During the year my boyfriend was at his absolute poorest, I broke up with him. Later, he achieved success and fame, and used every means possible to marry me. Everyone said I was the love of his life, his most cherished wife. Until later, when he brought a different woman home every night, breaking my heart, turning me into a laughingstock in our circle. And I neither cried nor made a scene, quietly staying in the study, never disturbing his affairs. He went mad with anger, kissing my lips fiercely, asking in a low voice: "Aren't you jealous?" He didn't know I was sick. Every day he sought his crazy revenge on me, I was silently counting down how many days I had left to live. 1. In the third year of my marriage to Arthur, he took a young, beautiful college student as his mistress. The girl's name was Mia, she looked pure and cute, exactly the type Arthur liked a lot. Arthur kept her for over half a year. Besides me, she was the woman Arthur kept by his side the longest. Friends advised me to be careful. They all said Arthur seemed to have developed real feelings for Mia. The first time I met Mia was on my birthday. I had been having nosebleeds since morning. I went to the hospital for a checkup, and the doctor said I would probably only live until next spring. I nodded gently and whispered, it's okay. I wasn't afraid of dying, but I was a little afraid of pain. I heard there was a very expensive medicine that could make me live a bit more comfortably. There wasn't enough money in my bank account, so I went to Arthur's company to find him. I happened to run into Mia there; she had just graduated and was working as Arthur's secretary. Arthur was in a meeting, so I sat outside waiting. Mia kept staring at me, secretly whispering to the colleagues around her: "Is that the boss's wife? She's so ugly, all dried up, looking like she's about to die." "You all say I look like her, where's the resemblance? I'm way prettier than her." The bright glass reflected my image: no makeup, bundled in a bulky down jacket. I really wasn't pretty, and I really was about to die. A colleague pulled Mia back and whispered, "That's just because she isn't dressed up. If she put on some makeup, ten of you combined wouldn't be as pretty as her." "Also, don't provoke her just because the boss spoils you." "You don't know how much the boss loves her. If you make her unhappy, be careful the boss doesn't kill you." 2. Hearing that Arthur loved me very much, Mia pouted unconvinced and rolled her eyes at me. She brought me a cup of tea, asking in a soft, delicate voice: "Chloe, how could the boss bear to make you wait this long?" "So strange. Before, whenever I came to see him, no matter how busy he was, he would always keep me company first. He said I was the most important." "I thought he was this considerate to other women too..." She curved her eyes and smiled sweetly; the way she smiled looked very much like me when I was younger. I thought about it, Arthur and Mia were indeed different. He had countless mistresses, using them as tools to spite me, bringing a different woman home every night, testing my reaction time and time again. Arthur never tangled with them for long, maybe a day or two, maybe a couple of weeks, he always got bored quickly. Only Mia, Arthur kept her on the outside, accompanying her to dinner, shopping, and movies. They were like an ordinary, loving couple. Arthur gave her money, and also gave her love. I looked at Mia, smiled at her, and gently asked: "Since you are so important, how can Arthur bear to make you a shameful mistress?" "You should talk him into divorcing me sooner and marrying you." Mia's face instantly changed. Angered out of embarrassment, she cursed me in a low voice: "The unloved one is the mistress, you are the redundant one!" "Aren't you just relying on having met Mr. Vance a few years earlier than me? But look at you now, old and ugly, what do you have to compete with me..." Her colleague was probably afraid I would get angry, and quickly came over to grab her arm, trying to pull her away. Actually, I was fine with it. I had long ago promised myself that I wouldn't get angry for Arthur, nor would I be sad for him. Even less would I fight with other women out of jealousy over him. He wasn't worth it. 3. Mia was yanked back by someone, lost her balance, and fell to the ground. The teacup in her hand shattered, leaving a deep gash on her palm, blood spilling all over the floor. Through the glass of the conference room, Arthur