My childhood sweetheart spoiled me like a princess for twenty years, only to fall for Chloe, the new scholarship girl. He skipped classes and got into street fights for her. He even demanded to call off our arranged engagement. He had no idea she was playing multiple guys at once, just to hook a rich husband. I warned him, "Don't let her innocent act fool you." But Ethan just splashed his red wine right onto my face. "Are you really stooping to petty catfights now, Serena? You disgust me." After that, I completely gave up on him and got engaged to Logan—the man who had been silently protecting me all along. On my wedding day, Ethan crashed his sports car through the church doors. Bleeding and desperate, he held out a wedding veil to me. "Let's start over, please?" I snatched the veil and ripped it to shreds. "Do I look like a recycling bin to you? I don't pick up trash." I found Ethan in a grungy downtown alley. He was shielding Chloe behind his back, his fists covered in blood as he beat up a group of street thugs. I rushed forward to stop him. "Ethan, stop! The paparazzi are already on their way." Before this, he had already made a name for himself by skipping elite college classes for Chloe. I was terrified he would anger his father, Richard, again, so I tried to drag him away. But he shoved me back hard. "Serena Vance, I thought you just lacked empathy. I didn't realize you were actually this malicious." "Ethan, don't blame Serena," Chloe sobbed, pretending to tremble. "She's right. I'm nothing but trouble." As she spoke, she made a move to drop to her knees in front of the thugs. "Please, just give me some time. Once my mom's surgery is over, I'll go dance at a strip club to pay you back." Hearing this, Ethan's eyes practically overflowed with painful devotion. "How could I ever let my woman work in a place like that? It's just fifty thousand dollars, right? I'll pay it!" The exact moment he whipped out his checkbook and signed it, the flashing lights of the paparazzi captured everything. "Mr. Thorne, rumors say you have a secret girlfriend. Is it her?" "Is your upcoming engagement to Miss Vance still on schedule?" The rain was pouring down. The crowd of reporters surged forward, knocking my umbrella out of my hand. Ethan only gave me a freezing look. "You can handle this yourself, right?" "What?" Before I could even process his words, he took Chloe's hand, sprinted to his car, and sped off. He left me standing entirely alone in the freezing rain. I stood frozen. That familiar feeling of abandonment rushed back, just like when I was a child. When I was five, my parents divorced. My mother walked out, and my father couldn't care less about me, constantly cycling through new girlfriends. Everyone abandoned me. During the worst phase of my depression, Ethan was the only one who held an umbrella over my head. "Don't cry, Serena. I'll always stand by your side." Because of that promise, he spoiled me for twenty years, and my heart belonged to him for twenty years. But now, he had abandoned me for a girl who had just dropped out of thin air. The sudden drop from being cherished to being discarded pierced my heart like a needle. Even in front of the cameras, I couldn't stop my tears. "Miss Vance, may we ask..." "Can you please stop?" I covered my face and tried to walk away, but a reporter grabbed my arm. "Please cooperate with our interview." Just as I was about to break down, a black umbrella shielded me from the rain. "She has the right to refuse." A tall, familiar figure stepped in front of me. "If you have questions, ask me." The reporters gasped. "Mr. Logan Thorne! What is your relationship with Miss Vance?" "I don't mind telling you, but it depends on her," Logan replied, flashing me a playful, boyish grin. He hadn't changed at all. His manager quickly ushered me into a nearby SUV. "Logan is used to dealing with these media circuses. Don't worry about him." With Logan's natural charm, he was practically born for the spotlight. I wasn't worried about him. I was worried about tomorrow's headlines. My fears were justified. The next morning, Richard Thorne's fury descended. He threw a crystal glass that shattered right against Ethan's forehead. Blood trickled down Ethan's face, but he stood his ground, stubborn as ever. "I am calling off the engagement! Chloe is the love of my life. She doesn't care about our family's money at all!" The love of his life? Suddenly, a flood of memories rushed into my mind. My eighteenth birthday party, my high school graduation, my first solo piano recital... At every milestone of my life, Ethan had sent me flowers. The cards always read: *To Serena, the love of my life.* When did his "love of his life" change? Richard suddenly turned to me. "Serena, when is your father free? I think we need to move up the wedding." I snapped out of my daze. "Okay. I'll call him." But Ethan snatched my phone away and threw it. "Are you really that desperate, Serena? Do you have no dignity left?"
