Chapter 1: Faded, Let’s Break Up
Everyone in their circle knew that Summer Miller was head over heels in love with Ethan Hayes.
She was so in love that she had no life or personal space of her own. She almost revolved around him all day long, twenty–four hours a day. Every time they broke up, it wouldn’t be more than three days before she would come back meekly, begging to get back together. Anyone in the world might say the words “break up,” but Summer Miller would never be the one to do so.
When Ethan Hayes walked in with his new flame on his arm, an eerie silence filled the private room for a full five
conds.
Summer Miller, who was peeling an orange, froze in her action.
“Why is everyone so quiet? Why are you all looking at me?”
“Summer…” Her friend cast a worried glance at her.
However, Ethan Hayes, acting as if nothing had happened, casually sat on the sofa with the woman in his arms.
“Happy birthday, Charlie,” he said nonchalantly.
He was so blatant and seemed completely unperturbed.
Summer Miller stood up. Since it was Charlie’s birthday, she didn’t want to make the situation too awkward.
I’m going to the washroom,” she said.
As she closing the door, she heard the conversation inside:
“Ethan, Summer is here. Didn’t I tell you in advance? Why did you bring her along?”
“Exactly! Ethan, you’ve gone too far this time.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Ethan Hayes said as he let go of the woman’s slender waist and lit a cigarette. In the rising white smoke, he had a smile on his face, looking like a carefree playboy who was just having fun in the world of love.
The rest of the conversation was cut off by the closed door, and Summer Miller didn’t hear it.
She calmly finished using the washroom. While touching up her makeup and looking at herself in the mirror, she suddenly curled her lips with a wry smile.
“How pitiful,” she thought to herself. “My life is so pitiful.”
Summer Miller took a deep breath and made a decision in her heart.
But when she returned to the private room and pushed the door open, the scene in front of her made her clench the doorknob tightly, almost losing her composure.
Ethan Hayes was kissing the woman passionately, and their saliva had wet the tissue between
them.
The people around were laughing and jeering loudly.
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“Damn it! Ethan really knows how to have fun!”
“They’re kissing! They’re kissing!”
“The atmosphere is so good now. Give us another kiss!”
Summer Miller’s hand holding the doorknob was trembling. This was the man she had loved for
six years. At this moment, she just felt a sense of irony.
“Hey, stop playing around…” Someone whispered and gestured towards the door.
Everyone then turned to look at her in unison.
“Summer… Summer, you’re back? We were just joking around. Don’t take it to heart…”
But Ethan Hayes interrupted his friend’s explanation and looked at her indifferently.
“Summer, since you’re here today, let’s just make things clear.”
“Okay. Go ahead,” Summer Miller replied.
“All these years of going back and forth have been really boring. Our relationship has faded long
ago.
Summer Miller clenched her fingers tightly, her nails digging into her palms, yet she seemed to feel no pain. Six years of love, and in the end, all she got was a simple “faded.”
“Hailey is a nice girl. I want to give her a
Summer Miller nodded numbly.“Alright.”
proper status.”
“Even though we’ve broken up, we can still be friends. If you encounter any difficulties in the city in the future, you can still come to me.”
“No need,” Summer Miller forced a faint smile.“Since we’ve broken up, it’s better to cut off completely. It’s also fair to that girl.”
Ethan Hayes raised an eyebrow, looking a bit surprised.
“Charlie,” Summer Miller looked at Charlie, the protagonist of today’s party, “Happy birthday. Everyone, have a good time. I’m leaving now. The plate of oranges I peeled is on the table. You guys can eat them. Don’t waste them.”
Ethan Hayes didn’t like fruits, except for oranges. But he was very particular. He would pick off every bit of the white pith on each segment before he would eat it. Over the years, in order to make sure he ate a fruit every day to get enough vitamins, Summer Miller had always peeled the oranges, removed the pith carefully, and arranged them neatly on a plate before bringing them to him. When he was in a good mood, he would hug her affectionately and act coquettishly.