saw the injured Mia. With everyone watching, he threw down the documents in his hand, pushed the door open, walked over, and scooped Mia into his arms. He cursed coldly: "Who the fuck hurt her?" The well-meaning colleague backed away two steps, pale with fear. I sneered and said: "I did it, and she deserved it." Mia glared at me through her tears, shouting loudly: "Yes, I deserved it! Who asked me to fall in love with someone I shouldn't have, getting cursed at as a homewrecker and a mistress." "But Mr. Vance, as long as you love me too, I want to stay by your side for the rest of my life. No one can separate us." She cried so adorably, even saying such absurd things seemed brave and resolute. Arthur was amused by her, raised his hand to wipe away her tears, coaxing her: "Be good, you've cried so much you look like a little kitten." He really treated her differently. I lowered my eyelids, too lazy to look anymore, and only said to Arthur: "For my birthday this year, I want fifty thousand." It sounds funny, we were husband and wife, yet we didn't even have each other's contact information. Except for asking for money, I never sought him out on my own. Before we got married, we had an agreement. He wanted my person, I wanted his money. Arthur always hated that I was a gold digger. But in the past, whenever I asked, no matter how much money, he would give it to me, always more, never less. Only this once, he looked at me with a smile, smiled very coldly, and said slowly: "You want money, sure." "But, Chloe, lower your noble head first and say sorry to Mia." Arthur wanted to use two hundred thousand to buy my pride and buy an apology for Mia. This was the first time he humiliated me with money for another woman. I slowly clenched my fists and smiled softly. Enduring the sudden surge of pain in my body, I turned and walked away. The money, I don't want it anymore. I'm suddenly very curious, Arthur. If one day, you knew this money could have let me live a little longer, knew how much I suffered before I died. What expression would you have? 4. I went home alone, curled up painfully under the covers, sweating cold sweat from the pain. Taking some sleeping pills, I lied to myself. Once I fall asleep, it won't hurt anymore. In a groggy state, I had a dream. I dreamt of when I was twenty, Arthur was very poor, but he loved me very much. That year on my birthday, passing by a cafe, I saw a couple sitting by the glass window. The girl held a pristine white little cake in her hand, looking very delicate, very delicious, and also very expensive. I still remember, it was snowing heavily that day. I held a small pile of snow, smiled at Arthur, and asked him: "Arthur, look at this pile of snow, does it look like a cake?" Arthur gritted his teeth, reached out to hug me tightly, not letting me see his secretly reddened eyes. Three days later, he appeared downstairs at my dorm holding a large cake. Buying a whole cake cost $35. And he stood on the wind-blown, snowy street, handing out three thousand flyers, just to earn $15. I looked at the chilblains on his fingers and cried uselessly. Looking up at him, I yelled: "Arthur, your hands can be used for reading, for writing, but you ruin them just to make me happy." I said, I was completely unworthy of such an expensive cake... Arthur frowned and immediately refuted me. He said: "Chloe, you are the best girl in the world. You deserve all the good things in this world." That day, I cried while eating the whole cake. It's been a long time, I can't even remember its taste anymore. I only know that since that day, I don't think I've ever eaten a cake that tasted better than it. I slept for a long time. Groggily, I heard my phone ringing. Answering the call, I heard Arthur calling me from the other end: "Chloe." I smiled softly and called him sweetly: "Arthur, it's snowing heavily, I want to eat cake." Without waiting for him to speak, I rolled over and fell back into a deep sleep. 