Giving Him Up

Within the circle, everyone knew I had been Leo’s most devoted, submissive admirer.

For thirteen years, I chased him relentlessly, transforming myself from an uneducated, middle-school-dropout, illegitimate child of a wealthy family into an Ivy League economics master’s graduate.

Only then did his mother finally acknowledge me, and I became Mrs. Smith.

However, after the wedding, I no longer meddled in Leo’s company, cooked, or served him.

While he stayed up late planning strategies for his first love, I traveled the world with friends. He would accompany her to Paris fashion shows, and I celebrated my cat’s birthday at home.

I understood that a commercial marriage could never produce love. Everything I had poured my heart into was just my own foolish obsession.

In my past life, I handled his company’s internal conflicts for him. Yet, he frowned, scolding, “You’re reaching too far.”

I cooked soups for his stomach ailments, only to see him hand them off to his overworked first love, brushing it off, “She works harder than I do.”

Even on the day I had a car accident, he lit fireworks across the city just to see her smile.

I begged him, but he looked down at me from above. “Nicole, what we have is only a transaction.”

Then, I opened my eyes and found myself back at our engagement banquet, watching him leave midway to comfort his heartbroken first love.

This time, I did not chase after him. Instead, I picked up the microphone and said before all the guests.

“Sorry, everyone. My engagement with Leo is canceled.”

I gently placed the microphone back into its stand, and it let out a dull, heavy click.

The entire banquet hall fell into a deathly silence.

Hundreds of eyes fixed on me all at once. They were filled with shock, disbelief, and even a trace of gleeful anticipation, as if they were waiting to watch a spectacle unfold.

My father’s face instantly flushed a deep, livid red as he rushed onto the stage. Then, lowering his voice, he forced each word out through clenched teeth.

“Nicole, have you lost your mind?!”

Leo Smith’s mother, my future mother-in-law, and also the same woman who had found fault with me in every possible way in my previous life, now held a deathly grim expression on her face.

Her well-maintained features were filled with anger as she glared at me viciously, as though she wanted to slice me apart with her gaze alone.

Meanwhile, I calmly took in everything below the stage.

These faces, some familiar and some not, had in my previous life looked at me the same way countless times, watching me as a joke.

“Nicole! Get down here right now and apologize to everyone!”

My father was trembling with anger as he reached out, clearly intending to drag me down.

However, I turned slightly and avoided him, letting my gaze pass over him and settle on the entrance of the banquet hall.

At that moment, Leo had returned.

His tall figure appeared in the doorway, his suit jacket casually draped over his arm. His tie was loosened, and his expression still carried a trace of fatigue, as though he had just finished comforting someone.

When he saw the commotion on stage and the strange looks from the guests, that trace of fatigue was instantly replaced by a cold sharpness.

He strode toward me quickly, his gaze falling on me like a blade.

“Nicole, what are you playing at now?”

Although his voice wasn’t loud, it carried his usual impatience and questioning tone.

In my previous life, he would look at me like this whenever I showed even the slightest dissatisfaction about him and Sophie Miller.

It was as though I were the one being unreasonable.

This time, I looked at him without panic. I didn’t rush to explain, nor did I feel wronged and on the verge of tears.

Instead, I simply repeated myself, calm and composed.

“Leo, the engagement is off. We’re done.”

After saying that, I lifted the hem of my dress and walked straight off the stage from the other side, completely ignoring my father’s furious shouts and Mrs. Smith’s harsh curses.

My heels struck against the polished marble floor with crisp, echoing sounds.

With each step, it felt as though I were stepping on the past version of myself who had once been so weak and humiliated.

Leo remained standing where he was, momentarily stunned.

For the first time, a look of utter shock appeared on his handsome face.