I turned to Louise and smiled.

“Miss York, congratulations on your wedding with Mr. Stanley. I’m only here today to wish you two a happily ever after in front of everyone.”

Then, I turned to my pale parents. “I’m also here to get what belongs to me.”

“Dad, Mom.” I stressed those words but held no hint of familial love in my voice. “I remember that the 15% shares that were under my name for Xander Corporation were transferred to Stanley three years ago, right after I disappeared.”

My mother’s face turned even paler, and she found herself unable to say anything.

“That’s fine. I’ll go through the legal procedure,” I said with understanding. “From today on, I’ll hire a lawyer to reclaim all the assets that once belonged to me. After all, I’m still alive.”

Finally, my father was unable to keep his silence and growled in anguish, “Nathan, what on earth are you doing? Stanley is your brother! What’s wrong with giving him your shares? We thought that you were dead! Why did you have to come back and make things such a mess at home?!”

My mother started crying as well. “That’s right, Nathan. You never grew up beside us, and we know that we owe you this, but Stanley has been with us for more than a decade. He’s a good, mature boy, and we’ve long since treated him as our son. How can you be so petty and immature!”

Those words again.

I was never as mature and attentive as Stanley.

Since I did not grow up beside them, I was born rotten to the core. It was only right for me to be sacrificed and abandoned.

Just then, Stanley walked over with teary eyes. Regret was prominent on his handsome face as he grabbed my hand. “Nathan, I’m sorry. It’s all my fault. As long as you come back, I can give up everything. I’ll return your shares and assets to you… I won’t marry Louise either if that will make you stop being angry…”

Both his concession and that harmless act accurately triggered Louise’s protective streak once again.

She shielded Stanley behind her and hissed at me, “Do you have to be so aggressive, Stanley? He’s innocent! I can compensate you with money and the rest of my life for the pain you suffered, but you can’t hurt him like this!”

As I saw how self-righteous she was acting, I remembered how she behaved when we were in high school. Back then, I had just been brought back to the Xander family. I was unsophisticated and had low self-esteem. I was the joke of the entire school. Only Louise stood up to defend me when the others mocked me. Perhaps it had only been so because she was the student council president.

Still, after school, she would follow me and insist on walking me home.

However, it only took three years of me being gone for everything to change.

I observed the wedding hall. Champagne roses, lights resembling stars, and white chocolate were placed as gifts for the guests.

Stanley had jokingly mentioned that this was his ideal wedding to Louise in the past.

So, she had not forgotten about our past. She had only poured all of her efforts into someone else and replaced all her memories of our past with Stanley.

The final bit of warmth in my heart went out.

I met Louise’s eyes. They were shining with complicated emotions.

Then, I removed an obsidian bracelet from my wrist. She had made the bracelet for me while we were madly with each other, and I treated it like treasure. I threw it on the floor with a loud, resolute crash.

“I’m returning this to you, just like the life I gave you three years ago. You do not owe me anything anymore. We’re through, Louise.” I pointed at the bracelet and looked away.

In the end, the wedding was still cancelled.

In order to salvage their dignity, both the York and Xander families announced that they would choose another date for the wedding. In order to resolve the rumor about me not being on good terms with Stanley, they wanted me to be the host for Stanley’s and Louise’s wedding.

Once we arrived back home, my parents immediately started yelling at me.

“You have to host the wedding, Nathan!” My father slammed his newspaper on the table. The headline on the paper was full of mockery. Right now, everyone is saying that we’re mistreating you and forcing you to turn against us because we keep siding with Stanley. You have to come forward and clear things up!”

I stared at him coldly. “Why should I lie against my conscience for your dignity’s sake?”

“You rascal!” My father was so angry that he started trembling.

Stanley immediately teared up and said sadly, “Are you still blaming me for stealing Louise, Nathan? I know that you still love her. That’s why you don’t want to see us being happy with each other, right?”

Without even waiting for me to say anything, he immediately ran to the railing on the balcony and turned around with tears falling down his face.

