He Left Me in a Fire for Her, Now He’s Looking for Me at His Engagement Party Chapter 01

He Left Me in a Fire for Her, Now He’s Looking for Me at His Engagement Party Chapter 01

The day after I returned from abroad, I ran into a girl I knew from college while shopping.

She stared at me in shock. “Emma, you’re finally back. If you’d stayed away any longer, Christopher might already be engaged to Victoria.”

Christopher was my college boyfriend. My first love.

We’d planned to get married right after graduation.

But during our senior year, his family arranged a marriage alliance for him.

At first, he swore up and down that he wouldn’t so much as look at her. But then, his gaze started softening whenever he saw her.

I got into a car accident on my way to work, caused by Victoria Sinclair.

Amid the chaos of the accident, he walked away carrying her in his arms.

He said, “Victoria’s not like you, Emma. She’s different. I can’t leave her here alone.”

After that day, I accepted a grad school offer overseas and flew away alone.

“You have no idea how crazy Christopher went looking for you.”

“Thank God you’re back. Save something for yourself, right?”

I smiled. Then, right in front of her stunned face, I scooped up the little girl running toward me.

“Tell your dad to design a sewage treatment system tonight.”

—

The girl from college and I were never close, but everyone knew Christopher and I had been together.

Her thumbs froze mid-text. Then she scrambled to delete the message she’d just sent to the group chat.

“You… you’re married? And you have a kid?”

My daughter tugged at my sleeve and looked up at me. I gave a polite smile and started to leave.

But she wasn’t about to let me go that easily. She gripped her phone and leaned in.

“Who’s the father? Please tell me you didn’t actually marry that old guy back then.”

“Christopher runs his own company now. He’s richer than ever.”

“He searched everywhere for you. Said he’d give up everything if you’d just come back and marry him.”

Her voice trailed off as my expression stayed perfectly flat.

“How about this, I’ll pretend I never saw you today. You take the kid and go apologize to Christopher.”

I covered my daughter’s ears and let out a cold laugh. “You defend him that hard? Anyone would think he’s your dad.”

“Don’t act so high and mighty, Emma. You’re the one who chose money over dignity back then.”

Cheap. Shameless. I’d heard that kind of talk my whole life.

Ever since that man cleaned out our savings and ran off, leaving me and my mom behind, I stopped knowing what dignity even meant.

I always knew I was pretty. But when you’re poor, that’s not a blessing. It’s a disaster.

Even if you just stand there doing nothing, people will throw mud at you.

My mom used to get catcalled just walking down the street. At its worst, people tried to break our door open in the middle of the night.

Having lived a life of comfort, she was terrified out of her mind. She’d just hold me and shake in the corner of our rundown apartment.

So I learned early to defend myself with a knife or a bat, while working odd jobs like waiting tables and handing out flyers.

In my freshman year of college, livestreaming was taking off, and I got a small following thanks to my looks.

Christopher was a well-known rich kid from the city. We weren’t supposed to cross paths.

A lot of guys asked me out at the beginning of the semester, but I had no interest. I turned them all down so hard my roommates were impressed.

Christopher was the one who kept at it the longest.

Flowers, cupcakes, those were just the start. He found out I liked handmade crafts and spent two weeks making a bouquet of cloth flowers himself.

I threw one away, he sent another. Finally I couldn’t take it anymore and texted him. He replied instantly.

Along with a stupid winking puppy sticker.

I said, “Aren’t you bored? Take the flowers back.”

He agreed right away and told me to leave them downstairs.

So I went down. And found him waiting in the lobby.

He crouched there, looking up at me with this pathetic expression, just like the sticker.

Only later did I find out he never dared text me after sending something. He just waited downstairs.

Once we got together, I refused to take his money. I still worked side jobs.

People asked why I didn’t just use his cash, free money, right? But I knew nothing in this world is free.

If you take something, you lose something else. Some things are easy to drop and hell to pick back up.

A lot of people knew about my livestream back then. They said nasty things behind my back.

But every time Christopher heard it, he shut them down immediately. I asked if it embarrassed him.

“There’s nothing embarrassing about earning your own money. The people gossiping are probably spending someone else’s.”

I looked into his bright eyes and thought for the first time that maybe I’d actually found the right person.

His family didn’t approve of us dating.

He promised me we’d get married right after graduation.

But that year, they arranged a match for him.

Victoria was real old money. She and Christopher shared a childhood connection, true equals in every sense.

She was graceful, sweet, everyone seemed to love her. Even the classmates who normally insulted me only had nice things to say about her.

The first time I saw her was at Christopher’s birthday party.

She held out her hand warmly. “So you’re Christopher’s girlfriend. You’re really pretty.”

We’d been fighting about her and hadn’t made up yet. In front of Christopher, Victoria was perfectly understanding.

“I’m not trying to come between you. The engagement is just our parents’ idea. Don’t worry about it.”

I turned to look at Christopher. He wasn’t watching me. His gaze stayed on Victoria’s face.

The lights caught in his eyes, and I saw that familiar warmth, recognition, appreciation.