At a college reunion, Caleb Thorne's ex-girlfriend "accidentally" spilled red wine all over my new dress. She panicked, apologizing profusely: "I'm so sorry, I'll pay for it." "My wife's dress is a vintage collector's item from last year's auction. The hammer price was one million dollars." Caleb smiled, his reply light and airy. 1 Serena immediately collapsed onto the floor, her face draining of all color. "Holy shit, a million dollars for a dress. Mr. Thorne is a baller. I bet some people are regretting their life choices right now." "Didn't she marry some rich kid back then? Does she really not have a million bucks?" "More like a broke kid. Honestly, she probably couldn't scrape that together even if she sold herself." The crowd erupted into exaggerated, cruel laughter. I looked at her with complicated feelings—the ex who had abandoned Caleb all those years ago. She happened to look up, and our eyes met. Her eyes were a swirling mess of profound humiliation and bitter resentment. Just moments ago, in the restroom, she had cornered me. With a slow, arrogant smirk, she said: "Believe it or not, if I wanted to, I could snap my fingers and he'd come crawling back to me like an obedient dog." And now, just to get close to Caleb, she intentionally spilled wine on me, creating this exact scenario. Honestly, I wasn't surprised by her behavior. After all, Caleb was currently the darling of financial magazines, a tech billionaire with a net worth in the ten figures. If Serena hadn't married someone else back then, she would be Mrs. Thorne today. It was just that her words in the restroom made me feel a little defensive on Caleb's behalf. Caleb took off his suit jacket and draped it over my shoulders. He looked down at Serena, his gaze cold and imposing. "If you're having financial difficulties, perhaps you could ask your imprisoned ex-husband for a loan." She clenched her fists, her lips trembling with stubborn pride. "I'll pay you back." Caleb just laughed. "Don't make promises you can't keep." "Serena, you really haven't changed a bit." His tone was completely indifferent, yet it made me feel strangely disoriented. I had been with Caleb since he had nothing. I had fought by his side as he built his empire from the ground up. I had seen him at his absolute lowest, and I had seen him at his most triumphant. But I had never seen him act like this—humiliating a woman so viciously, so publicly. As a result, the crowd's laughter grew even louder and more unrestrained. I was the only one who noticed that, although he appeared to be mocking her, his eyes never actually left her face. 2 In the five years we'd been together, Caleb rarely spoke about his past. That was, until a month ago. We went back to his hometown to retrieve some things, and I accidentally found a worn-out wallet in his closet. Inside was a photo of a woman. She had a bright, beautiful smile. Caleb was usually so composed, but that day, he zoned out for a long time. A deep, melancholic shadow settled in his eyes. I fought back the sour feeling in my chest and asked, trying to sound casual, "Your ex?" "Yeah." I watched him tear the photo to pieces, his face completely blank, and throw it into the trash can. A cold, irritable feeling spread through my chest. I left immediately. That was our first cold war in five years. That night, after I showered, Caleb hugged me from behind and sighed softly. "Back when I was just starting the company and things were at their absolute worst, she took our core technology and defected to a rival company. She ended up becoming the owner's wife." "On the day of her wedding, my mother went to find her and got into a car accident on the way. She barely survived. The very next day, Serena left the country with her new husband." "Chloe, I truly hated her back then." ... I stared silently at his calm expression in the bathroom mirror. What Caleb didn't know was that later that day, I had gone back to the room. I saw him digging through the trash can, picking out the torn pieces of Serena's photo. His eyes were red as he meticulously, painstakingly glued them back together. 3 The reunion was winding down. Someone suddenly yelled out: "We're all old classmates! We should help each other out in times of need. Why don't we start a GoFundMe for Serena!" The moment those words hung in the air, Serena's face changed completely. She looked up at Caleb with a helpless, desperate gaze. And the hand Caleb had wrapped around mine suddenly tightened, squeezing so hard it felt like he might crush my fingers. "Caleb..." It wasn't until I gasped out his name that he snapped back to reality and let go of my hand. I looked at the deep red marks left on my skin, feeling like I had just been plunged into a freezing lake. A chill spread through my entire body. The guy who started the commotion laughed, sneaking glances at Caleb's reaction. Seeing