I was sent to prison by my wife for two years. After being released, I changed my name and left the country.

Seven years later, we met again in front of my sister’s grave.

When our eyes met, she stopped wiping the tombstone. In her eyes flashed a mix of emotions—shock, joy, guilt… all hard to describe.

“Dorian, I’ve been looking for you for so many years. I thought you… were gone too. Where have you been all these years? Why didn’t you contact me even once?”

Seeing that I didn’t respond, she quickly wiped the corner of her eyes.

“You’re avoiding me on purpose, aren’t you? You still hate what happened back then. I had my own difficulties.”

I didn’t know how she still had the face to say those things in front of my sister’s grave after killing her, stealing her husband and pushing me to the point where I almost couldn’t survive.

But love and hate were both luxuries. To me, she had already nothing.

——

Meeting again after so many years, my heart no longer stirred.

Vivienne turned around and left.

I bent down and gently placed the pure white chrysanthemum in my arms onto my sister’s tombstone.

In the photo, my sister’s smile was warm, her eyes clear, forever frozen at twenty-five.

If she were still alive, she’d definitely be at the airport picking me up today, just like when we were young, messing up my hair with a laugh.

“Little one, why are you frowning?”

No… If she were still alive, she would never have allowed me to be bullied to the point that I had to flee far away.

I crouched down and gently traced my fingers over my sister’s eyebrows and eyes on the tombstone.

“Selene, I have some good news to tell you…”

Before I could finish, Vivienne came back, holding a heavy bag and placing it in front of me.

“I once promised you that I’d make you a gift by hand every year on your birthday. I couldn’t find you these past years, so I saved them all up.”

A razor, the newest game console, an expensive watch… I could tell she really put effort into it.

But I felt nothing.

Her hand froze in mid-air and a hint of embarrassment and disappointment appeared on her face.

“You don’t like them? I can ask someone to prepare new ones. How about we have lunch together?”

“No, I still have something to do.”

She was about to continue pestering me, but her phone rang.

“Vivienne, when are you coming back? Today is our seventh wedding anniversary. I’ve already booked the restaurant…”

My fingers paused as I brushed away a yellow leaf that had fallen with the wind.

‘Selene, this is the person you risked your life to protect back then. You were wrong. And I trusted the wrong person too.’

My throat suddenly felt itchy and I couldn’t help coughing twice.

“Vivienne, where are you? Why is there a man’s voice next to you?”

Vivienne hung up without saying a word. She took a mask from her coat pocket and handed it to me.

“You’re allergic to cold air. Every autumn you start coughing. Remember to wear a mask.”

I turned my head away and avoided her hand.

“It’s already cured.”

After saying goodbye to my sister, I turned and walked out.

Vivienne quickly followed after me.

I didn’t understand—seven years ago, she warned me never to appear in front of her again. Why was she now clinging to me like glue?

At the cemetery gate, a row of shared bicycles was parked.

I scanned the QR code to unlock one.

Just as I was about to pedal away, Vivienne drove her Mercedes up beside me and stopped steadily.

“Dorian, all these years… have you still been alone?”

In the autumn sunlight, there was a careful, hopeful look in her eyes.

I nodded, giving no further explanation.

This time, I came back because I wanted to tell my sister in person—I was getting married.

I was selfish enough to want to share this kind of happiness… only with her.

“Dorian, don’t force yourself when you’re alone out there. If you have any difficulties, remember you can come to me.”

“My number is still the same, it’s never changed. I was afraid that if you ever wanted to contact me, you wouldn’t be able to find me.”

I couldn’t help pulling the corner of my lips.

Who would’ve thought the person who once cut off all contact herself, the one who wished never to see me again, alive or dead, was now pretending to be so devoted and regretful?

“No thanks. I’m not interested in getting entangled with a married woman.”

I pushed hard on the pedals and the bike carried me away along the long path covered in golden ginkgo leaves.

The wheels rolled over the fallen leaves, making soft rustling sounds.

This path used to be so familiar to me.

When I was young, I loved coming here with my sister for morning runs and bike rides.

She was better than me at everything, except running.

Whenever I slowed down on purpose to wait for her, she would mess up my hair and laugh at how annoyed I got.

She once said that even when we were old and gray, the two of us would still walk this path together, supporting each other and basking in the sun.

But now… I was already two years older than she ever got to be.

I rode all the way back to the old apartment complex where my sister used to live. Ever since the accident, the place had been empty.

When I opened the rusty security door, a musty smell rushed out.

In the living room hung a photo of the four of us, covered in dust.

My sister and I grew up depending on each other.

When I was sixteen, Vivienne entered our lives.

She said my sister had saved her from drowning and given her a second life. From then on, she was my sister’s best friend.

She and I… were like natural enemies. We argued over the smallest things, faces red, tempers flaring.

Until after our senior-year graduation trip, when a mudslide struck the resort area.

Classmates were picked up by their parents one after another, but my sister was away on a business trip and couldn’t return in time.

The rushing mud buried the hotel in an instant. I was pinned under a collapsed beam, silently waiting for death.

But Vivienne fought her way back against the flow, digging with her bare hands from dawn until nightfall.

