A week before our marking ceremony, I told Ethan Stormwind I wanted to break up at his friend's party.

Everyone laughed.

They all knew that for the past six years, my life's goal had been to become his marked Luna.

With only a week left until the ceremony, how could I possibly want to break up?

Even Ethan thought I was being unreasonable.

"Just because I need to take Selene to the healer for her follow-up on our ceremony day, you're throwing a tantrum about breaking up?"

"We're both adults. Can you act more mature? You could just reschedule the ceremony. Why do you insist on that specific day? I don't have time for your jealous games."

I nodded silently.

Yes, something needed to be changed.

But it wasn't the ceremony date.

It was him.

I was going to accept someone else's mark instead.

A week before our marking ceremony, my Alpha mate-to-be told me to reschedule the ceremony because he was going to take my half-sister to the healer for her follow-up on our ceremony day.

After I mentioned breaking up, the air in the private room froze for a few seconds before erupting into deafening laughter.

"No way, is she that desperate? Pressuring Ethan into the marking ceremony?"

Selene's eyes flashed with triumph, though she sighed with apparent concern.

"Ethan, don't blame her. After all, she's turning twenty-five soon, too old to be a Luna. She must be anxious."

"It's just that I need to go to the healer on Saturday for my leg examination. The appointment was so hard to get. If she's really that desperate, then... then let's prioritize her. I can reschedule my checkup."

As she spoke, her eyes reddened.

A man in a loud patterned shirt immediately chimed in with a laugh.

"Exactly, Ethan. Everyone knows she's crazy about you, that she won't accept anyone else's mark, that she's been waiting all these years. Of course she has to seize the chance to pressure you. She's scared you'll slip away."

Ethan's brows furrowed. Finally, he looked up at me.

The dim lights in the room fell across his sharply defined features. This face that once made my heart race now showed clear disapproval and reproach.

"You know Selene needs this follow-up. Do you know why her leg is like this? You just have to pick this exact day to compete with her for attention?"

My heart felt like it was being squeezed by an invisible hand, a sour ache spreading silently through my chest.

I knew.

Last week, he'd nearly been attacked by the rogue wolves at the pack border. Selene pushed him out of the way and fractured her leg in the process.

I clenched my fingers, my voice barely audible.

"Do you even remember what Saturday really is?"

Ethan clearly froze.

He was silent for a moment. When he spoke again, his tone had softened, though it still carried that unmistakable insistence.

"I know it's your birthday. I also know you want to fulfill your mother's dying wish, to give her peace."

He sighed, as if patiently tolerating my childishness.

"But Aria, people need to be flexible. Why does it have to be your birthday? A day earlier or later wouldn't make any real difference."

I opened my mouth, but all the words lodged in my throat.

What could I say?

Should I tell him I'd communicated with the Alpha Council six months in advance for the ceremony that day.

Or should I remind him that seven years ago, beside my mother's deathbed, he'd held my hand tightly with red-rimmed eyes and made a promise?

"Don't worry, ma'am. I swear I'll mark Aria as my mate before her twenty-fifth birthday!"

Those vows he'd probably long forgotten, I'd clung to like a lifeline, never daring to let go.

In the end, all my struggles and explanations crashed against my heart like silent waves before retreating helplessly.

I simply answered softly.

"Okay."

Hearing my response, Ethan's furrowed brow finally smoothed, relief flickering across his face.

"I knew it. My Aria is always so understanding."

His voice grew gentle.

"Be good, don't make a fuss. Once Selene gets through her checkup safely, I'll take you for the marking ceremony right after. How does that sound?"

I made up some excuse and left that suffocating room.

The laughter and conversations behind me were cut off the moment the door closed, leaving only the cold, hollow echo of the hallway.

Outside the club, the midnight wind hit my face with a chill.

I stood silently by the roadside waiting for my car, my thoughts drifting back to ten years ago.

When I was fifteen, my mother accidentally discovered that my father had another family on the side, complete with an illegitimate daughter my age.

The news destroyed my mother instantly. Her wolf couldn't bear the betrayal of its mate and disappeared. She collapsed and fell ill.