5. I slept all the way until midnight when I was woken up by hunger. I went to the living room to find something to eat, only to discover Arthur had actually come back. He had bought a large house for Mia. They lived there together. Mia would cook for him, make him happy, and wait for him to come home. Arthur was doing very well, he hadn't come home in a long time. He leaned lazily against the floor-to-ceiling window, a cigarette in his mouth, staring intently at me. With downcast eyes, I walked past him, only to be grabbed by him. He frowned, asking me softly: "How did you lose so much weight?" His tone was gentle, as if he still loved me very much. I froze for a moment, shook off his hand hard, and cursed him: "Arthur, are you crazy?" He looked at his empty hand, his face slowly turning cold. When I walked over to the dining table and saw a cake covered in candles, I realized that the phone call hadn't been a dream. I said I wanted to eat cake, and Arthur went and bought it. What was this? Suing for peace? But I was already dying. I didn't need a cake anymore, and I didn't need Arthur anymore. I grabbed the cake and threw it into the trash can. Arthur gritted his back teeth, reached out, and pinned me against the wall. He cursed viciously: "Chloe, are you fucking playing me?" I smiled and admitted it: "Arthur, I am playing you, so what?" "I say I want cake, and you go buy cake. Why are you still as pathetic as before?" I deliberately stabbed at his heart, watching Arthur's face turn completely cold. He ruthlessly put out his cigarette, dragged me into the bedroom, and threw me onto the bed. Arthur was probably mad with anger. He acted like an out-of-control beast, roughly tearing open my nightgown. I was scared, clenching my fists to hit him: "Arthur, you bastard! Don't touch me! You disgust me!" He pinned my legs down to stop me from struggling, lowered his head, and bit my neck, the pain bringing tears to my eyes. He pressed against my ear and cursed me: "Chloe, would it kill you to soften up to me?" "Do you know how many years I've waited for you to coax me?" "Do you know how happy I was when you told me you wanted cake?" "And then you fucking treat me like a fool?" He looked up, staring at me with bloodshot eyes. I held back my tears and glared back. In the dim room, neither of us spoke, neither willing to admit defeat first. Arthur leaned down, getting closer and closer to me. Just as he was about to kiss my lips, his phone suddenly rang. It was Mia calling. Arthur paused but still answered it. I heard Mia crying and asking him: "Mr. Vance, are you really not wanting me anymore because of Chloe? You clearly like me." "I'm at a bar right now, I drank a lot, and a man is harassing me..." "I'm so scared. Come pick me up and take me home quickly, okay?" Arthur didn't speak. He just stared at me, smiling coldly, and softly commanded me: "Chloe, beg me." "Beg me to stay. As long as you beg me, I won't go." He seemed to have forgotten. A long time ago, I had also put down my pride and begged him: "Arthur, can we have a calm and peaceful talk?" "Can we stop fighting?" "Can we just be good to each other?" "Can you treat me a little better?" That day, Arthur stared at me coldly, smiled, and said: "Chloe, you don't deserve it." Those three words had always pierced my heart. Until today, I could finally return them verbatim. I grabbed his collar, enunciating each word clearly: "Arthur, you don't deserve it." Arthur was silent for a moment, then suddenly laughed self-deprecatingly. He brought the phone to his ear and told Mia: "Wait for me to take you home." Without sparing me another glance, he got up, slammed the door, and left. 6. The next day, photos of Arthur getting into a fight with another man over Mia spread through our circle. This was the first time his affairs with other women became widely known. Several reporters were waiting at my door. When I went out, they harassed me with endless questions. Arthur's company had grown rapidly in recent years, gaining a lot of influence in Capitol City circles. He was young, wealthy, and handsome, very famous online, and frequently trended. A girl asked me: "Mrs. Vance, what do you have to say about the incident between Mr. Vance and Mia?" I kept walking, not even turning my head as I asked her back: "One is a man who cheated during his marriage, and the other is a woman who knowingly became a mistress. What do you expect me to say?" The girl chased after me, continuing to ask: "But I heard that when Mr. Vance was at his poorest, you dumped him for money." "Later, when he became successful, you emotionally blackmailed him and used every means to marry him..." "Now that Mr. Vance has found true love, and he and Mia are a perfect match, it's you who insists on occupying the position of Mrs. Vance, and you even call her a mistress." "Don't you think you're bullying people?" I stopped, looked back with a sneer, and grabbed the press badge on the girl's chest. She was an intern reporter, and the back of her badge holder also