chapter 3

Rain misted the air. Cold gathered across Jin Ran’s face as though I had struck a fatal nerve.

He looked down at me like I was a joke. At last, his thin lips curved into a vicious sneer.

“Who do you think you are?”

The photograph vanished from my fingers and landed with perfect accuracy in the charcoal brazier.

“I didn’t forget,” he said, voice steeped in ice. “I forgot to throw it away.”

Sparks consumed the yellowed picture. It felt as if my heart had been laid over the fire. My eyes burned.

Then something inside me went hollow.

I was an excellent actress. Even with tears about to fall, I could stop them in an instant.

I calmly set his wallet on the table and smiled. “Goodbye.”

I meant to leave with dignity, but the weather betrayed me. My stiletto sank into the wet lawn, and I nearly fell. To hide my embarrassment, I crouched and pretended nothing was wrong while tugging at the heel.

A hand seized my shoulder and hauled me upright.

“Who wears heels to a place like this?” Jin Ran snapped.

I was angry too. I shook him off. “A beautiful woman’s affairs are none of your business.”

Hands on his hips, he glared at me while struggling to contain his temper.

I ignored him, took out my keys, and headed for my car. The moment I opened the driver’s door, a hand reached past me and took the keys.

Done arguing, Jin Ran shoved me into the back seat and got behind the wheel. The door slammed with enough force to vent his anger.

“The mountain road is difficult. I’m driving.”

It was not a request.

I stared out the window. During the entire two-hour drive, neither of us spoke.

When we reached my underground garage, I got out and went upstairs without a word.

Five minutes later, Jin Ran appeared at my open door, my keys in his hand and that mocking amusement back in his eyes.

As I approached, I caught the faint smell of smoke. So he had spent one cigarette downstairs deciding whether to come up.

“Keys.” I held out my hand, deliberately making things difficult.

He twirled them and watched me without returning them.

Before he could speak, a door opened behind me.

Someone was in my apartment.

Every hair on my body rose. I ran barefoot into the living room, where a woman in a scandalously revealing outfit threw herself into my arms.

“Mianmian, I’ve been dumped!” Xie Rao wailed. Her smoky eye makeup had run until she looked like a panda.

Relief washed over me. “Didn’t you only just start dating him?”

She and her new boyfriend were both well-known in the entertainment industry and seemed like a good match.

“He wasn’t honest.” She sobbed against me.

“About what?”

“We went to a hotel tonight. Do you know how awful it was? He said he caught Covid and it left him with… lasting effects!”

Laughing seemed rude, so I pressed my fingers to my brow and fought it. “I have seen reports of that kind of aftereffect.”

“Lies. All lies. He was dishonest, so I dumped him.”

“Was dishonesty really the reason?” I was about to lose the battle with my smile.

“You don’t understand my suffering.” She gestured wildly. “Can you even imagine it?”

I considered this gravely, then shook my head. “No.”

I could feel a stare boring into the back of my skull. Remembering Jin Ran in the entryway, I added, “I’ve only seen one man’s. I have nothing to compare it with.”

“Seriously? In show business, and you’re that conservative?” Xie Rao forgot to cry. “Or was that one man so extraordinary you never got over him?”

I could imagine Jin Ran’s expression without turning around.

I deliberately drawled, “Hardly.”

Before she could ask more, I pointed toward the door. “Go home. I have company.”

Only then did she notice Jin Ran. Her eyes brightened. She leaned close and whispered, “Is that the man you were talking about?”

I arched a brow but said nothing.

“Say no more. One look at him and I can tell he’s extraordinary.” She grabbed her coat and bag. “Have fun tonight.”

“Get out.”

As she fled, she turned and gave Jin Ran an encouraging fist. My wine went down the wrong way, and I coughed violently.

My car keys landed on the bar. I looked up into Jin Ran’s cold, dark eyes.

“Sorry.” I took another sip. The apology lacked sincerity. “That must have been quite a show.”

Xie Rao was shameless, and I was hardly innocent. Together, our conversations had never known boundaries. Tonight I had wanted Jin Ran to hear every word.

One hand in his pocket, he sneered. “What happened? The old man couldn’t satisfy you?”

In an instant, I was back at our breakup.

Overnight, ugly rumors about me had multiplied. One claimed an elderly director kept me as his mistress. I happened to break up with Jin Ran then, and in anger, I had said, “I like old men. Rich, independent, quick to die, and generous with their estates. Can you offer me that?”

He had carried that hatred all these years.

The aftertaste of wine clung to my mouth. I lit a cigarette, smoke veiling my eyes.

“Jin Ran, you are the only man I have ever been with.”

His chin lifted, his brows severe. “You think I’d believe that?”

Of course he did not.

I leaned across the bar until my lips nearly touched his and breathed a thin stream of smoke between us.

“Believe whatever you want.”