“My girlfriend is so wonderful. How can you be so virtuous?”
“Are
you trying to marry into my family?” he would ask.
He had always known what she wanted, but he never offered it to her.
“I’ll ask the driver to take you home,” Ethan Hayes said.
16 17
“No, I’ve already called a taxi, Summer Miller replied.
Charlie said, “Summer, let me walk you to the door.”
Summer Miller declined with a wave of her hand and then turned around and left.
“Ethan, look at what’s happened… I think Summer is really angry this time.”
“Nah, it won’t be that serious.”
“Exactly! How many times have they broken up? Every time, Summer would come back obediently after a few days. At the next gathering, she would act as if nothing had happened.”
“I bet she’ll be back in five days.”
“I bet six days.”
Ethan Hayes glanced at the door of the private room that wasn’t fully closed and smiled coldly.
“I bet she’ll come back to me in three hours.”
“Alright, Ethan. You’s bound to win. Everyone in the world knows that Summer loves you madly.”
“Ah, I wonder why there isn’t a woman who’s so devoted to me.”
“Just you? Cut it out!”
“Hahaha…”
When Summer Miller returned to the villa, it was already early morning.
She spent half an hour packing her luggage. She had lived there for three years, but now all her belongings could be packed into a small suitcase.
She didn’t touch those designer clothes that she had never worn and the jewelry that she had never worn in the cloakroom.
The only thing she felt a bit sorry about was the wall full of professional books.
However, it was okay since the knowledge was already in her mind, and the physical books didn’t seem that important anymore.
Her
eyes swept across the dressing table, and she walked over and opened the drawer.
Inside was a check for fifty million yuan. Under the check was a document – the Transfer Contract for Plot 3-5, No.72 in the Eastern Suburb.
Although it was in the suburbs, it was conservatively estimated to be worth twenty million yuan.
Ethan Hayes had signed both of these items. They were something he had left behind during one of their previous breakups and had been placed in the drawer all along.
He had been certain that Summer Miller wouldn’t dare to accept them because if she did, their relationship would truly come to an end.
Six years of relationship in exchange for seventy million yuan? Summer Miller suddenly thought
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Chapter 1: Faded, Let Break Up
that it wasn’t a bad deal.
How many women could get so much money in return for their youth?
She
put
both items into her bag. Since she had given her heart to him, why not take these? The love was gone, but at least she had the money.
She wasn’t the kind of silly and innocent heroine in those CEO romance novels who regarded money as dirt.
“Hello, is this the cleaning company? Do you take urgent orders?”
“…Yes, a thorough cleaning. I’ll
av extra.” pay
Summer Miller left the key on the entrance table and got into a taxi, heading straight to her best friend’s place.
On the way, the cleaning auntie called again to confirm.
“Miss, are you sure you don’t want any of these things?”
“Yes, you can handle them as you like,” Summer Miller said and then hung up.
When Ethan Hayes got home, it was already late at night.
The cleaning staff had already finished cleaning and left.
The strong smell of perfume on his body gave him a headache.
He loosened his collar, planning to sit on the sofa for a while, but he fell asleep just like that.
The next morning, he woke up to the familiar sound of dishes clinking in the kitchen.
He sat up, rubbed his temples, and reached out for his water cup.
But his hand grasped nothing. His hand froze in mid–air above the coffee table.
Then he sneered. She had come back, and she had covered him with a blanket, but why didn’t she prepare hangover tea for him?
This kind of “half–hearted resistance had been going on for so many years. Wasn’t she tired of it? Hmph…
Ethan Hayes got up.“You’d better…
“Master, you’re awake?”
“Mrs. Margaret?”
“Please go wash up first. Breakfast will be ready in two minutes. Were you cold last night? I turned on the heater and put an extra blanket on you just to be on the safe side.”
“…Yes.”