that Caleb had no intention of stopping him, he quickly started the "bidding." "Five bucks!" "Come on, this is the former campus queen we're talking about! The dream girl of half the guys here! Be a little more generous! I pledge twenty!" ... One by one, people started throwing out numbers. The atmosphere became raucous and chaotic. It was as if they were treating Serena like an item up for auction, or a piece of meat on a chopping block. Serena's face was as pale as paper, her eyes red and swollen, but she didn't say a single word. Caleb stared silently at her dead, defeated expression. By the end, when the crowd jokingly handed Serena the hundred-odd dollars in loose change they had "raised," she just stared blankly and said, "Thank you." The crowd was in disbelief. "She actually took it?" "Hahaha. From the proud, untouchable goddess to acting like a literal beggar." Serena ignored them completely. Holding the crumpled bills in her hands, she walked up to Caleb. Her posture was so low she was practically groveling in the dust. "Here is a hundred dollars. Mr. Thorne, could you please give me a little more time for the rest?" Her humble, broken demeanor was a stark contrast to the radiant, proud girl I had seen in the photograph. A sudden, heavy silence fell over the crowd. People exchanged awkward glances. "...Did we take that a little too far?" "She is still a woman, after all..." Caleb didn't speak. He just kept staring at her. My chest suddenly ached with a dull, throbbing pain. It was so easy to see through the coldness in his eyes to the underlying frustration. He wanted Serena to fall into the mud; he wanted to trample her dignity underfoot. But when the moment actually arrived, when she lost her pride and accepted the charity with such numb resignation, it made him uncomfortable. Was it discomfort, or was it heartache? 4 In that brief moment of distraction, someone suddenly screamed at us in horror: "Watch out! The chandelier is falling!" I instinctively looked up. The massive chandelier above us was swaying precariously, looking like it would detach at any second. —And the three of us were standing directly underneath it. "Caleb—" I reached out to grab him, but before I could, I saw Caleb lunge toward Serena, shielding her body with his as they dove out of the way. My brain went numb with a deafening ringing sound. Then, someone grabbed my wrist and yanked me hard. I stumbled and fell in the opposite direction. A split second later, the chandelier crashed to the floor with a terrifying explosion of sound. Shards of glass and crystal sprayed everywhere. A sharp, blunt pain shot up my lower leg. A thin, deep gash had been sliced into the skin near my ankle by a flying shard, and blood was seeping out. But I felt like I couldn't even process the pain. I just sat on the floor, staring blankly at the two people holding each other a few feet away. Whispers erupted all around us. The moonlight filtering through the windows, combined with the subtle, knowing glances of the crowd, washed over me like a freezing frost. It wasn't until the man who saved me asked with concern, "Mrs. Thorne, are you alright?" I saw Caleb's body violently stiffen. He shoved Serena away instantly and rushed over to me, grabbing my ankle to carefully inspect the wound. His deep voice was laced with intense remorse and apology. "I'm so sorry. I didn't know you were right behind me." Serena walked over as well. Her voice was very soft, carrying a strange, complex emotion. "Thank you for saving me just now." Caleb didn't acknowledge her. He just stared at me intently. "Chloe, I really didn't know you were under the chandelier too." I silently pulled my leg out of his grasp. Caleb watched me for a moment, then simply scooped me up into his arms and started walking toward the exit. I struggled slightly, but his grip on my waist was ironclad. His voice was terrifyingly low. "Don't move." "Caleb..." Serena chased after us. Caleb's face was stone cold, his tone indicating he had no desire to speak with her any further. "Three months. The one million must be wired to my wife's account." But Serena suddenly smiled. She shot me a provocative look. "Thank you for the extension. I will make sure to pay you back within the designated timeframe." 