"What did you just say to her?!" Logan, who had been silent the entire time, suddenly lunged forward and slammed his fist into Ethan's face. "Do you have any idea how much she loves you? How dare you humiliate her like that?" Ethan sneered, wiping the blood from his lip. "That's her own choice. I never asked for it." "You bastard!" The two brothers started punching each other, and Richard roared in anger. I quickly dragged Logan out of the living room. Out in the courtyard, as I gently dabbed antiseptic on his cut knuckle, he looked at me nervously. He squeezed my hand gently. "I'm sorry, Serena. I know I shouldn't have lost my temper, but I just..." "Thank you." "What?" I smiled softly. "Thank you for standing up for me." His ears turned bright red, and he nervously scratched the back of his neck. "Then... are you..." Before he could finish, a loud shouting match echoed from the villa. "If you keep trying to stop me from being with Chloe, I will leave this family!" Ethan screamed. "Fine! Let's see how long you survive out there without my money!" Richard bellowed back. Seconds later, Ethan stormed out of the house. As he passed the courtyard, he glared at me with absolute disgust, as if I were a piece of trash blocking his way. Not too long ago, he used to look at me with so much warmth, whispering, *“Who else could I ever love but you, Serena?”* Everything changed the moment Chloe appeared. Chloe Miller... If she willingly backed away, would everything go back to normal? I dug up her address and went to find her with a checkbook in my bag. But when I arrived at the entrance of her sketchy alley, I saw her flirting with a man covered in tattoos. She was carrying a brand-new designer bag. "Thanks, Leo. Thanks for helping me clear that debt with the underground casino." Casino debt? Didn't she say her mother needed emergency surgery? Chloe noticed me first. She quickly pushed the man away and adjusted her clothes. "Can I help you?" she asked, her voice instantly turning cold. I had to admire her acting skills. She composed herself so quickly. "I thought you loved Ethan so much? I thought it was 'true love'? Can't keep up the act anymore?" Chloe chuckled mockingly. "So what? Ethan prefers my sweet, innocent act over your perfect heiress persona. In the end, I win." "Aren't you afraid I'll tell him the truth?" "Go ahead. Tell him. Let's see who he believes." She turned to leave. I grabbed her wrist. "Enough. You just want money. How much?" Chloe snatched her hand back. "How much can you give me? A million? Five million? Once I marry Ethan and become Mrs. Thorne, I'll have more money than I could ever spend. Don't make me laugh." She walked away without looking back. The more I thought about it, the more suspicious it felt. I tracked down one of the thugs from the alley and slid him a stack of cash. He finally spilled the truth. "Chloe's mom died years ago. That money she owed was from a gambling run in Vegas. A wealthy client had already paid it off for her. We weren't even planning on bothering her, but she paid us to stage that fight so she could look like a damsel in distress for that rich idiot." So that was her game. I immediately drove to Ethan's apartment to tell him. But before I could even open my mouth, he slammed his keys on the table and yelled at me. "How could you do this, Serena? How could you hire people to beat Chloe up?" He grabbed my shoulders, his eyes bloodshot. "You know how much I care about her! Why are you doing this?!" I stared at him, completely numb. "Do you really trust her more than me now?" "Yes!" Ethan let go of me, his eyes filled with pure disdain. "This is my final warning. Stay away from Chloe. Stop trying to sabotage our relationship." "If you do something like this again, I won't hesitate to ruin you." Ruin me?
