Chapter 1 Chapter 1

The first time I saw Cecilia, I knew something wasn't right. At the time, I was still unaware that she was my boyfriend's ex-girlfriend. "Jimmy, are you sure this is correct? This isn't the candidate I approved yesterday." I asked my assistant, my brow furrowed in confusion. An awkward smile appeared on Jimmy's face. "Mr. Short approved her personally." Yesterday was the final round of interviews, for which there were two candidates: Cecilia and another young woman. Both in terms of their professional backgrounds and their performances during the interview, the other candidate was clearly the better choice. Not only was the design template that Cecilia produced uninspiring, but she hardly seemed to be paying any attention during the interview process. There were several points where she failed to answer questions because she appeared to be daydreaming. I could never have imagined that Hugh Short—my boyfriend and someone who had never intervened in the employment process before—would suddenly decide to overrule my decision. As such, I was already feeling a little angry when Hugh walked in and handed me a cup of coffee. "Here you go, Reina. They had a new flavor on offer, I thought you might like to try it." His expression was so genuine that some of my anger melted away. As I took the coffee from his one hand, my gaze fell on the dessert box in his other. "What's the occasion? We don't usually eat cake in the morning.""We have a new colleague starting. I thought we should celebrate. You know, do something to lift everyone's mood." Seeing as the conversation had turned to the new hire, I took the opportunity to ask, "About that ... I was meaning to ask why we'd hired Cecilia. She didn't seem as impressive as the other candidate.""It's like this ... She's an old school friend of mine and her family's been having a hard time of it. I could hardly turn her down, and her grades were always very impressive back in the day ... " Both his voice and expression were apologetic. "I get it. But it would be nice if you could let me know in advance next time." I said, resignedly. Hugh had been through difficult times himself, and so he was always sympathetic to those in need. This was one of the things about him that I found endearing. "I'm so glad you understand!" He kissed me on the cheek. It was as though a great weight had been lifted from him. I pushed him away, playfully, and headed into the office, to share the cake he had bought with the team. When I handed Cecilia her portion, I made sure to get a good look at her: her eyes were a little red and she was wearing no makeup. Even so, there was a certain allure to her. I handed her a piece of cake and said, "Welcome to the team!" When I did so, I noticed that she clenched her fists ever so slightly. She lifted her head, but instead of looking at me, she stared straight at my boyfriend. "Thank you, Hugh."

Chapter 2 Chapter 2

After work, Hugh took me to our favorite restaurant. In truth, the food and decor of this particular restaurant were nothing special. Based on our current circumstances, it would have been well within our means to go somewhere better. However, this was the place where we'd first met. Three years ago, I had first seen Hugh sitting alone at the counter, crying despondently over a single serving of the food. At the time, I'd handed him some paper napkins to dry his eyes and he'd thanked me for them. I felt sorry for him—a grown man sitting there sobbing like a child—so I struck up a conversation. He said he was the boss of a clothing company that had seen a huge drop-off in sales. All his money was tied up in the business and now he was left with nothing. At the time, I had just received a prestigious award for my own clothing designs and was in between jobs, with offers coming at me from left and right. Something about his plight really moved me. Despite all the other offers, I chose to join his failing firm instead. I helped him draw up an annual plan and worked around the clock to design an entire season's worth of clothing. I even went so far as to use my own savings to pay off his debts. My designs were a roaring success and that first year of sales revitalized the company. From there, the business went from strength to strength, and our food went from single servings to couple's ones. We pulled ourselves up together, through the good times and the bad. I smiled at him warmly, this man that I loved. This man I was waiting for ... We'd arranged to come to this restaurant two weeks ago, having to put off many things in our busy lives to do so. When we'd left the house this morning, I'd seen him loading a huge box into the trunk of the car. I was certain he meant to propose to me, on our fifth anniversary together. I was lost in my happiness when his phone suddenly beeped. He looked at it and then stood up, looking a little flustered. "I have to go." I could tell that he wasn't joking, whatever it was had made him genuinely worried. "What's wrong?" I asked, a hint of panic creeping into my own voice. "I'm sorry, Reina, something's happened at the factory. I need to go there right away.""How about I come with you?""There's no need. It won't take long and then I'll be right back." The food we'd ordered sat on the table, completely untouched. I ate my fill and then went to pay the bill. We came to this restaurant so often that we had a special charge card just for this place. "Please enter your PIN," said the cashier. 0 6 0 6 As I punched in the code, a sudden sense of doubt surfaced in my mind. These four digits appeared in every one of Hugh's passcodes. When we bought our first car, he even chose 0606 for our personalized license plate. He chose it over the date of our anniversary. He said he'd been given this number by a fortune teller, who claimed it was his "lucky date". Because of my love for him, I'd never questioned him about it. But something had triggered my suspicion ... I took out my phone and rifled through the onboarding materials that Jimmy had sent me. Eventually, I found what I was looking for: Cecilia's personal information. With a growing sense of dread, I scrolled down to the line that said "Date of birth", and sure enough, there it was: 06.06 I pushed my way through the restaurant door and onto the street outside. There was a cold wind blowing and it cut through me like a knife. I walked numbly along the road as my very soul seemed to shiver.

