Chapter 1
It wasn’t until I got in the car and saw the capybara charm hanging from the rearview mirror that another memory from that diary surfaced. She had written: “Ethan says capybaras are cute.” Because of one comment from Ethan, she became obsessed with capybaras. Her clothes, phone case, and even the charm in my car - all featured capybaras. Feeling irritated, I took down the capybara charm and tossed it out of the car. The car display lit up with a call from my assistant. “Mr. Chen, the proposal site you asked me to prepare is ready. The capybara robot to deliver the ring has also been produced by the factory as requested.” I pressed my lips together, silent for a long moment before saying: “Alright, I got it.” The words “proposal” echoed in my mind. When I had brought up marriage to Lily before, she seemed somewhat reluctant. She said: “Didn’t we agree we’d visit all the travel spots on our list before talking about marriage?” I had taken her words to heart back then. After checking off the final destination of Miami, I started preparing for the proposal. But now… I had always known she had a childhood sweetheart she grew up with. I understood and accepted that. I was just jealous that the one who got to grow up with her wasn’t me. I thought 3 years would be enough time for her to fall in love with me. But I never imagined that even after 3 years, I still couldn’t melt Lily’s heart. I hadn’t even pulled out of the driveway when Lily called. “Honey, didn’t you say you had a meeting? “Why haven’t you left yet?” I forced out words through my hoarse throat: “I was just on a call. About to leave now. “Hold on, I’ll take you with me today.” I was about to refuse, but she had already opened the car door and sat down. She was wearing perfume, a faint woody scent. I frowned slightly. It was a scent I had long grown accustomed to, but now found somewhat irritating. I instinctively lowered the window a bit. Once when we were shopping together, I had picked out a perfume for her - one with the scent of crisp white shirts on a summer day. It was the androgynous style she liked. But she had shaken her head and instead chose a men’s cologne with a heavy scent that didn’t match her pure looks at all. She had said then: “I’m going to use this one. If I ever smell women’s perfume on you, I won’t let you off easy!” The sales assistant who witnessed this had covered her mouth, giggling and saying how sweet our relationship was. Little did she know, Lily had only bought that perfume because of something Ethan once said. In her diary, she had written: “Ethan says he likes the scent of cedar.” Just because Ethan liked the scent of cedar, she had been using that fragrance daily for 3 years. Even when she got sick of the smell, she never switched.