Seven years later, I saw Gabriel Ward again.

Not because he found me.

Because I walked into the National Defense Medical Center carrying a contract worth thirty million yuan, and he happened to be standing in the lobby.

I was no longer Amelia Bennett, the woman who waited beside a military phone hoping her boyfriend would remember to call.

I was the regional director of a medical technology company.

Thirty-five years old.

My hair was shorter.

My clothes were different.

Even my surname on the conference badge had changed back to Bennett.

Gabriel recognized me immediately.

The folder in his hand slipped.

—Amelia?

I stopped.

Seven years.

I had imagined this moment many times during the first year after leaving.

In those fantasies, I cried.

Or slapped him.

Or demanded my 730,000 yuan.

Reality was much quieter.

—General Ward.

His face had aged.

There were new lines beside his eyes, and his uniform carried more decorations than before.

But his expression was the same one he had worn whenever I proposed.

As if he wanted to say something but never knew how.

—Where have you been?

I almost smiled.

—Living.

He took one step closer.

—I’ve been looking for you for seven years.

—You shouldn’t have.

His eyes dropped to my left hand.

No ring.

Something like hope appeared on his face.

Then someone called from behind him:

—Gabriel.

I turned.

Tessa Miller walked toward us.

She was no longer the young soldier who had entered my home carrying a suitcase.

Now she wore an officer’s uniform.

She stopped when she saw me.

Her face went white.

—Miss Bennett.

—Colonel Miller.

Gabriel immediately said:

—Tessa and I divorced six years ago.

I looked at him.

—Congratulations.

His expression stiffened.

Apparently he had expected that information to matter more.

Tessa lowered her eyes.

—Amelia, I owe you an apology.

—You owe me 730,000 yuan.

Gabriel said:

—I’ll return it.

I looked at him.

—With seven years of interest?

—I can return ten times that amount.

—Then you still don’t understand.

I had needed that money when I left.

I had arrived in another city with one suitcase and barely enough savings to rent a room.

I had worked from the bottom again.

The money mattered then.

Now, the number wasn’t what hurt.

It was that Gabriel had taken something we built together and handed it to another woman without even asking me.

Tessa suddenly said:

—The money never stayed with my family.

I frowned.

She continued:

—My father returned most of it three months after you disappeared.

I looked at Gabriel.

He said nothing.

—Where did it go?

Tessa glanced at him.

—Ask him.

I laughed softly.

—Seven years later, and we’re still doing this?

Gabriel’s jaw tightened.

—Tessa.

—She deserves to know.

Tessa looked at me.

—He used it to search for you.

I froze.

—What?

—Private investigators. Lawyers. Travel. He checked hospitals, hotels, employment records. Every city where someone thought they’d seen you.

Gabriel interrupted:

—Enough.

But Tessa continued.

—He sold the apartment two years later.

I stared at him.

That apartment had been his favorite possession.

His father had left it to him.

—Why?

Tessa answered again.

—Because he thought you might have gone abroad.

Gabriel’s voice turned cold.

—Colonel Miller, leave.

She gave a bitter laugh.

—You’re still doing it.

He looked at her.

—Doing what?

—Deciding what Amelia should know.

That sentence hit harder than everything else.

Because that was exactly what he had done for eight years.

He had decided I could wait.

Decided I could sacrifice.

Decided our savings could rescue Tessa.

Decided I didn’t need explanations.

Even his regret had become another secret.

I looked at him.

—Did you ever understand why I left?

—Because I married Tessa.

—No.

His expression changed.

—Because you treated my consent as optional.

Silence.

I continued:

—You chose whether I could marry you. You chose how long I should wait. You chose where our money went. You even chose that I should cook for the woman whose name was legally beside yours.

His face lost color.

—I thought I was helping someone.

—And you were.

I nodded.

—But helping her didn’t require humiliating me.

For the first time, Gabriel had no defense.

Tessa quietly walked away.

I thought our conversation was finished.

Then Gabriel pulled something from his uniform pocket.

A watch.

Eight thousand yuan.

The same watch I had left on the table seven years earlier.

The leather strap was old now.

But unmistakable.

—I carried it every day.

I stared at it.

—Why?

His voice became hoarse.

—Because it was the last thing you left me.

—No, Gabriel.

I shook my head.

—I left you a note too.

His eyes reddened.

—I remember every word.

I walked away before old memories could become new mistakes.

That evening, my assistant informed me that Gabriel had withdrawn from the committee evaluating our contract.

—Conflict of interest, apparently.

That surprised me.

The old Gabriel would have stayed and insisted he could separate personal matters from duty.

Maybe seven years had changed something.

Three days later, Tessa came to my hotel.

This time she wore civilian clothes.

She placed a bank draft on the table.

730,000 yuan.

—This is mine, not Gabriel’s.

I didn’t touch it.

—Why?

—Because I was cruel to you.

She looked ashamed.

—Back then I was twenty-three. My family had controlled every decision I made. General Ward gave me an escape, and I convinced myself that meant anyone hurt by that escape was selfish.

