Chapter 1
The day Kael Ellison‘ s first love returned to the country, he brought her straight into our home without a second thought. Not a single word of consultation, not even a warning. When I confronted him, his reply was as cold as stone. “Kaia lost her sight unexpectedly. I gave her my word to support her. It’s my responsibility to take her in.” His unapologetic tone stung as though my feelings were an afterthought.
When I fell ill, he didn‘ t spare me a single day off work, yet he carved out two full months from his schedule to play the ever- doting caretaker for Kaia Jennings.
One afternoon, Kaia tripped over one of the delivery boxes by the doorway, hitting her forehead in the process.
His eyes burned with distress, yet his voice
was cold as ice when he scolded me.
“Take your pile of junk and leave!”
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I nodded without a word, my composure steady. “Alright,” I replied simply.
Without looking back, I made the call that changed everything. “Elder sister, I’ve decided to return home for the arranged marriage.”
On the other end of the line, my sister‘ s laughter rang with unrestrained joy. “So, you’ve finally decided to leave that little boyfriend of yours? I’ve been telling you for years, he was never right for you. Nothing good was ever going to come from it.”
Her next words hit like a dagger wrapped in silk, cutting deeper than I expected.
“Besides, all this time, has he ever once acknowledged you in public? Not even once.”
Her voice was light, but her words felt like quiet needles piercing through my chest. The truth she so easily spoke had always
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been there, painfully clear to everyone else. And yet, I had been the only one blind to it.
I drew a deep breath, forcing a smile that barely reached my eyes. “Sis, aren’t you heading to Riverdale City for your business trip in seven days? I‘ Il come back then. Arrange for me to meet him.”
The call ended, and before I could gather my thoughts, a quiet presence emerged behind me.
Kael stepped into view, his movements unhurried as he reached for a ceramic cup from the cabinet. He raised an eyebrow, his voice casual but probing. “Who are you meeting? What kind of person?”
The truth lingered on the tip of my tongue, my matchmaking prospect. But the words refused to leave.
I shook my head, keeping my face unreadable. “No one. Just a friend.”
My eyes drifted to the cup in his hand, a
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faint ache stirring in my chest.
“Why… did you suddenly think of using that?” I asked, my voice quiet but firm.
The cup he held wasn‘ t just any cup; it was part of a pair of Disney couple mugs I’d gifted him long ago for Valentine‘ s Day. Back then, he claimed to adore them, yet they’d been left untouched, hidden away in the cabinet.
I had once asked him why he never used those mugs.
He laughed softly, wrapping me in his arms from behind.
“You silly girl,” he teased. “We‘ re saving these for when we get married.”
At that moment, my heart felt wrapped in the sweetness of honey. I thought he was dreaming of a future with me, a future where we‘ d stand side by side as husband and wife.
But later, an accidental glance at Kaia‘ s
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social media shattered that illusion.
It was there I discovered the truth: the one who adored Disney ceramic cups was Kaia. The one Kael had envisioned sipping from those mugs with on their wedding day wasn‘ t me.
Now, as my gaze lingered on the cup in his hand, Kael spoke with casual indifference.
“Kaia doesn’t have a proper cup to drink from, so I gave her this one. She happens. to like it.”
His words struck like a gust of cold wind, snuffing out the faint embers of those long- forgotten promises. The future he had once painted so vividly had been discarded, left to fade like an old photograph.
I swallowed the bitterness, letting the ache settle in the pit of my stomach. A thought lingered in my mind like a quiet echo, ‘We don’t have a future together
anyway.‘
So I nodded, my voice steady. “Go ahead.
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Don’t keep her waiting.”
Kael blinked, caught off guard by my calm response. A flicker of surprise crossed his face before he stepped closer, ruffling my hair with an unfamiliar gentleness.
“Wait for me to come back,” he murmured softly.
That evening, as I sat in the study drafting my resignation letter, the door creaked open without warning.
Kael walked in alone, shedding his coat ast if discarding the day‘ s burdens. He closed the distance between us and wrapped me in his arms. “Skylar,” he said quietly.
I stiffened, instinctively shutting my laptop. and stepping back to create space between us. “Where‘ s Kaia?”
He sighed, weariness etched into his face.
“Kaia was hospitalized today. The doctors. want to keep her under observation.”
His expression was a portrait of
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exhaustion, a man utterly drained by
worry. It was clear where his heart lay; from the moment Kaia returned, she had been his priority. The call she made as soon as she landed had tethered him to her
side.
