When I finished moving my luggage into the maid’s room, I passed by the living room. Rhea was leaning into Justin’s chest, the two of them watching a romantic drama together.
Now and then, carefree laughter filled the air—each burst piercing my ears.
"Rhea, don’t you think the female lead looks just like you? Back then, whenever you got jealous, you’d give me the silent treatment until I had to kiss you just to win you back."
"No way, I wasn’t that unreasonable!"
"Oh really? If she looks like me, then I’d say the male lead looks like you, too. I chased you far more relentlessly than that. Remember the fireworks outside the girls’ dorm? Three nights in a row, nonstop. The only one who didn’t see them was the principal. He was away on a business trip."
"Come on, tell me the truth. How much did you pay my roommates to keep an eye on me? You even knew the exact moments I spoke to any male classmates."
Justin smiled as he playfully tickled her, his expression open and relaxed in a way I had never seen before.
Before this, I had always believed that Justin Harlow was simply a man indifferent by nature—someone who neither understood love nor knew how to cherish a woman.
But now I realized I was wrong.
It was not that he couldn’t understand. It was just that he never wanted to understand me.
That was why pretending to be ignorant was simply the easiest, cheapest way for him.
As the last box of my luggage was carried away, Justin’s voice rang out, impatient and commanding.
"What are you still standing there for? Have someone clean the room right away. Rhea and I will be staying here tonight."
"Oh and she doesn’t like the pink decorations on the wall. Take them all down."
"Throw away the red ones, too and replace them with light blue."
Everything he dismissed so casually had been the result of my painstaking choices—made over countless sleepless nights—just a month before our wedding.
Black, white and gray had always felt too cold to me, yet he disliked vibrant colors.
So I had compromised, balancing between warmth and restraint, personally visiting store after store, comparing countless options to find the perfect pieces.
And now, all of it was headed straight for the trash.
A bitterness so heavy filled my chest that even breathing felt like scraping against my ribs.