My resignation letter caused more commotion than I expected.

The head nurse stared at it twice before looking up at me.

“You’re resigning?”

“Yes.”

“Why? You’ve just been shortlisted for the attending physician assessment. If you leave now, the last five years—”

“I know.”

I smiled and pushed the letter toward her.

“I’ve thought it through.”

She wanted to persuade me further, but a familiar voice suddenly came from behind.

“What are you doing here so early?”

I turned around.

Tan Mac Xuyen stood at the doorway in his white coat.

He looked exactly the same as always—calm, handsome, immaculate.

As though he had not disappeared yesterday.

As though there were no engagement guest list sitting inside his office.

His eyes fell on the paper.

“What’s that?”

Before I could answer, the head nurse quickly covered the document.

“Nothing. Just some paperwork.”

Mac Xuyen frowned, but his phone rang.

The moment he saw the caller, his expression softened almost imperceptibly.

He stepped into the corridor.

“Yes, Nhuoc Lam?”

My fingers went cold.

Five years together, and I knew every change in his voice.

He was using the same gentle tone he once reserved for me.

A few minutes later, he returned.

“I have something to do tonight. Don’t wait for me.”

In the past, I would have asked where he was going.

Now I merely nodded.

“All right.”

Perhaps my indifference surprised him.

He studied my face.

“Are you angry?”

“No.”

“Then why are you acting strange?”

I almost laughed.

He could secretly prepare an engagement to another woman, yet my silence was what he found strange.

“I’m tired.”

Mac Xuyen reached out to touch my forehead.

I stepped back before his fingers reached me.

His hand froze in midair.

For the first time, something uneasy appeared in his eyes.

But before he could speak, several doctors rushed over.

“Director Tan, Miss Hua is waiting downstairs.”

Mac Xuyen glanced at me.

“I’ll explain tonight.”

He left.

Of course, he never came home that night.

Over the next three days, I quietly dismantled the life we had built together.

I transferred my patients.

Finished my reports.

Packed my clothes.

Cancelled the apartment lease.

Everything belonging to Mac Xuyen remained exactly where it was.

His shirts.

His books.

The watch I had bought him for his birthday.

I took nothing that reminded me of him.

On the fourth morning, my mother called.

“The car will arrive in Nam Thanh on Friday.”

“Okay.”

“Your father wanted to come personally.”

“Tell him not to.”

Mother laughed softly.

“He hasn’t seen his daughter properly in five years. Do you think anyone can stop him?”

For the first time in days, I smiled.

Then she asked:

“Have you broken up with that man?”

I looked toward the empty half of our bed.

“Not yet.”

“Why?”

“Because I want to give him one last opportunity to tell me himself.”

But that opportunity never came.

Instead, on Friday morning, every department at Minh Duc Hospital received an invitation.

The Qin family and the Hua family were holding an engagement reception that evening in the hospital’s newly completed academic hall.

The groom was Tan Mac Xuyen.

The bride was Hua Nhuoc Lam.

I stared at the invitation for only a moment before putting it down.

So this was his answer.

By five o’clock, the hall was packed.

Senior specialists, hospital executives and prominent families from Nam Thanh had all arrived.

Everyone knew the marriage would connect two powerful medical families.

When I entered, conversations around me immediately became quieter.

Someone whispered:

“Why did she come?”

Another person laughed.

“Maybe she still doesn’t know.”

“I heard Director Tan was only dating her for fun.”

“She really thought she could marry into the Tan family?”

I continued walking.

At the center of the hall, Mac Xuyen stood beside Hua Nhuoc Lam.

She wore an elegant white dress.

He wore a dark suit I recognized immediately.

I had chosen it for him.

His face changed when he saw me.

He walked toward me quickly.

“Why are you here?”

I looked at him.

“Shouldn’t I be?”

His jaw tightened.

“Come outside. We’ll talk.”

“No.”

“Don’t make a scene.”

