There was a romantic rule in the field of astronomy.

The first asteroid a researcher discovered had to be named after someone they loved most.

In my seventh year of enduring hardship by Adrian Foster's side, he finally discovered a new star.

On the day of the press conference, I, Clara Reed, wore my most presentable dress, waiting for him to call my name on stage.

When I went to the lounge to bring him water, I overheard his partner trying to dissuade him in a low voice.

"Adrian, Clara has been with you for seven years, if you give the naming rights to Lily, how devastated is Clara going to be? This isn't fair to Clara at all."

Adrian toyed with a lighter, his tone completely matter-of-fact.

"Clara is too dull. Naming a star after her would be tacky. Lily is a violinist. Her name fits the romance of this star much better. Besides, Clara is almost thirty. She's already lost the looks she once had. Who else would want her besides me? She gets marriage, Lily gets romance. What else could she possibly be unhappy about?"

A draft swept through the corridor, chilling me to the bone.

My throat burned sharply, every breath carrying a faint metallic taste.

I looked at the cup of warm water in my hand. I didn't push the door open and turned back toward the hall.

I went straight to the registration desk and submitted a document.

"Please revoke my co-authorship attribution."

I didn't want the star anymore. And I didn't want Adrian anymore either.

......

"Clara, are you treating authorship like a joke? Isn't today chaotic enough already?"

Adrian's low voice came from behind me.

It carried his usual arrogance.

I stopped walking.

I was still holding the freshly stamped cancellation form.

When I turned around, he had already walked up to me.

His brows were tightly furrowed.

He carried the scent of tobacco and woody cologne.

It was the niche fragrance Lily Morgan had given him a few days ago.

"The press conference starts in two hours." He looked at me coldly. "So you're causing a scene at the registration desk now? Do you want to turn the whole research group into a joke for the media?"

I looked at him.

Looking at the face I had loved for seven years.

The metallic taste in my throat still hadn't faded.

But I still didn't cry.

And unlike before, I didn't rush to explain myself just because of a harsh word from him.

"I'm not joking."

I handed him the form.

My tone was so calm that even I found it surprising.

"The process requires the project lead's signature. Mr. Foster, please sign it."

Adrian didn't take it.

He stared at me.

His gaze moved back and forth across my face.

As if trying to find even a trace of anger or jealousy.

But he found nothing.

"Do you even know what revoking co-authorship means?"

His tone darkened.

There was a hint of irritation in it.

"It means all future honors related to this asteroid will have nothing to do with you. Clara, you're almost thirty. If you leave this project, which observatory can you even restart at?"

I listened calmly.

Without arguing back.

I simply placed the pen into his hand.

"This is my decision. None of your concern."

Adrian's jaw tightened.

He thought I was being unreasonable.

He thought I was using my future as leverage to force his compromise.

"I already explained why Lily got the naming rights."

He lowered his voice, as if giving away his last bit of patience.

"She's a violinist. She needs this kind of romantic gimmick to raise her visibility. And you're a researcher. What use do you have for such empty fame? You get the marriage, you get the promises. What exactly are you still unhappy about?"

I lowered my eyes.

My gaze fell on the cufflink on his shirt sleeve.

It was also a gift from Lily.

He had said it suited him well, more tasteful than the rigid cufflinks I had bought him.

"I'm not unhappy." I said softly. "I just think that since the star has been named after her, my name shouldn't still be attached to it. There's no room left for me."

Adrian let out a cold laugh.

He snatched the form away.

He pulled off the pen cap.

"You think this will make me change the naming decision? Clara, don't mistake my tolerance for permission to push your luck."

The pen tip pressed hard against the paper.

Leaving a dark mark beside the asteroid's temporary designation.

His fingers stiffened briefly.

The paper tore slightly, but he quickly covered it up, and signed his name smoothly, without hesitation.

"Fine. If you want to leave, I won't stop you. Just don't come back asking me to restore your name after you've cooled off."

I watched him push the signed form back toward me.

His movement was decisive.

Without the slightest hesitation or reluctance.

Seven years ago.

I joined the expedition to the high-altitude observatory station for the first time.

At night, I was so oxygen-deprived that I trembled all over, my lips turning bluish.

