From Now On, I Won’t Love Him Anymore

Due to heatstroke and miscarriage, I felt extremely weak.

I asked for a short vacation from my company and planned to have a good rest for a while.

The leader was very surprised. After all, I was a workaholic. In order to pave the way for Benjamin, I was always on call, negotiating deals and making connections all year round without a break.

Taking a break like this was a first since I joined the company.

"Are you upset about Benjamin's situation? Anyone would feel down if an artist they groomed from scratch suddenly broke off their contract."

The leader sighed, leaning in with a touch of gossip in her tone.

"Don't take it too hard. The woman who took him away, Lily Swain, comes from an incredibly influential family. I heard she's the daughter of the wealthiest man around, and she has a significant connection with our CEO. Benjamin's chances of winning that award and making his career shift hinge on her word."

Entertainment was just a game of capital.

And love? It was the least significant part of this game.

When I got home, my phone buzzed with a notification—Benjamin had transferred a million dollars into my account.

He had become stingy.

Or maybe, in his eyes, my worth had depreciated. After all, we had been together for ten years.

I started to clear out all of Benjamin's things from my place, only to find the apartment felt empty.

Anything that showed we had ever shared a life together.

I didn't even know when Benjamin deleted the photos of us on my phone.

I looked around at the familiar yet now alien surroundings, feeling lost.

Benjamin had been thorough and meticulous.

He had already planned to leave, and he stayed with me just to erase every trace of me from his life.

"Must have been hard to put on that act for so long," I muttered to myself.

During these past weeks, I had been tirelessly working to secure that award for him, coming home only to collapse into bed. I had missed all the signs of his leaving.

I believed our decade-long emotional fortress was impenetrable, but it had crumbled under the weight of a single, shiny coin.

Just as I was about to lie down and rest, my cell phone suddenly rang.

"Miss, the things you ordered have been arranged, but..."

I knew what Anderson Williams was about to say and hung up on him.

The dead couldn't come back to life, and the pain couldn't simply fade away with time.

No one had the right to ask for my forgiveness.

I stayed in this small apartment to heal my hurts, but the news of Benjamin was everywhere.

I clicked Twitter and soon was inundated with hashtags: "Benjamin Davis announces new relationship", "Benjamin Davis is going to be a father", and "Benjamin Davis vows to win the Gold Award".

Headlines dominated by Benjamin and Lily's entwined fingers.

That gentle and affectionate gaze once belonged to me.

Benjamin had never acknowledged me openly like that.

Lily showed up with a cake, handing me an invitation to the award ceremony.

"Benjamin doesn't want to see you, so I came instead. Don't worry, we'll also invite you to our wedding," she said.

I didn’t invite Lily inside, my voice cold. "Aren’t you bored of this trick?"

"You need to take care of yourself. Even though you're in confinement after the miscarriage, you should still focus on recovery. Perhaps it’s for the best that you lost the baby. It would’ve been born a bastard anyway, just like you—hidden away in the shadows."

Lily, with her pregnant belly, stood there triumphant. I resisted the urge to slap her.

I took a deep breath and said, "I will be at the award ceremony. Let’s see if you can still smile then."

I pretended to be calm and saw her out.

The moment she was gone, I collapsed against the door frame, feeling the weight of her words.

A bastard, hidden away.

To call black white, she had such gall.

"Miss Robinson, are you okay? There’s a package for you."

Opening the package, I remembered it was the custom handmade collection I had ordered from a friend six months ago.

It was filled with photos of Benjamin and me, and the necklace we had crafted together as a symbol of our eternal love.

Back then, we were so deeply in love, and I had spared no expense to get the best package they offered.

I didn’t expect that love would not last longer than the final payment.

The package had arrived, but Benjamin and I had drifted apart.