Chapter 1

For 12 years, Eloise Loughlin had acted like a tomboy to stay by Jeremy Gibson's side. She was with him when he played truant, and she learned to drink when he started to go to bars. When he commented that her long hair was too eye-catching, she cut it off without hesitation, even after having spent years taking care of it. One day, Jeremy came to her. He was done with the pressure from his family to get married. "I'd rather marry you than any of those women. Are you gonna marry me or not?" Eloise nodded without thinking further. Everyone around her praised her for being a good friend to Jeremy, which was the truth. In the day, she played the role of his good friend. At night, she satisfied all his needs and kinks in bed. They whispered sweet nothings to each other, using up boxes of condoms. This all ended when Scarlett Slater reported to work at Jeremy's company. She was an incompetent secretary who repeatedly messed up his plans, but not once did he get angry at her despite his hot temper. When Jeremy came home, he'd often bring up Scarlett in his conversation with Eloise. One day, when Jeremy was on a business trip, he arranged for Scarlett to join Eloise's project team. On the day of the project handover, a devastating event occurred—999 private photos of Eloise were displayed on the screen. When Eloise saw them, her mind went blank, and her skin turned cold. Those photos were Jeremy's. Everyone gasped when the photos were leaked. In tears, Scarlett rushed to the middle of the stage to apologize while quickly pulling out the USB drive. Eloise's face was exposed in those HD photos, confirming her identity. She felt the blood rushing to her head as she trembled uncontrollably all over. The judgmental looks on her made her feel like she was stripped naked in public. Eloise's client immediately got up to leave, but not before leaving a few sarcastic comments that stung. Even then, all she could do was endure the humiliation and apologize profusely. Feeling numb, she waited for Jeremy's explanation. Yet, the first thing he said to her was, "Scarlett is young. Don't yell at her. You'll only scare her." At that moment, Eloise felt exhausted. She had poured so much energy into trying to win a man's affection. "Eloise, is there anything else you want to say?" Jeremy cast a cold glance in her way, but she didn't even look up. She hadn't eaten anything. Filled with endless anger, bitterness, and hopelessness, she realized that she had nothing left to say. The first thing Jeremy did was to shift the blame onto her in an attempt to divert the attention from Scarlett. Not only that, Jeremy repeatedly reminded the meeting attendees that Eloise was the subject in those photos. In her silence, he looked away and announced, "From today, Scarlett Slater will take over as the director of Team A." The members of Team A inhaled sharply. Feeling confused, one of them attempted to speak up for Eloise, only to be silently stopped by colleagues who shook their heads at her. Jeremy left with Scarlett after making the announcement. Once they were gone, a heated discussion broke out in the meeting room. "Why did you stop me from speaking up? Scarlett hasn't been here for long, but she's already brought us great trouble. Now, even Ms. Loughlin has to shoulder the blame for her. This is unfair!" Another colleague gave Eloise a sympathetic look. Lowering her voice, she whispered, "That's because Mr. Gibson favors Scarlett." "Alright now. Let's leave. We have a lot of things to worry about from now on!" Soon, only Eloise was left in the meeting room. She stayed there for a long time until only she and the security guard remained. Rubbing her stomach to ease the pain, she drove home. To her surprise, she was greeted by the sight of Jeremy and Scarlett teasing and flirting with each other at the dining table. Scarlett was wearing a pair of matching slippers with Jeremy. She put on the shirt that Eloise had recently bought for Jeremy. Jeremy had only worn it twice, but now, he had given it to another woman. When Scarlett saw Eloise, she immediately flinched like a deer in the headlights. Jeremy smilingly pinched her cheek. "What are you afraid of? Eloise is not gonna bite you. She's my 'bro'!" He acted as though the incident from that afternoon never happened. Pain shot through Eloise's body, and her face paled. She froze at the entrance. An idea struck Scarlett. She quickly got up to apologize. "Ms. Loughlin, I'm sorry. I forgot I was wearing your slippers. I'll return them to you now!" Jeremy stopped Scarlett, who had bent over to remove her slippers. "You should have dinner first. You've been on edge all day. Eloise knows there are disposable slippers around." Indeed, Eloise knew, but she chose to put aside her bag and walked back to her room barefoot. She had pursued Jeremy for 24 years, including this year, which made it 8766 days. At first, she thought she'd never give up on loving him. However, she found out that she would grow tired as well. She pulled out the drawer and retrieved the divorce papers at the bottom of the stack. She signed them without hesitation.