Just then, my phone vibrated, pulling me out of my memories.

"Major Tomlinson, I'm calling to let you know that your biological parents' personal effects have been cleared, and all survivor benefits claims have been approved. When are you available to come in and finalize the paperwork?"

I pulled my cuff down, covering the scar on my wrist. "Ten days from now. My divorce will be finalized in exactly ten days."

The person on the other end of the line paused for a moment before responding, "It hasn't been easy for you and Commander Linwood all these years. For your information, you don't actually have to transfer out of your original unit just to inherit the estate and honors."

I stared out the window at the fleeting lights of the military barracks and answered calmly, "I don't love him anymore. All I want is to leave this place forever."

When I returned home and pushed the door open, the first thing that came into view was our wedding photo hanging on the wall. The man in the photograph was beaming, with the tip of his nose affectionately nuzzling against my temple. It had been taken when we loved each other most.

Nathan and I had both grown up in the military district orphanage. When I was 18 years old, the director tried to marry me off to a violent old sergeant whose wife had passed away.

Nathan was the one who took my hand and climbed over the wall to escape the compound with me. Behind us, the director yelled, "I'd see if you have what it takes to protect her for the rest of your life, Nathan!"

Nathan had glanced over his shoulder with an all-consuming light shining in his eyes. "In that case, I'll protect her for the rest of my life!"

Using the bereavement compensation his parents left behind, he rented the cheapest shack in the village and marched straight into the military recruitment office to enlist.

"Once I join the army and rack up enough achievements, I'll be able to get you registered as a military spouse. When that time comes, no one can marry you off!" Nathan vowed.

During his first three years as a new recruit, he risked his neck every day in the reconnaissance company. Before heading out on any dangerous mission, he would always slip my photo into his breast pocket, right against his chest.

Meanwhile, I worked a civilian desk job in the Personnel Office, pinching every penny of my meager salary. During our darkest days, the two of us couldn't even scrape together ten dollars, and we shared a single bowl of instant pasta to ring in the New Year.

Later, he made it into Special Forces, whereas I transferred to the Intelligence Unit. We moved from that cheap shack into bachelor quarters and eventually into the sprawling officer quarters.

The stars on his shoulders grew brighter, and the circle of "comrades" around him became a blur of different faces. Then came the day I found a smudge of lipstick, in a shade that wasn't mine, pressed against the inner collar of his combat fatigues.

"A young lady twisted her ankle, so I helped her to the backstage. She must have brushed against me by accident!" He yanked at his collar in frustration. "Can you stop being so damn paranoid all the time, Vivian?"

"Does that mean you'd never betray me? Nathan Linwood, we swore to a lifetime together. Cut it short by even one day, and it's no longer forever!"

We began to argue endlessly. I combed through his call logs, and on the nights he claimed he had extra training, I would even sneak out to the perimeter of the training grounds, lurking in the shadows.

As if out of pure spite, Nathan turned my suspicions into reality. He paraded one woman after another, and at his absolute worst, he had deliberately flaunted the scratch marks on his back just to push my buttons.

"Are you happy now?" he snickered. "Didn't you want to investigate? Now, you've found proof!"

I felt like a lunatic. I knew perfectly well that I should let go, yet I just couldn't bring myself to do it.

After more than a decade, Nathan and I were woven into the very fabric of each other's flesh. To tear ourselves apart would leave us a bloody, unrecognizable mess. Yet staying together was nothing but mutual torture.

However, a year ago, he suddenly changed his tune. Out of nowhere, he got rid of every woman around him, leaving only one young woman behind.

I hired an investigator, but the moment I laid eyes on Veronica's photo, I completely broke down. The young woman in the picture looked just like me at 18 years old—naive and wide-eyed.

It dawned on me that Nathan would rather love a ghost of my past than love the woman standing right in front of him. Consequently, I lay in the bathtub and slit my wrist that night.

When Nathan broke through the door, even his fingers were trembling. He carried me in his arms as he rushed into the general hospital in the military district, his eyes terrifyingly bloodshot.

"Have you lost your mind, Vivian? We can make this work, okay? I promise it's just you and me from here on out. I'll never see anyone else again!"

Lying in the hospital bed, I only felt exhausted—so exhausted that I couldn't even shed a tear. It was also on that very day that the Department of Defense found me and handed over a yellowed file.

