Leaving You on the Other Side

“Ma’am, I will accept the organization’s invitation and proceed to work at Feacliff.”

“Nathaniel, what you’ll be engaging in is top-secret medical research. Once you sign the contract, you’re prohibited from contacting anyone back home for ten years, and your current identity will be erased. It’s a high price to pay. Will your fiancée agree to this?”

“I’ve already decided to break up. I don’t need her agreement.”

“I’m sorry to hear that. But don’t worry, there are many outstanding women within the organization. Your personal life is in good hands. Oh, and the approval process takes seven days. After that, we’ll send someone to escort you abroad.”

At Shoretown International Airport, Nathaniel Stillman hung up the phone before he canceled his flight to Motiva.

He and Yvonne Cole had planned to go to Motiva that day to take their wedding photos. However, on the way to the airport, Yvonne received a phone call and abruptly left, claiming there was an emergency at work.

Nathaniel waited until the flight took off, but still, Yvonne never showed up.

Some time later, he saw a post on Instagram from someone named “Louie the Sick.”

“Thank you for spending my first birthday back home with me, Yvie. This is the happiest moment of my life.”

There were three pictures attached to the post.

The first was a photo of Yvonne and Louie Lancaster together at a hotel.

The second was a selfie of Louie with a lipstick kiss mark on his cheek.

The third showed a beaming Yvonne with cake smeared on her face.

As Nathaniel stared at the post, he muttered to himself, “So this is the ‘work emergency’ you mentioned, Yvonne.”

Nathaniel and Yvonne’s relationship didn’t begin with love. Rather, it started with a sense of obligation.

Nathaniel had lost both of his parents at the age of six. In middle school, he’d nearly dropped out because he couldn’t afford tuition and fees. Fortunately, during a charity event organized in his town, a businessman from Shoretown named Ferguson Cole sponsored him.

Nathaniel was a brilliant student who scored top in the province. He was later admitted to Capital Medical College and eventually earned his PhD there.

After entering university, he used national scholarships and part-time job earnings to repay Ferguson for his support. Out of gratitude, he also visited Ferguson in Shoretown every year.

Six years ago, Ferguson revealed he was in the late stages of cancer. His daughter, Yvonne, had no mother and was now going to lose her father too.

Ferguson, who admired Nathaniel’s character, hoped he would marry Yvonne.

At that time, Nathaniel had just earned his doctorate and was planning to pursue further studies overseas. However, Ferguson told him that he should be grateful since he would’ve ended up as a poor dropout farmer without the Cole family’s help.

Having no argument against that, Nathaniel reluctantly agreed to Ferguson’s wishes. He then moved to Shoretown and took a job in the emergency department at a top-tier hospital. As Ferguson had requested, he also began pursuing Yvonne.

After dating for five years, Nathaniel and Yvonne finally started planning their wedding.

However, just half a month ago, while Nathaniel was on duty in the clinic, he encountered Louie Lancaster, who’d come in for a consultation.

Louie insisted on following Nathaniel on Instagram, and from Louie’s frequent posts, Nathaniel slowly realized that Louie was Yvonne’s long-lost first love who had gone abroad.

From that day onward, Yvonne began leaving early and returning later than her usual time. Even when she was spending time with Nathaniel, she’d often make excuses to leave.

Nathaniel understood that Yvonne’s heart now fully belonged to Louie. And since that was the case, he would let them have each other.

Back at home, Nathaniel listed his custom-made wedding suit—which had cost him over ten thousand dollars—on a secondhand resale platform. After all, since he had decided to break things off with Yvonne, the suit was no longer of any use.

Due to the brand new suit’s low price, it was sold almost immediately after it was listed.

Yvonne happened to return home just as Nathaniel was handing off the package to the courier.

Upon seeing the delivery guy take the suit away, Yvonne asked with a slight frown, “Where are you sending the suit to?”

“It didn’t fit right. I’m sending it back to the store for some alterations,” Nathaniel casually replied, making up an excuse.

He had already made up his mind to leave, and he didn’t want Yvonne using the Cole family’s past kindness to emotionally blackmail him. So before going abroad, he had no intention of letting Yvonne know about his departure.

After the courier left, Yvonne hugged Nathaniel tightly. “I’m sorry about today. I really couldn’t get away.” Maybe out of guilt, she looked at Nathaniel and leaned in to kiss him on the lips.

However, Nathaniel was suddenly reminded of the lipstick mark on Louie’s face in his Instagram feed. Instantly disgusted, he pushed her away.

“Nathaniel? What’s wrong?”

Upon seeing Yvonne’s confused gaze, Nathaniel simply replied, “I just got back from the airport. I haven’t washed my face.”

Yvonne chuckled. “It’s not like I mind.” She leaned in again to kiss him, only to have Nathaniel turn his face to the side.

That slight movement made Yvonne realize something was off. “Are you upset because I didn’t go with you to Motiva today? Don’t worry. After I get through these next few days, I promise I’ll go with you. I care about our wedding even more than you do.”

Nathaniel found Yvonne’s feigned affection laughable. In his heart, he knew there was no future for them.

