Chapter 1
Applause thundered around me as I gently pinched the base of my ring finger. There was a pale mark there, left by a makeshift ring Blake had crafted from a guitar string.
I turned to leave but someone grabbed me.
“Zoe!”
Blake slowly descended from the stage. He wore the navy blue suit I had carefully ironed for him. The bowtie was a birthday gift from me, and even his hair was styled the way I had spent hours perfecting this morning.
He gripped my wrist with surprising force, dragging me onto the stage without a word. Then, with practiced ease, he adjusted my collar. His hot breath brushed against me, his eyes brimming with joy.
He cleared his throat and spoke solemnly.
“This is my best friend, Zoe Chapman.”
“I wouldn’t be where I am today without her…”
My smile froze on my face, ears ringing.
The strange looks from the audience below felt like knives stabbing my face.
Fighting back tears, I remember forcing a smile for what felt like an eternity before quietly leaving the stage.
In a daze, I returned home and made myself a cup of instant noodles. I stared blankly at the bowl.
There was a chip on the edge of the bowl, from when Blake had smashed it in a drunken state last week.
The image of Blake placing his pinky ring on Lily White’s finger kept replaying in my mind. Before I knew it, tears were mixing with the noodles in the bowl.
I should have never gone out for that walk.
The small room was dimly lit, with a thin layer of cobwebs on the window outside.
The house was in a crowded old neighborhood, a birthday gift from Blake three years ago.
During the early days of his startup, when he was poor, I accompanied him in this tiny rented apartment.
Back then, he had blushed as he gave me this house filled with our memories, then held my hand and promised.
“Zoe, thank you for staying with me all these years. In the future, I’ll buy a bigger and better house, and you’ll be the lady of that home.”
Three years had passed. Blake could now afford bigger and better houses, but it seemed I was no longer the intended lady of the house.
After finishing my tear-seasoned noodles, I numbly cleaned up the dishes when suddenly I heard the sound of a key turning in the lock.
Blake was back. I quickly wiped my tears with my sleeve and turned my back, pretending to be busy.
He didn’t seem to notice anything amiss, naturally hugging me from behind. The familiar scent of his cologne mixed with alcohol wafted over me.
“Zoe, why are you eating instant noodles again? It’s not good for your health to eat too much of that.”
His tone was as intimate as ever, as if the man who had just proposed to someone else was a different person entirely.
I wriggled out of his embrace, my voice trembling.
“Now that you have a fiancée, you should keep your distance from other women.”
Blake’s confused voice came from above my head.
“What do you mean by ‘other women’?”
I turned to face him, only to see him pull out a box from behind his back as if performing a magic trick.
Inside the box lay a plain women’s ring, the kind often seen in mall clearance sales. He took my hand and slipped it onto my ring finger.
“Zoe, you’ve been with me for so many years, I really don’t know how to repay you.”
“I saw this ring and thought it would suit you perfectly. I hope you like it.”
Looking at the ring on my hand, tears spilled from my eyes.
I raised my hand and wiped them away forcefully, managing a strained smile.
“If you don’t know how to repay me, why don’t you marry me then?!”