Chapter 1

My boyfriend owes a lot of money to treat his mother's illness.

In order to pay off our debts, we work part-time at the company during the day and part-time at night and on weekends.

On this day, I disguised myself as a female ghost and lurked in the corner of a Horror Escape Room, preparing to scare the upcoming guests according to the normal process.

Soon, a couple with disheveled clothes rushed in, kissing passionately.

"Tyler, be gentle. You just bought me a limited edition underwear, why are you tearing it up so soon? You've already torn seven pieces today..."

"You've ruined my makeup, and I still have to go to the hotel tonight to celebrate your mother's birthday."

Tyler? How coincidence, my boyfriend’s name was also Tyler.

But I thought they were totally two different people, after all, my boyfriend's mother is a vegetable and is now lying in the hospital.

The next second, the man noticed me-in-mask and then raised his hand to smash the warm lace underwear and a stack of money onto my face.

"Close your fucking eyes and get out!"

Heat blood flowed out from my forehead, but I stood still...

Because of this voice... I knew too well, it is my boyfriend whom I have loved for five years.

...

"Emma, what are you waiting for?! Don't disturb CEO Hayes and his girlfriend. Get out now!!" My manager's urgent voice came through my earpiece, snapping me back to reality.

I grabbed the props from the floor and fled the dim room, with intimate sounds growing louder behind me.

When I reached the front desk, I looked down at what I was carrying. Mixed in with the plastic props and fake blood were the lace underwear and the stack of cash.

The money was substantial—at least eight thousand dollars in crisp new bills. No wonder it had cut my forehead when it hit me.

If this wad of cash hadn't been thrown at my face by my boyfriend while he was getting intimate with another woman, I might have been happy.

Maybe I have even taken a photo to show Tyler: "Look, honey, we have money for your mom's medication this month. You don't have to work so hard anymore."

But now... CEO Hayes?

Is such a foreign title for the man who, in order to treat his mother's illness,

worked part-time jobs from dawn till dusk,

huddled with me in a rented room eating fast food,

even promised that he would love me for a lifetime?

If the woman in the room was his girlfriend, then what was I?

The items tumbled from my arms to the floor with loud clatter.

Several wealthy-looking young men sitting at the front desk computers turned toward the noise and smirked knowingly.

"That's our man Tyler, always going hard. His princess returns from abroad and he's already so desperately throwing money and effort around. Those panties must cost at least twenty grand each, and he tears through them like paper. Wonder if that miserable poor girl knows about this?"

"Why would he care? Tyler's loaded. Besides, what could that poor girl do about it? Olivia dumped Tyler five years ago to study abroad, and he only hooked up with that other chick out of spite. Now that Olivia's back, what use does he have for her? Gotta hand it to Tyler for playing poor for five years."

"Well, he's always been lovesick over Olivia since they were kids. He swore he'd only spend money on her and no other woman would ever get a cent. That idiot Emma actually believed his sob story and works multiple jobs to help pay his 'debts' and save his 'sick mother.' Holy fuck that's hilarious!!!"

These words stabbed into my ears like sharp knives, and in the blink of an eye, it felt as if my heart had been shattered into pieces.

Chapter 2

The men were staring at the monitor with excitement. I followed their gaze and felt my breath stop.

On the night-vision camera feed, Tyler was pressing the woman against the wall, their bodies intertwined, as if he wanted to devour her, expressing all his longing.

In five years together, I had never seen Tyler so passionate and wild.

As if sensing something, he suddenly looked toward the camera, quickly covered Olivia with his jacket, and grabbed a prop skull to throw at the camera.

"GET LOST! You think you can look at my Liv? I'll gouge your eyes out if you keep staring!"

The screen immediately turned to static. One of the men sheepishly rubbed his nose.

"It was so dark, and he covered her up so well. What could we even see? Why's he so angry?"

"The other day I joked about checking Emma's body, and Tyler just laughed and nodded. But with Olivia, she's clearly his precious treasure. Totally different treatment."

I clenched my fists tightly, then let them go in defeat.

When faced with an unbearable truth, your first reaction isn't anger—it's denial.

Even after my manager reminded me three times that I could remove my makeup and clock out, I was still so shocked that I seemed to be frozen in place.

I couldn't believe that the man they described—the one who played with people's feelings—was the man I'd loved for five years.

An hour later, Tyler emerged from the escape room with Olivia in his arms.

The bright light clearly illuminated his handsome face, shattering my self-deception once and for all.

Olivia's neck was covered in love bites. She noticed the wound on my forehead and said apologetically:

"I'm so sorry about that. My boyfriend has a bit of a temper. Don't take it personally, he's just extremely possessive of me."

