Today is Kevin's 22nd birthday, and I've been planning everything for half a month in advance, aiming to surprise the man I love.
But unexpectedly, I caught him whispering sweet nothings into someone else's ear.
"What about Lisa? She's the princess of the business circle, far above someone like me, a mere citizen."
The woman's words were dripping with jealousy, clearly trying to belittle me through Kevin's mouth.
In that instant, my heart skipped a beat.
I was both anticipating and dreading Kevin's response.
Two seconds later, Kevin spoke, his tone laced with irony as expected.
"Princess? Is there a princess who grovels like a dog to please men?"
Their voices faded into the distance, and the wound on my heart began to reopen.
I forced a pale smile, couldn't help but scold myself in my heart.
I had already known the answer, yet I still stubbornly sought validation. What else could it be but masochism?
But I've loved Kevin for twelve years, being good to him has become a habit, one that's not easily broken.
"Lisa, what are you doing here?"
Kevin's tone was unkind, and my heart skipped a beat at that moment.
Turning slowly, I saw him entangled with another woman.
"I came to..."
My defense was cut short by Kevin's impatience.
"To cling onto me, to confirm our relationship, to force me to marry you. Why are you so desperate after all these years?"
By the end of that day, I couldn't remember how I was ejected from there in such a miserable state.
But I knew that with Kevin, I had lost even my last shred of self-respect.
Half a month later, I saw Kevin, now 22, at my father's 50th birthday celebration.
He had matured even more, glowing with attractiveness.
Unable to control myself, I approached to offer him a drink, but he carefully avoided it.
"Sorry, my partner is very strict and doesn't let me interact much with strange women."
Kevin's smile brightened as if he had remembered something.
The word "strange women" was devastating for me.
Kevin and I grew up together. Once, I thought that even if he didn't like me, my place in his heart was unique.
But I was wrong; I had overestimated myself.
"Alright..."
Throughout the banquet, Kevin avoided me like the plague, a deep-seated disdain radiating from him.
When Kevin wiped his hands after my accidental touch for the third time, I finally spoke.
"Do you hate me so much... that you can't stand even a touch?"
Kevin looked behind me instinctively, seeing no one following.
He nodded impatiently.
"Since you know, can't you be sensible and stay away from me?"
I barely choke out"why" from my throat.
My heart ached, but I deliberately sought more pain, passing the words to Kevin, letting him stab me again with his own hands.
"Why? Lisa, how dare you ask me this? Don't you know it's because of you that Linda won't engage with me now?
She's the love of my life. If we can't be together, I won't let you off easily."
Kevin's words were powerful, leaving me almost speechless.
My eyes misted over.
Half a month ago, my assistant investigated Linda's background.
She grew up following her aunt in deceitful schemes, having duped several wealthy young men into giving her their hearts and money.
I tried to warn Kevin, but he hated me even more for it.
I remember the last thing he said to me that day.
He said,
"Even if Linda is deceiving me, I'll do it willingly. As for you, Lisa, remember this, I will never love you in this lifetime."
He said "this lifetime."
Of course, the man's arrogance soon caught up with him.
Linda tricked Kevin into transferring his shares to her, and as soon as she got them, she ran away.
She fled to Australia to live happily with another man.
It happened to be a tumultuous time within the White family, with someone trying to seize power.
I thought Kevin would finally wake up after all this.
But the next day, I learned from his parents that he had left the country.
He went to find Linda, the woman who had taken everything from him.
Kevin's father had a heart attack and was hospitalized for half a month.
Kevin ignored him, thinking only of Linda.
It was Kevin's mother who brought him back from abroad personally.
I happened to be in the hospital that day. When we met again, Kevin slapped me without hesitation.
"Bitch, it's all because of you. You're this vicious woman who ruined my chance with Linda... It's all your fault."
Kevin's trip seemed to have gone poorly; his once beautiful eyes were now dull and red-rimmed.
I didn't care what Linda had told him; I only knew he blamed it all on me.
At that moment, I couldn't describe my feelings; I felt pale, powerless, and somewhat amused.
"So, are you going to kill me?"
I was sure that if Kevin had a knife, he would stab me in the chest without hesitation.
"You think I don't want to..."
Kevin's mother's words successfully silenced him.