Just as he was trying to figure out how to respond to her, Yvonne’s phone rang.

Nathaniel discreetly glanced at the screen and saw that the contact name was a single word.

“Lou.”

Nathaniel knew immediately that it was Louie.

Yvonne quickly stepped into the bedroom to answer the call, instinctively leaving the door slightly ajar. When she came out again, she hastily grabbed her bag and car keys. “There’s been a security incident at the office. I need to head over right away.”

Nathaniel forced a smile and nodded.

Just as Yvonne reached the door, he suddenly called out to her.

Yvonne turned back with a puzzled look.

Nathaniel reminded her with a small smile, “Be careful on the road.”

“I will.”

As the door shut behind her, it felt like the door to Nathaniel’s heart had also closed for good.

After Yvonne left, Nathaniel checked Louie’s Instagram again. The location tag on his most recent post was none other than the largest five-star hotel in Shoretown.

The post read, “I miss your scent. I can’t help but breathe you in, over and over.”

Nathaniel stared at the screen, dazed. Suddenly, he recalled the moment Louie had come to the hospital for a consultation.

“Dr. Stillman, when I’d just gotten back to the country, I couldn’t resist doing it with a friend in the car. We didn’t use protection. Will she get pregnant?”

At the time, Nathaniel had found the question bizarre, but he still gave a professional response. However, in retrospect, it all made sense now.

The “friend” Louie had mentioned… was Yvonne. Not to mention, his real reason for coming to the hospital and adding Nathaniel on Instagram was to flaunt it.

Nathaniel let out a quiet laugh at how Louie had completely underestimated his value.

After all, there was no way Nathaniel would want a woman so thoroughly stained.

After Yvonne left, Nathaniel began clearing out everything they no longer needed.

The villa they were currently living in didn’t belong to either of them.

After Ferguson passed away, his estate was inherited by Yvonne. However, due to her lack of business experience, she was tricked by a business partner and lost everything—millions in assets vanished, and all properties under her name were sold to pay off debts.

Fortunately, Nathaniel qualified for Shoretown’s elite talent housing policy and applied through the local human resources department to obtain free residential rights to this villa.

That was the only reason Yvonne hadn’t ended up homeless.

Now that he had decided to leave the country, naturally, the house needed to be returned.

While packing, Nathaniel found a box of love letters he had written to Yvonne under the bed.

In the beginning, Yvonne had high standards and looked down on Nathaniel for growing up in a rural place. She had long refused to accept his advances.

Having never been in a relationship before, Nathaniel studied TV dramas and began writing Yvonne love letters every day.

When Yvonne’s business failed and she found herself millions in debt, Nathaniel gave her all of his savings to help her repay what she owed.

At the time, she had borrowed heavily from loan sharks. When thugs came to the door wielding knives to collect the money, Nathaniel had shielded her with his body. He even transferred all of Yvonne’s debts to be under his name.

He had shouted at them, “I’ll repay everything she owes. If I can’t, I’ll give you my life. But starting today, you’re not allowed to threaten her again. I’ll bring you down with me otherwise.”

It was then that Yvonne was finally moved. She kissed Nathaniel and tenderly whispered into his ear, “I used to have someone else in my heart. But now, I’ll give you that place.”

As Nathaniel weighed the stack of letters in his hand, he gave a bitter smile.

To win Yvonne’s heart, he had written hundreds of love letters, which now added up to dozens of pounds.

He boxed them up and brought them to the local recycling station.

With the few dollars he received from selling them, he bought candy and gave it to some children playing by the roadside.

Now that the love was gone, those letters were nothing more than scrap paper.

That evening, just as Nathaniel was about to start cooking, Yvonne returned with bags full of seafood.

She showed them off proudly to Nathaniel. “I ran into a new neighbor today who turned out to be my middle school classmate! I invited him over for dinner tonight. He should be here any minute.”

Once inside, she put on an apron. “I’ll cook tonight. You can relax.”

Nathaniel watched as she stepped into the kitchen, the corners of his mouth curling into a bitter smile.

In their five years of dating, Yvonne had never cooked for him. She used to say that she hated the smell of oil and smoke, so Nathaniel had always been the one to cook and clean.

Now, he finally understood that it wasn’t the smoke she disliked—she just didn’t want to cook for him.

That night’s dinner was more elaborate than any holiday meal.

With boiled crabs, ceviche, grilled shrimp, and fish chowder, there were 12 dishes in total, 11 of which were seafood. The twelfth was a basic stir-fried vegetable dish added just to round out the meal.

Just as the food was being set on the table, the villa’s doorbell rang.

Yvonne hurried out to open the door and brought a man inside.

She warmly clinged to his arm and announced, “Nathaniel, let me introduce you—this is my middle school classmate, Louie Lancaster. He just moved into our neighborhood.”

Louie smiled and greeted Nathaniel, “Mr. Stillman, I’ve heard so much about you. Yvie has told me all about you.”

Nathaniel smiled faintly. “I know him. He came to the hospital to see me.”

Yvonne’s eyelid twitched slightly. “What for?”