Chapter 3

Serena POV

My dessert shop had a good location, thoughtful design, and a very low transfer price.

Not long after I posted the listing, someone contacted me.

The buyer was a young couple. The boy said on the phone that opening a dessert shop had been his girlfriend's childhood dream, and he wanted to make it come true for her.

Listening to someone else's happiness made my heart even more bitter.

"Then I'll reduce the price a bit more for you. I hope to complete the paperwork as soon as possible."

The boy was very happy and thanked me repeatedly. "Then I'll take the day off tomorrow to come over. All the paperwork can be completed in seven days at most."

After hanging up, I stared out the window in a daze.

Seven days from now, I'll leave this place.

Leave the person I had faith in for so long.

On the second day of my hospital stay, it was nearly noon when the door to my room finally opened.

Ethan walked in hurriedly. "Are you feeling better?"

"Much better." I nodded slightly and didn't say anything else.

Usually Ethan was a man of few words, and I was the one who talked around him.

Ethan always complained that my personality didn't match my name at all.

Neither of us spoke.

Ethan seemed uncomfortable with this atmosphere, looking somewhat uneasy. "Are you angry? Because I stayed with Vivian instead of you?"

I looked up at him, no anger showing in my eyes.

"Why would you say that?" My tone was gentle. "Vivian is your subordinate and your mentor's daughter. Taking care of her is both your job and your responsibility. Why would I be angry?"

Ethan looked at my face quietly.

He opened his mouth but said nothing.

He suddenly changed the subject. "Have you eaten? I'll go downstairs and get you something."

Before he finished speaking, his phone vibrated in his pocket.

"Ethan, what should I do?" On the other end, Vivian complained while asking for help. "I don't know how to write part of my case report, and it's due tomorrow. If I don't write it well, I'm going to get scolded again..."

Ethan coaxed her gently. "Don't worry. I'll help you write it. It's fine."

After hanging up, he looked at me with difficulty.

I spoke first. "You go ahead. I can manage on my own."

In the end, Ethan said nothing more, just nodded and walked out.

At the door, he stopped again and turned back. "I'll come pick you up tomorrow when you're discharged."

I watched his departing figure without responding.

The next day, as expected, Ethan didn't come.

I didn't wait for him either.

I handled the discharge paperwork myself and called a car to go home.

When I got home, I dragged out suitcases from the storage room and started packing my things.

This apartment belonged to Ethan.

After we became a couple, I moved in.

I just lived with him and took care of him.

When I first moved in, this place was cold and sparse, barely like a home at all.

Ethan ate at the police station and only came home to shower and sleep.

I started adding things to the house bit by bit.

The curtains were changed to a soft beige, the sofa to a warm caramel color. I added many new kitchen utensils to the cabinets and piled several round cushions in the corner of the sofa.

I also bought many couple items. Cups, slippers, key hooks by the door. All in matching pairs.

As more and more things filled the house, Ethan spent increasingly more time at home.

I thought everything was moving in a good direction.

I thought I would live here for many, many more years.

I never expected that after just three short years, I would have to leave.

I was folding clothes from the closet into my suitcase one by one when the door lock suddenly opened.

Ethan pushed the door open and saw me bent over packing my luggage.