5 As soon as we got home, Caleb semi-forcibly cleaned and bandaged my wound. Then, he locked the bedroom door, cupped my jaw, and kissed me. The resentment that had been building up in my chest all night suddenly exploded. I fought with everything I had to push him away. "Cancel the wedding next Saturday. We're breaking up." Caleb restrained me with one hand. "Why?" My mind was flooded with what his old classmates had whispered after the accident: "You know what they say. When disaster strikes, your first reaction is always the most honest. Caleb chose to save Serena first. Does it really need to be spelled out any clearer?" Exactly. The coldness and cruel words were just revenge. The instinctive, protective dive was subconscious love. It felt like a thousand needles were piercing my heart, a dense, suffocating pain spreading through my veins. I asked Caleb, "You still love her, don't you?" "You chose to save her first. Because compared to me, you care about her more." "I saw it last time. I saw you meticulously glue her photo back together." "Since you never forgot her, why did you even bother getting together with me?" "I didn't." He stared at me, his brows slightly furrowed, his tone absolute. "She betrayed me back then, and my mother's mental decline was indirectly her fault. I have hated her every single second of every day since." "The moment the accident happened, whether it was her standing next to me, or any other classmate, my instinct would have been to save them." "Hating her is one thing; a life-or-death situation is another." "But I truly didn't know you were behind me. If I had known, I never would have let you get hurt." "I gave her a three-month extension because I saw someone pull out their phone and start recording." "As for the photo... the doctor called me that day and said revisiting past memories might stimulate my mother's brain activity. I wanted to use that photo to try and help her." Caleb took my hands. "Chloe, you know me, don't you?" When I didn't say anything, he let out a helpless sigh and slowly kissed me. "Chloe, the person I love now is you." His tone was so candid, hiding absolutely nothing. "Don't ever say things like 'breaking up' out of anger again, Chloe. It hurts me too." In the dim light, Caleb was wearing a tailored black shirt. A few buttons were undone, revealing a glimpse of his collarbone. His eyes were pitch black, without a trace of distraction. He gently rubbed my flushed earlobe and asked in a low voice, "Can we?" The AC in the room was set very low, but I was sweating profusely. The atmosphere was perfect. Bang. The bedroom door was suddenly shoved open. "Caleb..." A gasp cut through the air, yanking me out of my hazy, confused thoughts. I instinctively looked over. Serena stood in the doorway, her face pale as a ghost, staring blankly at us. I sat up almost immediately, scrambling to pull the blanket over my body, feeling deeply ashamed. It was absurd. I was Caleb's fiancée, yet under Serena's accusing stare, I felt like the other woman caught in an affair. 6 When we were all fully dressed and standing in the living room, Caleb glared at Serena. "What are you doing here?" Serena stared back at him, biting her lip, her eyes filled with intense disbelief and hurt: "I walked into the wrong room. I'm sorry." "Get out," he ordered coldly. Mia, Caleb's younger sister, rushed over and pulled Serena behind her, shielding her. "Caleb, I brought Serena here. There are people harassing her at her apartment for debts. I was afraid she wasn't safe, so I brought her here to stay for a while." Caleb's face turned icy. "Mia, do you have any idea what you're doing?" Mia's eyes darted away defensively. "This is my home too. Do I not even have the right to take in a friend?" "Serena, don't worry. Starting today, you're staying here. Nobody can kick you out." "In my heart, you're my only sister-in-law." Saying that, she shot me a defiant, challenging look. I found the whole situation laughable. The frustration that had been building inside me flared up again. I ignored her entirely and looked directly at Serena. "You're afraid of debt collectors showing up at your door, but did you forget you owe me a million dollars too?" "Or did you come here today specifically to pay me back?" I pulled up the QR code on my banking app. "Alright then. Pay up right now." "That's enough." Mia swatted my hand away. My phone hit the floor with a loud crack. Mia turned to Caleb, her expression complicated. "Caleb, I know you hate Serena, but there's a reason for everything." "Do you even know what happened back then—" Serena, as if finally snapping out of a daze, violently grabbed Mia's arm. Her eyes were red and pleading. "Don't say it." For a moment, no one spoke. Until Caleb suddenly broke the silence. "Back then, what?" 7 But before Mia could say anything, Serena suddenly fainted. "Caleb! Serena's hypoglycemia is acting up. Just let her stay here tonight." I couldn't read Caleb's expression. He just frowned. He didn't agree, but he didn't refuse either. In the end, I just gave a self-deprecating laugh, turned around, and walked away. Half an hour later, Caleb finally came back to the bedroom. He grabbed my hand as I packed my suitcase. "What are you doing?" "Since there's a new lady of the house here, I'm making room." "Chloe, I explained this. Serena and I are absolutely impossible—" I cut him off. "But you wavered just now, didn't you?" "If she really had a compelling