The room fell into a deathly silence.

Julian stood with his back to her, a silent statue refusing to communicate with the world, motionless before the enormous floor-to-ceiling window.


Chloe stood in the center of the spacious living room, the lonely pearl earring on the floor giving off a cold glow under the light. Their brief, intense confrontation had drained all her strength. His silence and retreat felt like a massive black hole full of unknowns and danger, leaving her helpless, and even… afraid.

She gazed at his tall, solitary silhouette.

What was he thinking?


Why had he stopped talking? Why that look in his eyes?

That look filled with pain…


No.

Chloe, stop being foolish. This is Julian. A man who, five years ago, delivered the most hurtful words in the calmest tone. A man who, under bright sunshine on your twentieth birthday, told you your genuine heart was merely "wasting his time."

How could there be an emotion like "pain" in his world?

His rage was real. Because I refused his "help" and challenged his unquestionable control.

And his current silence is equally real. That's not pain—that's a hunter in a temporary, condescending "ceasefire" after getting bored with his prey. He saw my tears, found them uninteresting, so he withdrew his claws and fangs.

All his emotions are just a carefully designed game to manipulate people's hearts.

And I, from many years ago until today, have just been the most foolish idiot he toys with at will.

This cold, humiliating realization stabbed into Chloe's heart like a poisoned knife. The pain even overshadowed Daniel and Leo's betrayal.

A cold, resolute determination mixed with extreme hatred surged within her.

She would not let him toy with her anymore.

Chloe slowly bent down and picked up the pearl earring from the cold floor. Step by step, she walked back toward Julian.

Julian heard the footsteps behind him and thought she had finally come to her senses and given in. He didn't turn around, just waited for her "plea" with a subtle air of victory and condescension.

Instead, Chloe reached out and rudely stuffed the cold pearl earring into his palm.

Julian's body froze instantly.

"A coming-of-age gift from my mother, very valuable. Unfortunately," Chloe's voice wasn't loud, but it pierced his eardrums like ice needles, "it's been touched by someone unclean. I don't want it anymore."

She raised her head and looked at the profile of this man she once loved to her core, her eyes now viewing him like garbage, and spoke words that would send him straight to hell:

"Take it. Consider it… payment for your services that night."

The instant the words "payment for services" entered his ears, Julian whipped around.

In his bottomless eyes, all previous complexity, pain, and restraint were replaced by pure, almost world-destroying rage.

If looks could kill, Chloe would have been dismembered ten thousand times over.

"What did you say?" His voice was terrifyingly calm, each word breaking through ice from the coldest depths of hell.

Chloe instinctively wanted to back away from his gaze, but her remaining dignity kept her firmly rooted to the spot, stubbornly meeting his eyes with a hint of defiance.

He laughed. A cold, empty, almost cruel laugh.

"Very well," he said.

He didn't look at the earring, only fixed his ice-cold eyes on her. He put the earring into his pocket and, with infinite elegance and humiliation, gently patted it.

As if confirming a cheaply priced item already purchased.

"You're right, Chloe. Your affairs indeed have nothing to do with me," his voice returned to that cold, emotionless state.

"And this," he patted his pocket, the smile at the corner of his mouth cruel to the extreme, "consider it payment for that night. After all, you can't expect a 'cheap substitute' to receive anything more valuable."

These words, like a final judgment, completely shattered Chloe.

The resolute hatred on her face shattered like a mask, piece by piece. She didn't cry or show anger. Her eyes instantly became hollow, like stagnant water, reflecting no light. It was a complete despair more heart-wrenching than any tears.

What have I done?

What the hell did I just say?

When he saw her eyes that had "died" in an instant, overwhelming regret engulfed him like a tsunami. He realized his words had been a poison-tipped dagger, piercing her already tattered heart, causing her to bleed out her last drop of blood.

He wanted to apologize, to take back those words, to kneel down and beg her not to look at him with those eyes.

But it was too late.

Chloe didn't say another word.

She merely gave him one last look—the kind one gives to a dead person—then turned around and walked out of the apartment.

The door closed softly behind her.

The world fell into complete silence.

Julian stood alone in the spacious, deathly quiet living room. He slowly raised his hand, wanting to touch the pocket containing the earring that seemed to still retain the warmth of her fingertips.

His hand, however, began to tremble violently and uncontrollably in mid-air.