Xavier slowly traced the heavy album with his hand, his heart softening completely. He thought this precious gift would surely reawaken Jolene’s love for him.

He stood waiting in the cold wind for three hours. Jolene finally appeared.

However, the smile on Xavier’s face vanished instantly. Because there was a man by her side. They were standing very close, well beyond a normal social distance.

Suddenly, a car approached, and the man grabbed Jolene’s wrist to pull her back. Xavier saw it clearly. Jolene, who usually avoided excessive involvement with the opposite sex, showed no resistance. Instead, she tilted her eyes and smiled at the stranger.

That smile—one Xavier hadn't seen for a long time—was exceptionally piercing. The temperature of the album turned ice-cold, and even its edges felt sharp against his palm.

He took a deep breath and stepped forward to pull Jolene to his side. He knew his grip was a bit heavy, but it was already the result of his utmost restraint. Heaven knew that when he saw another man appearing by her side, jealousy and possessiveness surged through his body until he felt like he would explode.

"Jolene, I have a gift for you," he said, his voice strained.

He thought that since he had disappeared for two days without a word, Jolene would surely be concerned about where he had gone. Yet he never expected her first words to him to be: "I thought you left. Why are you still here?"

At those words, Xavier could barely maintain his smile. He gave a stiff, dry laugh. "Wife, how could I possibly leave?"

He tried his best to ignore the eyesore of a man and presented the album to Jolene, saying earnestly, "Jolene, I didn't leave on purpose. I was just thinking about how to win you back and show you the depth of my love."

"I went back to our home and found all the photos I’ve kept over the years... Every one of them is in here. I made this album myself to give to you."

"Do you remember this one? When you agreed to be my girlfriend and we first got together. I was so happy; I took our first Polaroid while kissing your cheek."

"And this one... our first Valentine's Day. I remember you made the cake yourself. It was delicious, especially when you fed it to me—it was as sweet as honey."

Xavier flipped through photo after photo with urgency, but amidst Jolene’s cruel silence, his speed grew faster and his voice grew quieter. Finally, enveloped in despair, he finally asked: "Jolene, don't you like it?"

In a place where Xavier couldn't see, Jolene blinked rapidly to clear the mist from her eyes. In truth, how could she not be moved? Ten years—that isn't a length of time that can be brushed away lightly.

But because of that, Jolene was even more determined not to let her heart soften. She reached out and took the album. Under Xavier’s hopeful gaze, she heartlessly threw it into the gutter by the side of the road.

It had rained lightly not long ago, and the road was pooled with murky rainwater. As the album hit the water, it splashed with grime. The photos were instantly soaked, and the happy couple on them became blurred and unrecognizable.

"What are you doing?! Jolene!!!"

Xavier’s eyes were bloodshot as he roared. He scrambled to fish it out, but it was too late.

Ten years of photos gathered with genuine sincerity, placed into an album overnight, and brought before her after a flight fueled by the hope of reconciliation... Every drop of that sincerity was destroyed by Jolene’s casual toss.

It felt like a heavy hammer blow to the back of Xavier’s head. While dazed, his heart felt wrenched apart. He couldn't help but reach out to grab Jolene’s shoulders. He had to ask her how she could be so cold-blooded, so heartless, and so completely disregard their ten years together.

But his hands met empty air.

The stranger shielded Jolene behind him in a protective stance. Then, Xavier heard the stranger ask with a frown: "Who are you?"

"None of your business!"

"Someone unimportant."

Xavier’s voice, thick with anger, overlapped with Jolene’s indifferent dismissal as she tried to distance herself.

Xavier’s breathing suddenly became heavy. He slammed a fist into a nearby tree, his fury surging as if doused in gasoline. "Jolene, what is the meaning of this?!"

"Who is he? Why are you two so close? Did you insist on going abroad because of him?"

Provoked beyond reason, Xavier’s sanity vanished, and he began to speculate about Jolene with the most revolting words imaginable.

