Chapter 2

The banquet hall fell so silent you could hear the champagne bubbles popping.

The faint smile on Julian's face instantly vanished.

But Chloe only pressed closer to him, her fingers hooking into his sleeve.

"Audrey, don't be like this. All our family and friends are here today. If you make a scene, you'll be the one embarrassing the Sterling family."

I looked at Julian.

The numbers above his head were still stuck at zero.

The green light was blinding.

Three years ago, when Julian first confessed his love to me, it was snowing heavily.

I was standing outside my dorm building, not daring to take the bouquet of roses he was holding out to me.

I asked him, "Julian, would you believe me if I told you I can see when people are going to break up?"

He laughed softly.

"Then look at me. How much time do we have left?"

I looked up.

A ridiculously long string of numbers glowed above his head.

Fifty years, seven months, and three days.

I cried right then and there.

Julian panicked, shoving the flowers into my arms and awkwardly wiping away my tears.

"Hey, don't cry, Audrey. If fifty years isn't enough, I promise I'll try my best to live longer."

In the years that followed, he used that line to comfort me countless times.

I really thought we had a lifetime.

Now, fifty years had become zero.

Julian finally spoke, his voice tense. "Audrey, put the ring back on. Chloe is young and doesn't know when to keep her mouth shut. I'll make her apologize to you later."

"Later?"

I tossed the ring straight into the top glass of the champagne tower.

With a sharp clink, the liquid splashed, reflecting the cold chandelier light.

"Julian, can what the two of you did in the dressing room wait until 'later'?"

His face darkened. "Do you have to do this here?"

Chloe let out a soft laugh.

"Audrey, it's not like you just found out Julian can't stand your cold, rigid rules. You always used that stupid countdown to pressure him, bragging about how you two had fifty years left. You made him feel like he was trapped by your side forever."

She looked at me, her voice not loud, but clear enough for the relatives in the front rows to hear every single word.

"But people get tired. Numbers don't change, but men do."

Julian hissed under his breath, "Chloe."

Chloe's eyes instantly welled with tears.

"Did I say something wrong? Julian, you literally just said in there that you wanted to see if Audrey would still be so arrogant once that fifty-year safety net was gone."

My heart felt like it had been hollowed out.

It wasn't just the pain of betrayal.

It was the realization that he had long grown sick of the very thing I cherished most.

Julian took a step forward, reaching out to grab my hand. "Audrey, May isn't in good health. We can't cancel the party today."

He knew exactly how to manipulate me.

My parents died when I was young, and May raised me all on her own.

Years ago, Julian was the one who pulled strings at the hospital, getting May on the exclusive waitlist for a world-renowned heart surgeon. I owed him too much.

I looked at his head.

Zero.

Not a single second more.

I pulled my hand back, avoiding his touch.

"May has a weak heart, and yet you chose to cheat in the dressing room of our engagement party?"

Julian froze.

But Chloe suddenly smiled.

The moment she wrapped her arm around Julian's, a new set of numbers flashed above both of their heads simultaneously.

13 days, 6 hours, 42 minutes.

I stared at the numbers for a few seconds and said quietly, "You two won't last long."

The smile on Chloe's face stiffened, but she quickly tossed her head back.

"That's enough for me. At least today, he chose me."

Julian's impatience finally broke through.

"Audrey, enough. Every time we fight, you start threatening me with those stupid numbers."

I didn't answer.

Suddenly, rushed footsteps echoed from the backstage area.

An event coordinator ran up to me, her face completely pale.

"Miss Audrey... May is not in the holding room."