How to Train Your Ex-Billionaire novel Chapter 163

Her words pierced Yvan's heart, causing him unbearable pain.

“Winifred, don’t be this cruel. It was all my fault. Please, just hit me. Let it all out.” He grabbed her hand and tried to make her slap his face. “Hit me. I don’t care how many times you hit me, as long as it makes you feel better.”

“Yvan, stop it.” Winifred pulled her hand away, her expression blank. “Just let me go. Can’t we just be strangers?”

“No! Winifred, you’ve left a deep scar on my heart. How can I forget you? How can I treat you like a stranger?” Yvan gripped her shoulders tightly. “For the past seven years, I didn’t know about your pain, so maybe I could ignore it. But now that I know, how can I just turn around and walk away as if nothing happened, leaving you alone to lick your wounds? Winifred, please let me spend the rest of my life making it up to you, taking care of you, okay?”

“If this is about guilt, you don’t have to.” Winifred slowly but firmly pushed him away, a bitter taste in her mouth. “I’ve actually been doing fine these past seven years. Before I met you again, I even felt a sense of peace.”

But then he had appeared and shattered her tranquility.

Yvan rushed to explain, “No, it’s not just guilt. Winifred, I love you. I still love you.”

“Still love me?”

This time, Winifred didn’t react with the same emotional outburst as before. Instead, she just looked at him and said, “Yvan, seven years ago, you didn't really love me that much, did you? Or rather, I loved you far more than you loved me.”

“That’s not true…” Yvan instinctively clenched his fists.

As Winifred recounted these memories, a fresh wave of sadness washed over her. “Yvan, in our relationship, I was the one in the inferior position while you were high and mighty. You thought I should fawn over you because you were so much better than me, because you had so many options and you chose me. Meanwhile, I had no better options than you. So I was supposed to be eternally grateful, to revolve around you, to obey your every whim. Love isn't charity, Yvan. Can you still say you truly loved me seven years ago?”

Yvan listened to Winifred’s litany of accusations, wanting to say something, but not a single word of rebuttal came to mind.

It was all true. Irrefutably true.

“As for now,” Winifred’s lips curled into a sarcastic smile, “you say you still love me, but do you really? We haven't seen each other in seven years. You didn't love me then, so why would you love me now? Your so-called love is just about possessing me. As long as I don't agree, you pester me relentlessly. Before, you didn't know the reason, and that was one thing. But now you do, so why do you still refuse to let me go, just like before? You haven't considered my feelings at all. You have no idea what I truly need. When it comes down to it, it’s just your unwillingness to let go!”