Before I could even process the sudden implosion of my family, a woman named Rebecca brought Selene into our home, brazenly tearing apart every bit of stability I'd once had.

I met Ethan Stormwind during that darkest, most desperate period of my life.

He was the notorious troublemaker at school, rebellious and fearless.

Yet this same person was willing to awkwardly hand me tissues when I hid in corners crying.

He'd step forward without hesitation when rumors attacked me, driving everyone away with the fiercest attitude.

He'd tell me in that unique tone of his, impatient yet firm.

"Aria Greenwood, why are you crying? Are you that weak? Lift your head up!"

What surprised me was that he actually stayed with me, helping me climb out of life's swamp step by step.

What gave me even more security was that when faced with Selene, who'd already learned to play innocent and pitiful, winning over almost everyone in our class, Ethan couldn't even be bothered to glance at her.

Selene would deliberately drop her books when he passed by, or gaze at him with those doe eyes as if she wanted to say something, only to be met with Ethan's undisguised disgust and a blunt "get lost."

That was one of the few things I could win against Selene during those gray years.

His favoritism was my only armor.

We naturally became a couple.

Not long after, Selene seemed to disappear from our world entirely.

When my mother's condition worsened and she was on her deathbed, she held both mine and Ethan's hands, her eyes full of worry and reluctance.

"I'm entrusting Aria to you, Ethan. I hope you can complete the marking ceremony before she turns twenty-five, so she'll have someone to rely on."

Ethan's eyes were red then. He gripped my hand tightly and made the most sincere promise to my mother.

"Don't worry, ma'am. I swear I'll mark Aria as my mate with a proper ceremony before her twenty-fifth birthday."

After my mother passed, I clung to that promise like it was my only lifeline.

I thought life was finally taking pity on me, that things would gradually improve.

Until six months ago.

Selene reappeared.

Ethan and I were inspecting one of his pack territory projects. As we passed the break room, Selene rushed out carrying a cup of tea and crashed right into Ethan, spilling it all over him.

She was wearing an old, faded outfit, looking haggard, apologizing repeatedly. When she looked up and saw Ethan, her eyes immediately welled with tears.

Her lips trembled as if she wanted to say something, but in the end, she only whispered softly.

"Ethan, long time no see."

Ethan froze for a moment, then furrowed his brows, his tone carrying his usual disgust.

"Why is it you? Can't you watch where you're going?"

When we got back, he even held me, complaining about his bad luck.

I don't know when they started getting entangled again.

By the time I noticed something was wrong, Selene had already become his secretary, using the excuse of "my family went bankrupt, life is hard, I just need a chance."

I made scenes. I complained. I screamed hysterically, forcing Ethan to fire her.

The way he looked at me gradually changed from explanation to reproach.

"Aria, being an illegitimate daughter wasn't Selene's choice. Be reasonable. Don't keep taking out your parents' grudges on her. She's pitiful now. She just needs a job."

Every argument carved a deep crack between him and me.

I watched helplessly as he drifted further and further away, powerless to stop it.

Meanwhile, he and Selene, working under the same roof, had countless hours and spaces I couldn't reach.

The image of that young man making his earnest vow in the hospital room years ago surfaced before my eyes again, so vivid it felt like yesterday.

Now, there were five days left until my twenty-fifth birthday.

The cold wind blew past, bringing a sharp, sobering pain.

My car arrived.

I opened the door and got in.

No one truly can't live without someone else.

Ethan Stormwind, I don't want to wait for you anymore.

Late at night, Ethan rushed in carrying the cool night air with him.

When he saw me sitting on the living room couch, he visibly relaxed.

He changed his shoes and walked over, holding out a paper bag with an upbeat tone, looking like he wanted praise.

"Here, weren't you begging for this shop's chestnut cake a few days ago? I drove all the way out to get it. Still warm."

That shop was in the old district, at least forty kilometers round trip from our current apartment.

As he spoke, like he'd done countless times before, he tried to pull me into his embrace.

I stood up, using the motion of placing the chestnut cake on the coffee table to bend down and dodge his descending arm and intimacy.

My throat tightened. I forced out a smile.

