Chapter 2

In the back of the cab, I opened Instagram and saw Julian's new post.

In the photo, Chloe was leaning against him. He was holding her hand, his head bowed to kiss the back of her palm.

He looked so cherishing.

His friends commented below.

"I thought she was just a placeholder like Sera. Are you for real this time?"

"Looks like that psychic was wrong. You don't look like you have a rocky love life at all."

"Where's Sera? Did you dump her? Does that mean I can slide into her DMs now?"

Julian replied to that one.

"Go ahead."

"No need to 'slide in.' Just throw a little money her way, and she'll probably follow you. She's easy."

In his words, I was defined by just two concepts: easy and cheap.

As I blocked and deleted their contacts, the driver in front sighed.

"Whoa, what rich kid is pulling off a stunt like that?"

We were passing by the marina. Over a thousand drones were lighting up the night sky.

They spelled out:

Chloe, be mine.

I leaned my head against the car window, watching the lights blur, and thought:

So, this is how Julian acts when he actually loves someone.

He proposes. He makes grand public gestures. He can't wait to tell the whole world.

Unlike when I had asked him to post a single photo of us on Snapchat. He had only chuckled, patted my neck like a pet, and never brought it up again.

When I first met Julian...

I had a gambling addict for a father and a terminally ill mother. I was being cornered by loan sharks and didn't even dare to go to college.

Julian saved me.

He was like a knight in shining armor from some fairytale.

He paid for my tuition so I could study without worries, and he stayed by my side when I finally had to bury my mother.

After my mother passed away, I fell terribly ill.

Whenever I woke up crying from nightmares, Julian would be by my bedside, patting my back.

"It's okay. Go back to sleep."

For at least three years, we lived like a deeply in love couple.

When I was twenty-four, Julian had his assistant deliver a diamond ring to me—one I had just admired in a magazine.

My heart hammered in my chest.

The ring slid onto my ring finger. It was a perfect fit.

I hugged him from behind, but Julian frowned and pulled my hands off him.

"Why do you have that ring?"

I didn't understand.

He called his assistant and gestured for me to take it off.

He said the assistant had made a mistake. The ring was meant for his family's corporate-merger fiancée.

My hand hung frozen in the air. My voice was so quiet it was almost a whisper.

"Are you marrying someone else?"

"Then... what about me?"

Julian suddenly let out a soft laugh, his eyes filled with casual amusement as he asked me back:

"You didn't actually think this ring was for you, did you?"

"Sera, we don't have that kind of relationship."

I stood there, trying to grab his hand. My words came out clumsy and broken.

"What do you mean we don't have that kind of relationship?"

"Am I not your girlfriend?"

"Don't you love me, Julian?"

The room became suffocatingly quiet. Julian sighed, looking annoyed by the drama.

"Sera, you're crossing the line."

"I thought you understood. When I said we were together, I meant it literally."

"I take care of you, and you satisfy my needs."

"If you have any delusions about a relationship or marriage, drop them now."

I never got to hold his hand that day.

That was the day I finally saw my true reflection in his eyes.

I told Julian I was leaving.

"I won't be a mistress."

But within a week...

The new job I had just found vanished. The business of a close friend of mine suddenly ran into massive trouble. Even my landlord texted me to move out immediately.

I walked downstairs.

Julian was leaning against his sports car, his eyes as dark as the night.

He said, "Sera, I helped you, gave you so much. Did you really think I was running a charity?"

"I'm not done playing with you yet. You don't get to decide when this ends."

But perhaps fearing I would misunderstand again, Julian stopped staying with me every day.

People would constantly send me photos of him cozying up to other women.

But I had learned my lesson. I did what I was supposed to do.

I no longer sent him photos of beautiful clouds or cute dogs on the street like I used to when I thought I was his girlfriend.

I stopped texting him to ask where he was during his business dinners or begging him to come home early.

I stopped taking his past promise of "if you get pregnant, we'll keep it" seriously, and numbly swallowed birth control pills instead.

Once, when he caught me throwing up from the side effects of the pills, he saw the package in my hand.

He paused, then said with an unreadable tone, "Well, you're certainly being obedient now."

During that time, I was constantly dizzy and lost weight rapidly.

One day, looking in the mirror, I felt like I was nothing but a bag of bones.

Julian leaned against the doorframe, watching me. I didn't know how long he had been standing there.

"The merger fell through. The engagement is off," he said, then turned and left.

I didn't know when or why he had canceled the engagement.

But ultimately, it had nothing to do with me.