On Trixie’s birthday, Arkin went all out.

A massive banquet, the kind people talk about for years.

The entire venue was covered in roses, endless rows of them, soft and overwhelming, like something out of a dream I didn’t belong in.

I heard someone say it cost millions just for the flowers.

Of course it did.

This was Arkin.

He didn’t do anything halfway.

Trixie walked in beside him, holding his arm, smiling like she owned the world.

She wore a custom outfit, something elegant and expensive, and I heard whispers that it was designed by Arkin’s mother herself.

For her future daughter-in-law.

They looked perfect together.

Too perfect.

And I stood somewhere in the background, holding a tray, pretending I didn’t exist.

For a second, my mind slipped back to our engagement.

It had been just as grand. Just as beautiful.

Everyone smiling, everyone watching us like we were the ending of a perfect story.

Arkin had held my hand the same way and looked at me the same way.

Like I was everything.

He’d taken out a ring, something passed down in his family, and slipped it onto my finger.

“You’re mine now,” he said back then, voice softer than I had ever heard it. “And I’m yours. No matter what happens, we don’t walk away from each other. Okay?”

I had nodded like I believed it would last forever.

I really did.

The noise around me snapped me out of it.

People talking, not even bothering to lower their voices.

“Can you believe Dahlia had the nerve to show up here? She's a criminal!”

“Seriously, she and Arkin grew up together. He treated her like a princess, gave her everything, and she still destroyed his family.”

“I still don’t get it,” another one said, shaking their head. “He loved her so much. Everyone knew it. Why would she do something that stupid?”

“Because she’s heartless,” someone else cut in. “People like her don’t think. They just ruin everything.”

“If that never happened… they’d probably have a kid by now. Maybe even in school already.”

Another scoff.

“Don’t even try to make sense of her. She doesn’t deserve that kind of understanding.”

“Yeah,” someone added, harsher, “someone like her should just disappear.”

“Honestly? She should just die.”

I heard all of it. Every word. And I didn’t react and didn’t defend myself. Because what was the point? They weren’t wrong about one thing.

I was going to die soon anyway. And this time, I’d make sure when I left… there wouldn’t be anything left behind.

…

After the banquet, Arkin stayed behind to send off his guests, still smiling, still perfect in front of everyone.

Trixie and I waited by the lake near the entrance, the cold air settling into my bones while everything finally went quiet.

It was the first time we were alone since I got out.

For a while, she didn’t say anything, just stood there, staring at the water like she owned even the silence.

Then she spoke.

“Sister… do you know something?” her voice was soft, almost sweet, the kind that pretended to be kind while hiding something rotten. “I’ve always loved Arkin. Not recently, not after you disappeared. I mean before. Even before you got together with him. Funny, right? You just… got him anyway.”

I didn’t answer.

She let out a small laugh, tilting her head.

“Back then, you two looked so happy,” she continued, “and I told myself to let it go. I thought maybe if I stepped back, I could still be your sister, still be part of your life. I even told myself I’d bless you both. God, I was so stupid.”

She finally turned to look at me, and this time there was no softness left, only something sharp and ugly behind her eyes.

“But then you ruined everything!” her tone tightening. “You destroyed him! Do you even know what he went through after that? Or were you too busy playing the victim somewhere? Do you have any idea how broken he was?”

Her lips curled slightly.

“I was the one who stayed with him. Me. I was the one who helped him calm down, who stayed up with him when he couldn’t sleep, who picked up every piece you left behind.”

Her voice dropped lower, almost mocking.

“And now you’re back. Why?” she asked. “Why show up again when things finally started to settle? Why can’t you just stay gone for once? Or is ruining things the only thing you’re actually good at?”

I looked at her, really looked at her, and it felt strange.

All those years, she was beside me, smiling, calling me sister, and I never knew she had been looking at him like that the whole time.

Or maybe I just didn’t want to know.

What was the point now anyway?

I wasn’t here to take anything back. I wasn’t here to fight for anything. I was already leaving.

“Trixie,” I said quietly, “I’m leaving soon.”

She scoffed, rolling her eyes like I’d just said something embarrassing.

“Leaving?” she repeated. “You expect me to believe that? Please. You always say things like that, Dahlia. Always acting like you’re some tragic heroine about to disappear. But you never actually do, do you? You always come back and make everything worse.”

Before I could respond, she suddenly slipped the ring off her finger.

The ring.

The one Arkin gave her.

Then she threw it straight into the lake.

The sound was small, barely anything, but it echoed loudly in my head.

