He Only Regretted After I Left Him for His First Love

Chapter 2

My thoughts drifted back to six months ago.

The first time I caught Elio and Valentina in an intimate moment was in the office parking garage.

He and Valentina were embracing quietly, a large bouquet of roses cradled between them.

I remembered how I felt at that time; it was as if the world had suddenly collapsed, and my vision began to spin.

But since we were at the office, I couldn't even confront him then and there.

When I finally got home, I confronted him hysterically, but Elio remained eerily calm. He said, "Valentina is divorced, Mattia. I'm just concerned about what she's going through."

He added, "She isn't an employee of the company. My relationship with her is completely normal; there's no need to avoid suspicion. You're the one acting crazy."

I took those words to heart.

After that, I began to reflect on whether I had been too harsh on Elio.

To make up for my mistake that night, I even started inviting the recently divorced Valentina over.

While she and Elio drank in the living room, I busied myself in the kitchen.

However, before even a week had passed, Elio brought Valentina in, held her hand, and parachuted her into our department as supervisor.

Only at that moment did I understand that I had been a complete and utter fool.

Elio's principles had never been unshakable; I simply wasn't the person he was willing to change for.

Fortunately, all of this was finally coming to an end.

Looking at the reply I had just received on my phone.

Simone: Miss Jensen, we look forward to having you join us.

A smile finally formed at the corners of my mouth.

Without continuing the proposal at hand, I opened a document and began drafting my resignation letter while also contacting a lawyer to draft divorce papers.

After finishing everything, the sky outside had already darkened, and I was the only one left in the entire department.

My phone suddenly rang; it was a call from Valentina.

I answered, but before I could say anything, I heard Elio and his friends talking. One of his friends said, "To be honest, Elio, you and Valentina were a perfect match back at university. If you hadn't broken up later, maybe you'd have married her."

Elio was silent for a moment, then spoke, "...Mattia just doesn't compare to Valentina. She's too cold and unyielding. Being around her drains me."

Before anyone could reply, the call ended.

I froze in place, then after a long moment, suddenly laughed.

Back when Elio and I were dating, he once called me an extraordinary partner.

He said he loved how rational and calm I was, that even in a crisis, I could come up with a solution right away.

But now, those past strengths had become proof in his eyes that I wasn't attentive enough.

Yet facing all this, my heart actually felt strangely calm.

It was as though, once I stopped caring about Elio, a weight had lifted.

After packing my things, just as I was about to head home, I saw that Elio's friend had posted a photo.

In the photo, Elio had one arm around Valentina's shoulders and the other holding Milo. The three of them stood side by side on a hotel terrace, overlooking the city at night.

The friend captioned it.

Lorenzo: [A happy family.]

Unsuspecting commenters wrote below.

A: [What a blissful family. Makes me so jealous.]

The friend replied below with a few sly emojis.

Lorenzo: [The man himself said, if you marry the right wife, you can have this too.]