"Let's save it for later. I don't have much appetite right now."

Ethan's arm paused in mid-air, then withdrew as if nothing had happened.

He looked me over, his expression unchanged, treating it like I was just throwing a tantrum. Without much concern, he turned toward the bathroom.

"Fine, eat it when you're hungry. I'm going to take a shower."

The water started running.

Just then, his phone screen lit up on the couch where he'd casually tossed it.

Like I was possessed, I picked up his phone.

No password. I'd always known that, but I'd never thought to check before.

The screen lit up, jumping straight to a message thread with Selene.

A photo filled the view.

An extremely exquisite and elaborate cream cake.

The logo on the cake box was from the same shop as the chestnut cake he'd just brought me.

Below it was a line of text.

"The cake is so delicious! Thank you for the recommendation, Ethan~ Being able to eat such amazing dessert before my checkup makes my leg hurt less [cute emoji]"

So that was it.

My supposedly special treat that required a forty-kilometer round trip was just table scraps he'd tossed my way while carefully selecting a cake for someone else.

My heart felt like it had been dunked in a glass of iced lemon water, sour and bitter, clenching painfully.

Ethan emerged from the shower, his hair still dripping, wearing only a towel around his waist.

He approached with humid warmth, trying to embrace me again.

I pushed him away like I'd been electrocuted, scrambling for the clumsiest excuse.

"Don't... I'm on my period. Not feeling well."

The warmth on Ethan's face quickly drained away, replaced by extreme impatience and coldness.

He roughly grabbed his wet hair, his eyes rolling with suppressed rage and irritation.

"Aria Greenwood."

He called me by my full name, his voice cold and hard.

"Do you have to be this relentless and aggressive?"

He raised his voice, as if accusing me of being unreasonable.

"I don't understand. Why do you insist on scheduling our ceremony right when Selene has her checkup? What difference does a day earlier or later make? Did I say I wouldn't complete the marking ceremony with you? Are you really so desperate that you have to throw tantrums over this?"

Each word was like a dull blade, stabbing viciously into my heart.

He remembered everything.

He remembered the promise he'd made at my mother's bedside, remembered that agreement about my twenty-fifth birthday.

But he didn't care.

Just like he didn't care that Selene was my half-sister, didn't care that that woman and her mother's appearance had indirectly driven my mother to her death. He only thought I was being unreasonable, that I was misdirecting my anger.

My heart ached to numbness. I lost all strength to argue, just stood there silently with lowered eyes.

My silence seemed to enrage him further.

He stared at me, his chest heaving violently several times, before finally letting out a cold laugh.

"Fine, you're really something now!"

He spun around, grabbed his jacket and car keys from the couch, and slammed the door as he left.

"BANG—"

The massive sound echoed through the apartment, making my eardrums ring.

I silently watched that door still trembling slightly, watching his resolute departing figure, and suddenly thought of that passionate, spirited young man from before.

When we were at our poorest, we shared a tiny basement apartment together.

He spent his days seeking investors to help build his pack territory, and his nights working odd jobs as a guard for other packs.

On my birthday, he worked three all-nighters to earn four hundred dollars, just to buy me a cake.

Back then, Ethan really, truly loved me.

Every glance, every word was filled with love for me.

I'd seen what it looked like when he loved me.

So his hesitation and wavering now, I could spot it immediately.

Not long after he left, my phone buzzed.

A text from an unknown number appeared on the screen, but I recognized that tone instantly.

The photo showed a dimly lit corner of a bar.

Ethan was drinking with his head tilted back, his profile sharp and cold. In one corner of the photo, you could vaguely see a slender hand with nude-colored nail polish resting on his jacket.

"Aria, Ethan seems really unhappy. Looks like you made him angry again. Don't worry, I'll comfort him properly. Want to guess if he'll come back to you this time?"

"Everything you have—Dad, the family home, and Ethan—will all eventually be mine. You'll never beat me."

My fingers trembled, barely able to hold the phone. It took enormous effort to type out a reply, word by word.

"Is that so? Too bad the trash I don't want is only treasured by someone like you, so thrilled to pick up my garbage."