Chapter 2

After the failure of the proposal, a few informed friends called me to drink, I refused.

I dragged my exhausted body home late that night to find Scarlett sitting on the couch.

In front of her was an exquisite jewelry box containing a precious set.

I recognized the jewelry. My father had bought it at Christie's auction last week for $30 million.

Recalling my father's mention of sending a gift earlier that day, I suddenly understood.

Seeing me return, Scarlett quickly hid the jewelry set behind her back.

I approached her, fixing my gaze on her eyes. "Scarlett, where did this jewelry come from?"

A flicker of panic flashed across Scarlett's eyes before she composed herself. "A friend gave it to me."

I moved closer and took her arm, asking the question that had been spinning in my mind.

"Scarlett, do you love me?"

Scarlett didn't answer my question, instead standing up to head to the bedroom.

I grabbed her arm, forcing her to look me in the eyes as I waited for her response.

"Scarlett, if you love me, why would you accept such an expensive gift from someone else?" Scarlett looked at me, her beautiful eyebrows furrowing together, before speaking impatiently.

"Garrison, since you're asking me like this, I'll be straight with you. I'm not going to marry you. I want to marry the richest man in the country!"

"Let's break up."

"If you can't give me what I want, don't stop me from pursuing true love."

I laughed bitterly. What is true love?

Three years of sincere dating, lost to a chance encounter?

It's just losing to money, that's all.

"Scarlett, you're throwing away three years of feelings so easily. Please tell me, what is true love then?"

"Is it that man you met once?"

This was the first time I had ever raised my voice at her. Scarlett angrily shook off my hand.

"Garrison, how can you even compare yourself to him? He's the richest man in the country!"

"And what makes you think the richest man will fall in love with you?"

"Garrison, isn't it obvious enough?"

"Last time, when we rear-ended someone, if it weren't for the richest man waiving the damages for my sake, who knows how much debt you'd be in right now."

"And just now, the richest man sent someone to deliver this one-of-a-kind limited edition jewelry set to me. Do you know how much this costs?"

"This set of jewelry alone is worth more than you could earn in several lifetimes. Doesn't that prove our love is real?"

I couldn't help but chuckle at Scarlett's self-assurance, no longer wishing to argue with her.

Seeing me prepare to return to my room, Scarlett offered a parting reminder.

"Since we've broken up, you should move out soon. It wouldn't look good if people saw us living together."

Initially, Scarlett had rented this place, claiming she was scared to live alone. So I had moved out of the mansion to live with her in this rental.

Yet now, she was the one saying it wasn't proper for us to live together.

The difference between love and indifference was truly stark.

I didn't have much luggage, just grabbed my personal documents and headed out.

Back at Myerson Manor, the butler was visibly surprised to see me return.

"Young master, you've finally decided to come back home."

After my mom passed away, my resentment towards my father never really faded. It was his obsession with work and neglect of my mother that had exacerbated her illness, causing her to leave this world before I even turned 18.

In the living room, my dad seemed genuinely pleased to see me. He held up his phone, showing me a chat log.

"Garrison, your girlfriend is very pleased with the gift I sent her. She even said she'd treat me to dinner tomorrow. What a polite and wonderful girl! How did your proposal fail? Was there some kind of misunderstanding?"

I looked at Scarlett's fawning messages in the chat history and felt nothing but unfamiliarity.

I tossed out: "Since Scarlett seems so eager, why don't you accept? It would be a good way to really understand what kind of person she is!"

Fintan didn't catch my hidden meaning. He thought his son was deliberately trying to get closer to him, so he agreed to Scarlett's invitation.