I will marry you for a billion dollars

I didn’t expect my birthday to feel like a funeral. The day had started like any other. I had rushed through my work trip, barely slept, barely eaten, surviving on coffee and leftover pastries. My mind was still foggy when I finally stepped into our apartment, my heart fluttering with that familiar little hope that maybe, just maybe, David had planned something. I had spent weeks imagining this moment: the candles, the tiny decorations, maybe a bottle of his favorite wine waiting for us on the table. I even pictured him smiling, that crooked grin of his, teasing me for being dramatic as I walked in. But the apartment was empty. Empty wasn’t even the right word. It was stripped. Chairs, the couch, the side table, all gone. David’s laptop, his clothes, even the small photos of us together, vanished. The place looked…abandoned. My chest tightened, and for a moment, I thought I had misremembered. Maybe he was joking. Maybe he had just gone out for a few hours. Maybe this was some sick, elaborate surprise. I called his phone. Nothing. Repeatedly. No answer. I sent messages. Read receipts, all read, no reply. My stomach dropped further when I remembered the little startup I had poured my heart into, the business I was trying to launch in cosmetics, the one he promised he’d help me fund when I mentioned needing a few extra thousand to get the initial stock ready. Gone. He was gone. And so was all the money. Shaking, I turned on my laptop and froze. My social media feed exploded before my eyes. The top gossip blog, the trending news alerts, every platform, every notification screaming at me like it was a public execution: “Asia’s Trending Model Couple: Abbey Shen and David Nolan Announce Engagement.” I clicked. There they were. David, holding Abbey close, their faces impossibly happy. Abbey’s hand glittered in the video, a giant diamond perched on her finger as she pressed it against his chest. Her smile was flawless. Her teeth, perfect. She looked like a goddess. And the worst part? David’s smile wasn’t for me anymore. He was looking at her like she had always been the only one. My fingers trembled over the keyboard, trying to reach them, to call, to do anything. But every number, every account, every social media handle,they had blocked me. Every possible attempt at contact ended in silence. I felt a strange, hollow weight in my chest, as if my lungs had forgotten how to expand. Then my phone buzzed. I answered it absentmindedly, expecting a friend to check in. “Evelyn Gu? This is your bank,” the voice said, flat, cold, robotic. “We need to inform you that Mr. David Nolan has withdrawn all funds from your accounts. Additionally, he has authorized loans in your name. Your accounts are now at zero balance.” I let the phone slip from my hand. My heart was pounding, my fingers cold, my mind spinning. Zero. All my savings, every cent I had scraped together since my part-time jobs, gone. My dream business, the small cosmetics line I had been building, everything erased in one fell swoop. The next call came quickly,my landlord. He was polite but firm. “Ms. Gu, Mr. Nolan has terminated the lease. You have three days to vacate the apartment or face legal action.” Legal action. The words hit me like a punch. My home, my space, my everything had been taken from me before I even had a chance to react. And the world outside didn’t care. On the Internet, I was the “cheating ex” and the “bad friend,” plastered across forums and gossip blogs with Abbey’s flawless photos beside them, their captions dripping with lies. I wanted to scream. I wanted to run to David, to shake some sense into him, to demand an explanation, to beg, to cry. But I couldn’t. He didn’t exist for me anymore, and neither did Abbey. I sat on the floor of the empty apartment for what felt like hours, the silence pressing against my ears, until the first hot tears slipped down my cheeks. I could feel the ache in my chest like a solid weight, the betrayal cutting deeper than I had ever imagined. The people I trusted the most had not just abandoned me,they had weaponized my love and my loyalty, turning everything I believed into a public joke. I had no one left here. No apartment, no money, no friends, no boyfriend. Just my shame, my empty bank account, and the echo of betrayal. And then I made my decision. I would go home. Back to my parents, far away from the city that had turned against me, far from David and Abbey and every reminder of their perfect lives. I didn’t care about pride anymore. I didn’t care about embarrassment. I needed safety. I needed somewhere that wasn’t this living nightmare. I threw a few essentials into my bag,my laptop, a few clothes, my passport, enough to survive for a week or two. My hands were shaking so badly I dropped my phone twice before I could retrieve it. I left a note on the counter, blank except for a scrawled “I’m gone,” because even that felt too much. I called a taxi, my vision blurred, and climbed into the backseat. The city lights streamed past the window, but the colors didn’t reach me. Every flash of neon, every passing car, felt like it belonged to someone else’s life, not mine. I buried my face in my hands, letting the sobs shake my entire body. At the airport, I moved mechanically, my mind numb, my body heavy. I queued at the check-in, feeling like a ghost, like I was walking through the world but didn’t exist in it anymore. Every suitcase, every laughing family, every couple holding hands stabbed at me like a reminder of the life I had lost. I collapsed onto a bench near my gate, my bag clutched to my chest. The noise around me was distant,flight announcements, chatter, the rolling of suitcases,but I couldn’t hear it. My ears rang with the echo of David’s laughter in the apartment, Abbey’s perfect smile, the headlines flashing across every screen. How could they do this to me? I didn’t care where I was going, just that it wasn’t here. I didn’t care what anyone thought, didn’t care about pride, didn’t care about anything but escaping. For the first time in my life, I felt completely, utterly alone,and there was no comfort in that. Only the raw, hollow ache of betrayal. I curled into myself on the cold airport seat, trying to swallow the bitter, burning tears, and tried to plan the next step. I let the tears fall, let the sobs wrack my body, and let myself feel the weight of being abandoned, humiliated, and utterly broken. The world had taken everything from me in a single night. And I had nothing.