reason back then, can you guarantee you won't be affected by her?" Caleb, however, remained firm. "Even if she had a reason, her abandoning me for someone else is a fact. My mother becoming like this because of her is a fact." "The damage is already done. She has no right to beg for my forgiveness." "Serena just woke up. I told her she has to leave first thing tomorrow morning. Mia, too." "This is our home. If she can't accept you as her sister-in-law, she can pack up and leave with Serena." "I'm sorry, honey." Caleb knelt down. His slightly cool fingertips gently, tenderly wiped away my tears. "Making you sad and insecure... that's my fault." ... In the middle of the night, I was startled awake by a clap of thunder. I groggily rolled over and realized the spot next to me was empty. Caleb was gone. I practically searched the entire house but couldn't find him. I called him several times, but he didn't answer. The rain was pouring down outside. I sat on the sofa like an idiot, staring blankly ahead. Suddenly, I remembered one place I hadn't checked. I ran to the guest room where Serena was staying. From inside, I could hear a woman's faint, muffled groans. My brain exploded. I shakily tried the handle, only to find the door was locked from the outside. "My brother and Serena are in there." "I slipped them both something in their drinks, and I locked the door." Mia padded over in her slippers. "They missed out on so many years. I'm just trying to secure my brother's happiness and correct a terrible mistake." My blood boiled instantly. "Mia, if anything actually happens in there, I will call the cops." I frantically searched for the spare key and finally heard a click. The moment the door opened, my heart was lodged in my throat. 8 I didn't know whether to be relieved or devastated. The scene before me wasn't the graphic nightmare I had imagined— Serena was curled up under the covers, one wrist tied to the headboard with a sheet. Her face was flushed dark red, her hair completely disheveled. "Caleb, you... you don't have to save me. I know you haven't forgiven me yet. I don't want you to do something you'll regret." She looked like she was in excruciating agony. Her tearful expression was undeniably pitiful, inspiring a strong urge to protect her. Caleb stood with his back to the door, rigid and straight beside the bed. I couldn't see his face. "Caleb." When he heard my voice and turned around, he froze for a second. I ran to his side and saw that he was fully dressed and seemed completely normal. Trembling, I asked, "Are you okay?" Caleb shook his head. As if remembering something, he stared at me, earnestly trying to explain: "Mia tricked me into coming in here, and then locked me in with Serena. But I didn't drink the spiked wine. Nothing happened between us." So, Serena was the only one who had been drugged. My mind was a chaotic mess. Just as I was about to speak, someone grabbed my arm violently. "This is all your fault. If it wasn't for you, they would have made up a long time ago—" Mia lunged at me, trying to hit me. I had reached my absolute limit. I backhanded her hard across the face. "Are you out of your damn mind?" Mia looked at me in disbelief and immediately turned to Caleb to complain. "Caleb, she hit me! I'm your biological sister!" Seeing that Caleb only stared at her coldly, a flash of panic crossed Mia's eyes. "Chloe, my brother doesn't even love you! How can you be so shameless, clinging to him and refusing to let go?!" I laughed out of sheer fury. "You drugged your own brother and the ex-girlfriend who almost killed your mother, locked them in a room together, and you think I'm the shameless one?" Mia's eyes darted nervously. "Serena didn't mean to do that! She..." "Enough." Caleb suddenly spoke. His expression and tone were absolute ice. "No matter what her reason is, I never want to hear it." Mia went pale. "Caleb, you're going to regret this." Caleb remained unmoved. "Chloe and I are getting married next Saturday. It would be best if you didn't attend. You are not welcome." Finally, an ambulance came and took Serena away. As she was leaving, she said in a very quiet voice, "Caleb, whether you believe it or not, I never wanted to hurt you back then." Caleb held my hand. His face showed not a single trace of emotion. 