“Dorian, don’t be scared, I’m here!”

She carried me on her back and walked the whole night.

Only when she finally got me to the hospital did I notice that she had lost both of her shoes.

Her feet were covered in pale, water-soaked wounds, overlapping each other.

Her always-pretty manicured nails were broken from the roots, bloody and torn.

“Dummy, why are you crying? As long as you’re safe, it’s worth it even if I end up crippled!”

In that moment, even the spring breeze couldn’t compare to the smile in her eyes.

On New Year’s Eve, the three of us were making dumplings when Lucian showed up, looking a complete mess.

He was the son of a neighbor from our hometown. His family had gone bankrupt and he was hiding everywhere because of debt collectors.

Because my sister remembered how his family once gave her a bowl of hot porridge when she was young, she didn’t hesitate to take responsibility for him.

She quit her stable, respectable job and started doing business.

She drank so much at social events that she had stomach bleeding and she hovered at the edge of life and death several times.

In two years, my sister lost thirty pounds. She helped Lucian pay off all his debts and in return, won his love.

We toasted together, promising to stay close and love each other for a lifetime, never to be separated.

I was lost in thought when I heard a key turning outside.

The door opened and Lucian and Vivienne were suddenly standing there.

I had forgotten—we each had a copy of the key to this place.

“Vivienne said you came back, so we guessed you’d be here. You should’ve told us you were returning. We could’ve picked you up.”

He stepped forward as if to pat my shoulder, but I avoided him.

“This place isn’t suitable to live in. Come back with us. The housekeeper is on leave and there’s an empty room available.”

I lowered my gaze and saw that their house was here in this city.

I had only come back to see my sister. Later, I was going to meet my future mother-in-law for the first time.

I held out my hand. “Keys!”

This house had been bought by my sister and it was under my name.

It had nothing to do with the two of them.

Vivienne’s eyes swept over the photo in my hand with a complicated expression. “Dorian, if she were here, I’m sure she’d want the three of us to be happy together.”

Lucian looked away, unable to meet the gaze of the photo.

Vivienne walked straight in, took off her coat, rolled up her sleeves and picked up the broom behind the door.

“Lucian, go open the window and let some fresh air in.”

For a moment, it took me back many years. Back then, the four of us often gathered here.

My sister would cook, Lucian would help and Vivienne did the housework.

I was busy bossing everyone around.

Laughter echoed in the small house. Now, only silence remained.

I cleaned the table and carefully placed my sister’s portrait on it.

In the photo, my sister was smiling so gently.

I never expected that a reunion of the four of us would happen like this.

Lucian suddenly rushed over and slammed the portrait onto the table. “Why display this? Everything’s fine already!”

Seeing his flustered expression, I couldn’t help but sneer inwardly.

So, he felt guilty and ashamed to face my sister’s pure eyes.

“Dorian, Lucian is just worried about you. After all, someone died here before.”

“Don’t you know better than anyone how my sister died?”

The broom in Vivienne’s hands clattered to the floor.

The room fell into a deathly silence, broken only by the wind outside the window.

The second year after my sister married Lucian, we all began to change.

My sister’s business grew busier and she often traveled across the country.

The day she received angel-round investment, she was so happy she treated us to a big meal.

Halfway through the meal, my sister received a call from Vivienne, who hadn’t shown up.

“Selene, I got into trouble. They’ve cornered me at a bar.”

Without a second word, my sister put down her spoon and rushed out.

But after that trip, she never came back whole again.

In order to protect Vivienne, my sister was struck hard on the back of her head with a beer bottle.

By the time Lucian and I arrived at the hospital, my sister’s mind had already regressed to that of a five‑year‑old child.

She forgot everything—except me, her little brother.

My world completely collapsed.

I swallowed my grief while taking care of her and at the same time, I cruelly pushed Lucian away.

“When my sister was healthy, she loved you the most. She wouldn’t want you to ruin your whole life for her.”

“I’ll decide for her. The two of you should get a divorce!”

Lucian held my sister’s hands tightly, tears streaming down his face, utterly determined.

“I won’t leave Selene. Even if I die, I won’t.”

He chose to stay, without hesitation.

In his youthful passion, I was moved by Lucian’s unwavering devotion to my sister and I gave him full inheritance of her company.

Vivienne was wracked with guilt, shutting herself in her room and drowning in drink and despair.

Until Lucian kicked open the door and poured a bucket of cold water over her head.

“If you want to honor Selene, then take care of her company and this family properly.”

From that day on, Vivienne seemed like a different person.

She also joined my sister’s company and took on the responsibility of looking after us.

At that time, I was drowning in grief and uncertainty about the future.

Vivienne’s companionship and support became my only lifeline.

She and I registered our marriage, swearing by my sister’s bedside that we would care for her for life.

Vivienne’s phone rang, breaking my reverie.

It seemed eager to escape the grip of the past and Lucian’s words suddenly became unusually numerous.

“Don’t blame Vivienne. She’s now the CEO of a listed company and very busy.”

He rolled up his sleeves, deliberately showing the limited-edition vintage watch on his wrist.

“This was for my birthday last month. She specially went to an auction in France to get it for me.”