The moment I succeeded in winning over the brooding male lead, I chose to exit the world.

I didn't hesitate for a second, not even when he begged me, broken and humbled, to stay.

Later, back in the real world, my life fell apart.

The System found me again. It offered me five million dollars to go back into the book and win him over one more time.

Just as I was about to agree, a stream of comments flashed across my vision:

"Holy crap, the ex who ditched Aidan is back."

"LOL, does she seriously think he's still in love with her?"

"The second 'Tasker' not only got his Darkness Value down to negative one hundred, but she also chose to stay, giving him the family he always wanted."

"The happy couple is about to get married. Can the ex-wife please have some self-respect and not bother them?"

1

It took me a long moment to process it.

The "ex-wife" they were talking about… was me.

Beside me, the System was still buzzing in my ear, trying to sell me on the deal. "All you have to do is make Aidan Sterling fall for you again, and you'll get five million dollars. Even if you fail, you'll get fifty thousand for your trouble. How about it? It's a bargain, right?"

It was a bargain.

And right now, I desperately needed the money.

But the comments echoed in my head.

I stayed silent for a moment, then said I needed to think about it.

So, the System decided to send me back into the book first. To be precise, it sent me back to the home Aidan and I once shared.

The tiny apartment, old but filled with a familiar warmth, was exactly as I’d left it three years ago. Aidan hadn’t moved a single thing. Even the dress I’d accidentally stained just before I left was now hanging in the closet, clean and pristine, as if waiting for me.

I remembered that dress. It was from a famous designer, all the rage at the time. When Aidan had secretly bought it for me, I’d chewed him out for spending so much money. He didn't argue, just lowered his gaze, his long lashes shadowing his cheeks, and waited for my anger to fade. Then, he’d coaxed me, in that soft, gentle voice of his, to try it on.

I looked down, the silky fabric cool against my fingers. I took a deep breath.

If Aidan had truly forgotten me… then why was this apartment still here?

I looked up again, my eyes scanning the small room. My gaze was suddenly caught by a white piece of paper taped to the window.

A few large, scrawled words were visible through the glass.

FOR SALE. PRICE NEGOTIABLE. URGENT.

The sharp, decisive strokes were unmistakably Aidan’s.

2

A fresh wave of tiny text flooded my vision:

"Hahaha, look at her face. The ex-wife is stunned. He wasn't holding onto their past; he just hadn't gotten around to selling the place."

"She really thought he still loved her like before. Plot twist: now that he has our sweet Sophie, he won't even give his ex a second glance."

"The only reason the System brought her back is to create some drama for Aidan and Sophie. Get ready for some prime humiliation, folks."

I pressed my lips together.

So that was it.

The System was willing to offer five million because it was certain I would fail. Its real goal was to cast me as the villain, the obstacle in the main couple's love story.

He was getting my labor for a mere fifty thousand dollars.

Fifty thousand.

I laughed, a bitter, self-mocking sound. To play the fool for fifty grand… it wasn't a small amount. It was enough to cover a week of treatment in the ICU.

I summoned the System and coolly accepted the deal.

The System was thrilled. It deposited a large sum of money into my account for expenses, though it could only be used within the book's world.

Since Aidan was so eager to sell this place, I might as well be the one to buy it.

I clutched my phone, my fingers dialing a number I knew by heart. It rang for half a minute before someone picked up.

A bright, clear female voice came through the line. "Hello? Who is this…?"

I froze for a second, then glanced down to confirm the number. It was definitely Aidan's.

"Hi, I was passing by and saw the 'For Sale' sign in the window…"

"You want to buy the apartment?" the person on the other end exclaimed, her voice bubbling with excitement. "That's wonderful! Finally, someone wants it."

I asked cautiously, "Are you the owner?"

"I'm the owner's girlfriend. You can just call me Sophie."

So, this was the second Tasker.

As my mind went blank, a brief murmur of voices came from the other end of the line, like two people whispering. It felt like an eternity passed before someone picked up the phone again.

Aidan's cold, detached voice came through, sharp and clear. "Hello. Is it convenient to meet and discuss this in person?"

3

I waited in the coffee shop, a bundle of nerves.

Finally, a sleek, understated luxury car pulled up to the curb. A picture-perfect couple stepped out.

I hadn't seen Aidan in three years, but he was just as striking as ever. The last traces of youthful uncertainty in his features had been replaced by the quiet confidence that comes with power and wealth. He leaned casually against the car door. Sophie said something that made him smile, and he reached out to gently ruffle her hair.

From across the distance, his gaze drifted in my direction. It rested on me for a fraction of a second before moving on, as placid and undisturbed as a still lake.

I was still lost in a daze when Sophie sat down in front of me.

She offered me an apologetic smile. "My boyfriend had to run, he could only drop me off. I'll be handling the details in his place."

I nodded, my voice genuine. "I can tell you two are very happy together."

