He Chose Her Joke, I Chose His Ruin Chapter 15

He Chose Her Joke, I Chose His Ruin Chapter 15

Six months later, I was invited to speak at a business forum.

At the end, the organizers hosted a banquet.

I almost skipped it, but Ava reminded me several key partners would be attending.

I stayed.

Midway through the evening, a commotion stirred near the entrance.

I looked up and saw Adrian Vale.

He was being stopped at the door.

He looked far more subdued than he had six months prior.

He traveled with no entourage and none of his former authoritative aura.

He stood apart from the crowd, as though he’d stumbled unwittingly into a scene from a faded old dream.

The host glanced at me awkwardly. “Elena, Mr. Vale says he’d like a moment with you.”

I set down my wine glass. “Let him in.”

Adrian walked over.

His eyes rested on me-full of longing, full of regret.

“Elena…”

I looked at him calmly. “What is it?”

He pulled a small box from his pocket.

Nestled inside rested a ring.

Not the one prepared for our canceled engagement.

This was an old silver band.

I recognized it.

Three years ago, when Adrian was at his lowest, we’d passed a tiny shop.

He’d pointed to this ring and said, “One day, when I have money, I’ll buy you something better.”

I’d laughed. “And this one?”

He’d said, “This one… I owe you for now.”

Later, he did buy me something far more expensive.

That pricey diamond ring had been part of our hollow, ill-fated engagement.

This old one was probably the only thing he had left to prove his sincerity.

“I found it,” Adrian said, voice hoarse.

“Elena, I know it’s too late. I know I don’t deserve forgiveness. But I still want to give it to you.”

I looked at the ring and didn’t reach for it.

“Adrian, keep it.”

“It belongs to the past.”

His eyes reddened. “Does our shared past mean absolutely nothing?”

I said, “It matters.”

“Precisely because it matters, I won’t let you keep tainting it with who you are now.”

He flinched violently.

I stood up.

“Adrian, we walked a stretch of road together once. That road was real. But you destroyed it with your own

hands. I won’t deny that past. And I won’t return to it.”

He lowered his head, tears falling onto the ring box.

The man who’d once been so arrogant finally bowed before me.

My heart stayed calm.

I felt no triumphant satisfaction, nor did my resolve soften.

It felt as if a long-standing nightmare had finally blown over.

Someone called from the doorway. “Elena, the car is here.”

I nodded and turned to leave.

Adrian called after me. “Elena.”

I paused.

He asked, “Will you be happy from now on?”

I looked back at him.

“Yes.”

“But it has nothing to do with you.”

I walked out of the banquet hall.

Night wind brushed my face. The city lights blazed.

Ava held the car door open.

I got in. My phone lit up with the latest quarterly report from the industrial park.

Profits had climbed twenty-seven percent. Overseas partnerships entering final negotiations.

My therapist also messaged-next week’s session could be moved to a rainy day, for new exposure training.

I gazed out the window.

Dark clouds pressed low in the sky, threatening incoming rainfall.

Once, I’d feared weather like this most.

But at this moment, I realized-I wasn’t so afraid anymore.

Rain would fall.

Glass would break.

Doors would open.

And people would walk, step by step, out of old terrors.

Adrian once said someone from a small out-of-state town had to suffer to understand the Vale family

threshold wasn’t easily crossed.

He was wrong.

The suffering I endured wasn’t to enter anyone’s household.

It was so that one day, when someone trapped me amid that cruel artificial spray ordeal, I could shatter that door with my own hands.

And stand atop the ruins to tell everyone who’d laughed-

This game ends here.

From now on, it’s my turn to settle accounts.