I could still vaguely remember the day when I was four years old, and my parents came to the orphanage to take me home.

Yes, I’d been abandoned since birth.

It was my adoptive parents who gave me a second chance at life, who gave me a real home.

Back then, we were so poor. They went hungry so that I could eat well and have decent clothes to wear.

They told me they couldn’t have children of their own, and that since they had adopted me, I was their only daughter.

Later, they supported me through school, all the way to college.

During those years, Japanese cuisine had become quite the trend, and I remember craving it. So they bit the bullet and bought me sushi and ramen while they ate nothing but plain bread for days.

I remembered it all – I remembered every bit.

I promised myself that I’d study hard, and one day, I’d take care of them and give them a good life.

But things didn’t go as planned.

I hadn’t even gotten the chance… and they were gone.

Those bittersweet yet happy days, they’re gone forever. And now, I have no family left.

In the cold, sterile mortuary, I collapsed over their lifeless bodies, unable to cry anymore.

It was my fault they died.

If I hadn’t insisted on being with Noah… If I hadn’t stubbornly fought against Alice… Maybe…

The doctors told me that by the time the medicine arrived, it was already too late.

If it had come just thirty minutes earlier, they might have been saved.

But there’s no “what if” in this world.

“Dad, Mom… I’m so sorry… I failed you…”

I muttered under my breath, feeling as though a part of my soul had left me. My life felt completely directionless.

I couldn’t forgive Noah, but even more so, I couldn’t forgive myself.

I was sick with fever for three straight days, during which I drifted in and out of delirium.

At one point, I even thought I saw Noah in a dream, but it was only for a brief moment.

Three days later, I held a small, simple funeral for my adoptive parents.

I brought their ashes back to the home I shared with Noah, planning to bury them in a cemetery after our inevitable breakup.

After I had chosen the burial plot and returned home, I was shocked to find Alice sitting alone on my couch.

And the two urns I had left on the table were nowhere to be seen.

“What are you doing here?”

Alice let out a cold laugh and slowly stood up.

“This is Noah’s house. Why shouldn’t I be here?”

“This is my home. Our marital home. Get out!”

I practically screamed at her, my voice raw with anger.

Alice stepped closer and leaned down to whisper into my ear, her words dripping with venom: “I’ll leave, but first, I should tell you something.”

“I threw out those cheap urns. Leaving them in Noah’s house was just bad luck. And by the way, your precious fiancé has been staying by my dog’s side at the animal hospital for the last three days. Oh, aren’t you lucky, getting to marry such a kind, patient man like my dear Noah. You’re so fortunate.”

A surge of rage shot through me like fire.

I grabbed Alice by her collar and threw her to the ground.

Then, I sat on top of her and slapped her across the face, over and over, at least ten times.

But even then, it wasn’t enough.

If the law allowed it, I would’ve killed her right then and there.

Just then, the sound of the door unlocking echoed through the room.

Noah had come home.

As soon as he walked in, Alice scrambled up from the floor, clutching her reddened face as she whimpered and whined:

“Noah, she hit me! She pinned me down and attacked me!

“Noah, how could you marry such a violent woman? Look at my face, it’s ruined… I’m going to the police! I want an injury report, I’m going to send her to jail!”

At that moment, I couldn’t think clearly anymore.

My mind went blank, consumed by the thought of getting revenge for my parents.

I lunged toward her again, but Noah kicked me to the floor before I could get close.

“You’ve lost it, Josie. You’ve never been able to get along with Alice, and I’ve let that slide. But now, you’re acting like a crazy woman, fighting and hitting people. I can’t just ignore that.

“I’m taking Alice to the hospital right now. If she’s fine, then we’ll let it go. But if you really hurt her, I will call the police. You need to learn that actions have consequences.”

Noah’s kick left my head ringing.

I lay on the cold floor, my entire body throbbing in pain.

Noah said something more, but I couldn’t make out a single word.

I watched as he wrapped his arm around Alice’s shoulders and walked out the door.

I sat there, shivering on the icy ground, utterly alone.

Every time he told me to get along with Alice, I used to scoff and expose all of her fake, manipulative acts.

I knew Alice liked him. And I knew Noah was aware of it too.

He just didn’t care.

Alice was his childhood friend, and I was his fiancée. So, I had to accept everything for his sake.

I did accept it. I really did.

In the three years I loved Noah, I turned a blind eye to all the jabs and insults from Alice.

He’d always tell me she was like a little sister to him, a spoiled princess who had grown up with him, and that as her older sister-in-law, I should be more patient.

I tried. I tried so hard.

When she pushed me down in the snow and dragged me across the frozen ground, I let it go.

When she deleted and burned my thesis, I held back my anger.

When she humiliated me in front of others, calling me a gold-digger for seducing Noah, I bit my tongue.

But with my parents’ lives on the line, I couldn’t hold it in anymore.

Thinking back to everything that had happened, all I could feel was how foolish and weak I had been.

All the times I gave in didn’t earn me Alice’s kindness – it only made her worse.

It didn’t make Noah care for me more either; he treated me like I was disposable.

And the most absurd part of it all? I lost the people I loved most because of this so-called love.

I had always wondered why, if Noah didn’t love me, he bothered to stay with me or propose to me in the first place.

All those years, all my time, my youth, wasted on him like water slipping through my fingers.

I can still remember the day he confessed his feelings to me.

I was shy and quiet by nature, never good with words.

Noah had so many admirers; I never even hoped that he’d notice me.

I never imagined that he would ask to be my boyfriend.

Surrounded by cheering classmates, my face turned bright red.

I couldn’t even look him in the eye, and with a voice as soft as a whisper, I muttered, “Okay.”

Noah was overjoyed, lifting me into the air and spinning me around.

Back then, I thought that was happiness – that was love.

But three years later, after experiencing the coldness of reality, I realized that those sweet moments weren’t love at all.

Love should be about understanding each other, supporting one another. Not suspicion and indifference.

There were so many nights when he wasn’t with me.

When I was sick, but Alice had cramps, Noah didn’t hesitate to leave me and rush to her house with ginger tea and painkillers.

On our anniversary, when Alice needed help with her thesis, Noah told me that every day with me was like an anniversary, and then headed off to help her with her paper.

When I was upset and needed him by my side, Alice caught a cold, so he ran to buy her medicine without a second thought.

Each time, I told myself, maybe things would get better eventually.

But now, I finally understand, Noah, there’s no more future for us.

Memories spun around in my mind, and before I realized it, tears were streaming down my face.

I snapped out of it and grabbed my phone, typing out a message to Noah.

[Let’s cancel the engagement. I don’t love you anymore.]