At eight in the evening, I dragged my exhausted body out of work, climbed into my battered little car, and prepared to take a few delivery orders along the way. The car had barely left the factory gate when, while fiddling with the app on my phone to accept an order, someone suddenly dashed out from the roadside into my path. Startled, I slammed on the brakes, feeling as if my foot might push them straight through to the engine. Thankfully, though the car was a wreck, the brakes held firm. Furious, I rolled down the window and shouted,"Are you trying to get yourself killed?"

A woman stood trembling in fear. Her long hair had been thrown across her face in the commotion, leaving her looking utterly disheveled. With hesitant fingers, she brushed it aside, and when I saw her face, I froze. Fate had a cruel sense of humor—it was her. Sophie Summers. What on earth was she doing here? Shouldn't she be at some five-star hotel with her sycophantic boyfriend? Why would she come here to block my car? And how did she even know I'd be here?

My heart was still pounding from the scare. If I hadn't reacted in time, she could've been sent flying a good distance by now. Leaning back against the seat, I pressed a hand to my chest, trying to calm my frayed nerves.

Sophie shakily made her way to the passenger side, yanked open the door, and climbed in. Her face was pale, her eyes blazing with a mix of anger and grievance."Didn't you see me waving at you? Were you trying to kill me?" she shouted.

I was taken aback. The timid girl who used to shrink in my presence now had the audacity to yell at me."I didn't see you! Why are you yelling?" I retorted.

"If I don't yell, what then? You nearly killed me!" Her voice trembled, betraying how shaken she was by the ordeal.

"Come on! I stopped in time, didn't I? It was just an accident," I replied helplessly.

"An accident? Admit it—you just can't stand me!" Her eyes glistened with a mix of anger and hurt.

"Sophie, stop being unreasonable!" My patience was wearing thin.

"Unreasonable?" She stared at me in disbelief, tears welling up in her eyes.

"Why are you here?" I sighed, exasperation creeping into my tone.

"I waited here specifically for you," she said, her voice tinged with agitation.

"How did you even know I'd be here?" I asked, genuinely curious.

"Why didn't you tell me when you left?" Her voice softened, carrying a note of sorrow.

"Why would I? Isn't my leaving what you wanted? I never even asked you to pay me back," I replied coldly, though a bitter ache gnawed at my heart.

"You—" Her tears finally broke free, streaming down her cheeks and landing on the seat.

Her distress left me unsettled. I turned to gaze out the window, unwilling to meet her eyes. Once, those eyes had captivated me. Now, they only brought pain. The city lights flickered in the dark, casting their deceptive glow over the somber night—much like the fragile beauty of our relationship, beautiful yet illusory.

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After a long silence, she finally spoke, her voice low and laden with sorrow."Have you always thought of us as nothing more than a transactional arrangement?"

Her words struck me like a dagger to the heart. I remained silent. The truth was, I had always wished for us to be in a normal relationship, but she had never allowed me the chance. Every time I tried to draw closer, she would glare at me with such hostility that it extinguished any courage I had to approach her. Taking a deep breath, I replied evenly,"Of course."

A resounding slap landed across my face. It stung not only my cheek but my very soul. The burning pain was a reminder of what this woman had once meant to me."You bastard," she said, her voice quivering with anger and despair.

I did not look at her, but calmly said, "If I were not such a bastard, how could I have supported you?" I knew this sentence would wound her, yet I was beyond caring for her feelings.

She silently wiped away her tears, which fell like scattered pearls, each one slipping away. "Go to that hotel from yesterday," her voice was soft, laden with endless sorrow and helplessness.

I opened the navigation app and glanced at the route. The city had grown so vast that even a short drive required checking for traffic, to see where it was clear and where it was congested. I started the car, and we slowly drove into the night. The atmosphere inside the car was suffocating, heavy with silence. Deep down, I dared not provoke her, nor did I want to understand what she felt. After all, we were no different from how we once were, only our roles had reversed.

"Do you know," she said quietly, "after you left, I searched for you everywhere?" She wiped her eyes again, her voice so calm it broke my heart.

"What's the point in looking? After all, we're even now, no debts left between us." I kept up my indifferent attitude, trying to mask the turmoil inside with a facade of coldness.

"After you left, I stayed in that small house, waiting for you to come back—one month, two months, one year, two years, three years. Every time someone knocked on the door, I thought it was you, but you never returned. You even changed your number. I knew you would never use that number again, but I still called it every day, until someone told me I had dialed the wrong number." Her voice trembled with despair and helplessness, her tears blurring her vision once more.

Her words struck me like a heavy hammer, each word resonating painfully in my heart. Listening to her sorrow, my heart ached.

"Look, we're not the same kind of people. Stop talking about it. Just go on and live your life with your boyfriend," I said, my patience fraying as her trembling voice pierced through the years of buried memories.

"Don't you... understand what I'm saying?" Her voice now held a touch of desperation.

"I don't understand, nor do I want to. I don't dare to. I owe you, but I don't have the means to repay you. My life is worthless now. That's all there is to it." I suppressed the agony within and spoke coldly.

The car sped through the night, the streetlights on either side flickering like silver threads. Her tears still flowed, an endless river of sorrow within her heart.

"Are you doing alright now?" she asked after a long pause, her voice now calm.

"Fine," I replied absently.

"Are you married?" she pressed.

"I... well, almost. Soon," I almost blurted out.

"I suppose you're not as bad as you used to be, right?" she said.

"I'm still bad, bad to the core," I responded without hesitation.

"Ha," she let out a small laugh, "Think before you speak, will you?"

We arrived at the hotel. She got out of the car, and I saw the man in the lobby walking toward her quickly—quite the pair, matching in both talent and beauty.

I waited for the car door to close, then drove off. I could only vaguely hear what she was saying, but I didn't want to listen. Seeing her meant bad things. I had only walked a short distance when I heard a nail piercing my tire, making a clicking sound. I stopped by the roadside and it was true. She and I are nemesis. I drove to a tire shop to get the tire fixed. I couldn't do any work tonight.