When Love Ends in Tears and Heartbreak

During a family dinner with Liam, I brought up the idea of getting married sooner and starting a family. He immediately assumed I was after his family's wealth and only wanted to marry him for his money. In front of everyone, he slapped me more than a dozen times. Then he turned around and pursued his jealous childhood sweetheart. I grabbed his hand and begged him not to leave, but in a fit of rage, he shoved me down the stairs. That shove ended up breaking both my legs and fracturing my skull. I spent a month in the ICU before I finally regained consciousness. This time, I didn’t make a scene. Instead, I called my mother overseas. "Mom, about the inheritance you mentioned last time… I’ll take it." Chapter 1 After checking myself out of the hospital, I took a cab to Liam Carter's company. Standing outside the building, I suddenly felt like a stranger to the place where I'd worked for nine years. I'd only been gone a month, yet all my information had already been wiped from the system. Even security refused to let me inside. With no other choice, I pulled out my phone and called Liam, but he never picked up. Instead, Hailey Foster video-called me. On the screen, she gave me a slightly embarrassed smile. "Nora Bennett, I didn't expect you to be discharged from the hospital so soon. Liam's worried about my safety, so the company isn't letting strangers in anymore. "Don't worry. I'll tell security to let you through right away." At Hailey's word, the doors that had been firmly shut to me opened. I stood there blankly for a few seconds before I walked in slowly. The door to Liam's office was open. When I pushed it wider, I found Hailey sitting on the couch in a skimpy camisole, smiling faintly at me. Liam sat beside her, shirtless. The atmosphere between them couldn't have been more suggestive. I took one look, then calmly looked away and placed my resignation letter on his desk without hesitation. Seeing that I had completely ignored them, Liam frowned. He stepped in front of me and began to explain. "Hailey hasn't been back in the country for long. You know our families have always been close, and my parents want me to spend more time with her. "Besides, she's better suited for your position." "That's not the only reason." Hailey cut him off, then smiled at me. "Nora, you don't know yet, do you? Liam and I are getting engaged." She held up her hand to show me the diamond ring on her finger. Liam wore an identical one. Liam offered no real explanation for the engagement and simply looked at me indifferently. I met his gaze and gave a small nod. "Okay." I didn't question him or demand an explanation. Instead, I pointed to the document on his desk. "I've already submitted my resignation, and it's being processed. I've also finished handing over my work." Liam clearly hadn't expected that. His eyes widened slightly. I turned and walked away, ignoring the stunned looks on both their faces. The pain in my legs shot sharply through the nerves of my entire body with every step. Even now, I could still remember the family dinner, when Liam had shoved me down the stairs because he was in a hurry to chase after a jealous Hailey. Whatever love I'd had for him had long since died during the month I'd spent fighting for my life in the ICU. At some point, Liam caught up with me. He came up behind me and wrapped his arms around me, burying his face against the crook of my neck and gently brushing his cheek against my skin. "Hailey and I grew up together. Of course she's going to get jealous when she hears I'm getting married. "Also, don't take the engagement too seriously. Your family and mine are a perfect match..." "I don't care." I cut him off before he could finish and pulled away. We'd been together for nine years and had done far more intimate things than this countless times. But now, just his mere touch made me recoil. Liam's expression darkened for a moment, but he stubbornly refused to move. Chapter 2 He stared directly at me, as though trying to make sure I really meant what I'd said. "You two grew up together. You've known each other longer than you've known me, and the engagement was our parents' decision. It's none of my business. "Don't worry. I really am resigning. I'm not jealous, and I'm not doing this out of spite." Liam opened his mouth to say something else. But Hailey poked her head out of the office. "Liam, where did you put my panties? The lace pair..." Her eyes met mine. Only then did she seem to realize I was still there. She put on an innocent expression. "Sorry. I didn't know you were still here. Liam and I have known each other for so long that I forgot for a second that you're still his girlfriend." I gave her a perfunctory reply and left the building. Early the next morning, my mother called as soon as she heard I'd been discharged. "Sweetheart, how are you feeling? I'm getting old, and all I want is for you to come back sooner and spend some time with me. "You've already given Liam so many years of your life. You've followed him around all this time with no real place in his life, while his family continues to look down on you. "Also, I'm glad you've finally come around about the inheritance. "Your stepfather's estate isn't enormous, but it's more than enough to keep you comfortable for the rest of your life. You won't have to spend every day worrying about what comes next anymore." In the past, I probably would have argued with her. I used to think being with the person I loved was enough. Money didn't matter. But now, I couldn't bring myself to say a single word. In all nine years I'd spent with Liam and his family, there had never truly been a place for me. "When are you planning to come back? I need some time to get everything ready." I glanced at the calendar on the wall. One date had been circled in bright red. In ten days, Liam and I would have been together for ten years. "Ten more days. I'll come home once I've wrapped everything up here." After hanging up, I