Ever since I got together with Vincent, I had personally made his birthday cake every year.

I recognized the cartoon character on his phone.

It was Ava’s WhatsApp profile picture.

The living room fell silent.

As Vincent slowly realized how messed up his request was, I simply nodded.

“Send me the picture. I’ll go buy the ingredients now.”

Seven years ago, in that bloody shootout, I never would have made it out alive if it hadn’t been for Vincent.

After this cake, I wouldn’t owe him anything.

Seeing my lonely figure walking towards the door, Vincent called out my name, his voice strangely hesitant.

I didn’t turn back. “Any other orders?”

“…I transferred you the money for the ingredients.”

In the elevator, I opened my chat history with Vincent.

It was almost funny. I had sent him 5,363 messages.

He had replied to 25 of them.

Back in the apartment, Vincent heard the notification that his ten-thousand-dollar transfer had been rejected.

He clenched his phone tightly in his hand.

At eight that night, I got a call from Vincent.

“Lina, where are you?”

I was at a small Italian place near my parents' house, but I didn't answer him directly.

“What’s up?”

His voice was softer than usual.

“Nothing. Just wanted to say the cake was delicious, as always.”

He paused, then added in a low voice, “Thank you for your hard work.”

Before I could reply, Ava’s syrupy voice chirped through the phone.

“Lina, sister! Vincent told me you made my birthday cake today! Oh my god, you’re so amazing. Not like me, I’m so clumsy. Vincent is always calling me his little dummy.”

The next second, as Ava invited me to the party, Vincent’s voice cut in.

“Lina, don’t come.”

He hung up.

A few minutes later, he sent me a location pin and a message:

【When you come over, stop by a convenience store and grab Ava a bag of ketchup-flavored potato chips.】

When I pushed open the door to the nightclub's VIP room, Vincent was feeding Ava a piece of cake.

He looked annoyed when he saw me.

I knew Ava had sent the text and the location.

But I came anyway.

Hearing Ava’s sweet voice call me “sis,” Vincent shot me a glare.

“Didn’t I tell you not to come?”

“I’m sorry, Vince,” Ava pouted. “It was my fault. I was craving chips, so I tricked Lina into coming.”

Seeing Ava’s sad little face, Vincent stroked her hair affectionately and called her a “little piggy.”

Realizing he was in a good mood, I took out a letter.

“Boss, someone has a family emergency and needs to leave the Family. I need your approval.”

Normally, departure requests went through the second-in-command.

But when he saw my name on it, he had rejected it immediately.

The light in the room was dim, and Vincent was too busy flirting with Ava to even glance at the name on the form. He signed it, just as I’d hoped.

But as I reached for the document, he suddenly pressed his hand down on mine.

He looked at me thoughtfully.

“Lina, you came all the way here just for this?”

When I nodded, his face darkened.

Then, as if he’d been shocked, he pulled his hand away.

He must have felt the blisters on my hand from working with the hot sugar.

He must have been disgusted.

Just then, Ava piped up like she’d discovered something fascinating.

“Lina, that old leather bracelet on your wrist looks so familiar. Oh, I remember now! I saw one just like it in the trash can in my apartment a few days ago.”

I pretended not to see Vincent instinctively cover his own wrist.

I replied calmly, “They’re pretty common. If you like it, you can have mine.”

Ava didn’t take it.

As soon as I left the room, I found the nearest trash can and threw away the leather bracelet I had worn for seven years.

While I was waiting for the elevator, my mom called.

She asked if I had booked my ticket home yet.

“I’ll book it in a few days,” I said.

Just as I finished speaking, I heard Vincent’s voice behind me.

“What are you booking?”

I hung up and lied without changing my expression.

“There’s a really popular restaurant I need to make a reservation for.”

Hearing that, Vincent didn’t say anything else.

He just grabbed my hand and got us a suite at a nearby hotel.

He opened his laptop and started dealing with urgent Family business.

We worked in silence until the early hours. While waiting for feedback from our overseas partners, I couldn’t stay awake any longer and fell asleep.

When I woke up the next day, I was in bed.

Vincent was leaning against the headboard, reading The Wall Street Journal.

Seeing I was awake, he ordered breakfast from room service.

Halfway through the meal, he asked me out of the blue why I’d changed my phone password.

“Just felt like it.”

My old password had been a combination of our birthdays.

Since I had decided to leave, I couldn't keep using it.

Vincent put down his knife and fork.

“Lina, you were always nagging me to take you to the movies. There’s a theater nearby.”

The boss was playing hooky, so I couldn’t refuse.

Snuggling up to your boyfriend in a quiet, empty movie theater, sharing a bucket of popcorn while watching a comedy.

This was the perfect romantic scene I had always dreamed of.

But now that it was happening, I felt nothing. I just kept yawning.

Vincent noticed my distraction and frowned. “You picked this movie. You don’t like it?”

“No, it’s good.”

He could hear the insincerity in my voice. He pursed his lips, about to say something, but then his phone buzzed with a text.

He walked out without a word.

Vincent didn’t come back, not even after the movie ended.

Just as I was about to call him, I heard a familiar, sweet voice not too far away.

“Oh, Vince, you’re the best!”

I saw Ava, clutching a giant teddy bear, laughing as she jumped onto Vincent and planted a big kiss on his cheek.

Vincent held her up by her thighs, a wide smile on his face that vanished the second he saw me.

“Lina, you’re here too!”

Ava looked at me with fake surprise. A few seconds later, she let out a little shriek and scrambled off of Vincent, covering her face.

“Oh, Lina, please don’t get the wrong idea! I was just so excited, that’s why I…”

Vincent gently tapped Ava on the nose, his voice full of affection. “What’s there to apologize for?”

Then he looked at me and said casually, “Is the movie over already?”

Before I could answer, a piercing fire alarm echoed through the mall.

People screamed and scattered in panic.

Before I could even react, Vincent had grabbed Ava’s hand and was shielding her as they ran for the nearest emergency exit.

Five minutes later, the alarm, which had been triggered by mistake, was turned off.

Vincent came back to where we had been standing.

He looked around for a long time, but I was nowhere to be found.

Two hours later, after completing all my handover procedures, I was at Penn Station with my suitcase.

As I waited for my train, my phone started buzzing nonstop.

The caller ID said ‘Vincent’.

I didn’t bother answering. I just put it on silent.

Right before I boarded the train, I sent Vincent one last text.

【We’re done.】

After sending it, I took out my SIM card, snapped it in half, and threw it in the trash.

…

I arrived at the station in my hometown close to midnight.

The moment I walked through the gate, I saw my dad waiting for me.

He had a big bag of my favorite snacks and yogurt waiting for me on the passenger seat of his pickup truck.

Before he started the car, he grinned, stuck a straw in the yogurt, and handed it to me.

Seeing the gray in my dad’s hair, I couldn't hold it in any longer. I burst into tears.

“Dad, I’m back for good this time. I’m never leaving. I want to stay with you and Mom forever.”

“Silly girl,” he said. “Whether you’re here or not, you’ll always be our precious Lina.”

My dad could tell something was very wrong, but since I didn’t say anything, he didn’t ask.

I went home, took a shower, and ate a home-cooked meal my parents had made.

At ten o’clock, I lay in my old bed and opened Spotify, looking for some calming music to help me sleep.

But I saw several private messages.

They were from my closest colleague at work.

She was shocked by my sudden departure and sincerely asked if something was wrong, if there was anything she could do to help.

As I was trying to figure out how to reply, she sent me a video.

She wrote, “Lina, this video of the boss and Ava has gone viral in all the Family’s work chats…”