---- you were with me out of duty, not love. That's why I hurt you. That's why I acted like a fool." His tears streamed down his face, like a child overwhelmed by something he couldn't fix. I stared at him for a moment. "Do you remember the anniversary of the day we first met?" I asked quietly. He hesitated. His expression flickered, and he slowly bowed his head in shame. "That day," I said flatly, "I made a full dinner and waited for you to come home. Instead, you walked in with your lover. Then you locked me out on the balcony... and I had to listen to the two of you together. " My voice was calm and detached, like I was telling someone else's story. "That was the night I stopped loving you. Ricky, I don't love you anymore." He froze. ---- His eyes stayed on me, wide and wounded, but the words wouldn't come. Nothing he could say would change the silence between us now. I turned away and started walking. At the corner, I heard him chasing after me again. He dropped to his knees in the middle of a crowded street. "Summer, Audrey won't even look at me anymore. She's gone back overseas. You're all I have left. 1 swear, I've changed. Just tell me what to do. I'll do anything. Just come back to me." He pulled out a legal document with shaking hands. "I've signed over everything -my mother's inheritance, the Lenza family. I'll let you run it with me. Or without me. Please, just give me one more chance. Even if you don't love me... take it for the money. Just don't leave me." I looked at him, kneeling there like a broken man. And I saw it-his regret was real. ---- But I wasn't the same woman anymore. Ino longer softened at the sight of his tears. I wasn't moved by apologies or promises. I didn't believe in the illusion of love he once offered, wrapped in pain and decorated with wealth. Ihad learned, finally, that everything fate gives you comes at a price. One way or another, it collects. "Ricky," I said slowly, "I've already given you all the years I had to waste. From now on, I'm living for myself. I don't want anything more to do with you." He looked up at me, voice breaking. "Not even a sliver of hope?" I turned my gaze to the street. A little boy ran past, laughing, full of life. If my son had lived, he might have grown up like that-healthy, carefree. And then I saw an old woman wiping the boy's sweat with a handkerchief, her face full of gentle affection. If my mother were still alive, she might have been like ---- that too-loving her grandchild, living a quiet and joyful old age. I stayed silent for a long time. Then I answered. "Unless you can turn back time... and bring back the dead." Ricky collapsed, sobbing without a sound, like a spoiled child who'd finally learned that not everything could be fixed with tears. He was probably trying to manipulate me with tears, expecting me to cave. But I no longer cared. I didn't hesitate. I didn't look back. I climbed into a waiting taxi. And as the car pulled away, I looked ahead. The road was bright and open. That was where my future lay. Discover our latest featured short drama reel. Watch now and enjoy the story!