Chapter 1

My childhood sweetheart was caught on camera carrying a female student in his arms while snowboarding. The image of them racing down the slope went viral online.

The female student appeared in the comments section, openly confessing her feelings. She said she wanted to spend every snow season and ski every snow-capped mountain with him.

My childhood sweetheart pretended to refuse, but on the day of my heart surgery, he boarded a plane to Hokkaido with the female student.

Seeing the photo of them embracing and kissing in the snow-covered landscape, any lingering feelings in my heart were completely severed.

Without hesitation, I dialed the familiar number:

"I heard you won the skiing competition... I want to see you."

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Asher arrived home late at night. As I took his snowboard, I couldn't help but ask:

"Asher, what's the deal with that video?"

As if he had anticipated my question, he answered with utmost naturalness:

"That female student was dumb as a rock. I taught her all day, and she still couldn't even do an edge change. She got so frustrated she started crying. She begged me to carry her in my arms and take her for a ride so she could experience it. You know how it is - this kind of thing is totally normal for a ski instructor."

Of course, I knew that for a ski instructor, filming videos with students was perfectly normal. But that wasn't what I wanted to ask about. I spoke up again:

"What I want to know is, how are you going to handle that female student's comment?"

After the video went viral, the female student had publicly declared her love, leaving a comment that said:

"Asher, I want to spend every ski season, glide down every snow-capped mountain with you. Will you join me?"

I clicked on the female student's profile. She was a young, beautiful, wealthy woman. Her page was full of sizzling photos of her voluptuous figure from travels around the world.

The comment was quickly boosted to the top by curious onlookers. Many people chimed in, tagging Asher and saying things like, "You lucky dog!" They urged him to respond to his adoring fan's passionate declaration of love.

Asher scratched his head and hugged me, trying to change the subject:

"I'm so tired and hungry. What delicious meal did you make tonight?"...

I remained silent, which made him realize that avoiding the issue wouldn't solve anything. He took out his phone and opened a video.

"To me, they're all just customers. I don't even know if the face under the helmet is pretty or ugly, let alone respond to her unreasonable request. If I went skiing with her every season, my Aria would really become a green-eyed monster!"

"Don't worry," he said while typing a reply, "I've responded. Go take a look."

Sure enough, Asher had replied to the female student's comment. The simple "I'm sorry" said it all.

My heart finally settled. I knew that from childhood to now, at any moment, Asher would never disappoint me.

But my intuition told me that things weren't so simple!

While Asher was asleep, I secretly looked through his phone.

He never kept anything from me and even added my fingerprint to his phone, declaring I could check it anytime. Out of the trust built since childhood, I had never touched his phone before.

I never thought that this peek would make my blood boil.

Just a casual look, and I found him bragging in the ski instructor group chat:

"Bros, I'm about to level up. Yesterday, I embraced that female student who's the heiress to the Gold Corporation. She's booked me for the entire ski season and even invited me to Hokkaido.

Someone responded, "That must cost a pretty penny, huh? 100 grand?"

Asher sent a grinning emoji and denied it, "100 grand? Who do you think you're talking about? That little rich girl was incredibly generous, she gave me a cool seven-figure paycheck."

The chat filled with flattering comments. Someone joked, "Bro, if this little rich girl is treating you so well and openly showing her affection, have you considered sealing the deal?"

Asher's response felt like a bucket of ice water over my head.

"To be honest, I'm planning to make it official with her in Aspen. It'd be a shame to let a loaded babe with a smokin' hot body like that slip away."

"Even if it doesn't last, one night of fun is worth it."

Looking at the sleeping man beside me, I covered my mouth and silently wept.