Strangers When We Meet Again

From that moment on, Ethan seemed distracted.

When the fireworks ended, he finally couldn't hold back anymore. He grasped Isabella's hand apologetically.

"Bella, there's an emergency at the company. I have to go back. I promise I'll make it up to you tomorrow, okay?"

Isabella looked up at him with an unreadable expression. "What kind of work is so urgent that you have to rush back from a yacht?"

Ethan stiffened slightly. "It's about some AI intellectual property issues. Only I can sign off on them. I promise I'll make it up to you—please don't be angry."

He kissed her forehead and hurried away.

Isabella walked to the deck and watched Ethan board a speedboat with staff members, roaring off into the darkness.

White foam split across the sea like her fractured heart.

An hour later, Isabella's phone suddenly rang.

It was Sophie.

Isabella hesitated for a moment, then understood immediately.

She debated for a second before answering, but the caller didn't speak. Instead, muffled voices came through—

"Professor! You actually came to celebrate my birthday! But... but today is Isabella's birthday too. Don't you need to be with her?"

"It's fine. She has lots of friends and family there, but you only have me, don't you?"

"Professor..."

The girl's moved sobs were suddenly muffled, then transformed into erotic moans...

Isabella finally couldn't take it anymore and hung up.

She thought she'd be devastated, but found she couldn't even cry.

Perhaps when disappointment reaches its peak, tears simply won't come.

She took a deep breath and dialed a number.

"Hello." As soon as the call connected, she spoke immediately. "Did you get all the photos?"

...

Ethan didn't come home that night.

The yacht was scheduled for a three-day, three-night cruise, but early the next morning, Isabella also took a speedboat back to shore.

When she got home, she found what she'd been waiting for in her mailbox.

It was an envelope full of photographs of Ethan and Sophie.

Kissing in a car, embracing in his office, even in the university library...

All taken by the private investigator Isabella had hired.

Even though she'd prepared herself mentally, Isabella's hands still trembled as she looked at the photos.

The frequency...

Almost every time Ethan said he had work and left, he was with Sophie...

Isabella slammed the envelope shut and went upstairs to retrieve a photo album from her safe.

This was her album with Ethan.

Being a photographer herself, Isabella had always loved documenting life's moments in pictures.

When she'd learned about her brain tumor, she'd been terrified of losing her memories of Ethan someday, so she'd collected all their photos together.

She'd hoped that even if she lost her memory, she could learn about their sweet past through these photographs.

But now...

Isabella's lips curved in a bitter smile as she unhesitatingly lit the photos with her lighter—

The first: Ethan carrying her on his back along the beach.

Because she'd said her father died young and no one had ever carried her, he'd carried her all night long.

The second: When she'd first been diagnosed and wanted to break up with Ethan.

But he'd deployed over ten thousand drones to spell out her name in the sky when he proposed.

The third: During her five-year coma, Ethan stood by her bed, carefully cleaning every inch of her skin.

For seven whole years, her life had been filled entirely with Ethan.

But now all those memories and beautiful moments were being consumed by flames, turning to ash...

After burning those photos, Isabella placed all the sordid pictures of Ethan and Sophie into the album instead.

She didn't want to remember the love that had turned rotten.

But this betrayal—she could never forget.

...

By the time she finished burning the photos, it was deep into the night.

Isabella fell into a restless sleep. After what felt like hours, her wrist was suddenly grabbed frantically.

She woke with a start to see Ethan's pale face in the darkness.

"Bella." His voice trembled uncontrollably. "You... you burned all our photos?"