“I know that I’m the useless one here. I’m the thief who stole Nathan’s life. Will everything return to its original place if I die? I’m sorry, Nathan…”

Then, he made it seem like he was going to jump down the balcony.

In the next second, Louise rushed over and dragged Nathan off the balcony before hugging him tightly. Her voice was full of unprecedented panic and fear. “Don’t be stupid, Stanley! How could you be useless? You did nothing wrong!”

After she comforted Stanley, she glared at me with bloodshot eyes. “When will you stop with this, Nathan?! Stanley is kind. He never fights for anything and just wants to live properly! He’s not like you! You’re always so angry and won’t stop until you hurt everyone around you!”

My parents hurried over to stand beside Stanley to comfort him with great pity in their hearts.

“Don’t stay here tonight, Nathan. Go out and calm down. Don’t make Stanley upset again when he sees you.”

I watched this loving family coldly and said nothing. Instead, I just walked out of my supposed ‘family.’ When I was out on the deserted street, I took out my phone from my pocket. On the screen was a message I received a few hours ago.

[Have you thought things through, Nathan? Professor Lane and all of us look forward to your return.]

I sucked in a deep breath and typed one word on the screen. [Sure.]

The very next second, I received a phone call.

A familiar and delighted voice came through. “That’s great news! Nathan, you finally said yes! Professor Lane will be delighted once she hears about this! But you know that we need to be isolated from the world to carry out our experiment, and there’s no set time limit for this. Will your parents and fiancee agree to it?”

During the three years I disappeared, I befriended a group of people in a secret research base located abroad.

They were the ones who had rescued me from the ocean and treated my wounds.

It was also while I was there that I rekindled my passion for neuroscience research, which I had abandoned for Louise and my parents. In the previous life, in order to run after Louise’s affection, I gave up on their repeated invitation to join them and stubbornly left. In the end, I died a tragic death.

This time, I was not going to make the same mistake.

“I have no family. I can make my own decisions,” I said calmly into the phone.

The other side remained silent for a while before laughing kindly. “How could you not have any family? We’re your family! Nathan, we’ll always welcome you back home!”

I held my phone tightly and stood in the cold breeze of the night as I laughed from the bottom of my heart. I was set to leave the next day. Coincidentally, that was the day Stanley and Louise were going to throw their wedding again.

I did not sleep, but I was not tired.

The moment the sun was up, I completed the process to transfer all the assets and finished the authorization paperwork. Then, I went to the airport with my luggage bag in hand.

I no longer had anything tying me down to this city.

One second before I stepped on the stairs leading to the plane, my phone vibrated. It was a message from Louise.

[Nathan, the wedding is about to start. Where are you? Come over here right now! Don’t forget that you promised to host our wedding. Don’t let the rumors affect Stanley’s reputation!]

Her bossy tone and the target of her affection were the same as ever.

I snickered as I stared at the message. I did not reply. Instead, I took out my sim card with deft movements and flicked it away.

Goodbye, Louise, and goodbye, my ridiculous and tragic life.

I turned off my phone and boarded the plane without turning back.

Let’s not meet ever again in this vast world.

…

At the same time, Louise was standing by the edge of the hall in the wedding venue with a face red with rage as she called and called the number that no longer worked.

Stanley was wringing his fingers uneasily while wearing a suit. He started tearing up again. “Louise, do you think that Nathan is refusing to come because he’s still mad at us? Why don’t we complete the ceremony first?”

“He won’t. He’ll come,” Louise comforted him as her gaze turned even darker.

She was sure that Nathan was still using this method to throw a tantrum and catch her attention. Then, just like countless times in the past, as long as she kept a firm attitude, he would concede in the end.

Just then, her assistant ran into the hall with panic on her face.

“Bad news, Miss York! Mr. Nathan has gone missing!”

Louise’s eyes flew wide in shock. “What?”

“The legal department of the company also received a notice that Mr. Nathan has transferred all his shares away through a foreign channel!”