Olivia Sullivan, the Oscar-winning actress and my girlfriend of five years, was caught spending a night with a mysterious man. To protect Marcus Shaw’s reputation, she quickly posted intimate photos of them on Twitter, publicly acknowledging their relationship. The caption read: “Waiting for falling leaves, cold winds, autumn fireworks, and a better us. From beginning to end, I’ve only loved one person.” Looking at the man in the photo whose face was 50% similar to mine, a chill gradually enveloped my entire body. So for all these years, I had always been someone else’s stand-in. Olivia called soon to explain: “Marcus just returned to the country and can’t afford any damage to his reputation. I did this for work reasons, don’t take it seriously.” I only replied calmly: “It’s fine, I understand.” Seeing that I had no reaction, Olivia sounded confused on the other end: “Why aren’t you jealous today?” Less than half an hour after hanging up, Olivia came back. I thought she would continue her explanation from earlier, but she didn’t. Acting as if nothing had happened, she handed me a prepared gift: “Take a look, do you like it? I picked it out especially for you.” It was a Patek Philippe watch, quite expensive, I’d heard of it. In the past, she would always bring me small gifts when she came back, but never anything this expensive. Maybe she also realized that this time was different from before. In the past, a cake, a hug, or even a simple smile would have been enough to appease me. But today, even with this million-dollar watch in front of me, my expression remained indifferent, without any emotion. I just said a bland “Thank you.” Disappointment flashed across Olivia’s face. She could clearly sense that something was off with me. But she didn’t dare to bring up her public announcement with Marcus, because she felt guilty. She could only deliberately change the subject: “Aiden, I’m hungry. Can you make me some chicken soup noodles?” The noodles were pre-packaged, but the chicken soup had to be freshly made. Every time she said she wanted to eat something, I would rush to prepare the ingredients for her without complaint, no matter how troublesome it was. But today, I didn’t want to do anything. “There’s bread in the fridge. If you’re hungry, just eat some yourself.” “Aiden!” Seeing that I still maintained an indifferent attitude, Olivia finally lost her temper: “Can you stop being moody? Do you know how many interviews I canceled to come back and comfort you! Can’t you be more understanding of my work?” “No!” I interrupted her. Looking up, my eyes still like a midnight lake, without any ripples: “Olivia, let’s break up.” Even after so many days of self-healing, when I saw the one I once loved deeply, my heart still uncontrollably ached, the pain blocking my chest, making it difficult to breathe. But I still said those words stuck in my throat. This ridiculous underground relationship had lasted for five years. My feelings for her had long since reached their end. I no longer wanted to wait in an empty house for her return, no longer wanted to watch her various scandals, and no longer wanted to love her. I was tired. When she heard the words ‘break up’, Olivia’s face turned pale, showing unprecedented panic and shock. Before she could speak, I opened the door and left.
After getting together with Olivia, except for work hours, I stayed at home waiting for her all day and hadn’t hung out with friends for a long time. This time when my friends invited me out, I reluctantly agreed. After a few drinks, they noticed I was distracted, so I had to tell them about the breakup. “Breakup? When did you start dating someone that we didn’t know about? How did you meet?” My friend’s rapid-fire questions instantly took my memory back to middle school, that summer when I first met Olivia. I was locked in the bathroom by bullies for getting the top score in the school, and I met her who was in an equally miserable state. At that moment when equally miserable state the gears of fate turned, two hearts with the same destiny were tightly bound together… After graduating from middle school, she followed her divorced mother to another city, but we never lost contact. It wasn’t until five years ago when I graduated from college and came to her city to support her that we finally became a couple. But she clearly knew. Marcus Shaw was the boy who bullied me back then! My friends’ noisy voices pulled my drifting thoughts back. I casually pointed at the poster on the wall and smiled bitterly: “She’s the girlfriend I’ve been dating for five years.” On the poster was a promotion for Olivia and Marcus’ new movie. She had also fought for the male lead role for Marcus. The two were pressed tightly together, gazing into each other’s eyes, their expressions full of affection. What a perfect pair. My friends burst into laughter, thinking I was joking. “You must be drunk. How could the famous Oscar winner Olivia Sullivan be your girlfriend!” The laughter around me was a bit harsh. With three parts drunkenness, looking at that poster also made me feel a bit dazed for a moment. I didn’t explain further, just raised my head and drained the glass in one gulp. The burning sensation swept down my throat, bringing melancholy and also calmness. As I lowered my head, the door of the private room was pushed open. Even though the newcomer was tightly pressing down her baseball cap, wearing a mask and sunglasses, I still recognized Olivia at a glance.
