Chapter 2

"Let's date."

At that moment, I was standing at the other end of the hallway, holding the lunchbox Oscar’s mom had asked me to bring to him, watching in a daze as the boy I liked chose someone else.

Taking all the meat out of his lunch was the only way I could express my anger.

Of course, he didn't care at all.

His heart and mind were filled only with Sharon and the thrill of a new relationship.

I cried and decided to give up on him.

But fate, ever the trickster, had its own designs in store.

They broke up soon after.

When Sharon got bored, she dumped Oscar without a second thought.

She quickly turned her attention to the new transfer student, the school bully, who later became her husband.

The school bully came from a wealthy and powerful family, someone who could give her everything she wanted—money, status, excitement.

Oscar refused to let things end like that.

He kept looking for her, over and over, until the school bully noticed.

That was when the bullying began.

Oscar's father had passed away early, and he had been raised by his mother, often relying on my family for help during the toughest times.

How could he ever stand a chance against someone with wealth and power?

I still remember the day our college entrance exams ended. Everyone else was celebrating, but I was out in the rain, searching through the streets until I finally found Oscar, barely conscious in an alley.

His exam admission ticket had been torn to pieces and thrown to the ground, and he was bruised and battered, his face swollen and blackened.

The moment he saw me, he grabbed me in a tight hug, his whole body trembling.

"They want to destroy me," Oscar said through clenched teeth. "I swear I'll make the one who abandoned me pay dearly."

All I could do was try to comfort him. "Everything will be okay."

Suddenly, he looked up and stared straight into my eyes.

"Joelle, you're all I have left."

He said it like that.

But I avoided his gaze and whispered softly, "I'll wait for you to retake the exams."

I didn't want to take advantage of anyone's vulnerability, nor did I want to be anyone's substitute. I would always be myself, as Joelle Widney, through and through, never one to settle for less.

I remained guarded until he retook his exams, got into my university, and spent three whole years chasing after me.

He said, "I finally understand what I missed out on."

There was such sincerity in his eyes that I finally decided to be brave, just this once.

The prince had finally turned around to see the Cinderella behind him, and everything seemed like the perfect ending in a fairytale.

…

Seven years later, at a class reunion.

Oscar arranged everything a week in advance, buying me an expensive dress, a handbag, and shoes — the entire outfit was costly.

I couldn’t help but laugh. "This is a bit over the top."

He simply said, "I just want everyone to see how happy you are as my wife."

But in the end, I couldn’t make it because of an urgent matter at work.

Oscar wasn't pleased. While I was in a meeting, he kept calling me. When I didn’t answer, he started bombarding me with text messages.

“Joelle, we're about to start a family. Can’t you just quit that pointless job? It’s our class reunion today, and so many old friends will be there. What do you want them to think of me? That I’m some kind of failure who can’t even support his own wife?”

I took a deep breath and replied as quickly as I could, "Oscar, I'm not a trophy for you to show off."

Even if my salary was much lower than his, it was still a job I loved, and no one could take that away from me. A woman in a marriage must have her own source of income.

Oscar's final text read: "What's more important, your job or our marriage?"