"You fool, it's all my fault for indulging you, turning you into this cold and selfish person."
No one paid attention to Kevin afterward.
The operating room three meters away still had a red light on. Kevin's father's survival for the night depended on fate.
But Kevin seemed unconcerned about his father's life, persistently dialing a number that would never be answered.
"It can't be... Linda must still love me. She can't leave me."
Kevin's mother found him annoying and kicked him out to the ward alone.
Around 3 or 4 am, at the same time Kevin's father's surgery was successful, nurses in the ward shouted in surprise.
Kevin jumped off the building, driven to it by the selfish woman who abandoned him.
Fortunately, the floor wasn't high, and he only suffered minor fractures.
Otherwise, Kevin's parents would have to mourn their young son prematurely.
Strangely, when Kevin woke up, he continued to ridicule me.
But my heart didn't fluctuate at all.
Like a bystander, I watched the man lose his mind and found it ridiculous.
"Lisa, don't think I don't know your intentions. You think by stopping me from being with Linda, I'll start liking you? Dream on, it's never going to happen."
Fortunately, I now felt the same way; it was impossible.
Three months later.
Kevin's father offered me a deal with 20% of his shares.
I thought it was a good deal and agreed to help the Whites at the shareholders' meeting.
But at the last moment, two uninvited guests appeared in the office.
"Lisa, do you think you're the only one who can help the Whites? Linda can too. She went abroad this time just for me, to earn a status worthy of mine."
Kevin was particularly smug, even hugging the woman closer when he noticed my gaze.
But such a scene was simply foolish and ridiculous to me now.
I politely nodded to Kevin's father and withdrew, leaving the stage to Kevin's "great hero."
Although I didn't know what Linda's sudden return was for, it was definitely not something good.
Fortunately, I had already extricated myself from this whirlpool; all this pain was no longer mine.
If Kevin liked it, he could enjoy it slowly.
Whether by chance or fate's lingering ties, I ran into Kevin and Linda arguing when I went to visit Kevin's father in the hospital.
How could someone as greedy as Linda be satisfied with just 20% of the shares?
She wanted the entire White family fortune.
When I heard that Kevin had tacitly approved of everything, not only Kevin's father but even I felt a chill.
His own son, whom he had raised for over twenty years, ended up helping an outsider plot against him.
In ancient times, such betrayal would deserve divine punishment.
Seeing Kevin's father's unwillingness to cooperate, Linda panicked, forcefully grabbing his hand to sign the share agreement.
I was just an outsider with no right to interfere.
I don't know if it was an overflow of compassion, but I not only interfered but also planned to send this bitch to the police station.
However, everything happened so fast that before I could react, I fell into a pool of blood.
It was Kevin; because I called the police and had Linda arrested, he tried to kill me.
A small knife, precisely aimed, plunged into my heart.
Before losing consciousness, I cast a final glance at the overhead incandescent light.
I didn't know if it was the last thing I'd see in this lifetime.
Memories of my life flashed before my eyes like a marathon of images.
But those memories unique to Kevin were like being forcibly pulled out, leaving a gray blur.
A tear rolled down the corner of my eye.
Kevin and I, we're truly finished this time.
After half a month in the ICU, the first news I heard upon waking was that the White family had changed hands.
In the end, Kevin's father actually died at the hands of his beloved son.
Kevin's mother, unable to bear the shock, went insane.
In that moment, I suddenly understood the bone-deep disgust Kevin had once described to me.
It's a feeling that genuinely makes one physically uneasy even at the thought of it.
That's how I feel about Kevin now.
But I had once "ruined" Kevin and Linda so badly. How could a woman like her pass up this opportunity to rub it in?
Yet, in all her calculations, she overlooked one thing: Kevin no longer held a place in my heart.
They arrived hand in hand, the same rings adorning their ring fingers.
"Lisa, speaking of which, you're kind of the matchmaker between Linda and me. You must come to our engagement party next month," Kevin deliberately emphasized the words "engagement party."
He wanted to see me embarrassed, wanted to see me go crazy over him.
Then he could stand on the moral high ground, condemning me as a fool who dared to interfere in someone else's relationship.
But I didn't. I remained calm throughout, as if listening to an insignificant piece of news.