Amidst everyone’s shock, Olivia nodded slightly in greeting, then pulled out a chair and sat down quietly next to me. Except for me, she always had an innate sense of aloofness towards everyone. “What are you doing here?” My voice was polite but distant, instantly pulling our relationship far apart. She frowned in dissatisfaction, but her tone was gentle: “I rarely have free time, so I wanted to spend more time with you.” I coldly replied: “You don’t need to do this. We’re breaking up anyway.” “I won’t agree to break up.” She took a deep breath, interrupting me, “You’re just jealous and want to make our relationship public, right? Fine, I’ll satisfy you.” After saying this, she reached for my glass and stood up, her tone returning to its usual haughtiness: “Hello everyone, I’m Aiden’s girlfriend.” “Due to work reasons, I’ve been hiding my relationship with Aiden. Please don’t mind.” As she finished speaking, she raised the glass amidst everyone’s shocked gazes. Before it could touch her lips, I snatched the glass away. “Enough, Olivia.” “We’ve already broken up.” The glass slammed heavily on the table, rolling twice before coming to a stop. After saying this, I ignored her slightly reddened eyes and turned to leave directly. I stumbled out drunkenly, the dark night road dim and bleak. The darkness mixed with the smell of alcohol, surrounding me tightly. My thoughts were a bit chaotic, making me recall the scene of Olivia raising her glass. My chest suddenly felt tight and I couldn’t breathe. Olivia never drank alcohol, saying she hated the taste. But I had once seen her drunk in a video leaked by paparazzi, half of her body leaning against Marcus’ embrace, raising her glass to please the producers at the table: “I hope everyone can give Marcus a chance, he will definitely perform well.” For Marcus’ sake, she who never touched alcohol downed three glasses of whiskey in one go, finally falling drunkenly into Marcus’ arms. And that day was my birthday. I sat in front of the cake waiting all night, but she never came back. Later she called to explain: “There were many producers and directors at the wrap party for the new drama, I really couldn’t get away. When I have time to come back, I’ll definitely make it up to you with a proper birthday celebration.” But Olivia, I don’t need it anymore.
From the moment I saw her falling into Marcus’ arms, all the feelings I had built up over the years were shattered, leaving my heart as cold as ashes. Olivia quickly chased after me. “Aiden, don’t be angry. Marcus and I really are just work partners…” Her voice was pleading in front of my friends. I just calmly replied: “I’m not angry. It has nothing to do with me anymore.” “Stop denying it, Aiden. You’re breaking up with me because you’re jealous of Marcus.” “I’ve explained many times that those rumors are just part of my work. If you mind, I can clarify them right now. Please don’t talk about breaking up anymore, okay?” She was still rambling on, always using work as an excuse for her unavoidable actions. She would never admit that she had ever divided her heart in our love. I suddenly felt that her desperate clinging and lies were extremely ugly. I shook off her hand and hailed a taxi, leaving without looking back. Just as I got home, I suddenly received a dismissal notice from the HR department. “Aiden, this is a decision from upper management. I couldn’t do anything about it,” the HR staff said apologetically. “I heard someone deliberately set you up. Did you offend anyone?” I had always been kind to others and never offended anyone. But since the company fired me for this reason, I didn’t care. After all, I wasn’t relying on that salary to make money anyway. After hanging up, an unknown number called immediately. When I answered, a man’s voice came through: “How does it feel to be fired, Aiden?” I immediately recognized the voice. It was Marcus. So the person behind this was him. My fists clenched tightly, nails digging into my palms. The pain mixed with hatred swept through my entire body. “You’re just a useless piece of trash who can’t even earn $5000 a month now. What right do you have to cling to Olivia? I advise you to get lost quickly.” “With me around, I’ll make sure you can never find a job again, haha.” He laughed arrogantly, completely different from his gentle and elegant image on TV, like a devil devouring people from hell. Just like how he was in middle school. But no matter what he looked like, in my eyes, he was disgusting. I sneered coldly, interrupting his ugly laughter: “Is that so? Then you’re bound to lose.”