It was Adrian who pushed his oxygen tank to me.

He stood in the telescope control room, pointing at the trajectory of a streak of light on the screen.

"Clara, the universe is cold, but people should always stay for a little light."

Back then, I thought I was that little light in his eyes.

Later, I understood.

He was talking about the stars.

Never me.

I picked up the signed form, and checked it once more, confirming the signature and date were correct.

"Thank you, Mr. Foster."

I turned and walked to the registration desk, and handed the form to the staff inside.

"Please stamp and archive it."

The staff member froze for a moment.

They looked at Adrian standing not far away, then at me.

"Ms. Reed, once this is archived, your name will no longer exist in the system. Are you sure?"

"Yes."

The stamp came down heavily, producing a dull, heavy sound.

It placed a full stop at the end of seven years of my youth.

Adrian stood in the shadow of the corridor, watching me.

There was certainty in his eyes.

He thought this was just a pause in a joke-like drama.

He believed that as long as he didn't back down, I would eventually return and admit I was wrong.

He pushed the signed departure review form toward me.

"Clara, don't regret it."

I lowered my eyes at those words.

Adrian Foster.

Seven years ago, I stayed in the desert for that name.

Seven years later, I could finally walk out for myself.

After I received the preliminary approval receipt, I went to the data archive room.

Handing over the observation logs was the second step of leaving the station.

The archive room was filled with the smell of old paper and desiccant.

I walked to the deepest iron cabinet.

I took out the key and opened the cabinet that belonged to me.

Inside were more than seventy neatly stacked observation logs, and hundreds of hand-drawn star maps.

I took them out one by one and placed them into a cardboard box.

Each cover had Adrian's and my names written on it.

For the past seven years, I had been his assistant.

All original survey data, calibration records, and night observation schedules were kept by me.

Now, I had to return everything to the station.

Footsteps echoed in the corridor.

I carried the box to the door and was just about to leave.

When I heard voices coming from the half-open door of the adjacent dome control room.

It was Sam Clark's voice, the project lead.

"Adrian, Clara's orbital verification and faint-object filtering over the past few years shouldn't only be listed as co-authorship. For this asteroid discovery, her data comparison was crucial. It's one thing to give the naming rights to Lily, but not even first authorship to Clara—don't you think that's too much?"

I stopped walking.

Through the door, I heard Adrian flicking his lighter.

It was a habit of his when he was thinking or irritated.

"Sam, you're overthinking it."

Adrian's voice was flat, carrying an almost natural indifference.

"She's too used to following me. If I give her too high a position, she'll lose sight of herself. Besides, her work could be done by a skilled intern."

Sam sighed.

"You can't say that. Clara's mood seems off this time. She might actually leave."

Adrian let out a soft laugh.

"She can't leave here. If she leaves my research team, all those sleepless years of hers will be wasted. The research world is small. No one wants a thirty-year-old woman who left a core project without even independent authorship. When she's done making a scene, she'll come back on her own."

I stood outside the door.

The edge of the box pressed painfully into my palm.

For the past three years, more than once, I had handed Adrian my research proposal on asteroid cluster orbital evolution.

Every time, he only read a few pages before closing it.

"Clara, your fundamentals aren't strong enough yet. Don't rush to work independently. Focus on my project first. If you go out now, you'll only become a joke in the field."

Back then, I thought it was strictness, or protection.

Only today did I realize he wasn't afraid I would fall, he was afraid I would fly away.

He broke my trajectory just so I would always remain the one closest to him, yet never allowed to have a name of my own.

I didn't push the door open to argue.

There was no need anymore.

I held the box and turned toward the duty desk in the main hall.

I placed the box on the desk.

"Leo, these are my seven years of original records and schedules. Please verify them and sign my departure checklist."

The young researcher, Leo Turner, looked at the entire box of my life's work.

He opened his mouth, as if wanting to say something.

But in the end, he said nothing.

He silently counted everything and signed his name.

While Leo was checking the contents, I looked at the star map on the wall.

It was a compilation of all celestial bodies discovered at our station.

Next to every light point was the name of its discoverer.

Except mine was nowhere to be found.

I had been a shadow for seven years, used to adjusting his trajectory in the dark, forgetting that shadows could not emit light.