9 I told Caleb I needed more time to think about the wedding. He didn't refuse forcefully. He just looked at me earnestly and said, "Chloe, no matter what happens, promise me you'll never leave me." I muted everyone's messages and went on a solo trip to clear my head. I never expected a sudden earthquake to strike the area. And I certainly never expected Caleb to ignore the danger of aftershocks and rush all the way there to find me. I wasn't really hurt, but he was. A falling sign hit his arm, and he needed six stitches. Seeing me on the verge of tears, he endured the pain and tried to comfort me. "Good thing it was my arm. If it hit my face, I wouldn't look as handsome on our wedding day." He said it like a joke, but his expression when mentioning the wedding was incredibly serious and resolute. I looked at him for a long time, then took a deep breath. "Then you better heal fast, or you'll be wearing a sling on our wedding day." He froze. His eyes lit up. The light in them was entirely for me. "Okay." ... As the wedding date approached, I was overwhelmed with preparations. On the day I went to try on my dress, Serena called me. "I knew Mia spiked the drink that night. I drank it on purpose." She went on a long rant, finally threatening that if I didn't give Caleb back to her, she would kill herself. I honestly thought she was clinically insane. I replied coldly, "Then go die." After that, she never called me again. Until the day of the wedding, someone sent me an anonymous text: "Care to make a bet? You won't get married today." The confident tone felt like a simple statement of fact. It was obvious it was from Serena. An inexplicable wave of irritation washed over me. It wasn't just because of the text. It was because I realized Caleb was acting very strange today. "...Groom, do you take this woman?" When the officiant asked for the fourth time, I saw Caleb finally snap out of his distracted daze. After another blank silence, he muttered softly, "I do." I felt a little dizzy. Was he regretting this? Caleb's phone suddenly rang, loud and intrusive. His expression shifted slightly. He seemed to know who it was, but he didn't answer. The phone kept ringing relentlessly. He finally just turned it off. The wedding proceeded to the montage of our sweet memories. But the photos and music we had prepared inexplicably vanished, and a familiar face suddenly filled the giant screen. Mia. A sudden, terrible premonition hit me. The next second, Mia's panicked voice echoed through the entire venue. "Caleb, Serena is missing." The crowd gasped in shock. "Who's Serena?" "Ugh, Mr. Thorne's ex-girlfriend." I saw Caleb visibly freeze. Mia seemed to be walking and running at the same time, her voice slightly breathless. "Earlier today, she was acting really weird. She said she had to get your wedding present ready, and then she just vanished." "Caleb, I know I promised Serena I wouldn't tell, but I really can't keep it a secret anymore today." "You weren't answering your phone, so this was the only way I could let you know the truth." Caleb stopped breathing, his expression growing tense. "She never betrayed you. She didn't steal the core technology; another employee in your company did. She deliberately took the blame for it." "Because—" "Serena was diagnosed with leukemia back then." Caleb stood paralyzed, glued to the floor. "Her ex-husband threatened her. If she didn't marry him, he was going to completely destroy your company." "She didn't live in luxury for those five years. She was abroad getting treatment the entire time." Caleb looked like he'd been struck by lightning. His face was a portrait of pure, unadulterated shock. "Caleb, she really sacrificed so much for you. That venomous snake Chloe is completely unworthy of you." "Do you know what she said to Serena?" A burst of static, and Mia hit play on a voice recorder. My cold, malicious voice echoed from the speakers— "Then go die." Caleb snapped his head around and stared at me. He had never looked at me with such sharp, suspicious, accusing eyes. "I see Serena." "She's... on the roof." "Caleb..." Mia's voice trembled. "She's going to jump!" Caleb looked like he could barely stand. "Caleb, that audio recording—" I grabbed his arm, desperately trying to explain myself. Caleb violently shoved me off. I stumbled, completely caught off guard, and crashed heavily onto the floor. "Caleb..." He only looked back at me once. His eyes were a chaotic mess of emotions. Then, without a second glance, he walked away. Ignoring the pitying, mocking stares of everyone in the room, I stood up, gathered my massive dress, and chased after him. A muffled clap of thunder rolled across the sky. The bright, sunny day had suddenly turned into a torrential downpour. I stumbled and slipped, following Caleb all the way to the roof of the hotel. Just in time to see him and Serena locked in a desperate struggle. In the pouring rain, Serena kept fighting to break free, while Caleb, his eyes bloodshot, hugged her fiercely from behind. They were both soaking wet. "Aren't you supposed to be getting married?! Why did you come find me?!" "In your heart, I'm just a gold-digging villain!" "Caleb, since you hate me so much, I'll just die right here in front of you—" Before she could finish screaming, Caleb forcefully spun her around, buried one hand in her hair, and kissed her with crushing intensity.
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