Year After Year Infatuated

“You are truly vicious! Right in front of us, you dare to bully Vivienne. God knows how outrageously you must have treated her behind our backs before!”

Before.

Dorian was likely referring to our college days.

Back then, Julian Vance and Vivienne were a couple, famous bigshots on campus.

Whereas I was just an ordinary, unremarkable country girl who relied on student loans just to get through college.

Because of my decent grades, the professor paired me up with Julian Vance for academic competitions.

Even so, the status gap between Vivienne and me was worlds apart; how could I have ever dared to bully her back then?

On the contrary, Vivienne always minded me teaming up with Julian Vance for extracurricular competitions, constantly leveraging her wealth to humiliate me.

Such as treating everyone to dinner but intentionally instructing the restaurant staff to leave out a seat for me.

Or buying desserts for the team members while always putting on an innocent face when it came to my turn: “Oh dear, it seems I accidentally bought one short.”

Dorian, her childhood friend, had never spared me from his verbal contempt and jabs back then, warning me out of Julian Vance’s sight whenever he wasn’t around.

I admit I liked Julian Vance back then, but a great many people in school liked him too.

I had never engaged in any actual stalking or aggressive pursuit; I hadn’t even spent time alone with him in a private gift exchange. By what right did they humiliate me like this?

“Apologize to her.”

Julian Vance looked at me, his gaze freezing cold.

He seemed to notice only that Vivienne had liquid spilled on her, completely ignoring the injury on my forehead.

Standing shoulder to shoulder with Vivienne, in that split second, it felt as though the outsider was truly me.

The past was like this, and so was the present.

I suddenly realized how utterly pathetic all my efforts over the past five years had been.

I helped him heal from his emotional scars, helped him finish his studies, helped him graduate smoothly, and helped him rebuild his company from the ground up.

Every major and minor detail within the company was meticulously tended to by me in secret.

I should have entered a better corporate firm upon graduation and lived a dazzling career, but for his sake, I chose to become his “assistant”.

In the end, all my deep affection was fed to the dogs; he had never once truly cared about me.

Without a word, I turned and walked out.

Julian Vance’s brows knitted tightly as he took a step forward, but Vivienne suddenly swayed weakly:

“Julian, my stomach hurts so much…”

Julian Vance caught her, predictably abandoning any further thought of glancing at me.

I sneered, the corners of my mouth twitching.

Fine by me.

All these years being with him, I had never once felt truly confident.

Because he refused to go public, I always worried that my background would cause him to lose face, constantly driving myself to self-improve.

When the company’s business aimed to expand into Germany, I secretly enrolled in German language classes.

With classes starting next month, I had already booked a plane ticket for a week later.

Over the past half-month, due to his relentless busyness, I hadn’t found the opportunity to bring up leaving the country.

Now, it seemed I wouldn’t need to tell him at all.

Having accumulated countless belongings in this place over three years, packing took a considerable amount of time.

I originally assumed Julian Vance wouldn’t return tonight.

To my surprise, the moment I dragged my luggage out to the living room, he walked in with Vivienne in tow.

“What are you doing?”

He yanked my suitcase away, a hint of unease staining his face: “Are you moving out?”

“Is Evelyn throwing a tantrum just because I’m staying here?” Vivienne stood behind Julian Vance, speaking with a fragile air, though her expression was laced with provocation.

I was astonished that Julian Vance didn’t even bother to hide it anymore; with me standing right here in plain sight, he actually dared to bring someone else home.

“Her plumbing burst, so she can’t stay there for a while. It’s so late, and it’s not convenient for her to look for a place outside alone. Our house has plenty of spare rooms, so I had her come over to stay for a night.”

Julian Vance offered an explanation, tinged with slight guilt.

Seeing that I remained silent, he stepped forward to grab my hand, whispering softly in my ear: “You splashed her tonight, we surely have to take responsibility for her safety.”

He phrased it so righteously.

I merely splashed a cup of wine on her, yet did Julian Vance fail to see that the injury on my forehead was far more severe than Vivienne’s?

“She used to be your classmate too, and you’ve always been generous and righteous. I figured you wouldn’t mind, so I brought her here.”

Even now, he was still trying to pin a lofty moral crown on my head.

I brushed his hand away and kept my distance:

“This house is yours; bringing whoever you want here is your business.”

His expression faltered.

Vivienne sobbed softly: “Forget it, I’d better find somewhere else to stay. Evelyn doesn’t like me, and I don’t want to make things difficult for her.”

At those words, Julian Vance’s gaze toward me chilled slightly:

“Must you throw a fit right now? Vivienne is pregnant, where do you expect her to go at this time of night?”

“Her child, why do you care so much? Is it yours?”

I refused to show weakness and snapped right back.

He choked, his expression turning complex in a fraction of a second, though he ultimately didn’t admit to it, only dropping his aggressive stance:

“I know you mind that she’s my ex-girlfriend, but I’ve told you many times, my girlfriend will always be you. What on earth are you still worrying about?”

Right, the girlfriend would always be me.

But the wife could be her.

I never knew Julian Vance could be this utterly shameless. Back then, I simply thought he didn’t love me enough; turns out he was just exceptionally skilled at neatly partitioning love and sex into separate compartments…