Sophie's smile deepened. "He runs a tech company. The net profit is in the nine-figure range every year. It's not about the money from the apartment, you know? We just… don't want to keep it around anymore." Her tone was laced with a faint, unmissable sense of superiority.

I nodded again and, following procedure, asked to see the apartment.

Sophie paused, a flicker of awkwardness in her eyes. "I don't have the keys. If you want to see it, my boyfriend will have to take you himself."

I blinked, confused. "He didn't give you the keys before you came?" Logically, any property sale involved a viewing. Aidan couldn't possibly be unaware of that.

Sophie sighed, a hint of frustration in her smile. "I asked, but he wouldn't give them to me. He's never even taken me there." She lowered her voice conspiratorially. "To be honest with you, this is the place he lived in with his ex-wife when he was just starting out. It just… gives me the creeps. That’s why I want it gone, and fast."

"Oh," I said. "In that case, I don't need to see it. We can just sign the contract."

Sophie's face lit up. Afraid I'd change my mind, she immediately pulled out the sales agreement. But she didn't have the deed, so we couldn't transfer the title just yet. We'd still have to wait for Aidan.

With time to kill, I looked at this woman, a fellow Tasker, just like me.

My curiosity got the better of me. "How did you and he get together?" What I really wanted to know was how she had managed to win him over. The System had told me that after I left, Aidan had briefly relapsed into a second darkness. He’d attempted suicide, slit his wrists… his Darkness Value had skyrocketed to a level that threatened the stability of the entire world.

Sophie had appeared at his side during that critical time. She not only lowered his Darkness Value but completely replaced me in his heart.

Aidan was not an easy man to win over. She must have gone through hell.

But Sophie just smiled brightly. "He had just been abandoned by his ex-wife and was completely heartbroken. I was just there for him, comforting him. It didn't take long for us to make it official."

Was it really that simple?

I could hardly believe it.

Once again, the screen of my vision was flooded with mockery:

"Hahaha, the ex-wife is having a meltdown. Aidan has zero resistance when it comes to our girl Sophie."

"Don't forget, it took the ex ten whole years to win him over. She threw herself at him countless times before he finally, reluctantly, agreed to be with her."

"Sophie just had a few conversations with him, and all of the ex's years of work went down the drain. That’s the power of true love, baby."

…

I silently watched the jeering words scroll by.

They were right. My journey with Aidan had been incredibly difficult. So difficult that I never wanted to live through it again.

4

Aidan’s parents never loved him.

At a young age, they abandoned him in a psychiatric hospital, leaving him to the mercy of abusive orderlies. The place was filled with violent, unhinged patients, a veritable prison guarded like a fortress. Even with the System's help, I nearly died getting him out of there.

I took Aidan to a new city where no one knew us. I made sure he went to school, got an education, stayed on the right path. I even arranged for expensive therapy sessions every week. I did all of it hoping he would finally, completely, trust me.

But Aidan was too smart.

He effortlessly saw through the façade of this world, including my identity and my mission.

After graduation, Aidan was the state's top scholar. I threw a party to celebrate, overjoyed for him. But he quietly pulled me aside, his expression cold, a flicker of self-deprecation in his eyes.

"You're doing all this to win me over for your mission, aren't you?"

After the initial shock, I sighed, my voice catching. "I'm in love with you. That's my mission."

Aidan scoffed, clearly unconvinced.

My heart hammered in my chest. I pressed my head against his chest, my voice a small murmur. "Aidan, please, don't get hung up on all that. These last few years… they’ve been so hard. You have to hurry up and make my life easier." My voice broke. "I really, really love you. Please don't question me like this again. It hurts too much."

…

After college, Aidan started his own company. We moved into that tiny, rundown apartment. It had no heating in the winter. I was always cold, and my feet would get so numb they ached. Every night, Aidan would massage them for me, his eyes red with unshed tears, silent but full of pain for me.

By then, we were married.

His life goal had shifted from building a tech empire to destroy the world to the mundane task of making enough money to buy his wife a house. We hustled during the day and held each other in that small bed at night. I remember being harassed by an investor I was trying to win over; I didn't dare tell Aidan, so I just walked the streets alone, crying. Another time, when a rival company came after us, I stood in front of Aidan without a second thought, taking the blow that sent me to the operating room.

I don’t know how many times I went through things like that before Aidan slowly, painstakingly, fell in love with me.

And compared to my decade-long effort, Sophie had done it in just three short weeks. She’d brought his Darkness Value down to negative one hundred and pushed his Affection Meter all the way to one hundred percent.

5

Sophie was still chattering on about the sweet little moments she shared with Aidan. She said it was love at first sight for him.

I swallowed the lump in my throat and took a sip of my milkshake.

"Has he… ever mentioned his ex-wife to you?"

Sophie thought for a moment, then a triumphant smile spread across her face. "Never. I think he's completely over her."

I nodded.

It was better this way. I didn't actually want to ruin their relationship. When Aidan showed up, I’d just act like I was full of regret, pathetically throwing myself at him. Given his personality, he'd probably be disgusted and push me away.

