1.2

The road home felt unbearably long.  

‘Dad must not be home yet.’  

The empty house was dark.  

The moment Ella arrived, she turned on every light in the house. Grabbing her favorite bottle of essential oil, she headed to the bathroom.  

She quickly rinsed the bathtub and filled it with warm water. Once the tub was sufficiently full, she poured in the oil. The soothing scent of lemongrass filled the room.  

Taking a bath was Ella’s go-to remedy whenever her stress reached its peak.  

She sank into the tub until the water covered her chin. Her red, curly hair floated on the surface. Reaching out, she watched as her hair drifted away with the ripples before returning to its original spot.  

She stared quietly at her hair as it swayed in the water.  

There was a time when she hated how her red hair stood out so much.  

‘Wouldn’t golden hair be so much better? It’s warm and inviting…’  

But at some point, Ella had grown to like her appearance.  

Because…  

「Ella, my precious rose…」

Ugh…  

Sitting alone in the bathroom, Shyle’s voice echoed in her mind, and tears began to fall. Not a single tear had escaped earlier when she caught him, but now they poured out like a broken dam.  

Yes, she had been holding it in all this time.  

That piece of trash… How could he do this to me?  

“Shyle, you bastard…”  

She tried cursing him to stop herself from crying, but the image of him walking with his arm around another woman’s waist kept replaying in her mind. His voice, dripping with vulgarity as he spoke to the woman, echoed relentlessly in her ears.  

Whether it was the hot water or her boiling emotions, her chest felt so tight she could hardly breathe.  

‘I should’ve slapped him…’  

She regretted being too stunned to do anything.  

It had been ten months since she started dating Shyle. Almost a year. Because of his unstable circumstances, she hadn’t introduced him to her father yet, but she had planned to do so soon, before heading off to university.  

Ella was about to leave Eren for the capital to attend university. With her departure imminent, every day with Shyle had felt precious. That’s why she had returned home early, even giving up extra time with her grandparents.  

「Ella, don’t worry about me. Just focus on your studies and do what makes you happy. Your happiness is my happiness.」

She could almost hear his voice.  

Despite the long distance they’d have to endure, he had encouraged her to pursue her dreams. She had been so proud to have such a mature boyfriend and had naturally begun to dream of a future with him.  

‘But to Shyle, I was just someone passing through his life…’  

She felt ridiculous and pathetic for having planned to graduate early and return to his side as soon as possible.  

Ella alternated between laughing and crying before curling up and closing her eyes. She stayed like that for a long time, until the water turned cold.  

Then, a knock came at the door.  

Thud, thud…  

“Ella, it’s me! Please, come out for a moment!”  

It was Shyle.  

“Ella, are you listening? Please, Ella! I know you’re home. Just come out this once!”  

Shyle had been knocking on her door for thirty minutes already.  

Ella tried her best to ignore him, but she couldn’t help worrying that if he stayed any longer, her father might see this scene on his way home. Left with no choice, she stepped outside. Besides, there was something she needed to return to him.  

The moment Shyle saw Ella emerge, his face lit up.  

“Ella! I—”  

Slap!  

Before he could finish his sentence, Ella’s palm struck his cheek without warning.  

“Ugh… Ella, what are you—”  

Thud!  

This time, Ella used her fist to hit the same spot again. His cheek began to swell slightly.  

“What the hell are you doing?!”  

“Why? Does it hurt? Just a few slaps, and you’re in pain?”  

“Ella!”  

Shyle grabbed Ella’s arm as she raised her fist to strike him again and shouted.  

Ha, asking her to come out just once, yet now he was getting angry after taking a few hits—completely oblivious to his own wrongdoing. Ella felt nothing but emptiness.  

She coldly shook off Shyle’s hand, which was gripping her wrist, and said,  

“Rafaella.”  

“What?”  

“We’re strangers now, so why are you using a nickname? Call me Rafaella, Shyle. Or rather, you’re just Shylow to me now.”  

She had already been annoyed by how he kept calling her “Ella” since earlier.  

Shyle, perhaps feeling disheartened by her sharp tone, spoke in a pleading voice.  

“You’ve been away from me for so long… I was so lonely…”  

“…”  

“You know I grew up without parents, that I have an affection deficit. I just wanted to feel warmth for a moment, so I let myself indulge physically. But I swear, I didn’t give my heart to her.”  