"Major Tomlinson, the department has re-examined the list of casualties from the Battle of Riverdale. We've verified that two of the casualties on that list were, in fact, your biological parents."

With ice-cold fingertips, I held that file. After hanging up the call from the military commission, I found myself walking to the window as if possessed.

Nathan held Veronica tightly in his arms in the yard downstairs. "I'm so sorry, Veron. Vivian's emotionally unstable, and she has psychological trauma… I can't leave her at a time like this. But believe me—once her condition stabilizes, I'll definitely give you a satisfactory answer."

The two of them then kissed as if they couldn't bear to be parted, looking just like a pair of ill-fated lovers. At that exact moment, I felt the flesh and blood that held us together being ripped apart, leaving a gaping hole behind. It hurt so badly that I couldn't even make a sound.

On the seventh day I spent lying in the hospital bed, I suddenly figured everything out. I wanted to leave Nathan and cut all of these ties myself.

For seven days straight, he didn't return to the military district family compound. I didn't ask him about it. I simply submitted my divorce application and military transfer report according to procedure and began sorting through my personal belongings.

The first temporary military family housing unit we had been assigned back then had been vacant for years. So, I decided to return it to the Logistics Office.

When I arrived at the house with the logistics officer, I discovered the door was slightly ajar, and the giggles of a woman and the restrained panting of a man echoed from inside.

Peering through the crack in the door, I spotted Veronica's dance practice clothes scattered all over the floor. Nathan had her pinned against the wall, his camouflage pants pushed down to his knees as he thrust his hips violently.

The hand he clamped tightly around the side of her waist still wore our wedding ring on its ring finger.

I clenched my palm tightly, slowly let out a breath, and pulled the door shut. I then turned to the logistics officer and said, "I'm sorry. I don't think you'll be able to inspect it today. Let's do it another day."

The officer was a young female personnel, and she had heard the noises from inside as well. Looking at me with a complicated gaze, she asked, "Major Tomlinson… Would you like to report this to your superiors?"

I shook my head. "That won't be necessary. It's a personal matter. There's no reason to bother them about it."

Should I barge in there and claw at them like a madwoman? Or cry like a resentful wife about the years we had fought side by side together? There was no point. A man whose heart had already wandered was nothing but an empty shell, even if I won him back.

I hurried downstairs, only to be grabbed tightly by the wrist by Nathan, who had chased after me. His breathing was still uneven, his collar askew. "What are you doing here? Did you… hear anything earlier?"

I withdrew my hand and responded calmly, "I was passing by to submit the application to return the unit. The door wasn't open, so I left."

He visibly relaxed, assuming I was simply feeling sentimental from the surroundings. "I've been deployed on a field exercise all week, and I just got back today. Veron said she needed a place to train, so I just lent her my keys… Don't read too much into it."

I couldn't be bothered to expose his lousy excuse and turned around to leave. All of a sudden, a loud crash of shattering glass echoed from inside the house, followed immediately by flames leaping upward.

Nathan's expression changed drastically. He clamped his hand around my chin, a horrifying rage burning in his eyes. "Did you do this? I thought you'd really come around, Vivian. I didn't expect you to resort to these kinds of tactics!

"Let me make myself clear. I'm the one who approved Veron's temporary stay here. If anything happens to her, the military legal office will come for you first!"

He shoved me away, spun on his heel, and charged into the fire.

Initially, I was about to leave, but I suddenly remembered—the divorce report and the notarized documents for my parents' personal effects were still locked inside the old safe in that house. Hence, I grabbed a fire extinguisher from the hallway, smashed the window, and climbed inside against the heat.

Thick smoke billowed inside the house, and Nathan was rushing out with Veronica in his arms. When he spotted me, his gaze turned instantly cold. "What are you doing here?"

Ignoring him, I headed straight for the bedroom. The fire had already snaked up the curtains, and the safe was right next to the burning closet.

"Vivian Tomlinson, have you gone insane? Hurry up and get out!" Nathan bellowed from the doorway.

Yet, I threw myself in front of the safe and spun the combination lock. The moment the safe door sprang open, the burning chandelier above me crashed down.

