The Ring He Never Gave

When I was eighteen, after Brooks and I had sex for the first time in our rental apartment, he proposed to me with a cheap ring.

At twenty-four, he was found by the Davis family and became the heir to a prestigious and powerful household, but he secretly got engaged to someone else behind my back.

On the day of our sixth anniversary, I wanted to surprise him and came home early.

I happened to overhear his friend mocking him:

"Why are you still living in this dump? Are you really going to refuse the marriage alliance with the Tony family for your first love?"

Brooks laughed while biting his cigarette.

"How is that possible? I'm just playing around. Alexis doesn't have the status to be worthy of me now."

The door was slightly ajar, and the words hit me without warning.

I froze at the entrance, looking up at the people inside the rental apartment.

Aside from Brooks, they were all playboys whose shoes alone cost more than my annual internship salary.

Hearing Brooks's words, they laughed even more mockingly:

"Those worthless trinkets she gives youI'd be embarrassed to carry them in my pocket."

"Yeah, it sounds harsh, but it's the truth."

My eyelashes trembled as I clutched the gift I'd prepared, having saved up for three months, feeling utterly humiliated.

It was already the best thing I could offer Brooks.

"When are you planning to break up with her?"

Cigarette smoke blurred Brooks's expression.

I couldn't see clearly, only hearing his indifferent voice:

"It's just an engagement, no need to break up. She's really stupidshe won't find out."

The room erupted in derisive laughter again:

"She really is stupid, completely played by you."

"But what about Laurient? Can you hide it from her too?"

LaurientI'd heard that name from my colleagues. A genuine heiress.

Playful and manipulative, she'd boasted that there wasn't a man in all of Los Angeles she couldn't catch.

But I'd heard that this time, the man she was pursuing was her social equal, and she was serious about marriage.

Brooks showed no emotional reaction to hearing that name.

He stubbed out his cigarette and started ushering them out. "Are you done? Alexis is coming home early today."

The group left.

I hid around the corner, listening to them complain about how remote and shabby this place was as they walked.

Then I heard them say that the engagement between the two families was set for next month.

Next month...

In the stuffy corridor, I suddenly felt cold enough to shiver.

I slowly pieced it together.

So the person the Davis family found a year agothe one whose return was celebrated throughout the cityreally was Brooks.

I remember looking at Brooks in the kitchen back then and asking regretfully, "You're both named Davis, why couldn't it be you?"

Brooks asked back with amusement, "Why would it be me?"

I looked at him without blinking. "Because... you're really different."

Brooks didn't know.

When my mom married into that town and brought me along, the first time I saw Brooks, I felt he didn't belong there.

He was smart, aloof, yet strikingly handsomenothing like that alcoholic, abusive stepfather.

Brooks didn't say anything more at the time.

But that very night, the online post was deleted completely.

After that, nothing related to the Davis family appeared in my life again.

From that moment on, the person I'd loved for eight whole years had already been lying to me.

The corridor gradually darkened, the endless darkness seeming ready to swallow me whole.

I suddenly felt an urgent need to escape this place.

Anywhere would doI didn't want to face Brooks.

But the moment I stepped around the corner, I locked eyes with Brooks, who was standing at the door.

In just a few seconds, Brooks had already guessed what happened.

The guilt and regret I'd imagined never appeared on his face.

He laughed once, showing that familiar expression somewhere between troubled and annoyed.

I knew that look too well.

It was exactly like the expression Brooks wore when he used to witness my stepfather about to hit metroubled, impatient, yet forced to deal with it.

Back then, he'd glanced at me coldly, showing no intention of coming over.

But in the end, he still pulled me behind him.

Later, he protected me with a cold face, time and time again.

He was very young then too, no match for an adult's strength.

So he always ended up covered in blood.

I'd cry while holding Brooks, soaking half his shoulder with tears.

After my mom died, he was the only one who protected me.

Brooks always said I was useless, asked how I'd survive without him, but never said he'd abandon me.

Memory and reality overlapped as I watched Brooks sigh and walk toward me like he used to.

Actually, I was terrified.

In that moment, I even blamed myself for not hiding well enough.

I wanted to completely disappear and avoid this confrontation.

But in the end, under Brooks's gaze, I asked him numbly, "You're getting engaged?"

Along with the thunder came Brooks's voice.

He looked down at me and admitted it frankly. "It's a marriage alliance arranged by the family. I can't refuse."

"They would never accept someone as worthless as you into the Davis family. You understand that, don't you?"

"But Alexis, I won't leave you," his fingers slowly wiped away my tears. "I'll still protect you, just like before"

I sensed something was wrong. "What do you mean?"

What did he mean by "won't leave me"? What did he mean by "just like before"?

Brooks's eyes were pitch black.

Through those eyes, I saw my own wretched, pitiful reflection.

I actually had so many questions I wanted to ask.