Leo handed me the signed checklist.

"Ms. Reed, are you really leaving?"

His voice was very low.

"Mr. Foster… he wasn't thinking straight."

I took the checklist, folded it neatly and put it into my pocket.

"He isn't confused. He knows exactly what he's doing better than anyone."

I turned and walked toward the end of the corridor.

My heels clicked sharply against the terrazzo floor.

Each step was steady.

I didn't need anyone to pity me.

I was only glad that I had finally woken up.

I stood outside the control room, the edge of the archive box digging painfully into my palm.

Inside were seven years of original records.

I once thought those dense lines of data would take me closer to the stars.

But they had only been ropes Adrian used to keep me trapped.

In the end, I didn't go in.

I handed the archive box to the duty researcher and turned to print my final departure checklist.

After I got the checklist, I went to the dome observation room.

There was my personal observation cabinet that I had used for seven years.

I pushed open the heavy soundproof door.

Cold air from the climate control system hit me as I stepped inside.

But I froze in place.

Someone was sitting at my control console—the one with the best observation angle.

It was Lily.

She was wearing a white dress.

Earbuds in her ears, she swayed gently to the music.

The screen in front of her showed the orbital parameters of the newly discovered asteroid.

On the desk were trajectory charts personally annotated by Adrian.

Hearing the door, she turned around.

When she saw me, she quickly took off her earbuds and gave an innocent smile.

"Clara, you're here. Adrian said I could sit here tonight to experience the moment the asteroid was discovered. You don't mind, right?"

I looked at her, and her spotless white dress.

In this station where wind and sand raged year-round, filled with grease and dust everywhere.

She looked out of place in her cleanliness.

"Non-project personnel are not allowed to access raw data."

I walked up to the control console.

My voice was completely flat.

"Please leave."

Lily bit her lip, her eyes turning red.

"Clara, I was just looking… It was Adrian who told me to come. He said they needed footage for the press conference."

Rapid footsteps came from outside the door.

Adrian strode in.

He pulled Lily behind him.

His brows were tightly locked together.

"Clara, what are you doing now? She's just looking. It won't affect the orbital results. Don't use research regulations as an excuse to target her."

I watched him shielding Lily.

It felt almost ridiculous.

"Rules are rules. If data leaks, who takes responsibility?"

Adrian looked at me coldly.

"I will. I'm the project lead. I allowed her to sit here. If you don't like it, close your eyes."

I nodded.

I didn't look at them again.

I walked straight to my observation cabinet in the corner, opened it, and started taking things out.

A thermos, sandproof goggles, and a few half-used red and blue pencils.

And at the bottom, a meteorite slice pendant.

That winter, the station lost power, and the backup generator took forever to fix.

We wrapped ourselves in the same military coat, guarding the telescope in sub-zero temperatures.

Adrian took a meteorite slice from his pocket, saying it was just a leftover fragment from field sampling.

He threaded it with a red cord and put it around my neck.

"Clara, others wear diamonds. You wear a fragment of a star."

I remembered those words for many years.

Now it just felt ridiculous.

He named the star after someone else, yet expected me to be grateful for a fragment for the rest of my life.

I held the pendant in my hand.

The red cord had darkened from sweat.

I didn't hesitate.

I walked to the recycling bin by the door, and let go.

The metallic impact rang sharply in the quiet observation room.

The pendant hit the bottom of the bin.

Adrian's gaze snapped toward me.

He saw what I had thrown away.

His pupils tightened.

His face darkened.

"Clara, what are you doing?"

He strode over, staring fixedly at the bin.

He had polished it himself.

He had always thought I would keep it forever.

I dusted off my hands.

"Cleaning out trash."

Adrian's breathing grew heavier.

He looked like he wanted to explode, but forced it down.

He said through gritted teeth.

"Clara, you're throwing it away so easily now. Don't come back asking me for it later."

I put the last handwritten observation log into the box.

Behind me, Lily softly asked Adrian if he could watch meteors with her tonight.

Adrian didn't respond, only staring at the meteorite pendant in the bin.

I didn't look back.

I used to follow his gaze to look at the stars.

Now, I only wanted to give my own night sky back to myself.