Marcus was destined to lose this bet miserably. For me, the 9-to-5 job outside was just a daily pastime to kill time. It didn’t matter whether I worked or not. Back in college, my anonymously published original novel was selected by a famous director who bought the film and TV rights. From that first book, I embarked on my journey as a screenwriter. Several hit TV dramas in recent years were all written by me. However, at my request, my real name was always hidden, only using the pen name ‘Fallen Angel’ instead. Except for a few top directors I’ve been working with, no one knows about this identity of mine. Not even Olivia. The next day, I went to the company on time to handle the resignation procedures. When I arrived at my workstation, I found all my personal belongings were gone. The entire desk was empty. My gaze shifted to the trash can beside it, where I saw my things lying quietly inside. I didn’t need to guess to know who did this. I smirked coldly, grabbed a vase nearby and walked towards the director’s office. Amidst the terrified gazes of all my colleagues, I kicked open the door and smashed the vase at the director’s feet with a loud ‘crash’. He shouted angrily and stood up: “Aiden, don’t go too far.” “If you want to blame someone for this, blame yourself for being so lowly and offending Mr. Marcus Shaw. He specifically said he doesn’t want to see you. We had no choice.” The company had chosen Marcus Shaw as the spokesperson for their new product. It was time to curry favor with him, so naturally they wouldn’t offend Marcus over a small employee like me. I couldn’t be bothered to say anything more. After all, losing me was the company’s loss. Smashing the vase was enough to vent my anger. Just as I was about to leave, the director’s secretary rushed in anxiously. “Director, we just received a call from Oscar winner Olivia Sullivan. She expressed interest in endorsing our new product, but she has one condition…” At this point, the secretary gave me a complicated look. The director’s eyes lit up, urging: “Whatever the condition is, we must do everything possible to satisfy her.” The opportunity to work with an Oscar-winning actress was rare and precious. He naturally couldn’t wait. “Miss Sullivan’s only requirement is that her boyfriend Aiden be fully responsible for all her work.” When this was said, everyone was stunned. Even I was momentarily taken aback.
After Olivia and I confirmed our relationship, she said we couldn’t reveal our relationship in public to avoid suspicion. For three whole years, Olivia and I never appeared together in anyone’s sight. My family and friends knew nothing of her existence. She never attended any of my friend gatherings either. Even last year when my grandmother was critically ill and wanted to see my girlfriend before she passed away, I called Olivia in tears, hoping she could spare some time to see the old lady. Even though she heard the choke in my voice, she only hesitated for a few seconds before firmly refusing. “Aiden, you know my current status. It’s not convenient for me…” After that, I never again made requests to introduce her to my family and friends. I just didn’t expect that today, for the sake of my job, she would step in as my girlfriend for the first time. But I no longer needed it. Olivia’s status was not something Marcus could match. Hearing her make such a cooperation request, the director changed his ugly attitude from earlier and apologized to me with a smile: “Aiden, why didn’t you say earlier that you had such a connection with Miss Sullivan?” “I was wrong before, please don’t mind. How about this, I’ll make an exception and promote you to project manager, fully responsible for this cooperation. Your year-end bonus will be tripled.” But I just threw my work badge on the table expressionlessly and refused directly. “Sorry, I quit.” After saying that, I turned around coolly. The surrounding colleagues were dumbfounded, all shocked by my actions once again. The colleagues in the hall had already exploded into discussion. When they saw me come out, they swarmed around me. “Wow Aiden, you’ve really been hiding your talents! We never imagined the famous actress Olivia Sullivan would be your girlfriend.” “Olivia Sullivan just updated her Twitter. Not only did she clarify the previous rumors with Marcus Shaw, but she also announced her relationship with you. She’s already changed into a wedding dress and is preparing to come propose to you!” Before I could react, a colleague shoved their phone into my hands and played a video. In the video, Olivia was wearing a pure white wedding dress. Her exquisite makeup was cold yet noble. She stared at the camera, her deep gaze seeming to penetrate the screen and look into my eyes. She said: “Aiden, are you ready to marry me?”
It turned out that half an hour ago, Olivia had posted a clarification on Twitter, publicly revealing our five-year underground relationship. She also released candid photos of me cooking and several life photos. The nine-grid post was full of love, accompanied by a 500-word caption explaining that her previous admission of a relationship with Marcus Shaw was a joke because she lost a bet. She said from beginning to end, she only had one boyfriend. That was me. My breath caught, my heart filled with mixed emotions. Marcus also immediately replied to this tweet: “Sister Olivia’s willingness to admit defeat in a bet is admirable. It was all a misunderstanding. Brother-in-law, please don’t be angry.” The comment section exploded instantly, with a flood of criticism. Many accused Olivia of taking the joke too far and treating her fans like fools. Some even continued to say that only Marcus was a good match for her. Only a handful of people expressed their blessings. I don’t know how Olivia persuaded Marcus to act out this farce with her, but while everyone else was moved to tears, I remained exceptionally clear-headed. I once eagerly looked forward to the day when we could make our relationship public, fantasizing about being able to walk hand in hand with her on the street openly, receiving everyone’s blessings. But at this moment, apart from a full sense of helplessness, there was only indifference after disappointment. In just a few minutes, the video of the famous actress proposing to an ordinary man online instantly went viral across the country, squeezing to the top of the trending list and the headlines of major media outlets. Many bloggers and reporters started live streaming, following Olivia as she ran towards my location holding a bouquet of flowers. Everyone was driven crazy by her courage and sincerity. Many fans had already gathered at the entrance of my company to clear the way for her. For a moment, this live broadcast in the name of a proposal was watched by hundreds of millions of viewers across the country. While I was still in a daze, a cheer suddenly erupted outside the company. Olivia had arrived.
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