But now I couldn't get a single word out.

I looked at Brooks and asked him slowly, word by word:

"Brooks, you want me to be your mistress?"

Brooks didn't deny it.

From the moment the Davis family found him, he knew they would never accept me.

He agreed to the marriage alliance while continuing to act out this charade with me here.

Just like he said, I was so stupid I'd believe anything he told me.

I tried hard to keep my eyes open to stop the tears from falling, but I just couldn't control them.

The corridor window was half-open, rain pouring down wildly.

Years ago, I'd confessed to Brooks in the pouring rain, and now I had to end it in the rain too.

But Brooks didn't take my words about breaking up seriously.

He calmly watched me finish my tantrum, then brought me back to the living room and casually asked what I wanted to eat.

He seemed certain I wouldn't refuse him, much less leave him.

Not until I shook off his hand and started packing did his eyes finally show some emotion.

"Alexis, does it have to be this way?"

I didn't answer. Brooks's grip on my wrist only tightened.

He looked at me quietly, as if genuinely not understanding:

"I said we can still be like before. I can give you anything you want now. Do you really want to go back to those hard times?"

I looked at him numbly. "Brooks, I won't be a mistress."

"I can survive without depending on you."

"Without depending on me?" Brooks laughed. "Alexis, why are you still so naive?"

"Without me, could you have graduated safely from under that perverted school administrator's hands?"

"Without me, could you have so coincidentally met that specialist during your surgery?"

"And," Brooks leaned closer to me, his tone mocking,

"If you really care so much about what others think, why did you fall for me back then, confess to me, even kiss meyour nominal brother?"

My whole body went cold as I slowly raised my head to meet Brooks's gaze.

So mocking and sharp, landing on me like a knife that cut to the bone.

"Alexis," Brooks looked at me with a smile, "stop pretending."

"You're not as pure and noble as you claim to be."

Brooks said I was really stupid, that every choice I'd made since childhood was foolish.

From enduring my stepfather's beatings without resistance before, to leaving him nowit was all the same.

He swore that within a week, I'd definitely come back to him.

This week was probably the hardest week of my life.

I hit walls everywhere, work went poorly, I couldn't even find a place to rent.

At critical moments, someone would always show up with more money to outbid me.

I had no choice but to temporarily stay at my college friend's place, but this morning, she told me she couldn't let me stay anymore.

My eyes fell on the phone clutched in her hand. I said softly, "Brooks contacted you, didn't he?"

She sighed. "Even if you broke up, he shouldn't go this far, right?"

She didn't know much about what happened between Brooks and me. I didn't want to drag her into this any further.

I had to move to a hotel.

Before I left, Sophia insisted on transferring me some money. "I know your internship salary isn't much. Use this for now, pay me back when you get your full-time position."

I didn't accept it.

But the news about my full-time position was indeed supposed to come today.

When I arrived at the company, though, the atmosphere was strangely off. Many people looked at me with complex expressions.

My heart raced as an ominous premonition arose.

Before I could think it through, my boss called me over.

The office was silent. My boss took a sip of tea and told me straight out.

Among this batch of interns, I was the most qualified for the full-time position, but not anymore.

"The company landed a once-in-a-lifetime deal, but that company has one requirement."

I met my boss's gaze, my heart sinking. "...What requirement?"

My boss took another sip of hot tea and spoke slowly:

"They require that we fire you."

On the way back to the hotel, it started raining. The rain felt so cold it seemed to pierce into my heart.

Brooks was already waiting at the hotel entrance.

When he saw me, he got out of the car with an umbrella, his face wearing its usual smile.

"Alexis, when will you break the habit of forgetting your umbrella in the rain?"

I stared at the hand holding the umbrella. Brooks was still wearing the ring from when he proposed to me.

I found it laughable, but I was too exhausted to laugh.

The wet, sticky coat clung to my body, making my voice tremble when I spoke:

"Brooks, how far do you have to go before you'll stop?"

"I used to like you, depend on you, but I never did anything to hurt you, did I?"

"On our anniversary, I'd been preparing for quite a while."

"The gift I got youI saved up half a year's salary for it."

"Back then I even thought, I'm about to get my full-time position, and once things stabilize, we can move to a slightly bigger place."

"Why," I looked up at him, "why do you have to treat me this way? Why does it have to be me?!"

Brooks didn't respond. His eyes fell on my hand instead. "Where's the ring?"

The ring he'd proposed with in the rental apartment. I'd worn it for six whole years.

It wasn't that he'd never bought me new rings, but I just loved that one.

"I lost it." I turned to walk back inside. "Do whatever else you want, Brooks. My answer won't change."

Unexpectedly, Brooks backed down.

He said he could stay out of my employment situation, but he had one condition.

"What?"

He gestured at the increasingly heavy rain. "It's cold. Can we go inside to talk?"

The hotel I'd found on short notice was very basic.

