Clutching the chin fiercely, it felt like, “Not you, but someone else would do this.” He wanted to press fiercely, demanding, “Who are you?”

“Since when?”

Clang, a metallic sound resonated. Taking a cigarette from the silver case on the bedside table, the man asked.

Olivia slowly opened her tightly shut eyes. In the chilling temperature of the eyes that met hers, her whole body shivered for a moment.

“With Edgar.”

The relief that it wasn’t exposed was only momentary.

“Tell me.”

Taking a drag on the cigarette, he inquired. His indifferent gaze seemed indifferent, yet not quite.

“Since before the divorce?”

“No. You should know better that it’s not possible.”

“Then, since when?”

There was no change in expression, but the man’s voice was cold.

“Since I became irrelevant to you. Is that enough?”

Olivia did not avert her gaze as if to say she wouldn’t yield. John silently looked down at Olivia.

“Edgar, don’t.”

It didn’t matter who he met. An ex-husband who had been engaged shouldn’t interfere.

The deep blue pupils staring at John were filled with strength.

“I decide that. Not you.”

Her pale face was stubbornly obstinate. John found her stubbornness displeasing.

Reaching into a pocket he had previously tucked away, he bent down.

Olivia was startled and moved back as if avoiding a blow when he unexpectedly reached for the matchbox on the table.

“Hug me.”

The voice of the wife who clung like tempting seduction tickled his ears.

Although her provocative nightwear was not much different from now, the content inside felt strangely unfamiliar as if she had become a different person.

The man with a complicated past was exceptionally tall.

Surprised, Olivia turned her head away as if avoiding, feeling for the matchbox on the bedside table.

“!”

As his fingers neatly extended, the word “Patek” twinkled on the dial of the round coal-black watch above the straight wristbone in the light.

It was Olivia Blanshet’s birthday present. Unbelievably.

“Why are you doing this?”

Shocked, Olivia stumbled over her words.

“Because I received it.”

John said nonchalantly. Olivia was dumbfounded by his shamelessness. After all, gifts are subjective.

“Give it back.”

“Why.”

The man, leaning back in the chair, looked nonchalant. Bewildered by his attitude, Olivia blinked her azure eyes.

“It’s not proper for someone engaged to another to receive such a thing.”

He seemed ready to mock at the idea that someone who didn’t know about it sent the gift. Of course, she had excuses since she didn’t know they would divorce.

“I don’t have that kind of relationship.”

John said indifferently.

Etiquette.

To a woman who harbors feelings for another man and gets married, he had no courtesy.

Thus, there was no hesitation in facing the sparkling eyes like a clear lake on a summer day.
Olivia, unaware of all this, was simply perplexed. In the world, there are all kinds of men like him.

“Then you must have a conscience.”

“Impossible.”

He stopped the motion of lighting a match and replied.

Putting the matchbox back into the case, he tossed it onto the table.

“Please.”

Concerning Johan Leopold, Olivia Blanshet’s memories were everything.

She hadn’t scrutinized him in detail, but she thought it was a good decision to divorce.

She also didn’t want to get involved with such rude and shameless man again.

She wanted to quickly take back the watch and send him out of the room.

“It’s my money anyway, Olivia.”

John stared at the woman who used to be his wife.

The current her, changed like everyone else, attracted more attention. It was refreshing to see a woman who had clung and cried thinking about escaping.

His ex-wife, who used to say she wanted a watch on her wrist because his watch was jealous, now seemed different. The woman who used to love him and cherished their past.

So, he didn’t want to give it back. He had no intention to.

“I’ll pay the price.”

“It seems like I gave you too much alimony.”

After all, it was money he had given her. His ex-wife seemed to momentarily forget that fact.

“She said she loved me.”

And the past when she loved herself.

The cheeky expression of Olivia, who once boldly whispered love with a flushed face, paled.

The long, dense eyelashes trembled. The transparent pupils beneath were so icy blue. Were they always like this? They were incredibly lovely and beautiful.

Her nonchalant and cheeky manner of facing him without avoiding his gaze, without hesitating or being timid, was unfamiliar yet subtly stimulating.

The past came to mind. One day before their marriage, his wife, unable to meet his gaze and with a reddened face, whispered love.

“She said she loved me. Olivia.”

Olivia’s heart fluttered at the deep voice.

His sharp gaze, which had changed, dug into Olivia’s pupils as if licking them. It was uncomfortable to meet his gaze.

However, she didn’t avoid it. Because she wasn’t Olivia Blanshet.

“Now … No.”

She no longer loved him. That’s it.

No, she never loved him from the beginning. To her, this man was just someone she met twice.

“So, please return that watch.”