Olivia sighed for the nth time as she leaned on the cool metal wall of the elevator. She was sleepy and exhausted. It was raining so heavily that she decided to stop at her boyfriend's house to rest before going home. She spent the night at the hospital after receiving a call telling her that her old caregiver’s condition had suddenly worsened. After a tiring night, all she could think of was sleep.

The elevator stopped, and the doors slid open before she walked out. She was feeling excited about seeing her boyfriend Samuel before he went to work. She glanced at the watch on her wrist, confirming that he should be sleeping at this time.

She input the password and silently stepped into his apartment, afraid to wake him up. She took off her shoes and looked for her slippers, but she didn’t find them in the shoe cabinet she normally put them in. She figured that she must have forgotten to put them back and just continued barefoot into the living room.

She didn’t turn on any lights, so the moment she got to the hallway, she easily discovered that the door to the study was slightly ajar, since some of the light was pouring into the hallway from the slit of the door.

She thought Sam had forgotten to turn off the lights, but those thoughts were dispelled when she heard a soft moan come from the study. Olivia didn’t even realise that she had moved so quickly towards the study.

She could hear wet smacking sounds from outside, combined with well-timed moans and grunts. She placed her hand on the door, hesitating on whether she should push it open or pretend she didn’t know anything and just go back home.

After debating with herself for a few seconds, she pushed the door open, and it opened just enough for her to see what was going on inside. Clothes were scattered all over the place, and Samuel, who was supposed to be sleeping, was currently thrusting himself into a woman she couldn’t see clearly, since she was bent over his desk.

Olivia was rooted to the spot, and even the fatigue she had been feeling was swept away entirely. In those few seconds, a plethora of emotions had gone through her, but what she found hard to stomach is the betrayal she felt.

She stood there, watching and listening to the two people having sex, her disgust being provoked again and again. Her heart felt like it was being stabbed every time she heard one of them moan. It was so unbearable she felt like she might just pass out, but her body wouldn’t let her. She was frozen on the spot, as if she was meant to burn the image she was seeing deeply in her brain.

She watched everything to the end, and continued to stand in place even as Samuel pulled up his pants, seeming ready to go.

“Are you just going to up and go? I’m still not satisfied,” a familiar voice said, and Olivia felt like someone poured a bucket of ice water over her head. She thought it was bad enough that Samuel was cheating on her, but to think that the other party would be her own sister Chloe.

“Get lost if you are done here. I don’t have time to waste,” Samuel said, clearly not holding Chloe up to much regard.

“You talk as if this was a one man show. After doing this with me for half a year, why won’t you break up with her?” Chloe asked, her previously flirtatious voice becoming aggrieved. Samuel didn’t even bother answering her. He wanted to take a shower. He was sick of the sickly sweet scent of her perfume. It was too strong and still clung to his skin. He picked up his shirt and went to open the door, only to freeze in place.

“Olivia, let me explain,” Samuel said desperately and stepped out of his study, closing the door behind him, forcing Olivia to take a step back. She didn’t argue with him and just stared straight at his face. Sam felt like he was about to lose his mind.

“How long have you been standing here? Let’s go talk in my room first,” Samuel said softly, and tried to hold her hand to pull her away, only for her to take another step back, distancing herself from him even more.

“Please Olivia, I know I’m wrong, just give me a chance to explain,” Samuel tried to persuade, unaware that the scenes Olivia witnessed were currently replaying in her head over and over again.

“Let’s end this,” Olivia said coldly. Her heart had already frozen over. She wasn’t going to wrong herself and give him the chance he was asking for.

“No, I don’t agree. It was just a mistake. Please forgive me this one time,” Samuel said desperately and reached out for her hands again, only for his own to be swatted away. He knew that if he let her go it would really be over between them.

“Please Oliv-” Sam continued to beg, only to be interrupted by a stinging pain on his cheek.

“Heh, a half year mistake?” Olivia asked and Sam, who hadn’t expected to be slapped, looked at her dumbly.

“It’s over Samuel, don’t look for me anymore,” Olivia said and walked away from.

“Olivia,” Sam stupidly called out. He didn’t have the courage to go after her after what happened, but he had some hope that maybe she would turn around just once.

“Olivia, please,” Sam continued to call as he took hesitant steps in her direction, but as he was busy hesitating, he heard the front door slam shut.

Olivia frantically pressed the elevator button while trying to hold back her tears and failing miserably. Eventually, a choked sob escaped her and a torrent of tears poured out of her eyes. When the elevator doors slid open at the ground floor, she briskly walked out of it. She felt like she was about to suffocate and she needed some air.

In her rush, she accidentally bumped into someone and apologised perfunctorily and quickly left the building without waiting for a response.

The moment she stepped out, she was completely soaked by the heavy rain but she didn’t care, she finally felt like she could breathe again, now that she was out of the apartment building. She tried walking away but she lost strength in her legs not long after. So she squatted at the corner of the building and hugged her legs as she buried her face in her knees and cried her heart out.

The rain was so heavy that she wasn’t really audible even though she was experiencing the biggest heartbreak of her life. She remembered how Samuel had chased her through university and she only accepted him after seeing him being so persistent even after he finished his senior year.

Besides the caretaker from her orphanage, no one had treated her better than him all her life. Even her adoptive parents couldn’t compare. He would take her out on dates, made sure she didn’t skip her meals, and always told her how much he loved her. The last thing she was expecting from him was to catch him sleeping with Chloe on a night when she almost lost the most important person in her life.

She suddenly felt the pelting of the rain stop and she paused her crying to see what was going on. With eyes blurred with tears and rainwater, together with the darkness of the early morning, she could barely make out the tall silhouette of a man the only thing she could perceive was the scent of pine trees. It was a sharp, sweet and refreshing scent.

“You look so miserable crying for others like this,” the stranger said to her, his voice a deep baritone. His tone was filled with the pity he felt for her but rather than get offended, she felt herself calm down.

“Don’t forget that you should be your own most precious person,” he finished and passed her a closed umbrella he was holding in his other hand. Olivia dazedly took the umbrella and before she could say a word of thanks, the man turned heel and left.

Her phone rang in her purse and she hurriedly opened the umbrella before pulling it out and taking the call.

“Why aren’t you home yet?! What have you been doing all night long?!” a shrill sharp voice shouted from the other side instantly making her cringe.

“I’m on my way back,” Olivia answered suddenly feeling exhausted.

“Hurry up! Argh! Can you be even more frustrating?!” her foster mother said in irritation and ended the call without waiting for a response. Olivia looked at her dark phone screen and laughed coldly. How can her day start so miserably? The problem is, she could already feel that everything was about to go wrong today!

Olivia wiped her teary eyes and hailed a taxi to go back home. She wanted to see what was going on since no one ever cared whether she slept at home or not before.