“Opps! You dropped my ring, sister. Shouldn’t you go get it? Or is that too much effort for you now?”

I frowned slightly.

“I didn’t throw it,” I said.

But she just smiled wider, “Does it matter? You’re the one standing here with me, aren’t you? And we both know how this looks.” Her eyes flicked toward the path. “If Arkin sees it’s gone, who do you think he’ll believe? Me… or you?”

Before I could say anything else, footsteps approached.

“Arkin! My sister pulled off my fing and threw it on the lake.”

Arkin came into view fast, eyes already dark with anger. The moment he saw me, he grabbed my wrist hard.

“Dahlia, are you fucking crazy! What does Trixie’s ring have to do with you? Why would you throw it away? Are you that desperate to cause trouble?”

I looked straight at him.

His anger burned, but beneath it, there was something else, something I didn’t want to understand. Was he expecting something from me? Jealousy? Regret?

Did he really think I still had the right to feel those things?

A bitter feeling rose in my chest, but I forced a small smile.

“Why would I care about a ring like that?” I said quietly. “To me, it’s not even worth as much as the cash you throw at me.”

Something in his eyes went cold instantly and before I could react, he shoved me hard.

SPLASH!

The water swallowed me in seconds. I gasped, but my breath got stuck as the freezing water closed around me. By the time I surfaced, Arkin had already turned away.

“I don’t care how you do it,” he said without looking back. “Get the ring.”

Then he grabbed Trixie’s hand and walked off.

Just like that.

No hesitation and no second glance.

The wind cut through the wet fabric clinging to my body, and the lake was half frozen, thin sheets of ice floating around me.

Even looking at it from above would’ve made anyone step back but I was already in it.

The mud at the bottom was sharp, broken pieces hidden under the surface, cutting into my feet every time I moved. I bit my lip and dove down.

Again.

And again.

And again.

The water blurred everything, and my body started to go numb, but I kept searching, hands moving through the dark, through the cold, through the pain that didn’t even feel sharp anymore.

Just empty.

Time passed, but I couldn’t tell how much.

Hours, maybe.

The sky shifted slowly toward morning at some point, my blood had spread into the water, faint red swirling around me every time I moved.

But I kept going, because I knew if I didn’t find it, it wouldn’t end here.

Finally, my fingers brushed against something small.

Cold metal.

The ring.

I held onto it like it was the only thing keeping me from sinking completely.

When I got out of the lake, I could barely feel my body anymore.

Everything hurt, but also didn’t.

I walked back, dripping, shaking, and found Arkin again.

I held the ring out to him. He glanced at me, frowning slightly, like my state was inconvenient.

Then he reached into his pocket, pulled out cash, and threw it at me.

Same as always.

No words that mattered.

No questions.

Just money. I picked it up quietly, one bill at a time, my hands still trembling.

Then I left.

Because that was all I was supposed to do.

…

For the next few days, Arkin didn’t make things harder for me. No orders, no humiliation, nothing, and it felt strange, too quiet, like something was waiting. I almost thought maybe he was done with me, maybe I could just save enough, finish the sea burial, and disappear. Was it really going to be that easy? I should’ve known better.

That day, when I got back and stepped out of the car, I saw it immediately. Thick smoke wrapping around the villa. My heart dropped. Arkin. The thought hit before anything else and I ran without thinking. He hated noise, hated people, so the staff only came when he wasn’t home, and these past few days he stayed inside. Which meant he was alone.

“Arkin!” I shouted, rushing in as the heat hit me. The fire had spread fast, but I knew the place well and pushed forward, coughing, until I reached his bedroom. He was there, collapsed on the bed, completely unconscious. The air was heavy with smoke, and the pills on the table told me enough.

“Arkin, wake up,” I said, shaking him, but he didn’t move. “Don’t do this… you can hate me all you want, just don’t die like this, okay?”

I dragged him up, forced him onto my back, and moved toward the door. Every step got heavier, the fire growing, the way out almost blocked. Heat pressed in, my breathing uneven, and then something cracked above me. A burning beam fell. I didn’t think, I just turned and covered him. Pain exploded through my back, my vision went white, and I almost collapsed.

But I didn’t.

I looked at him, still breathing, still alive, and something in me refused to give up.

“Just hold on,” I whispered. “You don’t get to leave like this. Not before me.”

I forced myself forward, step by step, through heat and smoke and pain, until somehow we made it out. We collapsed onto the lawn, cold air hitting my lungs as I coughed, my body shaking, everything hurting at once. I barely had strength, but I still pushed him away from me.

