Three Years Wrong: I Walked Away

Julian stood there, and his expression kept changing.

"Teresa, don't be so sarcastic." He rubbed his temples, a hint of helplessness and exhaustion in his voice. "You were the one who splashed that bucket of ice water at Marlee. Her health has always been poor, and getting chilled could make her old illness flare up again. I am just going over to check on her and take her back to her apartment. Then I will come back to you. Get in the car first. The driver is waiting for you in the underground parking lot."

He even reached out and smoothed my wind-tousled hair. "Go home and wait for me. I will be back within an hour."

After saying that, he pressed the car keys into my hand and walked quickly toward the elevator without looking back.

His steps were so hurried that he did not even bother maintaining his usual composure.

I stood beneath the flickering voice-activated light, holding the car keys that still carried his warmth.

A tiny handmade leather fox hung from the keychain.

I had made it for him as a gift for his twentieth birthday when I first learned handicrafts during my sophomore year of college. My fingers had been covered in tiny bloody pinpricks from the needle when I made it.

He had kept that keychain on his car keys for five whole years.

Even after the leather had worn out and the fox no longer looked as nice as it once did, he had never been willing to take it off.

I used to think that was love.

Only now did I realize that it was nothing more than his habitual way of showing off how devoted he was.

I casually raised my hand and threw the luxury car keys worth millions of dollars straight into the trash can at the end of the hallway.

The metal hit the plastic with a dull thud.

Then I took out my phone and called my assistant. "Book me a one-way ticket to Parolia tomorrow morning."

My assistant on the other end froze for a moment. "Ms. Mendez, isn't the anniversary celebration of your engagement with Mr. Lohan next week? The press releases for all the major media outlets have already been sent out..."

"Cancel it." I pressed my aching temples, my voice completely flat. "Also, have all the projects I am handling with Lohan Group transferred to someone else. I want to see the termination agreement between our company and their group before noon tomorrow."

My assistant said hesitantly. "Ms. Mendez... are you planning to cut ties with Mr. Lohan?"

"Completely." I hung up the phone and walked out of the building.

The hot midsummer night breeze hit my face, yet I felt cold all over.

My phone vibrated at that moment.

It was a notification that someone had updated their WhatsApp status.

I opened it and saw a new status Marlee had just posted.

She had posted nine photos. The one in the center was a cleverly captured photo.

In the picture, there was a man's face hidden in the dim light inside a car. He clenched his jaw, his jawline sharp. It was Julian.

And he was holding a hot towel, carefully wiping Marlee's ankle, reddened from the cold.

The caption on the post read, "No matter how much trouble I get myself into, as long as I turn around, my hero will always be there. Even if the whole world stands against me, I know he will stand by my side. Friends are everything!"

There were even heart and sun emojis at the end.

Below it were several comments from their mutual friends.

"Wow, Julian personally taking care of you? That is some serious treatment."

"Good for you, Marlee. Julian treats you even better than he treats Teresa."

"Keep it low-key. Be careful someone loses her temper and throws ice water on you again."

Marlee's final reply said, "Oh, stop teasing me. Teresa has such a bad temper. I don't want her to get me wrong again. I feel so guilty because Julian even argued with her for me just now." There was a crying emoji at the end.

I looked at the WhatsApp status expressionlessly.

For once, I did not screenshot it and send it to Julian to question him like I used to.

Once someone truly gave up on a person, they would find that even anger at them felt like a waste of energy.

I moved my finger and liked the WhatsApp status.

Then, without hesitation, I blocked Marlee for good.