"Tyler, hurry up and make it up to her!"

Tyler's gaze met mine, and for a moment I thought he recognized me.

I waited for him to explain or at least deny the title of "boyfriend." Anything to make me feel less like a complete joke.

Instead, he just pulled out a checkbook, scribbled some numbers, tossed it at my feet, and coldly said:

"Keep your mouth shut. If I find out you've been spreading rumors and damaged Liv's reputation, you'll regret it."

We'd been together for five years. I could recognize his silhouette in the dim room.

Yet here I stood before him, my face merely painted with makeup for my NPC role, and he was busy warning me not to damage his "girlfriend's" reputation.

Did he truly not recognize me, or had I never mattered to him at all?

Tyler put his arm around Olivia and walked toward a Bentley outside, attentively opening the door for her, gently fastening her seatbelt, and driving away.

Not once did he look back at me.

I stared at the luxury car and felt bitterness rise within me.

Because of our debt and his mother's medical bills, we supposedly couldn't afford a used car. Every day, we relied on taking the subway and walking to shuttle back and forth between the places where we worked.

Countless times when luxury cars carrying beautiful women passed us, Tyler would point and tell me:

"Emma, just wait. Someday I'll let you ride in a car like that. My passenger seat belongs only to you."

Back then, I thought that even if we were so hard to live our life, if I had his promise, I was the happiest woman in the world.

Now he had his luxury car, but the woman in the passenger seat wasn't me.

And I became the most ridiculous woman in the world.

Chapter 3

After removing my makeup and returning home, I pulled up photos of Tyler's mother on my phone while examining the check.

The amount written was enough to cover a full year of medical expenses.

Tyler, what other secrets have you kept from me?

I heard sounds at the door and quickly hid the check.

"Emma, I got paid for my part-time job. I bought your favorite cheesecake. Come try them," Tyler called out.

When he saw the wound on my forehead, his smile froze.

He rushed over, his eyes full of concern:

"What happened? Does it hurt?"

I forced a smile:

"Just scratched myself by accident. It's nothing. Why waste money on cheesecake? They're so expensive."

"How could that be a waste? Emma, if I could, I'd give you all the best things in the world. Being with me has already been hard enough on you. I'm working so hard to earn money so my baby can have a good life."

I remained silent. His sweet talk was as smooth as ever.

But now, combined with Olivia's perfume still lingering on him, it all felt so absurd.

Tyler didn't notice my change in mood. He casually glanced at my phone and laughed:

"Hey, girls like looking at handsome guys, why you're staring at pictures of a sick old women?"

I was stunned:

"You don't recognize her??"

Tyler looked confused:

"No, should I? Is she your relative? If so, we can buy some flowers and visit her sometime."

"By the way, Emma, I have another part-time job tonight. I need to leave now and can't join you for dinner. Be good and wait for me at home."

He ruffled my hair, put on his worn-out jacket, and left.

I stood frozen, shocked by his words.

He was the one who had taken me to the hospital in the first place, pointing the comatose elderly woman lying in the bed, telling me with grief that it was his mother.

I zoomed out the photo. Every detail snapped into focus—

Tyler was standing beside the bed.

But now he claimed not to recognize her??

I secretly took a taxi and followed Tyler. I watched him enter a high-end mall, change into an expensive suit worth thousands.

He swiped his card to pay the bill without hesitation and then headed to a hotel.

As soon as I entered the lobby, I spotted Olivia in a designer gown, arm-in-arm with an elegant older woman, acting coquettishly.

Tyler looked somewhat like this woman. He approached the woman, handed her a gift, and said:

"Happy birthday, Mom."

A wave of absurdity washed over me, and I couldn't tell whether I should feel angry or heartbroken.

In the past, Tyler appeared worn down by overwhelming medical bills and debt. His eyes were constantly filled with sadness, worried about his severely ill mother.

My heart ached for his struggles, and I decided to share his burden. For five whole years, apart from eating and sleeping, I worked tirelessly to earn money.

Whenever I got paid, I immediately transferred the money to him. I often went hungry, sustaining myself on water alone. I fainted several times because of low blood sugar, but I was always reluctant to spend money on buying medicine. I could only buy the cheapest candies to relieve the dizziness.

Now I discovered that even his "critically ill mother" was a fabricated lie.

His sadness and exhaustion were simply due to his missing Olivia, who had gone abroad.

Going hungry time and again because I didn't have money for meals,

The sweat that poured down as I moved the goods in the sweltering heat time and again,

And the cracks on my hands left by washing dishes one after another.

What did any of it mean?!!