He had probably forgotten. Back when I used to suppress my emotions to please everyone, he would hold me tight and say: *“You don't have to be perfect, Serena. With me, you have the right to be as spoiled and wild as you want.”* He was the one who raised me to be a princess. Why was it suddenly all my fault? I couldn't hold it in anymore. Tears finally spilled over. "Ethan, how can you do this to me? We have twenty years of history. How can you throw it all away?" "Stop using our past as a weapon. Because I don't care about it anymore." Losing control, I swung my arm and slapped him across the face. *Slap!* It was incredibly loud. But he didn't even look angry. He just looked exhausted, as if even arguing with me was a waste of his breath. "Since we despise each other this much, let's stop talking. Don't call me, don't see me. If we cross paths, just pretend we're strangers." I suddenly wanted to laugh. "Ethan, who do you think you are, acting like I'm the one stalking you? You're the one who made promises to me. You're the one who said you loved me. You were the one who proposed to me first!" He just sighed, his expression filled with utter annoyance. "Then just pretend I'm the bad guy." Ethan walked away, and this time, he didn't look back. I collapsed onto the floor, wrapping my arms around my knees, and sobbed. I couldn't hold it back anymore. Years ago, Ethan forbade me from drinking. Back then, my depression was at its worst, and I often forgot my medication schedule. Once, I made the mistake of drinking wine to help me sleep after taking my pills. I ended up in the ER getting my stomach pumped. When I woke up, he was holding my hand, crying like a baby. *“Don't ever do that again. Do you have any idea how terrified I was of losing you?”* That was the first time in his life he had yelled at me. Since that day, I never touched alcohol again. But now, he wasn't here to care. I could drink as much as I wanted. But why didn't I feel happy? "Serena." A familiar, gentle voice called out behind me. I spun around in hope. A beautiful bouquet of flowers appeared in front of my eyes. Ethan was smiling at me softly, just like he used to. "I'm sorry about today, Serena. I'll never hurt you again. I love you." Tears of joy ran down my face. "Really?" "Yes." I reached out with trembling hands to take the flowers. "They're beautiful..." I wanted to find a vase to put them in, but my foot caught on the edge of the rug. I fell. The flower vase shattered into a million pieces. The bouquet was crushed. "My flowers... where are they?" I looked up to find Ethan, but the spot where he had been standing was completely empty. The night breeze blew in from the balcony, taking his ghost with it. I let out a painful scream, curling myself into a ball in the corner. "Why? Why does everyone I care about leave me?" My mother did. And now, him. "Serena!" I didn't even realize Logan had entered the room. "What happened? Why are you bleeding?" He frantically scooped me up into his arms. "I'm taking you to the hospital." I had no strength left to fight. I let him carry me away. When I finally regained some consciousness, I heard Ethan's voice echoing in the hallway outside my hospital room. "The Serena Vance I knew is gone. She’s selfish, manipulative, and cruel. She's probably faking this entire hospital stay. Her depression was cured years ago. How could she suddenly be having hallucinations?" I didn't even have the energy to argue anymore. But Logan couldn't take it. He roared in fury, "You're the one who betrayed her! How dare you talk about her like that? Do you have any idea how much she's suffered because of you?" "That's her problem," Ethan’s voice was cold and detached. "I never asked for her love. To me, her constant affection is suffocating. Don't call me for her drama ever again. My girlfriend gets jealous."
I heard the sounds of a scuffle, but it was quickly shut down by the nurses. A few minutes later, Logan walked back into my room, breathing heavily. He was holding a slightly crushed cake box. "How..." my voice was raspy and dry, but he seemed to understand what I wanted to ask. "Today is your birthday, Serena. Did you forget?" he asked softly. "We always celebrate it together. But my brother... he had other plans today." "I see." So, did Ethan actually forget my birthday, or did he choose this exact day to cut ties with me on purpose? When Logan lit the candles, he was the only one singing to me. In the sterile, quiet hospital room, he did his absolute best to make me smile. "Make a wish, our princess. May you stay beautiful and happy forever." *I wish... that sincere people are never treated like fools again.* Before I could blow out the candles, the TV screen on the wall flashed with a breaking news alert. *“Breaking: Ethan Thorne, heir to the Thorne Conglomerate, has officially called off his engagement with his fiancée. Sources say he spent millions on a grand romantic gesture for his new girlfriend...”*
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