Chapter Four - Vivian's POV

"What?"

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Was Maia talking about Theodore?

"How could it be him? You must have seen wrong. Theodore isn't that kind of person."

I laughed dryly, trying to ease the complex emotions I was feeling.

I didn't know why I instinctively started defending Theodore, even though he had just dumped me out of the blue yesterday.

But subconsciously, I would rather believe that Theodore was truly just afraid of the wedding and the future, than believe the fact that he might have been cheating all along.

Seeing that I didn't believe her, Maia pulled out her phone directly. Her perfectly manicured fingers danced nimbly across the screen. In no time, she thrust the phone in front of my face with an expression of disappointment and frustration.

In the picture, Theodore was wearing a suit with a brilliant smile, gazing affectionately at the girl beside him who was holding his arm and wearing a white wedding dress. The girl's posture was deliberately elegant, yet she leaned on Theodore's shoulder with a blissful expression.

The angle looked like a candid shot, as the background showed them in a fitting room with a huge floor-length mirror beside them, surrounded by wedding dresses.

"This is at a bridal shop. My employee was accompanying her friend to try on wedding dresses and ran into them, so she secretly took these photos. This was just a few days ago."

"Look, there are several more."

Maia spoke rapidly and urgently, her hand holding the phone shaking with her tone. Theodore's face in the pictures gradually blurred before my eyes.

Maia swiped to another image showing Theodore embracing that girl from behind, his left hand gently around her waist, his right hand brushing past the girl's ear.

"This... this is him... it really is him..."

Theodore loved hugging me from behind. He had said that when he held me from behind, my ears would always turn red and look especially cute, and every time he hugged me like this, he couldn't help but touch my earlobes.

I used to consider this gesture a sweet interaction between us. Whenever I was angry, Theodore would hold me gently like this, constantly apologizing in my ear.

Theodore was tall and handsome, with a good family background. Even in college, I noticed many girls were interested in him. Some bold girls even tried to make moves at parties.

But no matter what kind of girl it was, Theodore always kept his distance and wouldn't give other girls any chance. He would even proactively report to me, just afraid I would get angry and ignore him.

Once I even saw a beautiful, curvy girl directly put her arms around Theodore's neck trying to kiss him, but the next second Theodore pushed her away and fled looking horrified.

Later I even teased him: "That girl was so pretty, weren't you even a little tempted?"

"Don't you regret being with me so early?"

Theodore, who was blow-drying my hair, stopped what he was doing and looked at me seriously: "Baby, I don't like these hypotheticals. Meeting you is the luckiest thing in my life. I want to be with you forever, so please don't say these things that hurt our relationship, okay?"

I don't remember what I said then. I only know that Theodore's eyes were incredibly serious and sincere when he said those words.

In that moment, I finally believed I had found my own love.

I also believed Theodore would never betray me.

But when I heard from Maia's mouth that the sweet details that originally belonged only between Theodore and me were now appearing between him and another woman, my heart felt like it was being tightly covered by a cotton ball soaked with water. I was breathing heavily, but I felt like I couldn't catch my breath.

I leaned powerlessly against the chair, tears rolling down continuously, yet I seemed to have no awareness of it, my eyes vacant.

"Vivian, what's wrong?"

Maia noticed something was wrong with me and stopped cursing Theodore. She quickly stood up and came over, embracing me with concern. She gently pulled my head into her arms, patting my shoulder while wiping my tears with her hand.

"Honey, if you're hurting, just cry it out."

I buried my face in Maia's embrace, letting the tears fall. I tried hard to control myself from crying out loud, but whimpering sounds still kept escaping.

"That damn bastard Theodore is really a piece of work! He only proposed to you successfully a year ago, and now he's already trying on wedding dresses with someone else!"

Maia kept cursing Theodore, as if wanting to help me release my feelings of grievance and unwillingness through this method.

I had no way to respond to her words, because my heart was already hurting so much I could barely breathe.

I held tightly onto Maia's waist, crying silently.

My mind kept replaying every little moment with Theodore.

Under the school tree, the way he looked nervous while confessing to me under the scorching sun.

"Vivian, I like you. Will you give me a chance?"

After our first date, when he was reluctant to let me go at the door, holding me with such unwillingness to part.

"Vivian, I still can't believe that the scene that kept appearing in my dreams actually came true. You definitely don't know, I feel like I'm the happiest person in the world right now."

The seaside sunset, the carefully prepared proposal scene, him kneeling on one knee with nervousness and anticipation.

"Vivian, my greatest wish in this life is—I've been preparing for this day for so long. Will you marry me?"

Stop! Don't think anymore! Stop thinking!!

From the corner of my eye, I caught sight of the photo frame on the table corner and grabbed it, smashing it hard on the ground.

"Bang!"

The frame shattered into pieces, glass scattered all over the floor.

In the photo, Theodore and I were laughing happily against the sunset. Reflected in the broken glass, our smiles became distorted, looking more like painful cries.

I gasped for air, constantly trying to adjust my mindset.

I originally thought Theodore was just temporarily avoiding things, but it turned out he had already found himself a way out, and I was just a fool who didn't even deserve to know the truth!

What gives him the right?!

"Maia, you know that girl's information, don't you?"

I gently wiped away my tears, a huge storm brewing in my heart.

Why should I be the one in such pain? Why should I be the one to bear the hurt from this betrayal?

The one who should be in pain should be Theodore!