Chapter 3 Chapter 3

I forced myself to be calm, before calling Jimmy. "Jimmy, who is Cecilia?""Cecilia? She's ... She's the new girl?" He sounded nervous. "Knock it off. I know you're all old school friends," I said, taking a deep breath. "Who is she?""She ... I ... Well ... " He stuttered and stammered, grasping for the right words to say. "She ... She's Hugh's old girlfriend. But don't get the wrong end of the stick. When HR sent me her application I was as shocked as you. Hugh didn't know anything about it either. Nobody was expecting her to come looking for a job." I felt like I could barely breathe. I reached out my hand and grasped a nearby railing for support. "Tell me, why did they break up?""They started a company together but it began to struggle. When Cecilia's family ran into financial difficulties, she abandoned Hugh to face their problems alone. Despite all that, they had once been in love and they faced many troubles together. It's only natural that Hugh would want to help her out. I guarantee he only has eyes for you. He and Cecilia are a thing of the past." I closed my eyes. Were they really a thing of the past? I suddenly realized that this so-called past was all around me, from our favorite restaurant to our first car, even the company we had worked so hard to build ... I'm not someone who is scared to face the past. Everyone has their own history, and I'd never even asked about Hugh's; I trusted him completely. But I couldn't accept that his past might now be encroaching on our present. "Reina, are you alright?""I'm fine. Do me a favor, call him for me, find out where he is." I struggled to keep my voice calm. After a minute, Jimmy called back. "He's not answering.""Where was their favorite place to go, back in the day?""It ... It was a restaurant called Prosperity." I wanted to laugh. That was our favorite restaurant, the place I'd just left. "Reina ... Are you alright?" I took a deep breath before responding, "Get on the phone to the airline, see if you can get me on an earlier flight. The earlier the better.""Understood. Try not to worry too much, I'm sure he's just busy with work." ... Paris Fashion Week was set to start in two days. In order to leave time for our anniversary dinner, I'd arranged to leave the day before it began. My flight was originally booked for lunchtime the next day, but Jimmy managed to have it moved forward to just after midnight. I had just finished packing my luggage when Hugh returned home. I didn't look at him. Instead, I picked up my handbag and double-checked that all my documents were in order. He wrapped his arms around me from behind. "Your flight doesn't leave until tomorrow. Why are you packing now?""I changed flights. I'll be leaving in half an hour. How was your meal?" I said calmly, glancing at his shirt collar. It was stained with flecks of oil, presumably from his meal with Cecilia. Not only had he left me to eat on my own, he'd actually gone to another restaurant to eat with another woman. He had clearly noticed that something was wrong. "You found out? Who told you?" His face was so close to mine that I could smell the scent of the dishes on his breath. I felt sick. I could never go back to that restaurant again. "When I went to pay, I suddenly realized your password is Cecilia's birthday. I had to put it in the system this morning.""So, you know." He walked over to the window and lit a cigarette. Once he was done, he lit another. "I confess, she stirred up a lot of feelings in me today. We used to be together and I haven't seen her in so long. Seeing her again ... it was emotional. She's been unlucky. Back when I was bankrupt, her mother passed away. Now, her father's sick too. What was I supposed to do? Completely ignore her? I'm not that sort of person." He suddenly walked over and sat down in front of me. He looked into my eyes and said, "But I know the person who matters most to me; I won't forget who it is who's been by my side all this time. It's you, Reina.""What else did you do with her tonight?" I asked, wearily. "Nothing. She wanted to apologize for how she treated me before. She's been filled with regret ever since. She wanted to treat me to a meal, that's all, and she wouldn't take no for an answer." A flash of guilt seemed to flit across his face and he immediately followed up, "I'm sorry. Nothing else happened, I promise. I left as soon as the meal was over."