, he left the countryside for the Capital City, moving into the Dawn family’s old residence with his mother, who had worked as a housekeeper for the family for decades.

The Dawns were kindhearted. They arranged for Luke to attend school and allowed him to accompany their daughter, Melissa, to and from school every day.

It was the age when first love bloomed. Melissa was graceful and beautiful, with a face that could turn heads wherever she went. Spending day after day by her side, Luke had fallen for her before he even realized it.

However, he knew all too well how wide the gap between their social standings was. He never dared to approach her too boldly.

It was not until one night, when Melissa was drunk and stumbled into the wrong room, that the two of them slept together.

The following morning, she sat with her back to him, pulling up the zipper of her dress. She said in a calm voice, “Why do you always blush when you see me? Got a crush on me or something?”

His secret feelings had been exposed. Panic seized him, leaving him at a loss for what to do. Still, Melissa merely turned around and put on a faint smile. “I walked into the wrong room last night. How about you walk into the wrong room tonight?”

He mistook her words for a sign that she was willing to accept his feelings. His eyes widened in stunned disbelief, and joy burst through his heart like fireworks lighting up the night sky.

Thus their relationship began. Night after night, time and time again, they found themselves tangled together. There was hardly a corner of the house that had not witnessed their reckless intimacy.

That recklessness continued for ten whole years.

However, she had never once given him a name to call their relationship, never once acknowledged him as anything more than what he was.

It was not that Luke had never hoped for more. For years, he had held on to the faint hope that one day, she might finally make the first move and give him a place in her life that he could openly claim.

Then, just yesterday, Melissa suddenly messaged him, telling him she was taking him to a welcome-home banquet and instructing him to dress well.

In all the years they had been together, she hardly ever brought him to events like that, even though she could barely go a night without him.

As such, the moment he received her message, he instinctively assumed she was finally ready to make their relationship public.

His heart flooded with excitement. Overwhelmed with joy, he hurried straight to meet her.

The taxi had just pulled into the parking garage when he was about to unbuckle his seat belt. Suddenly, a familiar voice drifted over from the sports car parked beside him.

They were Melissa’s closest girlfriends, and they sounded thoroughly disdainful.

“Melissa, don’t you think it’s inappropriate to bring Luke to an event like this? If people find out who he is, who knows how much they’ll laugh at you?”

“Exactly. He’s a housekeeper’s son. Bringing him along would be such a downgrade.”

Melissa’s voice was calm, almost indifferent. However, Luke had spent too many years at her side not to recognize the contempt hidden beneath her words.

“If Reuben can date a woman that cheap, so why can’t I bring a man equally as low-class to a welcome-home banquet?”

Every word pierced Luke’s heart like a blade. He froze in place, his lips trembling uncontrollably.

The people in the neighboring car had no idea he was listening. Their conversation continued without pause.

“Ha! Melissa, if Luke heard you say that, wouldn’t he be devastated? Aren’t you afraid he’ll leave you?”

“With his background, what kind of decent woman could he ever find? He probably wouldn’t even know how to survive without me.”

Her offhand remark sent the entire group into peals of laughter.

The sound was unbearable. Every laugh trampled what little remained of Luke’s fragile pride, crushing it into dust.

He no longer had any desire to attend the so-called welcome-home banquet. He sent Melissa a quick message claiming he was not feeling well and would not be able to make it, then hurried out of the parking garage.

By the time he came back to his senses, he had already returned to Dawn’s family residence.

He asked one of the longtime household staff about Melissa and the man named Reuben Evers. It did not take long for him to learn their history.

As it turned out, Melissa and Reuben had been childhood sweethearts. They grew up together and their bond had always been exceptionally close.

Back in school, Melissa had turned down every love letter she received from boys, and it was because she had already fallen for someone.

Still, before she could confess her feelings, Reuben started dating a woman whose family background was considered beneath his own. The Evers family opposed the relationship, but Reuben defied them outright and left the country with his girlfriend.

Melissa, however, had never been able to forget him. She spent years hopelessly in love with Reuben, remaining single all this time as she waited for his return.

By the time Luke heard the end of the story, he was almost numb.

All those years, Luke had never understood why Melissa, a woman who seemed untouchable, practically born with a silver spoon in her mouth, sometimes let her pain and heartache show whenever she got drunk. Now, he finally had his answer — Reuben.

He finally understood why Melissa had kept him in an ambiguous relationship for ten long years without ever giving him a proper place in her life.

Because Reuben had chosen a poor woman, she decided to spite him by setting her sights on a man just as lowly in her eyes, a man like Luke.

By the time dawn broke, the tears in his eyes had run dry and the last flicker of foolish hope in his heart had finally gone out.

At last, he was ready to let go.

He took out a business card. The woman whose name was printed on it was Giselle Rose.

Years ago, when Luke’s mother saw a car careening out of control, she shoved Giselle out of its path, saving her life at the cost of her own safety.

Grateful for the rescue, Giselle had left her a business card and told her to reach out if she ever needed help.

Not long afterward, Luke’s mother passed away. In her final days, she entrusted the card to her son.

Now, Luke had found himself facing a problem he could not solve on his own. Hence, he took a chance and dialed the number, making a request of the woman named Giselle.

He asked her to marry him. She agreed without hesitation.

That very afternoon, the two of them went to the civil affairs bureau and registered their marriage.

After Luke escorted her home, Giselle told him that she had some matters to attend to overseas. The wedding would have to wait until she returned, a month later.

Luke had only wanted to use this marriage to sever his ties with Melissa once and for all. Whether there was a wedding or not made no difference to him. He nodded and agreed.

That day, he stared at the marriage certificate in his hands, feeling as though he were trapped in a dream.

He was actually married now?

However, more than anything else, what he felt was relief.

At long last, he could finally leave Melissa behind for good.