Chapter 10
After more than a year without seeing him, Tyler had become even more mature.
His youthful looks were gone, his features now sharp and defined, though there was something heavy about his demeanor that made people feel uncomfortable.
The two young girls clamped their mouths shut, their eyes widening with excitement.
“Isn’t… isn’t that Mr. Hayes?! So handsome in person!!!”
Tyler gave them a cold glance.
“GET OUT!”
The intimidating aura around him frightened the young girls, who scurried away immediately.
I raised my eyebrows at him.
“Tyler, you scared away my customers.”
Tyler stared coldly at Ethan’s and my intertwined hands, forcing out a few words through clenched teeth:
“Ethan, I’m giving you three minutes. Let go, or I won’t be polite about it.”
But Ethan held on even tighter, smiling provocatively:
“Why should I let go of my girlfriend’s hand? What are you going to do with me?”
“Are you trying to drive me crazy too, to get me locked up in a psychiatric hospital? Or a nursing home? Tyler, you’re becoming less human by the day.”
I stared in shock, not expecting those things had been Tyler’s doing.
But didn’t he love Olivia deeply? Why would he do this?
Tyler seemed triggered by the “girlfriend,” lunging forward and striking Ethan across the face.
Ethan quickly shielded me behind him, the corner of his mouth bleeding. Tyler was about to hit him again when I jumped in front of Ethan.
“Tyler, have you lost your damn mind?!”
Tyler’s fist froze in midair, looking at me with disbelief:
“Emma, you’re protecting him?”
“Mr. Hayes, don’t be so funny. If I’m not protecting my own boyfriend, am I supposed to protect you?”
10:05
Five years Lies He Gave, A Lonely Grave I Paved
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Chapter 10
Tyler’s face turned a sickly white as he desperately grabbed my wrist:
“No, impossible. I’M your boyfriend! You love ME the most, don’t you?!”
“Emma, I know you’re angry with me. I admit that at first, I didn’t forget Olivia and my promise to her, so I deceived you. I was wrong about that, and I apologize.
But we were together for five years, and later I truly fell in love with you!”
“I told my mother, but she wouldn’t approve of you coming into our family.
She used the position of the Hayes heir to pressure me, forcing me to abandon you and marry Olivia.
Only under those conditions would she agree with our relationship. I had no choice but to comply with her request and sleep with Olivia, hoping she’d get pregnant quickly.
If I lost my position as the Hayes heir, I would have nothing left, and I could never give you a happy life.”
“But it’s all over now. I got the Hayes fortune, Olivia gave birth to my son, and I’ve already had her committed to a psychiatric institution and filed for divorce. My mother can’t hold me back anymore.
We can be together forever now. I did it ALL FOR YOU, EMMA!”
Hearing these words, my first reaction was confusion and amusement.
I pulled back my hand and said motionlessly:
“But Tyler, when we were together, you had nothing either. Yet I felt like the luckiest woman alive during that time.”
“I never expected you to give me fancy cars, diamond rings, or any luxury things. I only wanted to be with the person I loved, to love each other sincerely and treat each other honestly, without betrayal or deception.
Even if we lived in a rented apartment for the rest of our lives, I would have been content.
But you played with and trampled on my genuine feelings.”
“You keep saying it was for me, but actually, it was all for yourself. Someone like you might enjoy playing ‘prince–turned–frog‘ for a while, but you’ll never accept becoming an ordinary person. I was just an excuse you used to rationalize your actions.”
Tyler was struck by my words. His body swayed slightly as he said, filled with reluctance:
“But I do love you, Emma. Can’t you forgive me just this once?”
I gave a bitter smile:
“Tyler, you probably don’t realize that I’ve forgiven you many times already.”
“That day out of the escape room, I thought if you just denied being Olivia’s boyfriend, I would forgive you.
10:05
Five years Lies He Gave, A Lonely Grave I Paved
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Chapter 10
That evening at the hotel, I was outside your door calling you, thinking if you just rushed back to toy side, I would
start over with you.
But you didn’t.”
“Do you know how much I loathe myself for being so despicable like that? And now, I no longer want to abandon my dignity and self–respect for anyone,
Go back and take good care of Olivia and raise your son.
You’ve already trampled on one woman’s genuine feelings–don’t destroy another woman’s life”
Tyler eventually left, but before going, he left a property transfer agreement on the table. I knew he was trying to
compensate me.
Ethan tore the agreement to pieces and threw it into the trash can:
“What nonsense. I don’t need anyone else to provide for my wife.”
I looked at him and tacitly approved of his behavior.
The genuine feelings once given–no amount of money could ever buy them back
Later, Ethan and I got married. We had children and lived happily into our old age.
As for Tyler, he never went back to Olivia. He raised that boy alone and even bought the small complex where we had once rented an apartment.
After transferring all his business to his son, he moved into that small, rented apartment.
Tyler became a recluse, shutting out the world.
Day after day, he sat alone, his only company a stack of yellowed photographs–whispering to the fading past.
Then, on some forgotten evening, they found him–white–haired and still in his rocking chair.
No one knew when he breathed his last.
nalu Crave I Daved
3