Brooks waited until I changed out of my soaked coat before speaking.

He sent me an address, saying there was a reception tomorrow night and asking me to come for a final goodbye.

But on the way there the next day, for some reason, my heart suddenly started pounding violently.

It was a high-end club, the kind of place I wouldn't normally even glance at.

Brooks's private room was on the top floor.

I saw many people inside.

I saw that the bottles of alcohol they casually opened could buy my cheap rental apartment.

In that moment, I finally had a concrete sense of Brooks's current status and the gap between us.

There, I also saw Laurient from the Tony family.

She sat beside Brooks, beautiful and radiant.

Before I could figure out why Laurient was there, I suddenly heard her say she had a surprise for Brooks.

Vaguely, I seemed to hear my name.

I suddenly tensed up.

Laurient knew about my existence.

I watched her casually make a phone call to someone.

After a few brief sentences, the smile on her face grew even brighter, carrying the satisfaction of a successful prank.

She tilted her head, studying his expression as she asked,

"I accidentally got Alexis fired. You won't blame me, will you, Brooks?"

I stood there numbly, feeling coldness slowly penetrate my limbs.

Until it climbed to my heart, bringing sharp, tingling pain.

So Laurient's "surprise" was destroying the job I'd just gotten today.

Brooks sat beside her, watching her calmly.

He didn't interrupt, didn't blame Laurient, didn't even change his expression.

I'd never found that indifferent face of his so disgusting.

He'd clearly promised me he wouldn't interfere with my work.

I suddenly remembered what I'd said yesterday.

I remembered that inscrutable smile on Brooks's face before he left yesterday.

I'd thought that because of what I said, he was slightly moved, had the tiniest bit of pity for me.

But there was nothing.

When Brooks smiled then, was he laughing at me like I was a pathetic, ridiculous clown?

A clown who used to be played by him, yet was busy planning an impossible future with him.

But now this clown still had to go find him.

Because I saw Laurient reach out and pull a jade pendant on a black woven cord from around Brooks's neck.

I slowly blinked.

Finally seeing clearly what was in her handit was the pendant my mom left me, my only keepsake of her.

So when Brooks suggested going to my hotel room yesterday, it wasn't because he was cold, and it wasn't because he was actually willing to back down.

It was to find this.

Brooks was as accommodating to Laurient as he once was to me.

He casually removed the pendant and tossed it to Laurient.

The last tightly wound string in my mind suddenly snapped.

I had nothing left now. I'd even lost my job. I couldn't lose this last memento of my mom too.

I pushed hard on the door, but it wouldn't budge.

"Brooks"

I saw Brooks look up.

Under the brilliant lights, through the glass, he just looked at me quietly with his usual smile, showing no intention of opening the door.

I immediately understoodeverything he said yesterday was a lie.

He was angry I'd talked back to him, angry I'd thrown away the ring.

He was warning me, punishing me, using the jade pendant to force me to compromise.

Separated by a door, the hallway was quiet, but the music blasting inside the room was deafening, drowning out my voice.

I was nearly breaking down as I spoke:

"Brooks, I... I don't want the job anymore!"

"I'll find the ring and return it to you today!"

"Please, please give me back mom's jade pendant!!"

A week's worth of pent-up emotions exploded.

I shouted like a madwoman, drawing the attention of many people in the hallway.

But Brooks still didn't move.

The music happened to reach its final few seconds of quiet outro, and everything fell silent.

Through the glass, I watched helplessly as Laurient took the jade pendant and tossed it up and down with distaste.

Then she accidentally fumbled it, and the pendant fell from her hand.

After a crisp, cheap-sounding crack, Brooks suddenly stood up. He stared at the cracked jade pendant, his expression changing beyond his control.

The scene suddenly descended into chaos.

They seemed to be saying something, but my head was buzzing and I couldn't hear anything clearly.

I don't know how I got back to the hotel. I only came to my senses when I realized I was completely soaked by the rain.

Someone equally drenched stood at my door.

That face was familiarone of Brooks's friends.

"Brooks was taken back by the Davis family. He told me to make sure to tell you that things aren't what you think. He didn't mean to destroy the jade pendant."

"About your job, Brooks will handle it. Something came up with the Davis family, but as soon as he can get out, he'll come find you right away. Don't..."

Before he could finish, I slammed the door shut with a bang.

Silence returned to my ears.

Water dripped from my sleeves, tap tap tap.

I stared silently at the broken jade pendant in my hand for who knows how long before my phone suddenly vibrated.

A notification popped upI'd been fired, along with a transfer for severance pay.

The full-time position really was Brooks playing me.

Laurient couldn't tolerate my existence, and Brooks condoned her tantrum.

It was all lies. I'd never believe Brooks's fake sympathy again.

After blocking Brooks on all platforms, I bought the earliest ticket out of Los Angeles.

I never wanted to come back.