Those four words finally extinguished whatever remained inside me.

I smiled.

“Tan Mac Xuyen, when have I ever made a scene?”

He fell silent.

I continued:

“I didn’t make a scene when you disappeared ninety-nine nights.”

His expression stiffened.

“I didn’t make a scene when I found your engagement guest list.”

His face turned pale.

“And I’m not making one now.”

Nhuoc Lam approached us.

“Mac Xuyen?”

Then she looked at me with carefully disguised pity.

“Miss Ta, today is an important occasion. Whatever happened between you and Mac Xuyen, perhaps you should discuss it privately.”

Before I could answer, an older woman stepped forward.

Mac Xuyen’s mother.

She looked me up and down.

“So you’re the girl.”

Her tone contained no warmth.

“I’ve heard about you.”

Mac Xuyen lowered his voice.

“Mother.”

But she continued.

“A young woman should know when to preserve her dignity. Mac Xuyen has responsibilities to his family. Marriage isn’t merely about feelings.”

I nodded.

“I agree.”

She seemed surprised.

I removed the apartment key from my bag and placed it in Mac Xuyen’s hand.

“We’re finished.”

His fingers closed around the key automatically.

“What?”

“I resigned four days ago. I’m leaving Nam Thanh tonight.”

His composure finally cracked.

“You resigned?”

“Yes.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

I stared at him.

“You were busy preparing your engagement.”

His lips moved, but no words came.

Then the doors of the academic hall opened.

A line of men in dark suits entered.

The noisy room gradually fell silent.

At their center walked my father.

Ta Minh Duong.

Chairman of the Ta Group.

Behind him were several executives whose names appeared regularly in financial newspapers.

The director of Minh Duc Hospital hurried forward.

“Chairman Ta? We had no idea you were coming personally!”

My father barely acknowledged him.

His eyes searched the hall.

Then he saw me.

His stern expression softened instantly.

“Thien Kim.”

Every head turned toward me.

The hospital director froze.

Mac Xuyen’s mother stared at my father, then at me.

“Chairman Ta… you know her?”

Father walked directly to my side.

“Know her?”

He took off his coat and placed it over my shoulders as naturally as he had when I was a child.

“She is my daughter.”

Silence.

Absolute silence.

Someone dropped a wineglass.

My father looked around the hall.

“My only daughter.”

The director’s face changed completely.

“You mean… the successor of the Ta family?”

Father smiled.

“Who else could it be?”

I opened my handbag.

Inside lay the seal my father had sent me—the symbol I had refused for five years.

I took it out.

Several guests recognized it immediately.

Gasps spread across the room.

I had entered Minh Duc Hospital five years ago as an ordinary young doctor with no connections, no wealth and no background anyone considered worth mentioning.

Tonight, I stood before them under my real name.

“Allow me to introduce myself again.”

I looked first at the hospital executives.

Then at the Qin family.

Finally, at Tan Mac Xuyen.

“My name is Ta Thien Kim.”

“The sole heir of the Ta family of Beijing.”

Mac Xuyen stared at me as if he had never seen me before.

His face had lost all color.

“You…”

His voice was hoarse.

“You never told me.”

I looked into the eyes of the man I had loved for five years.

“I tried.”

He went completely still.

And perhaps, at last, he remembered the day he disappeared when I had asked him to come home early because I had something important to tell him.

I gently took my father’s arm.

“But it doesn’t matter anymore.”

Mac Xuyen suddenly stepped toward me.

“Thien Kim, wait.”

I stopped.

For one foolish second, the old me wanted to turn around.

The woman who had waited ninety-nine nights still existed somewhere inside me.

But she was no longer the woman making the decision.

Behind me, Mac Xuyen called my name again.

This time, I did not turn around.

Because that night, the person leaving Minh Duc Hospital was no longer the insignificant woman the Qin family believed could never enter their home.

It was the woman they would soon discover they could no longer afford to offend.