She paused.

—I knew you loved him.

—You still came into our home.

—Yes.

No excuse.

That honesty surprised me.

Then she said:

—But there’s something Gabriel never told you.

I sighed.

—Apparently everyone has one of those.

Tessa didn’t smile.

—The marriage certificate wasn’t his idea.

I looked at her.

—Whose was it?

—Mine.

She explained that her family had threatened to remove her from military training and arrange a marriage immediately.

In panic, she had asked Gabriel for help.

He initially refused.

Then something changed.

—What?

Tessa hesitated.

—Your ninety-eighth proposal.

My heart tightened.

—What does that have to do with anything?

—He had already bought a ring.

I stared at her.

—No.

—He planned to propose to you himself.

She opened her phone and showed me an old photograph.

Gabriel standing inside a jewelry store.

In front of him was a simple diamond ring.

The date was three days before my ninety-ninth proposal.

For eight years, I had believed he simply never wanted marriage.

—Then why didn’t he?

Tessa’s answer was quiet.

—Because the same week, his commanding officer informed him that his promotion required an overseas deployment lasting several years.

I laughed bitterly.

—So naturally he married you instead.

—No.

Tessa shook her head.

—That’s not the whole story.

She reached into her bag and placed another document before me.

It was an old disciplinary investigation.

Gabriel’s name appeared on the first page.

My eyes narrowed.

—What is this?

—My family wasn’t simply forcing me into marriage.

Her hands tightened.

—The man they chose had connections inside the military procurement system. I had discovered financial irregularities involving him.

I looked up.

—You were a witness?

She nodded.

—Gabriel’s superiors believed a legal marriage to an officer would make it harder for my family to remove me from the base while the investigation continued.

Suddenly the speed of everything made more sense.

But it didn’t erase what Gabriel had done to me.

—He still could have told me.

—Yes.

Tessa surprised me by agreeing immediately.

—He should have.

Then she pushed the bank draft toward me.

—I spent years believing that because his intention was honorable, the way he treated you was justified.

She shook her head.

—It wasn’t.

I finally accepted the draft.

Not because I needed it.

Because it belonged to me.

The following afternoon, Gabriel was waiting outside the conference center.

He didn’t approach until I looked at him.

—Tessa talked to you.

—She did.

—Then you know.

—I know why you married her.

Hope appeared again.

I stopped it immediately.

—Understanding isn’t the same as forgiveness.

He nodded slowly.

—I know.

Then he did something completely unexpected.

He took the old watch from his pocket and placed it in my palm.

—I’m leaving tomorrow.

—Where?

—Northern command.

I closed my fingers around the watch.

—Why tell me?

—Because seven years ago, I would have disappeared and decided you didn’t need to know.

A faint smile touched his face.

—I’m trying not to be that man anymore.

He turned away.

—Gabriel.

He stopped.

There was one question I needed answered.

—Why did you reject me ninety-nine times?

His back remained toward me.

Finally, he said:

—The first few times, because we were young.

He turned.

—Later, because I kept thinking I needed to become worthy of you first.

His voice broke slightly.

—Then I became so used to you waiting that I forgot waiting could hurt.

That answer was painfully simple.

No conspiracy.

No heroic explanation.

Just selfishness disguised as uncertainty.

—And number ninety-nine?

He looked at me.

—I had the ring in my pocket.

For several seconds, neither of us moved.

Then Gabriel smiled sadly.

—You asked before I could.

He walked away.

I stood there holding the watch.

But I didn’t chase him.

Six months later, my company opened a new research center.

At the inauguration, my assistant handed me an envelope.

No sender.

Inside was a photograph of my old watch beside a small handwritten card.

“Congratulations, Director Bennett. Proposal number one hundred was the only one you ever needed to accept.”

I smiled.

Then my assistant said:

—There’s also someone downstairs asking to see you.

I assumed it was another investor.

Until I entered the lobby.

Gabriel wasn’t there.

Tessa was.

And beside her stood an elderly man I had never seen before.

The moment he saw me, his eyes filled with tears.

—Amelia Bennett?

—Yes.

His hands trembled as he removed an old military file from his bag.

—My name is Colonel Arthur Hale.

He looked at Tessa, then back at me.

—I was Gabriel Ward’s commanding officer eight years ago.

Something in his expression made my stomach tighten.

—I came because there’s one thing neither Gabriel nor Tessa knows.

He opened the file.

Inside was a marriage application.

Not Gabriel and Tessa’s.

Gabriel Ward.

Amelia Bennett.

The application date was two months before my ninety-ninth proposal.

At the bottom, it had been stamped:

REJECTED.

I looked up.

—Why was it rejected?

Colonel Hale’s face became grave.

—Because someone submitted a confidential objection to your marriage.

My fingers went cold.

—Who?

He turned the page.

I recognized the signature immediately.

And suddenly the ninety-nine rejections looked completely different.

Because the person who had spent years preventing Gabriel from marrying me…

was someone from my own family.