Trixie ran toward us. Of course she did. Always there when it mattered. I used the last of my strength and shoved Arkin toward her.

“Take him,” I said weakly. “When he wakes up… tell him you saved him. Just say it was you. Don’t tell him I was there.”

She froze, staring at me.

“What are you doing?” she asked, confused. “Why would you say that? Dahlia, what are you trying to prove now?”

I shook my head.

“Nothing,” I said. “I’m not trying to prove anything. I just… don’t need him to know.”

She grabbed my arm, her eyes narrowing.

“Then answer me,” she said. “Did you kill his father on purpose? Was it really you, just like everyone says?”

My body went still. For a second, everything came back, the truth, the lie, everything I carried. Would it even matter now? Would he believe me? Or just hate me more? What’s the point?

After a long pause, I gave the only answer that kept things simple.

“Yes.”

Her grip loosened. I walked away without looking back.

In the days after that, Trixie stayed by his side, taking care of him, never leaving. When he learned she “saved” him, everything shifted. He treated her better, softer, closer, like she mattered more than anyone. Maybe she always did.

At night, standing outside his door, I could hear them. Her laughter. His voice, low and gentle, the way it used to be with me. Words that weren’t mine anymore. I leaned against the wall, eyes closed, pretending I couldn’t hear it, pretending it didn’t matter.

Maybe he really did fall for her. Maybe this was how it was supposed to be.

Good. He should’ve had this life from the start.

I looked at my hands and let out a quiet breath. So this is it, huh? You really don’t belong anywhere anymore.

The wound on my back still burned from the fire, sharp with every movement, but I didn’t tell anyone. When no one was around, I’d quietly put medicine on it, teeth clenched, trying not to make a sound.

Because it didn’t matter.

I was already halfway gone anyway.

…

That day, as always, I stayed in the small room they gave me. It wasn’t really a room, just a space I didn’t belong in. I took off my coat, sat down, and was about to apply medicine on my back when the door suddenly slammed open.

Arkin’s mother.

Of course it was her.

Her eyes dropped straight to my back, to the burns I’d been hiding, and her expression shifted instantly, anger and fear colliding at once.

“What happened to your back? Those burns… Dahlia, what did you do?”

She stepped closer, unable to accept what she was seeing, then stopped right in front of me.

“Was it you?” she asked. “Did you save Arkin that day?”

I froze.

My first instinct was to stand, to cover it, to make it disappear. I quickly pulled my clothes back on, hands unsteady.

I didn’t know why she was here. I didn’t understand why she looked like that, as if she was holding herself together by force.

For a second, I almost told her the truth. Almost.

But then everything came back.

The money, the hate, the sea burial I was still chasing, the way Arkin looked at me like I was a mistake that never ended.

So I forced a smile instead. A wrong one.

“What do you mean save him?” I said lightly, brushing it off. “You’re overthinking it.”

Her eyes narrowed.

I shrugged.

“This?” I added, touching my back like it meant nothing. “It’s nothing. I got it in prison. Fights happen there. Men don’t really like sharing space, especially when there are women involved.”

I let out a short laugh, hollow and controlled.

“Some of them got strange, fighting over attention, over nothing. I was just caught in the middle.”

Her face changed instantly.

Anger. Disgust. And disappointment sharper than both.

Her hand shot forward and grabbed my wrist.

“Dahlia,” she said through clenched teeth, “do you even hear yourself? After everything Arkin went through for you, this is what you say? You’re still like this? Still filthy, still shameless?”

Her grip tightened.

“Do you have no heart at all?”

I couldn’t breathe properly, but I still managed a small, strained laugh.

“What do you expect from me?” I said. “You already decided who I am a long time ago.”

She shook me slightly, voice rising.

“So what, you just sleep around? After everything between you and Arkin, after everything he gave you, this is what you became?”

My throat tightened.

I shouldn’t have spoken.

But I did.

“Arkin was never just one thing,” I said slowly. “He’s not the only one who mattered in my life.”

Her expression snapped completely.

That was it.

She shoved me away hard, as if I was something she couldn’t stand touching anymore.

“Disgusting,” she said coldly. “You’re absolutely disgusting. Loving you was the biggest mistake of his life, and honestly, mine too for ever tolerating you.”

She turned sharply.

“And don’t ever stand in front of him again.”

Then she left.

The door slammed.

Silence rushed back in, heavier than before.

I stayed where I was, slowly sliding down until I sat on the floor.

So this was what I wanted, right?

For her to hate me.