had a student ID from South Mountain University. I calmly asked her: "You're Mia's friend, right?" "Back then, Arthur used unscrupulous means to marry me. Did you really think I wanted to marry him?" "Everyone in our circle knows this. Are you telling me you don't? Or did you come here specifically to sling mud at me just to help your little friend take my place?" Her expression changed. She snatched her badge back nervously and defended herself righteously: "I am her friend, but I am a reporter, and everything I say is objective and fair." "If you really didn't want to marry Mr. Vance, and now he loves someone else, why don't you divorce him?" I smiled, just about to speak, when my nose suddenly started bleeding again, making me look a mess. Someone laughed at me, saying: "Mrs. Vance says she doesn't care and was forced to marry Mr. Vance, so why are you so anxious and angry that your nose is bleeding?" I reached out a fingertip and wiped away the blood that had fallen on my lip. I said calmly: "I'm not angry, I'm just sick. I'm dying. I've been getting nosebleeds a lot lately." The crowd suddenly went quiet, and everyone stopped laughing. Only that girl continued: "Stop pretending. You get a nosebleed and start playing sick and playing the victim." "I really can't stand women like you. Fighting over a man all day, threatening suicide, using all sorts of shameless tricks. You're a disgrace to women." After saying that, she tossed her ponytail and walked away. Her back, just like Mia's, was infuriating. 7. The video of me being surrounded and interviewed by reporters quickly started trending. Arthur responded directly. He said: "I will never get a divorce. Stop bothering my wife." That afternoon, Mia's reporter friend was fired. Many netizens cursed me: "This woman is so disgusting. If she doesn't want to be married, then don't be. Acting like someone held a knife to her neck to force her, pretending to have no choice." "She even claims to be Boss Vance's one true love. I think she's just a manipulative 'white lotus'." "Boss Vance defends her so much, I'm getting jealous..." "And this woman dumped CEO Vance for money in the past, and now married him for money." "Her saying she doesn't want to is just playing hard to get, being a hypocrite." Suddenly, a netizen interjected: "Keep your mouths clean. If you don't know the truth, then shut the fuck up." Everyone started chasing him, asking, what is the truth? The truth, when told, is actually quite cliché. That year, my mom was diagnosed with a terminal illness. The doctor said the genetic probability of this disease was very high. Not only could I be struck by serious illness at any time, but if I married and had children, my kids would probably also face the risk of getting sick. The day my mom got sick, she bled a whole basin of nosebleeds. She lost too much blood and was in a coma for three days. After she woke up, she told me to break up with Arthur. I stared at her blankly, whispering: "Mom, he won't despise me." It was as if I was saying it for my mom to hear, but also for myself. My mom gently held my hand, nodded, and said: "Mom knows, he's a good boy." She paused, smiling as she said: "You two have been dating since high school. He rides his bike to wait for you at the alley entrance every morning, did you think I didn't know?" "Once I saw him buy a meat bun for your breakfast." "He only had a dollar twenty in his pocket. The meat bun cost a dollar, and with the remaining twenty cents, he bought two cups of soy milk. One for him, one for you." "You were so greedy and clueless then. He lied and said he had already eaten, and you believed him, happily eating the meat bun." "Little Arthur was so pitiful back then. His parents divorced, no one wanted him, and they only gave him a tiny bit of living expenses every month. He lived like an orphan." "A dollar twenty was probably his living expenses for the whole day. He didn't even think about it, just spent it all on you." "At the time, I felt my daughter was so lucky to have found such a good boy." "He's a good student, a good person, good in every way." "It's precisely because he's so good that Mom's heart aches for him." That year, Arthur's grandmother also fell ill and was hospitalized. He grew up with his grandmother and they were very close. To pay for his grandmother's medical treatment, he was overwhelmed with busyness every day. My mom said Arthur's wings were too thin. Carrying his grandmother, and then carrying me, he wouldn't