Nathan instinctively shielded Veronica beneath his body and retreated. I, on the other hand, was knocked over by the blast. Shards of glass cut into my skin, and blood instantly soaked through my clothes.

Gritting my teeth, I yanked out the document envelope and protected it tightly against my chest.

Thick smoke choked my lungs, and my vision gradually blurred. Before my consciousness sank into darkness, the last things I heard were the footsteps of Nathan rushing out while carrying Veronica and the faint sound of sirens approaching from the distance.

…

When I came to, I was already lying in a ward at the military general hospital. Nathan was opening the document envelope I had risked my life to protect. Inside were sheets of paper.

"Our marriage certificates? You almost got yourself killed for these?" His voice tightened. "Vivian, your left leg is fractured, your lungs are shredded from the smoke, and we almost lost you on the table!"

I reached out and took the envelope back. We were both in the military. Without our marriage certificates, how was I supposed to submit a divorce report to the army's political department?

Nathan's forehead creased as he watched me clutch the document envelope. "The three of us would've made it out perfectly fine, but you just had to force this absurd ultimatum on me just to see who I'd pick first?

"Arson is a severe disciplinary infraction, Vivian! I saved Veron first because she was completely defenseless, while you've had survival training."

I stared at the ceiling and hummed in response.

"Viv." His tone softened as he attempted to explain himself. "Since I've already decided to focus on our family, I won't have any further involvement with Veronica.

"Veron… Her family's going through a hard time, so I'm merely providing some assistance through official channels, arranging a place for her to stay temporarily."

Veronica was having a hard time, so he helped her all the way to the bedroom. He talked a big game about focusing on our family, yet his body was completely enthralled by a younger, fresher piece of meat.

At long last, I lifted my gaze to look at him. My eyes were as still as a lake, utterly calm and without the slightest ripple. "I know. I understand."

He was driven mad by my calmness. He shot to his feet, only for his gaze to catch the large burn scars on my arm. "Vivian, was one scar not enough? Are you going to use even more injuries to tie me down?"

"This won't happen again. I won't do anything so foolish anymore."

He wanted to say something else, but his encrypted communicator rang. He hurried to the window to answer it.

I couldn't hear the contents clearly. I only faintly caught the sound of Veronica's emotional voice.

Nathan comforted her in a soft voice before turning to look at me. "There's an urgent matter with the exercise review. I have to go to headquarters. So, you focus on recovering from your injuries."

With that, he turned and left.

…

In the days that followed, I stayed quietly in the military hospital. Nathan had his men send over nutritional supplements and fresh flowers, and the internal line rang every day. I always had the nurse on duty answer it, instructing her to only say, "Her condition is stable, so you don't have to visit her."

On the day I was discharged, I went to settle the bill alone on crutches. I had just handed over my documents when an old woman shoved me aside. "My son-in-law is one of the leaders here. Let me handle mine first."

I frowned. "Please wait in line."

The elderly woman shot me a look. "Which department are you from? My son-in-law is Major General Linwood! If you delay me from getting my medicine, can you afford the consequences?"

As soon as her words fell, Nathan had already rushed over from the other end of the corridor with Veronica. He pulled me aside and lowered his voice. "Veron's mother has a heart condition. She can't get worked up. You're a soldier. It's only right for you to give way to a civilian."

Veronica supported Mrs. Schuman, who was wheezing, and with teary eyes, she apologized, "I'm so sorry, Vivian… My mother's old illness flared up, and I was afraid she wouldn't agree to take the expensive medicine, so I told her Nathan's my boyfriend…

"Please don't hold it against him! He's just a softie who can't bear to see an old woman suffer."

I wordlessly drank in the sight of the three people in front of me. So, because Mrs. Schuman had fallen ill, he had left me alone in the hospital with a fractured leg and burn injuries? Forget it. None of it mattered anymore.

I nodded and turned to leave. I had only taken two steps when I heard Veronica's tearful whisper. "Nathan, is Vivian mad? Will she pull another one of her stunts again? I don't want to ruin your future…"

Nathan's voice was featherlight, yet it still reached me clearly. "Don't overthink it. She grew up without parents, so she can't understand how you feel."

My fingers tightened around my crutch until my knuckles turned white as I took one step after another down the long hospital corridor.

Nathan's footsteps approached from behind me. "I'll take you back to the compound, Vivian."