She Always Comes First

I had heard from Mandy before that Herbert used to have a childhood friend who grew up with him.

However, every time Mandy brought it up, her eyes would always be filled with disgust.

"Michelle used to be our driver's daughter. She'd been friends with Herbert ever since they were young. But when she was six, her dad got into an accident while out with Herbert's dad.

"She's never had a mother, so I took her into the family because I felt sorry for her. I'd never treated her badly a day in her life."

At that point, Mandy then sighed heavily.

"It's bad enough that she doesn't know how to be grateful about things, but she's also started scheming ever since. She wants to be the next lady of the house and marry into the family, and become the next Mrs. Fischer! Tell me, does she even remember that I exist? She doesn't respect me at all!"

Mandy hadn't wanted Herbert to be influenced by Michelle, so she sent the latter abroad for her studies.

When Herbert learned about it, he made a huge fuss and refused to do anything but get drunk and drown in his sorrows. He also stopped caring about his family's company.

It wasn't until he met me that he finally started changing for the better.

When Mandy gave me the gold bracelet—the Fischers' family heirloom—she patted me on the back and said, "Lyanna, you saved Herbert and helped the Fischers."

I had thought that that was the case, too.

However, about a month ago, Herbert suddenly stood me up one night.

He had always been very courteous and considerate toward me. But that night, we'd agreed to meet for dinner—yet he never showed up.

I waited until the restaurant closed up for the night. Then, I called an Uber to go back home.

I received a very short text message from him on the way back. It read, "Something came up."

I thought that something urgent had come up at his company, so I didn't think of asking him about it any further. I even told him not to rush.

But when I launched Instagram, I tapped on a story one of his friends posted and immediately saw the photo.

All of Herbert's friends were in it, gathered around a young woman at the center.

The young woman was quite pretty and elegant, but she was making a funny face at the camera. Meanwhile, Herbert was seated right next to her, his gaze ever so soft as he stared lovingly at her.

The caption in the story read, "Someone's first love just came home and insisted that we all give her the warmest welcome she deserved."

I turned off my phone, suddenly feeling lightheaded like I wanted to throw up.

I didn't pick a fight with Herbert that night. I even still made sure to warm up some soup to ease his hangover when he finally came home that night.

It was past midnight by the time Herbert stumbled back home. The stench of alcohol was so strong that it masked the cedarwood fragrance on him.

I brought him a bowl of soup. However, he grabbed my wrist, staring at me with confused, hazy eyes before glancing back down at the gold bracelet.

He mumbled, "This is Chelly's… Give it back to her… It's not yours…"

I stared at him as he teetered on the edge of unconsciousness and asked helplessly, "Herbert, who am I?"

He didn't respond.

Suddenly, the living room felt like a vast chamber of nothingness. I felt my eyes stinging as they turned red.