For everyone to stop looking at me like I still existed.

Then why did it feel like something inside my chest was being pressed down, slowly breaking?

Like something was still bleeding even though nothing should have been left.

I exhaled.

“It’ll pass,” I told myself quietly.

It had to.

....

Later, Trixie showed up.

She always did things like that, acting like she belonged everywhere, especially where I didn’t.

“Get in,” she said, tossing me the car keys. “Arkin said you need to run an errand. I’m driving.”

I didn’t ask why.

I just followed.

The car ride started silent, but her energy shifted quickly, restless, too controlled.

She tapped the wheel once, then again, then laughed under her breath.

“You know,” she said, glancing at me, “it’s funny. You always look so tired. Like you’re already halfway gone.”

I didn’t respond.

Her smile widened. “Do you ever think about that?” she asked. “About just disappearing? Or are you still too stubborn for that?”

Before I could answer, she slammed the brakes, hard and fhe car jerked to a stop. She then opened the door and ran out.

“Help!” she screamed, voice instantly soft, broken. “Someone help me!”

Then she collapsed right in front of the car.

Footsteps rushed in immediately.

Arkin. Then Arkin’s mother.

Trixie lifted her head slightly, weak, and perfect.

“Arkin…” she whispered, glassy-eyed. “Don’t blame Dahlia, please. Don't blame my sister… she didn’t mean it…”

Then she coughed blood. Arkin’s mother dropped beside her instantly.

“Trixie! Stay with me!” she cried. “What happened? What did she do to you?”

The bright red blood hit Arkin’s mother’s eyes first, and I saw it immediately, that look, the same one she had the day everything fell apart years ago, cold and sharp like I had already been sentenced without a word.

Her gaze locked on me, then snapped as she stepped forward.

“Dahlia,” she said, voice rising and trembling with rage, “you really never change, do you, who were you messing with this time that you’d do something like this to Trixie?”

Her hands shook as she pulled Trixie up and held her close, as if protecting something fragile.

“Stay still, sweetheart, stay with me,” she kept saying, panicked but forcing control. “Don’t talk, just breathe, okay?”

Then she shoved Trixie into the car and got in herself, the engine roaring alive.

“Dahlia,” he said, “what did you do this time, why is she on the ground like that?”

I opened my mouth, but nothing came out, and I didn’t even know what I was supposed to explain.

Before I could try, Arkin’s mother snapped, slamming her hand on the steering wheel as she lost control.

“I don’t care anymore,” she hissed. “Dahlia, you should die!”

The car surged forward, and bang.

My body rose then dropped hard.

For a few seconds I stayed conscious enough to feel it but not enough to understand it. Then everything went white.

---

I dreamed first, and that was the strange part.

I was back in a car, younger, hands gripping the wheel too tightly. My heart race like I might ruin everything just by existing, while Arkin sat beside me, softer then, not like this.

“Dahlia,” he laughed faintly, “relax, you’re not gonna crash, okay, I’m right here, just drive slowly.”

I shook my head.

“I don’t trust myself,” I said.

He leaned closer, calm and steady.

“Then trust me,” he said. “I won’t let anything happen to you.”

Then the dream shifted. His seat was empty, and suddenly he was outside the car watching me with red eyes.

“Dahlia,” he said again, but this time it wasn’t gentle. “Why did you do this, why do you always ruin everything?”

The engine roared louder, and he stepped forward as if he was the one coming for me now.

---

I woke up choking on air I couldn’t fully take in, staring at a white ceiling that smelled of antiseptic. Pain spread everywhere like it owned my body.

My chest felt crushed inward, and every breath dragged like glass through my ribs, until a nurse came in, checked briefly, and spoke without looking at me.

“You’ve got multiple broken ribs,” she said flatly. “Don’t move too much.”

Then she left, and that was it, no questions, no concern, just another case.

I stayed staring at the ceiling for a long time after that. Arkin didn’t come, not once, but I didn’t expect him to because he already decided what I was, and I was still here anyway.

---

When I left the hospital, the world outside had already moved on without me. Arkin and Trixie were preparing for the wedding.

Of course they were, and somehow I was still part of it, just not as anything important, only something to be used.

Arkin didn’t even look at me when he spoke.

“You’re coming with us,” he said simply. “Every step. Don’t disappear, Dahlia, I want you to see it.”

Trixie laughed beside him, leaning into his arm like she belonged there completely.

“Oh, I like that,” she said sweetly, then glanced at me. “You should come, sister, don’t worry, I’ll make sure you get a good view.”