Once he rejected me, I'd take my fifty thousand dollars and happily exit this world.

As I was plotting, Sophie's phone rang. Her face lit up. "My boyfriend's meeting is over! He's coming to pick me up. We have a date tonight, so let's deal with the apartment tomorrow, okay?"

I froze for a second, then forced a smile and a nod. "Okay, I'll just be going then…"

"Where do you live?" Sophie asked, grabbing my arm affectionately. "I'll have my boyfriend give you a ride."

The smile on my face froze solid.

Sophie was just too insistent. Before I knew it, the car door had clicked shut, and I was inside.

The cool, clean scent of pine wood hung in the air. I could hear Sophie's sweet, playful voice as she showed Aidan her new manicure.

Aidan was sitting right in front of me. From my angle, I could see his hands on the steering wheel, his knuckles sharp and defined. He kept his eyes on the road, but he responded to her every word.

I glanced at the rearview mirror, at the handsome lines of his face, and felt a wave of disorientation.

Aidan had never been this patient with me.

When we were together, he was always so insecure, so full of dread. He knew about my mission and was terrified I would leave at any moment. He'd wake up in the middle of the night, startled, his hand frantically searching for me on the other side of the bed. I would have to soothe him, again and again, exhausted.

"I won't leave you alone. I love you, and it has nothing to do with the mission."

I kept telling him that lie, right up until the moment I left.

He had cried then, clutching my hand, begging me not to go. Begging me to stay just a little longer, just a few more years.

I had sighed and refused every plea.

His face had gone pale, his eyes swirling with a storm of pain and madness. "Why? Don't you love me? How can you just leave me like this? You said you'd never leave me alone!"

I gave him a bitter smile. "I have someone I love in the real world."

…

Aidan’s eyes flickered up, catching my gaze in the mirror. He frowned.

The car lurched forward with a sudden, violent screech of brakes.

Caught off guard, my forehead slammed against the window with a dull thud, leaving a blooming bruise.

"Sorry," Aidan's voice was raspy. He turned his head slightly. "We're here."

It took me a moment to register. "Oh," I said, managing a "thank you." When I'd gotten in the car, Sophie had asked for my address, and I'd just blurted out the name of a random apartment complex.

I arranged to meet Sophie next time and got out of the car.

Aidan kept his eyes down, never once looking back at me. He didn't linger for a moment; the car's taillights vanished around the corner almost instantly.

At the busy entrance to the complex, I wrapped my arms around myself and slowly sank to the ground.

I don't know how much time passed.

Then, the familiar luxury car pulled up again, silent and imposing, right in front of me.

The window rolled down, revealing the sharp, defined profile of his face. Aidan stared at me, his expression unreadable. "Get in."

6

I'd expected Aidan to find a way to see me alone.

I just hadn't expected it to be so soon.

Too soon for me to prepare myself to face him.

As we were locked in a stalemate, Aidan lifted a hand and lit a cigarette.

I frowned instinctively. I hated it when he smoked. In the past, I would have snatched it from him without a word and stamped it out. And the Aidan back then was always so obedient. When I told him to quit, he never touched another one.

He would never have been like this.

He would never have sat there, shrouded in a pale haze of smoke, studying me so brazenly.

I bit back my words, about to speak.

The comments flooded my vision again:

"What's she hesitating for? Does she actually think he wants something from her?"

"He's known she was back for a while. He just didn't say anything in the car because he didn't want Sophie to get the wrong idea."

"The only reason he's seeing her alone is to warn her not to run her mouth in front of Sophie. He couldn't care less about her."

I stood rooted to the spot, the silence heavy around me. It was like a bucket of ice water had been poured over my head. The impulsive flicker of emotion I’d felt a moment ago was extinguished completely.

I had no right to tell him what to do anymore.

The hand resting on the car window, pale and elegant, dropped lazily. Aidan expressionlessly averted his gaze. As if remembering something, he crushed the cigarette with a flicker of derision.

"You want to buy the apartment, don't you? Get in. I'll take you to see it."

7

The ride was silent.

Aidan showed no intention of speaking. But my mind was a chaotic mess of scrolling text.

"Well, at least she knows her place. She took the back seat, knowing the passenger seat is for the girlfriend."

"He's supposed to be warning her, so why is he taking her to their old place?"

"Don't worry, guys. He doesn't know her real plan yet. Once she shows her true colors, he'll be even more disgusted with her."

…

When we arrived at the door, I couldn't help but speak. "Don't you have anything… to ask me?"

Aidan's hand, holding the key, paused. He glanced down at me, a brow raised, silently waiting for me to continue.

I mustered my courage. "Like why I came back. How long I'm staying. Or… why I want to buy this apartment."

"Not interested." Aidan looked away, his tone flat. "I don't care who buys it. I'm erasing everything that has to do with you. As for why you're back…" He stuffed his hands in his pockets and let out what sounded like a humorless chuckle. "You're not planning to try and win me over again, are you?"

I was silent for a beat. "What if I am?"