Chapter 4

That night, I received a text from Chase asking me to meet him at a club.

I went, but not to make up. I went to break up.

As I reached the door of the VIP room, I heard his friends joking inside.

"Chase, you made such a huge scene today. Do you really think Aria will show up?"

"What do you know? Even if Chase tore the sky open, Aria would use her own body to patch it up."

"Chase already called her. She'll definitely show up."

...

Chase sat in the center, but his eyes were glued to Chloe.

I walked in calmly. Instantly, all eyes turned to me with mocking amusement.

Chase half-opened his eyes and gestured for me to sit next to him.

I didn't move. The tension in the room thickened. Chloe said pointedly,

"Aria is a girl, Chase. You need to pamper her a bit."

Chase tossed his cigarette aside, walked over to me, and handed me a last-season designer bag. He spoke with zero patience,

"I was too impulsive this morning. I didn't think about you and your parents. I bought you this bag. Stop being mad."

Chloe's words were like a holy decree to him.

Even when it came to comforting his own girlfriend, he only did it because Chloe told him to.

I had no desire to be stuck between these two anymore. I let the bag slip from my hand and drop onto the floor. I said coldly,

"Let's break up."

"Chase, do you really think I'm too stupid to see that this bag has already been used by Chloe?"

Chase's face darkened instantly. He frowned. "Have you had enough?"

"First you pretend you don't want to marry me, and now you're bringing up a breakup. Aria, are you ever going to stop?"

I simply replied,

"I'm done. We are completely done."

Chase exploded in rage, kicking a table aside. He grabbed my wrist tightly.

"Aria! I apologized! I tried to make it up to you! What the hell else do you want?"

Seeing this, Chloe pretended to plead,

"I get it. Aria is mad about the bag."

"Aria, I only used that bag three times. Chase was in a rush to set up this gathering tonight, so he didn't have time to buy a new gift. That's why he used the bag I brought to apologize to you."

Is that so? If I hadn't seen Chase order luxury boutiques to deliver thousands of birthday gifts to Chloe's house within ten minutes in the past, I might have actually believed her pathetic excuse.

But none of it mattered anymore. I stood my ground.

"I want a breakup."

The sheer seriousness in my eyes finally rattled Chase.

In our three years together, this was the very first time I had ever brought up breaking up.

The cherry of his cigarette glowed in the dark as we stared each other down. After a silent standoff, he sneered,

"Fine. Great. Don't come crawling back to me crying!"

Crawling back? Tomorrow, my real love would be home.

The next day, to celebrate Cole's return, I rented an exhibition hall.

I was personally arranging the flowers when Chase called.

"Aria, what are you doing?"

I clipped the stem of the last flower and replied, "Preparing a surprise."

His tone immediately lightened. He assumed the surprise was for him.

"I'll come over and check it out later then."

Before he hung up, I heard his friends laughing and teasing him in the background.

"It's only been one night, and Aria is already preparing an apology surprise. She really loves you to death, Chase."

It was indeed a surprise, but not for him.

Once the hall was decorated, I sent him the address.

By evening, Chase and his group of friends swarmed into the venue.

Seeing me standing there in a white gown, the guys whistled and laughed.

"Whoa, Chase! She's already wearing a wedding gown, and the hall is fully decorated. She's just waiting for her groom!"

Chase looked at the flowers with disgust. "I told you I hate white roses. Why did you use them?"

"But... since you went to all this trouble... and even wore a white dress... I guess I can propose. But you have to promise not to bully Chloe anymore."

He casually plucked a blade of grass, twisted it into a makeshift ring, and walked toward me. Just as he was about to drop to one knee,

I didn't even spare him a glance. I walked right past him, straight toward the man who had just entered the hall behind him.

"You're finally back."