Chapter 2

After saying goodbye to Gloria, Chase drove home. As soon as he walked through the door, he heard intimate sounds coming from the living room. His entire body tensed, but he couldn't stop himself from walking in. There, on the couch, he saw two people locked in a passionate embrace. One of them was his fiancee, Serena. Chase stood frozen in place, feeling the sharp pain spreading through his chest. Lucian chuckled and asked, "Making out at your place is pretty thrilling, but aren't you worried your fiance might get angry?" Serena nestled in his arms, her voice lazy and content. "What's there to worry about? You have no idea how much he loves me. He wouldn't get angry even if we did more intimate things." Chase felt as if a gaping hole had been torn open in his chest. He let out a bitter laugh. Did she think she could hurt him so recklessly just because he loved her? It wasn't that he couldn't get angry. He simply couldn't bear to be angry with her. However, he was still human, and when wounded, he felt pain as well. Chase composed himself and deliberately made his footsteps heavier as he entered the room. The two people on the couch saw him, but they remained entwined in each other's arms. Serena ordered Chase matter-of-factly, "Lucian's been drinking. Go make him some hangover remedy." "We're engaged," Chase said through gritted teeth. "If people see you with another man like this, it'll damage the company's reputation. What are we supposed to tell your grandmother and parents?" Serena exploded in fury. "Don't you dare use Grandma and my parents to pressure me! If they hadn't forced me into this, I never would have gotten engaged to you in the first place! I would have kept waiting for Lucian to come back!" Chase felt as if something had viciously squeezed his heart into a tight ball. The pain was so intense he had to raise his hand to clutch his chest. Serena said impatiently, "You're perfectly healthy, so stop pretending. Go and make the hangover remedy! Don't make me tell you a third time." Chase gave a bitter laugh and headed to the kitchen without a word. It reminded him of the early days after Lucian's disappearance when Serena drowned her sorrows in alcohol. He'd learned the best hangover remedies from a professional chef just so he could care for her during those dark times. He made hangover remedies for her through all those drinking binges, getting so good at it that he could outdo any professional chef. When she broke up with Myles, she had promised Chase that she would never ask him to make those remedies again. However, she was now asking him to make them for Lucian. At least in a few more days, it would all be over. Chase pretended not to hear the sounds from the living room and quickly finished preparing the remedy. He poured it into a bowl and was about to take it out when Lucian's voice suddenly came from behind him. "You don't really think I'd drink something you made, do you?" Chase turned around to see Lucian wearing a provocative smirk. Before Chase could say anything, Lucian strode forward, snatched the bowl from his hands, and deliberately poured the hot liquid all over himself. The bowl crashed to the floor, shattering into pieces. Then Lucian cried out as if in pain, his face twisted in apparent agony. The next second, Serena burst into the kitchen. "What happened?" When she saw the liquid on Lucian's clothes and the broken bowl on the floor, she immediately lashed out without thinking. "If you didn't want to make it, fine! But why did you have to throw the boiling soup at Lucian? Chase, I never imagined you could be so vicious!" She helped Lucian out of the kitchen without looking back, rushing him upstairs to change clothes. Lucian said, "Serena, he is your fiance after all. It's only natural he'd resent me. Don't be angry with him." Serena's fury only intensified. "He knew I loved you when we got engaged. What right does he have to resent you?" Chase stood numbly in the wreckage of the kitchen, listening to their footsteps on the stairs above. He realized that Gloria was wrong. Serena simply never had any feelings for him at all. From the very first day Lucian returned, Chase should have taken the hint and quietly stepped aside instead of overstaying his welcome. Fortunately, it wasn't too late to make the decision now. After celebrating Gloria's birthday, he would leave Beltoni forever and never return.