be able to fly. I pinched my palms, and after a long time, my voice trembling, I managed to say: "Mom... I can't bear to let him go." One sentence of "can't bear to let go", and tears fell like rain. 8. Things from ten years ago still make my heart ache when I think of them now. I bought persimmons, which were my mom's favorite, preparing to go to the cemetery to see her one last time. I'm going to die soon, I need to tell her, and then, I won't come again. Before going, I went to Arthur's company first to get something from him. When my mom was still alive, she always liked Arthur. That year, before she got sick, Arthur and I still deeply loved each other. My mom went to the temple to pray and got two lucky dolls. Inside a boy lucky doll was Arthur's birthdate, and inside a girl lucky doll was my birthdate. To protect our safety, health, and ensure that the two people in love could be together forever. My mom told me to give the dolls to Arthur. Arthur didn't want his doll, insisting on taking mine. He said the girl doll with the red cheeks looked just like me, ugly-cute. He said looking at her was like looking at me. He liked looking at me. That lucky doll was still sitting on Arthur's office desk to this day. I was afraid that after I died, Arthur would throw it away like trash. That was bought for me by my mom, I had to bring it back, put it in front of her tombstone, and let it keep her company for me. When I arrived at the company, Arthur was watching my video from this morning. In the video, I had a bloody nose and was saying I was dying. Seeing me, he tossed his phone aside, saying nothing, asking nothing. I looked at his desk; the spot where the lucky doll used to be was empty. Frowning, I asked him: "Where's my lucky doll?" 9. Mia chased after me. Hearing me ask for the item, she said with a smile: "A couple of days ago I pricked my finger, and Mr. Vance felt very bad. He said he couldn't bear to see me hurt, so he gave me that lucky doll." "He also said that doll looks a lot like me, kind of clumsy, but he really likes it." "Chloe, do you think he's talking nonsense? I'm so pretty, I don't look like that ugly doll at all..." I clenched my fists fiercely, glaring at Arthur, demanding: "What right do you have to give my things to someone else?" "That's what my mom prayed for for me. What right do you have to give it to someone else!" He smiled, acting like a bastard to anger me: "That lucky doll was yours? Sorry, I forgot. I thought it was just some worthless junk..." Before he could finish, I picked up the ashtray on the desk and threw it at him. Arthur didn't dodge. The crystal ashtray hit his forehead, drawing blood. Mia screamed and scolded me: "Are you crazy? Hitting someone over a broken doll!" She turned and ran out, returning quickly, clutching my lucky doll in her hand. She threw the doll at me, yelling: "Your thing, have it back!" "It's a cheap piece of junk that no one cares about even if it's thrown away. Did you think I'd covet it?" "Stop acting crazy, take your things and get out!" The ceramic lucky doll fell to the floor, shattering into pieces. I saw my name and my birthdate broken into several pieces, just like my life, probably never to be repaired. I suddenly felt that I really was going to die. But I didn't want to die yet, I hadn't seen my mom yet. I was afraid that if she didn't see me, she would keep waiting for me. My head buzzed. I raised my hand and slapped Mia, screaming like a madwoman: "That's my mom's thing! It hurts me! My heart hurts!" Before I could finish, my tears fell. I reached out to grab Mia, but Arthur grabbed my wrist and stopped me. My eyes burned. Staring fixedly at him, crying and crying, I started to laugh. I scolded him: "You know I'm dying, and you still bully me. Arthur, you really are a piece of work." He raised his hand to wipe away my tears, asking in return: "First the cake, now you're dying. Chloe, is playing me for a fool really that fun for you?" "You don't need to cry for me to see, I won't feel sorry for you anymore..." Before he could finish his sentence, a drop of blood suddenly fell, landing on the back of his hand. I got a nosebleed again. This time, it was worse than before. My legs went weak, my whole body aching so much I couldn't stand, and I fell straight down. Arthur caught me, shouting: "Call an ambulance!" He was powerless, only able to watch as my blood flowed more and more, staining his white shirt red.
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