I didn’t know why Nathan’s hair had suddenly turned white, but guilt gnawed at me—Victoria. ‘If only he hadn’t met me…’ I thought.

“Victoria, Mr. Holcomb, thank you both for coming to the launch,” Nathan said, his voice as warm as ever.

I tried to compose myself and looked up at him, but I couldn’t hide the shimmer of tears in my eyes.

When Nathan’s gaze landed on my face, his expression faltered for a moment. But this was a public event, and he quickly masked his feelings, smiling as he asked, “Victoria, when did you get back to Hachester?”

“Just a little while ago,” I replied.

Jared, standing beside me, added casually, “I wanted her to come back yesterday, but she insisted on rushing back this morning.”

Nathan chuckled. “It’s fine. I’m just glad you made it. I’ve got some things to take care of, so please, make yourselves comfortable.”

With that, he turned and walked away, quickly surrounded by a group of people discussing the upcoming launch.

I stared off in the direction Nathan had left, completely spaced out, until a sour voice beside me snapped me back. “Has he bewitched you or something?”

I shook myself out of it and glanced at Jared, who was giving me an intense look, the jealousy written all over his face.

I quickly sat back down, not in the mood to bicker with him, and started flipping through a brochure on the table.

Seeing me stay silent, Jared’s earlier calm was clearly shaken.

He turned to me and said, “What’s up with his hair? Did he really go gray overnight just because you broke up with him?”

My fingers froze on the brochure, and I glared at him. “Jared, I don’t want to talk about this.”

“So he loves you that much, huh?” Jared said with a bitter, mocking tone.

My heart twisted with pain again. If I could do it all over, I’d rather we never met at all.

“You feel bad for him, don’t you?” Jared studied my face, catching the tears in my eyes. Suddenly, his grip tightened, anger flashing across his features. “Victoria, you’re unbelievable. It was just a passing fancy, and you actually caught feelings for him?”

No one else had sat down yet, but Jared couldn’t keep the anger out of his voice–it was getting louder.

I froze and shot him a stern look. “Don’t lose it here. Are you trying to make me a joke in front of everyone?”

“So you know how ridiculous this is?” Jared snapped, even angrier now.

Staring at him in disbelief, I couldn’t help but think, ‘It’s Nathan’s special event, and here my ex is losing his cool like this. What is he even doing?’

“Jared, you finally get it, don’t you? You’re ancient history to me now. If you want to make a scene, I can play along,” I shot back, matching his energy.

Jared froze, like he’d just been slapped all the way back to the Stone Age.

I spoke with icy calm. “From now on, stay out of my business. Whoever I feel sorry for, it’ll never be you.”

Jared instantly went quiet, pinching the bridge of his nose, lost in his own thoughts.

Strangely enough, after that fight with Jared, I felt way more at peace.

On stage, the new products were being showcased while the music amped up the vibe, and then the lights suddenly went down.

Everyone turned their attention to the big screen for an introduction and a look at the company’s future plans.

The spotlight fell on Jared’s face, his expression dark and brooding. All because I felt sorry for Nathan–he was sulking with jealousy.

People started filling in the seats around us–mostly major investors, senior tech execs, and quite a few government officials.

Staring at the big screen and listening to the breakdown of all this cutting-edge tech, I finally understood just how much blood, sweat, and tears the engineers had poured in to unlock its secrets. Nathan really was something else.

The lights dimmed as another group entered–mostly VIPs filling up the first couple of rows.