My Fiance Kissed His First Love After She Pushed Me Down the Stairs Chapter 06

My Fiance Kissed His First Love After She Pushed Me Down the Stairs Chapter 06

The plane touched down smoothly on the other side of the Atlantic.

The moment I stepped into the arrivals hall, my mother rushed toward me.

She’d spent the entire flight blowing up my phone with lectures and complaints.

Now, seeing me in person, her eyes immediately turned red.

She cupped my face in both hands, examining me from every angle.

“Look at you,” she scolded. “You’ve lost so much weight.”

“I told you to come home years ago, but you wouldn’t listen.”

“Now you’ve learned your lesson, haven’t you?”

She sniffed and shook her head.

“Only the dumbest women spend their lives chasing after men.”

“Your father and I have been smart our whole lives.”

“So how did we end up raising such a stubborn daughter?”

I couldn’t help smiling bitterly.

When I’d met Gautier, he’d been at the lowest point of his life.

His family’s business had collapsed.

They were drowning in debt.

His first love had left him for another man and moved overseas almost overnight.

The golden boy who once had everything had lost it all.

Broken.

Lost.

Helpless.

And something inside me had wanted to save him.

So I ignored my parents’ objections and stayed by his side.

I helped him rebuild.

Strategized with him.

Opened doors for him through my own connections.

Time and time again, I used every resource available to help him climb back to the top.

Sometimes I wondered how I’d managed to give so much of myself away.

How I’d willingly sacrificed so much for one man.

Later, I realized the answer was simple.

Love.

I wanted him to be happy.

I wanted his life to be easier.

I wanted everything to go right for him.

Most of all, I wanted him beside me.

So giving more never felt like a sacrifice.

Gautier wasn’t exactly boyfriend-of-the-year.

But he wasn’t terrible either.

He remembered my birthday.

No matter how busy he was, he always found time to surprise me.

He bought me expensive gifts.

Diamond watches.

Designer bags.

Luxury cars.

Even houses.

Money was never something he held back.

And I thought that was love.

Quiet.

Reserved.

Unspoken.

Gautier wasn’t romantic.

He wasn’t good with words.

But I believed he loved me.

And as long as he loved me, that was enough.

Then Vivian came back.

He got angry because of her.

Obsessed over everything she did.

After she left, he’d stand there staring after her for minutes at a time.

He called her crazy.

Complained about her constantly.

Yet behind the scenes, he quietly cleaned up every mess she made.

He never needed to say he loved her.

It was obvious in the little things.

In every detail.

In every cherry blossom tree he’d planted.

For all those years, he’d never forgotten her.

He cared too much to speak her name.

Loved her too deeply to let her go.

The affection he’d shown me had been responsibility.

Gratitude.

A reward for everything I’d sacrificed for him.

But what he felt for Vivian…

That was love.

The kind that rooted itself in a person’s soul.

The kind that couldn’t be controlled.

And it burned.

Burned so fiercely that it left me scarred.

Burned so fiercely that it destroyed every feeling I’d ever had for Gautier.

I shook my head.

“That’s all in the past now.”

I forced a smile.

“Let’s not talk about it.”

“I’m home, aren’t I?”

“This time I’m staying.”

“I’m not leaving again.”

“I’ll stay with you and Dad from now on.”

Mom shot me a disapproving look.

But her voice softened.

“My silly girl.”

She motioned for the housekeeper to bring over a wheelchair.

“Focus on getting healthy first.”

The drive home was peaceful.

Ever since learning I was coming back, Mom had been preparing my room.

The decor was simple and elegant.

The sheets were soft.

The air smelled faintly of gardenias.

Everything was exactly the way I liked it.

Seeing me stare off into space, Mom brought over a bowl of homemade chicken noodle soup and held a spoon to my lips.

“Ethan supervised the entire room himself.”

“He was the one who made sure everything was ready.”

She nodded toward the soup.

“And this? He got up early this morning and cooked it himself before sending it over.”

She sighed.

“Honestly, I’ve never understood you.”

“You had a man like Ethan Caldwell, and you walked away.”

“Instead, you went chasing after some fantasy about true love.”

She gave me a pointed look.

“How’d that work out for you?”

The upper-class social circle wasn’t very large.

Finding a suitable marriage match was even harder.

The Harrington’s and the Caldwells had been family friends for generations.

Our parents had practically been planning our wedding since childhood.

But Ethan and I had been stubborn.

Competitive.

Always butting heads.

Neither of us willing to back down.

After one particularly explosive argument, I broke things off out of spite and flew to France to clear my head.

That’s where I met Gautier.

Maybe it was attraction.

Maybe it was rebellion.

Maybe it was my desperate need to prove something to my family.

Whatever the reason, I fell.

Completely.

As the years passed, I stopped knowing whether I truly loved Gautier…

Or whether I’d invested too much of myself to walk away.

If I hadn’t overheard that conversation beneath the cherry blossoms that night, I might still be lying to myself.

Still pretending.

Still believing in a love that had never really belonged to me.

Fortunately, fate had shown me mercy.

It hadn’t allowed me to sink any deeper into the wrong relationship.

After everything that happened, I’d finally decided to cut ties with the past.

To leave it all behind.

But fate had other plans.

Because once again…

The unexpected arrived.