Chapter 1

In the fifth year of our relationship, she wanted to break up with me and be with her pure love who had returned from abroad.

I didn't want to accept it, so I desperately followed her onto the cruise ship where she worked.

At the moment of the ship's disaster, my girlfriend, a safety officer, held her pure love protectively in her arms.

Meanwhile, I was struck in the head by flying debris and lost my memory.

Later, I agreed to someone else's proposal, but she cried and begged me to remember her.

......

"Jolene, can't we please not break up?"

I stubbornly blocked the doorway, stopping Jolene from leaving, my eyes red as I pleaded with her.

"Quint, didn't you know from the start that I could never get over him? Now that he's back, it's time for you, the substitute, to step aside."

Jolene looked at me coldly, forcefully pushing me away.

"I'm going to the airport now to pick up Garrison. Don't waste my time."

I returned to the living room, feeling lost and dejected. Looking at the table full of food I had carefully prepared, I felt nothing but irony.

Deep down, I had always known this day would come. When Jolene accepted my confession, she had warned me that if Garrison ever returned, she would break up with me without hesitation.At that time, I thought she was just making excuses to reject me.

I naively believed that through my efforts, I could replace Garrison in her heart.

For these five years, I tried hard to be part of her life. To spend more time with her, I gave up my well-paying, cushy job to work as a crew member on the cruise ship where she worked.

But ever since she heard that her pure love Garrison was coming back to the country, she started keeping her distance from me.

I tried to salvage our relationship. No matter how cold she was to me, I would always smile and find various topics to talk about with her.

For this vacation, I specifically learned how to cook, just because she once mentioned that she liked the taste of her hometown dishes.

But she didn't even taste it. After breaking up with me, she rushed to the airport to pick up Garrison.

How can five years of love be given up so easily? It took me a full seven years just to pursue her in the first place.

I took a deep breath, calmed myself down, and called my superior, Sister Kerpan.

"Sister Kerpan, this is Quint. I want to know Jolene's work schedule."

Sister Kerpan laughed on the other end of the phone."You guys still haven't had enough of each other after five years, huh? Want to be scheduled together for the next trip too? Wait, I see Jolene's scheduled to sail tomorrow, and the company just hired a new attendant named Garrison. Your shift can't be added."

My hand holding the phone faltered, a wave of helplessness washing over me as I slowly spoke.

"Can Sister Kerpan help me get a cruise ticket then?"

"Of course I can get you a ticket. You young people just can't stand being apart for a minute, can you?"

I thanked her awkwardly.

After hanging up, I looked around the cold room, feeling a sense of loneliness envelop me.

This was the first time Jolene had left me alone at home for the night. She knew I was afraid of the dark and couldn't sleep alone, but now she seemed to have forgotten, or perhaps she just didn't care anymore.

I scrolled through my phone's social media feed, and with a refresh, Jolene's update appeared.

In the photo, a pair of hands clasped tightly on a dining table, with a bouquet of blooming white roses beside them.

The caption read, "Love is falling in love with the same person over and over again."