“You indulged physically?”  

“Yes, it was just a professional woman. I can prove it. If you go to 52nd Street, you’ll find her. I really—”  

“Ha, a professional woman?”  

“Yes, I must have been out of my mind for a moment, doing something that would disappoint you. If you forgive me just this once, I’ll never make such a mistake again. Please, forgive me just this once. You’re the only one for me.”  

Ella stared at Shyle’s mouth as he rattled off his excuses and pleas. She found it absurd how he rationalized his actions by claiming it wasn’t cheating if he didn’t give his heart.  

To think I had dated such an idiot for ten months. Was this seriously his idea of an explanation?  

She suddenly remembered Shua, who had tried to stop her when she first started seeing Shyle, saying, 

‘How can you trust a guy you met at a bar, who doesn’t even have a proper job or background?’

Back then, Ella had gotten angry, telling Shua not to insult her love. Now, she felt sorry for her past self.  

Thank you, Shua, for not cutting ties with me…  

“First of all, whether it’s a woman from the red-light district or not, whether you gave her your heart or just your body, whether you were lonely or not, you cheated. Stop rationalizing it. And you weren’t out of your mind for a moment—you’re just fundamentally stupid. I didn’t realize it because you were always saying things like ‘I love you,’ ‘You’re beautiful,’ and ‘Stay strong,’ but now I see your entire mindset is rotten to the core.”  

“Ella…”  

“It’s Rafaella. Lastly, we’re already over, and I don’t do forgiveness. Stop wasting your time and get lost. Otherwise, I’ll call the guards.”  

“Ella, please… If you forgive me this once, I’ll spend the rest of my life making it up to you.”  

Despite her cold response, Shyle remained persistent. He kept trying to convince her, clinging to the image of the kind and loving Ella who had cared for him wholeheartedly for the past ten months.  

But that was just one side of her—the side that had fallen in love for the first time and wanted to mold herself to fit everything around him. In truth, she was a strong-willed woman with firm convictions. And now, with the rose-tinted glasses off, that part of her shone even more clearly.

“Get lost, you worthless piece of trash that can’t even be recycled!”  

When Shyle still refused to back down despite her logical arguments, Ella dropped all pretense and shouted.  

Why is someone with no sense, no shame, and no decency so stubborn?  

Much time had passed like that. Shyle, who had initially thought she would eventually give in after resisting a little, was now overwhelmed by her unwavering stance. On top of that, when she started hurling curses, he began to lose his temper.  

That’s when Ella delivered the final blow.  

“Once a cheater, always a cheater! I hope you meet someone just like you, get betrayed, and die alone!”  

Even though they had been a couple for ten months, her words telling him to go die struck a nerve. Shyle’s anger exploded.  

“Ha, how dare you say that to me?”

Any lingering affection Shyle had for her vanished in an instant, replaced by wounded pride.  

“You think you’re such a great person, don’t you?”  

“Is this the real you coming out now, Shyle?”  

Just yesterday, they had been a sweet couple, but today, they were growling at each other.  

To Shyle, Ella had been a woman with a decent appearance and good education—someone perfect for marriage. He had thought she’d be a good person to settle down with, so he had tried to appear reliable in her eyes.  

Because of that, Ella had believed Shyle to be someone who, despite his dark family background, had grown up kind and bright. But in reality, he was just a thug who had crawled through the gutters, pretending to be a good person to match her expectations.  

Now that the facade was shattered and it was clear she had no intention of forgiving him, Shyle no longer felt the need to consider her feelings. And he knew exactly how to stab a woman where it hurt the most.  

“Pathetic Rafaella, why do you think I went to a woman from the red-light district?”  

“What?”  

“Isn’t it because you couldn’t satisfy me as a woman?”  

“You…!”  

“You naive little girl, did you learn s*x from a textbook or something? You’re the most boring person I’ve ever been with in bed.”  

Ella stammered, unable to fully process the sudden barrage of his words.  

“What, what did you just say?”  

“Not only were you bad in bed, but now you can’t even talk properly? Fine, let’s break up! Let’s see how long your next guy lasts—I bet he won’t even make it a few months!”  

Shyle’s verbal assault left Ella frozen in shock.  

It was a strike right to her core.