Chapter 1: The Ring Meant for Someone Else

When Blake Carter held up the diamond ring and got down on one knee in front of Nicole Quinton, everyone’s eyes turned to me at the same time.

The warmth that had filled my eyes moments ago vanished. As I watched the scene unfold, my heart slowly turned cold.

My coworkers’ shocked whispers still rang in my ears.

“Wait, what? I thought Blake’s mysterious girlfriend was Winnie?”

“Yeah… I thought so too. How did it suddenly become Nicole?”

“Oh my God, we got the whole story wrong all these years!”

“This is so awkward…”

Awkward?

I slipped my trembling fingers into my sleeves.

I was the one who should be feeling embarrassed, not our coworkers.

They had not misunderstood the situation all these years. I had truly been Blake’s girlfriend of ten years.

Blake and I fell in love in college. He was the most popular guy in the computer science department, and I was known as the beauty of the finance department.

Back then, our relationship became the talk of the entire campus. Everyone saw us as the perfect couple.

One summer night, osmanthus flowers fell beneath the dormitory building.

Blake had cupped my face and kissed me. The branches swayed overhead, and for a moment, it felt as if our whole youth was blooming around us.

It was my first kiss. It was also my first love.

After we graduated, we applied for jobs and joined the same company.

Ten years have passed since then.

In other words, it was the tenth anniversary of our relationship.

Because the company strictly prohibited office romances, I willingly stayed in the shadows and kept our relationship a secret.

Even though we could not make our relationship public, hold hands openly, or kiss without worrying about being seen, I never complained once in those ten years.

Over the past ten years, when Blake’s career hit its lowest point, I stayed by his side.

When his father became seriously ill, I cared for him in the hospital. I stayed awake by his bedside for several days and nights.

Then, just two weeks ago, I suddenly started feeling nauseous and short of breath. I went to the hospital for a checkup and learned that I was pregnant.

I was carrying Blake’s child.

I thought fate had finally been kind to me. A week ago, the company’s newly appointed CEO suddenly announced that the ban on office romances was lifted.

So, when Blake took out the ring, my heart almost jumped out of my chest.

I thought our ten-year journey together had finally come to an end in the best possible way. I thought my love and devotion had finally been returned. I thought the empty ring finger I had waited ten years to fill had finally found its owner.

Just as tears filled my eyes and the words “I do” were about to leave my lips, Blake walked right past me.

He got down on one knee in front of my best friend, Nicole.

The man I had stayed by for ten years, cared for for ten years, and loved for ten years had eyes only for Nicole. He looked at her with nothing but love and spoke from his heart.

“Nicole, you’ve stayed by my side all these years. You’ve gone through every hardship with me. You’ve endured so much and suffered so much because of me.

“Whenever I thought about how you couldn’t be with me openly and proudly, it hurt me more than I can say.

“Now, I’ve finally found the courage to kneel in front of you. I only wish to ask you one question.

“Nicole, will you marry me? From now on, whether we face poverty, hardship, or wealth, will you stay by my side and face everything with me? Will we never be apart?”

How familiar those words sounded.

There was a time when he had held me tightly in his arms and made the same promises to me.

“Winnie, I know how much you’ve sacrificed for me. I’ve seen everything you’ve done for me over these ten years.

“Without you, I never could have gotten to where I am today.

“You made me who I am. Trust me. When I have the ability to do so, I’ll tell the whole world about us. I’ll do everything I can to keep you by my side forever.

“You’re the only woman I’ll ever marry. We’ll never be apart.”

The person he said had stayed by his side for ten years was Nicole, the woman who had only been a bystander in our relationship.

My best friend, the person who had watched me give him the best of everything I had, stood there with tears in her eyes as she nodded happily.

She held out her hand and let Blake slide the ring onto her finger.

They hugged, kissed, and accepted everyone’s congratulations.

It was as if the world had never known someone named Winnie Cooper existed.

I stood frozen, unable to move. My eyes fell on the diamond ring sparkling on Nicole’s finger, and an unbearable ache spread through my chest.

Ten years. Three thousand six hundred and fifty days of loving him, supporting him, and believing his promises.

And now, in front of everyone, he had given my place to the one person I had never imagined would betray me.

Nicole finally noticed me watching. For a brief second, our eyes met.

I waited for her to look ashamed. I waited for her to pull her hand away or tell Blake that something was wrong.

Instead, she smiled at me.

It was a small, victorious smile that disappeared almost immediately beneath her tears of happiness.

My stomach twisted. I instinctively placed a hand over my abdomen, remembering the tiny life growing inside me.

I had not even told Blake about the pregnancy yet. I had planned to tell him tonight, after the event, when we could finally celebrate our anniversary without hiding from the world.

I had imagined him lifting me into his arms, laughing with disbelief, and placing his hand over my stomach as he promised to protect our little family.

That dream now felt cruelly ridiculous.

“Winnie, are you okay?” a coworker whispered beside me.

I forced my lips into a smile. “Of course. Why wouldn't I be?”

She looked unconvinced, but before she could say anything else, Blake raised his champagne glass.

“Thank you, everyone. Nicole means more to me than words can express. I hope you'll all support us as we begin this new chapter together.”

The crowd erupted into applause again.

I watched the man I loved accept congratulations for a future he had promised to build with me.

Then I quietly turned away.

No one stopped me. No one noticed when I slipped out of the banquet hall and walked into the empty corridor.

I reached the restroom, locked myself in a stall, and pressed both hands over my mouth to smother the sound of my sobs.

My tears fell onto my fingers. I cried for the girl who had believed his first kiss meant forever. I cried for the woman who had spent ten years waiting for a ring. And I cried for the child who would never know the father I had imagined.

When the tears finally slowed, I looked at my reflection in the mirror.

My eyes were swollen, but my expression had changed. Beneath the heartbreak, something colder had begun to settle in.

I could not force Blake to love me. I could not make Nicole admit what she had done. But I could stop allowing them to decide what happened to the rest of my life.

I took out my phone and opened Blake’s contact. His name was still saved with a little heart beside it.

I removed the heart.

Then I typed a message.

“Blake, we need to talk. I know about your relationship with Nicole. Don't contact me tonight.”

I stared at the words before deleting them. He did not deserve a warning, and I was not ready to reveal the child I was carrying to someone who had just publicly erased me.

Instead, I sent a message to my doctor asking to schedule an appointment. I needed to think clearly about my pregnancy and what I would do next.

As I stepped out of the restroom, my phone vibrated.

A message from Blake appeared on the screen.

“Winnie, don't misunderstand what happened tonight. I'll explain everything when I get home. Please don't make a scene at the company event.”

I read it twice.

Not a single word about our anniversary. Not one question about why I had disappeared. He was worried only that I might embarrass him.

I slowly locked my phone.

For ten years, I had protected his reputation, his career, and his secrets. I had made myself smaller so that his life could become bigger.

That night, I finally understood what my silence had cost me.

I walked out of the building alone, leaving the applause and celebration behind.

Blake Carter had chosen my best friend in front of the entire company.

He thought I would continue waiting in the shadows, just as I had for ten years.

But he was wrong.

The woman who had spent a decade waiting for his promise was gone.

And the next time Blake Carter looked for me, he would discover that I was no longer willing to be his convenient secret.