---- Clearing the lunchbox on the table, I replied coolly, "She's not my girlfriend. She's my ex-wife. " My response stunned Sean, but he didn't ask any further. Soon, I put all of this behind me. Two years later, I got the opportunity to head back to my home country. I now had a deeper understanding of medicine. I was also accompanied by my new girlfriend, Penelope Bennett. We'd met back at the war zone. She'd ended up disfigured after saving me, so I promised to take care of her for the rest of her life. As we got to know each other better, I came to realize my feelings for her. I figured that perhaps fate took pity on me for being alone and decided to deliver someone into my life. This time, I was going to do a good job holding onto the person I was destined to be with. ---- On the day I got back, Dr. Lloyd from Centrum Hospital came to the airport specifically to welcome me. His expression was a mix of approval and gladness as he surveyed me. "You've gotten a lot tanner and skinnier, too. Things must've been hard on you the last two years." It was an ordinary expression of concern, but his words moved me deeply. I opened my arms and hugged him. We'd just started walking when I spotted Ivy nearby. She had a young boy with her. Somehow, she heard I was coming back and actually showed up at the airport to see me. In just two short years, she'd undergone quite a drastic change. She was no longer the bubbly, pretty woman she once was. On the contrary, she looked like she'd gone through a great deal of hardship. Ivy didn't step forward, and I simply looked at her expressionlessly as well. ---- Penelope seemed to have sensed something. She took my hand and linked our fingers together before asking, "What's the matter? That's your ex -wife, right? Do you want to go and say hi? It looks like she has a lot to say to you." Withdrawing my gaze, I shook my head lightly and replied, 'We have nothing to say to each other. " The day I walked away from the sip and see party marked the moment when Ivy's and my paths separated. We no longer had any reason to speak to each other. I headed toward the car. Soon after we hit the road, I received a text from Ivy. She'd sent a lot of messages over the last two years. However, since I didn't use my old SIM. card, I didn't receive any of them. The last message was sent a minute ago, and all it said was, "I'm sorry." My fingers hovered over the screen for a long time before I deleted her number and blacklisted it. ---- Then, for good measure, I removed the SIM card and broke it. I threw it out the window, and with it went the unbearable past filled with me making sacrifices for the wrong person.