Chapter 3
Leila thought Ian was just feeling bad for her after her stint in the hospital. She got up and wrapped her arms around his waist while burying her face in the crook of his neck. “I’m so lucky to have met you, Ian.”
Though Ian worked 18 hours a day, he didn’t smell bad. Instead, he smelled as fresh and clean as laundry detergent. Leila loved the smell and breathed deeply, tightening her hold on him.
She accidentally pressed against his surgical wound, making him go pale. He couldn’t help gasping from the pain.
She hurriedly released him and looked at him anxiously. “What’s wrong? Why do you look so pale?”
Ian forced a smile. “It’s nothing. My stomach’s a little upset.”
Leila pressed a hand to his belly and wrapped her other arm around his waist. “I’ll massage it for you.”
He didn’t turn her down. He shut his eyes. No amount of warmth could reach his heart, which had gone cold. Meeting Leila was the biggest misfortune of his life.
…
Ian woke up early the following morning. He rustled as he moved, and the sound woke Leila up. She blearily opened her eyes to see him moving his clothes from the closet into a suitcase.
That jolted her awake. A trace of panic flickered in her eyes. “Why are you packing your clothes? Are you going somewhere?”
“I’m going to the orphanage to visit Josephine. I thought I’d donate these old clothes, too.” Ian didn’t even look up as he continued packing.
Once he left in half a month, Leila probably wouldn’t take any of the cheap clothes he’d have left behind. She was an heiress, after all. Everything in this cheap apartment probably wasn’t even worth as much as a pair of her shoes.
He would rather his clothes be put to good use at the orphanage than be thrown in a dumpster.
Leila sighed in relief almost imperceptibly. She knew Ian had always been grateful to the people at the orphanage for raising him. He would visit them every month and donate whatever he could.
“I’ll go with you,” she said. She’d regularly accompanied him on trips to the orphanage after they’d gotten together.
Ian didn’t want her to go with him that day, though. This was his last time seeing the orphanage’s principal, Josephine Langdon, and the children before he left the country. He wanted to have a proper farewell with them.
Fortunately, Leila’s phone rang before he could reject her. She clutched it tightly when she saw the caller ID and said a little nervously, “My boss is looking for me. I need to take this call.”
She hurriedly got out of bed and headed to the bathroom, shutting the door. Perhaps she’d forgotten that they lived in a tiny apartment—how good could the soundproofing be?
Ian heard Connor’s voice loud and clear over the phone. The latter said, “Come shopping with me, Lili. I’m in a bad mood today, so you have to spend time with me.”
Leila agreed without hesitation. When she came out of the bathroom, she gave Ian an apologetic look. “I’m sorry, Ian. I took too much time off work because of my hospital stay, and my boss wants me to go back to work today. I can’t go to the orphanage with you.”
He didn’t expose her lie and merely nodded calmly. “That’s fine. Do what you need to.”
With that, Leila hurriedly got dressed and left. Ian watched her, thinking about the countless times she’d hastily left in the middle of the night or on their rare date nights. Each time, she would tell him it was because her boss wanted to see her.
He’d felt bad about her working for such a slave driver and had asked her to get another job. However, all she’d done was wrap her arms around him from behind and press her face against his back, sounding helpless. “I’m not afraid of being worked to the bone. I only worry that I don’t have the money to marry you and give you a better life.”
Her sweet words had moved him to bits. From then on, on top of his three part-time jobs, he’d started running errands on campus, hoping to earn as much as he could. He couldn’t let Leila down when she was working so hard for their future.
In hindsight, he was an absolute fool.
…
Ian had promised the children at the orphanage that he would bring them snacks on his next visit. So, after packing his clothes, he headed to a shopping mall. He didn’t have much money left, but at least it was enough to put smiles on the children’s faces.
He bought two huge bags full of snacks and lugged them to the subway with difficulty. As he walked past a car dealership, he heard a familiar voice.
“Just buy them all. Why go to the trouble of looking at each one?”
Ian turned in the direction of the voice to see Leila smiling helplessly yet indulgently at the man before her. He was all she could see. She complained about trouble, yet she kept her arm linked with his as she followed him around.
Ian didn’t remember much about Connor since it had been two years since their last interaction. Still, it wasn’t hard to guess that he was the one with Leila—he exuded wealth.
It seemed Leila had gone to be with Connor every time she told Ian her boss wanted to see her.
Connor’s expression darkened, and he said sullenly, “You’re willing to spend all day and every day with that peasant, yet you don’t even want to look at cars with me.”
Leila snaked an arm around his waist and looked at him dotingly. “That’s not true. I’m helping you get revenge, aren’t I? Let’s just buy all the cars here so we can move on to looking at watches. I’ll spend the whole day with you today.”
She waved a hand and told the sales clerk to ring up three cars of the same model but in different colors. She also left instructions for the cars to be sent to a villa neighborhood in the south of the city.
The sales clerk evidently knew who they were and accepted Leila’s black card with a practiced familiarity. “Your total for today is 30 million dollars, Ms. Sutherland. Please come again!”
30 million dollars. That was a number that almost made Ian fall to his feet.
He and Leila had dated for two years, and all the gifts he’d received from her were cheap T-shirts and keychains. The most expensive thing she’d gotten him was a watch that was just over a hundred dollars. He couldn’t bear to wear it and had stored it safely in its box.
Yet there she was, spending 30 million dollars just to make her childhood sweetheart happy. It seemed like something she often did—this was what Leila was truly like.
Ian couldn’t stand the sight of her and Connor splurging and acting all lovey-dovey, so he turned to leave. However, the bags he held ripped under the weight of the snacks he’d bought, making everything spill everywhere.
The noise attracted Leila’s attention. When she met Ian’s gaze, he clearly saw her eyes widen. He also saw the panic and anxiety in her gaze.
