Beneath the Perfect Disguise, I Quietly Slipped Away Chapter 9

Connor drove home immediately.

Along the way, Aurora didn't answer his calls.

He opened the front door. Everything was the same as when he left in the morning.

Aurora's favorite cushion was still leaning crookedly on the sofa.

Aurora's clothes were still neatly hanging in the closet.

Connor’s heart, which felt like it was about to jump out of his chest, finally showed signs of calming down.

But a second later, he saw something on the nightstand.

The couple's rings.

Under the ring was a sticky note:

We're done. Returning this to you.

The mechanical voice in his ear repeating "The number you have dialed is not in service" played over and over.

Like poisoned arrows.

Piercing Connor’s heart with precision.

Just then, a call from an unknown number came in.

Connor, who could remain calm even when signing his parents' death certificates or learning his shares were stolen by his parents' best friend—

His hand was shaking.

"Hello."

His heart hung on the edge of a cliff.

Like grabbing the last life-saving straw:

"Rory?"

A polite, professional voice came from the other side:

"Good evening, Mr. Pierce."

"This is Sunset Bistro."

"It is now 6:31 PM, and neither you nor your companion has arrived."

"Do you need to reschedule your proposal plan?"

His heart plummeted into the abyss.

Shattered into pieces.

But Connor didn't even have time to feel the pain.

Every day that followed, he worked day and night to deal with the dying struggles of Robert and Edward.

He had found out where Aurora was early on, but he couldn't pull himself away to find her.

Until twenty-nine days post-breakup.

The "Pierce" in Pierce Group completely became Connor Pierce’s "Pierce."

He finally flew to the country where she was.

Connor held the ring Aurora had thrown away tightly in his hand.

His palm hurt from the metal digging in, and his heart felt suffocated.

He finally understood that this indescribable feeling in his chest was called—

Grievance.

He thought.

Aurora was really going a bit too far this time.

Being angry was one thing, but she actually left him and went abroad.

Forget it.

She loved him so much.

She must have gone crazy seeing him kiss Madison. That's why she acted this way.

Connor tried to ignore the memory surfacing in his brain—Aurora's abnormal calmness during that time.

He told himself again:

As long as he coaxed her, she would definitely return to his side immediately.

But on a street in a foreign land.

From a distance, he saw—

His Aurora, kissing another man.