realized Liam had been standing behind me for who knew how long. He frowned slightly and tried to look at the contact name on my phone. "What happens in ten days? Who were you talking to?" I placed my phone facedown on the table and brushed him off. "A friend found me a new job." "There's still a place for you at the company. You don't have to rush to leave. Even if Hailey has taken your position, there are plenty of other roles." Liam pressed his lips together, clearly unable to understand why I was so determined to resign. "No, thanks." My attitude seemed to irritate him, but before he could say anything, Hailey called up from downstairs. "Liam, we're having dinner at the family estate today. Let's not keep your parents waiting." My fingers trembled slightly at her words. When Liam and I had first started dating, his parents hadn't thought I was good enough for him. To them, I was nothing more than some country girl from the middle of nowhere. Nowhere near worthy of someone from a wealthy family like his. But every time Liam went home, he always took me with him. He defended me without hesitation and stood up to his parents for my sake. He had once promised me that as long as he was there, I would always have a place in his family. This time, however, Liam avoided my eyes, and there was something unnatural in his voice. "You know what happened last time. My parents aren't in the best health. If they see you and get worked up again... "And don't get the wrong idea. I'll talk to them again about the engagement. "They watched Hailey grow up, so naturally they're closer to her. Once all this blows over... they won't hold it against you anymore." Every word out of Liam's mouth was in Hailey's defense. He hadn't forgotten his promise to me. There was simply someone else he considered more worthy of his effort now. I smiled, just as I always did. 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. Chapter 4 This year, however, would be the last. I sat alone in the restaurant, watching the minutes tick by as more than half an hour passed beyond the time we had agreed to meet. Liam was still nowhere to be seen. Just as I was about to call him, fireworks suddenly exploded across the sky outside the restaurant, one burst after another forming the words, "Happy Birthday, Hailey!" Everyone in the restaurant was immediately drawn to the spectacle, and when I followed their gazes, I finally found the man who had kept me waiting. Liam was dressed in a suit, holding a bouquet of roses as he knelt on one knee in front of Hailey and proposed to her, while the giant screen on a nearby building began cycling through engagement photos of the two of them. "Mr. Carter really went all out. That screen costs a million a minute, and he rented the whole thing." "But I thought Mr. Carter's girlfriend looked different." "What girlfriend? Rich men have their fun. A woman like that is just a mistress. This is the real one. They grew up together, and they're about to get married." Their comments reached me one after another, and every word sounded painfully ironic. So tonight had never really been about our tenth anniversary. It was about Hailey's birthday, along with an elaborate proposal party for her. I let out a soft sigh, tossed the gift I had prepared into the trash, and got up to leave. Before I could make it far, Hailey, the lady of the hour, appeared in front of me. The gentle, innocent expression she always wore around Liam was nowhere to be seen, replaced by a provocative smile. "I heard today's your tenth anniversary with Liam. Want to know the truth? He doesn't remember it at all. The only reason he remembered you even existed was because it happens to be my birthday." If this had happened in the past, I probably would have already lost my temper and gotten into a fight with her. "Is that so? Then I wish you two all the happiness in the world. Hope you have enough kids to field a soccer team." I smiled, pushed past her, and turned to leave, but Hailey suddenly lost her footing and fell hard onto the floor, knocking over the champagne on the table and spilling it all over herself. Before I even had time to react, Liam rushed over and saw her sitting there. "Nora! Are you done making a scene?" Without asking what had happened, he grabbed me by the collar and shoved me hard into the edge of a table. Broken glass drove into my palm, and blood immediately began pouring from the wound. "I already told you I'd handle the engagement. Why do you still have to hurt Hailey?" The shards were still embedded in my hand, sending sharp pain through my entire body. Before I could even explain myself, Hailey, who didn't have a single visible injury, suddenly clutched her chest and began gasping for air. Liam panicked instantly. His hands trembled as he called his driver, and his eyes actually turned red with fear. "Don't you know Hailey has asthma? She's delicate. She's not like you!" He roared at me, pouring all of his anger and frustration onto me as though everything were my fault. "If you want to get married that badly, then go marry someone else! I'm never marrying you! Get out, and stop showing up where I can see you." Everyone around us was watching the spectacle, while the pain in my palm gradually faded into numbness. As I watched Liam leave with Hailey, my heart still gave one last painful throb despite everything that had happened. I took a deep breath and said softly, "Liam, on this day that would've marked our ten years together, let's break up." I didn't know whether he heard those final words. The only response I received was the cloud of dust kicked up by the car as it drove away. I booked the earliest flight out and left this whole mess behind. As I was about to board, Liam's video calls kept coming in one after another. After I blocked him, he started using unfamiliar numbers to send me message after message. "Where are you? Can you stop throwing a tantrum already?" The messages were still coming when I finally tossed my phone into the trash.