THE MISSING EX-BOYFRIEND AND THE SWEET REVENGE

Things spiraled further and further out of control. Evidence against Julian flew everywhere; his path of retreat was blocked entirely.

Ironically enough, the Julian family still had a younger son. Seeing the situation turn unstable, Julian’s parents wasted no time deciding to abandon their now-useless eldest and pour their focus into cultivating the younger brother instead.

Stripped of his family’s protection, Julian tumbled straight from the peak of his glory into the filthiest mud. Dejected, he drowned his sorrows in drink day after day. He’d already had a serious drinking problem to begin with — I’d tried countless times before to talk him out of it, only to be dismissed as a nuisance. Well, now karma had come knocking.

One night, blind drunk, Julian stumbled out onto a main road and was struck head-on by a truck.

He survived, but one leg was permanently disabled. The doctors declared he’d spend the rest of his life confined to a wheelchair. Traffic police pulled the camera footage and confirmed Julian had run a red light, meaning the driver bore no responsibility whatsoever.

A few days later, an uninvited guest came looking for me.

None other than Julian’s parents.

He and I weren’t exactly strangers. The only thing was, these two were remarkably deep and calculating people. On the surface, gentle and courteous, but underneath, they’d always looked down on my ordinary family background, and had even actively helped their son stage the whole deception against me.

And yet, here they were now, lowering themselves to come beg me for something.

“Evelyn, dear, we’ve never treated you badly before, have we?”

I smiled thinly. “Whatever you two have to say, just say it plainly.”

“Julian was absolutely in the wrong, we’ve scolded him severely for it, but you see, his parents’ company is completely innocent in all this…”

“And what you mean is…”

“Could you possibly write a statement withdrawing the charges? Just say the matter’s settled, that you won’t be pursuing it further.”

I nearly burst out laughing. How thick would someone’s skin have to be to make such a shameless request?

But no matter — I’d already worked out my plan in advance.

I sniffled a few times, and with one blink, tears were already streaming down my face:

“Uncle, Auntie, I know the two of you have always treated me well, and I don’t have the heart to drag your family’s company into trouble either. But the hurt Julian caused me is just too much! I’ve had nightmares every night this past week, all my friends keep telling me I should see a therapist!”

The tears poured down my face like they were on sale wholesale.

“Uncle, Auntie, I genuinely feel awful, so deeply hurt. I loved him so much — how could he bring himself to deceive me like that!”

“Yes, yes, exactly, it’s all Julian’s fault!” The two of them exchanged glances, hurrying to settle the matter: “Evelyn, how about this — we’ll compensate you, name your price.”

I waved my hands in alarm. “Absolutely not, I won’t take money.”

Ridiculous — if I opened my mouth and demanded money right now, wouldn’t that make me look like nothing more than an extortionist?

“Two hundred thousand?”

“This isn’t something that can be measured in money.”

“Four hundred thousand?”

“Uncle, my feelings for Julian were completely priceless!”

“Five hundred thousand!”

“Ohh…” I sighed heavily. “I suppose I really will have to go see a therapist after all.”

I stubbornly refused to accept a single penny of cash from them, continuing instead to stress, over and over, how deeply and irreparably my spirit had been wounded.

Sure enough, exactly one day later, my bank account balance jumped by one million pounds. Along with a message: A voluntary compensation for emotional damages.

I stared at the balance notification, grinning so wide my eyes nearly disappeared.

Arthur raised an eyebrow. “Need money? I could give you some too, you know.”

“That’s different, this is money I earned fair and square.”

Whether it was Julian or Arthur, I’d never once been greedy for either family’s wealth or standing. But whatever rightfully belonged to me, I would never politely decline it either.

“What are you planning to do next?” Arthur asked. “Are you actually going to withdraw the charges against them?”

“Of course I’ll withdraw them, if I take someone’s money I have to follow through.”

Basic principles still had to be upheld. I recorded a video statement withdrawing the charges and sent it straight to the police. The only thing was, in that video, while I spoke my words of forgiveness, I never once stopped crying, the tears pouring endlessly!

Guaranteed, once that video got out, netizens would never spare Julian even a shred of sympathy.

Before, Julian had always hated how much I cried. But he never understood that I cried simply because my tear ducts were well-developed and my emotions ran deep — not because I was weak or easily bullied, as he’d always assumed.