"Jolene, did you cheat a long time ago? Have you been messing around with this man, playing me for a fool?"

"And here I was feeling guilty, trying everything to win you back because of my mistakes! No wonder you remained unmoved—it turns out you already had a lover while you were studying abroad!"

"Shut up!" Jolene barked.

Her gaze turned freezing. "Xavier, don't project your own filth onto others."

Xavier, convinced that her anger was a sign of being caught, laughed hysterically. He turned to the stranger with a sneer. "Don't tell me you're a gigolo? Jolene has to go out and show her face to raise funds for her startup while you stay at home and warm her bed?"

"Looking at how scrawny you are, can you even satisfy her in bed? Do you even know her sensitive spots? Do you know how many times I’ve slept with her? Do you know how long a single night takes to satisfy her?"

"Do your parents know you came abroad to study, only to sell your soul to a married woman just to survive?"

In contrast to Xavier’s loss of control, the stranger’s face remained composed, exuding a natural authority. Since he was two centimeters taller than Xavier, he looked down with a gaze full of disdain and contempt. "Incapable of handling your own infidelity, and now suffering from delusions?"

The long black trench coat made the man’s shoulders look as sharp as blades. His shirt was buttoned to the very top, making him appear cold and noble.

Xavier was startled to realize that this man’s aura was not inferior to his own; in fact, it seemed a level higher.

"Who are you?" Xavier asked, starting to lose his footing.

The man partially lifted his eyelids. Noticing Jolene’s face had turned pale from the cold wind, he first tucked her coat tighter around her before answering Xavier unhurriedly.

"Yancheng Gu."

Xavier’s eyes widened in shock as he repeated, "Yancheng Gu?!"

Yancheng Gu.

If Xavier was an enviable young master of the capital’s elite circles, then Yancheng Gu was an untouchable titan of the high aristocracy. He had grown up abroad, but his legend was well-known back home.

A high IQ was the least of his merits; more terrifyingly, he had founded his own company at fifteen and turned it into a leading global enterprise within a single year. Currently, he was still a student, yet his assets were innumerable, making him unofficially the wealthiest man in the world.

"Who are you trying to fool?"

Xavier blurted it out. He didn't believe for a second that Jolene could be involved with someone like Yancheng Gu. The thought of Jolene finding someone a hundred times better than him—someone he stood zero chance against—made his chest tighten painfully.

Yancheng ignored the need for self-justification, instead warning Xavier with a cold glare. "Watch your mouth."

"Jolene isn't like you—someone who cheats without self-awareness and is arrogant beyond measure."

"I’ve been pursuing her for a long time." Yancheng suddenly dropped a bombshell that tore a bloody hole in Xavier’s heart. "Fortunately, you brought this on yourself and gave me a chance."

Xavier, pushed over the edge, swung a fist at him. "Jolene belongs to me! She can't be with you!"

But Yancheng had practiced boxing for years. Xavier’s clumsy moves were beneath notice. With a slight step back and a side-step, Yancheng delivered a kick to the back of Xavier's knee. Xavier stumbled forward and fell to the ground with a heavy thud.

A man’s dignity is in his knees, let alone kneeling before a rival. It was as if Xavier’s pride had been thrown to the dirt and crushed to pieces. His eyes bulged as he struggled to stand.

However, he was quickly pinned down by Yancheng’s knee.

Xavier panted in humiliation, "You fucking homewrecker, let me go!"

He only heard a soft, mocking chuckle from above. "Stay away from Jolene."

"If I see you again, I won't mind making your hospital go bankrupt."

For Yancheng, this was as simple as lifting a finger; he only refrained because he didn't want Jolene to see his darker side.

He truly liked Jolene. Back in Country M, this quiet girl who immersed herself in her studies with such resilience had caught his eye. Perhaps Jolene hadn't noticed, but while she spent her time tucked away in a corner of the library, a man her age had always been silently accompanying her.