Leona quietly turned and walked away from them, heading toward the school's back garden.

There, an old banyan tree stood, its trunk once carved with Sebastian's name and hers, accompanied by a small heart.

It was during their first year of high school when Sebastian had pulled her close, carefully etching their names into the bark with a pocketknife. He said this meant they were carved into each other's lives forever.

Now, Leona took out the key she always carried, found the names, and started to scrape them away with force, little by little.

Just as she finished scraping and was preparing to leave, Maureen's playful voice and footsteps echoed from behind.

"Sebastian, come look! I heard that if we carve our names into trees in this grove, our future will be bright! Let's carve our names too, okay?"

Leona didn't turn around, but she could imagine Sebastian nodding in agreement.

Sure enough, she heard his deep voice. "Okay."

Then, she heard the faint scraping sound of a knife against the tree bark.

Right beside the tree where Leona had just removed their names, the two of them had chosen another one and carved the names "Sebastian" and "Maureen" side by side.

Leona kept her back to them, remaining silent.

After completing her task, she put the key back into her pocket and turned to leave.

But just as she reached the lake at the edge of the garden, Maureen caught up with her from behind.

"Leona, wait!" Maureen called out, holding a small hairpin in her hand.

"You dropped something."

Leona recognized it as the hairpin she had accidentally left behind earlier. She reached out to take it.

But Maureen withdrew her hand slightly, smiling with a mix of mockery and amusement. "Leona, from now on, the only person who will be with Sebastian is me. You'll never have the right to be with him again. I'll prove to you that in his heart, I'm a thousand, no, a million times more important than you."

Leona, tired of engaging in useless verbal battles, just wanted to take the hairpin and leave quickly.

"Give it back," she said, her tone dismissive.

Her complete disregard infuriated Maureen.

With a tight grip, Maureen yanked Leona's wrist, her voice rising in frustration. "What's with the act? Just because you two grew up together, does that make you so special? Do you even know what they say about childhood sweethearts being no match for fate? Sebastian and I are meant to be! You'll always just be a background figure in his life!"

"Let go!"

Leona's wrist ached, and she struggled to break free.

"I won't!"

The two girls tugged at each other by the lake. In their heated struggle, one of them slipped.

With two loud splashes, both of them fell into the water, the force of the impact sending waves splashing everywhere.

Leona knew how to swim, but the sudden shock of the cold lake water surrounding her body made her calves seize up.

She was cramping.

Her legs went numb, and her body started to sink uncontrollably. Water rushed into her nose as panic surged through her.

Just as she felt the darkness closing in, she saw Sebastian diving into the lake without hesitation.

In that moment, the small flame in her heart that was nearly extinguished weakly flickered to life.

But in the next instant, that flicker of hope was snuffed out as she watched him swim straight toward Maureen and grab her waist, pulling her to safety without sparing a single glance back at Leona.

While Sebastian helped Maureen back onto solid ground, she clung to his arm and coughed loudly. Then, in a deliberate tone, she shouted, "Sebastian, Leona is still in the water!"

Sebastian looked back at Leona, who was struggling in the water, barely holding on. His voice, cutting through the water, extinguished the last flicker of hope within her.

"We've broken up. She has nothing to do with me."

With that, Sebastian helped the shaken Maureen to her feet and turned to leave, leaving Leona in the increasingly cold water, who was slowly losing all her strength.

When Leona finally regained consciousness, she found herself staring at the sterile white ceiling of a hospital room.

A few classmates were gathered around her bed. They were visibly relieved when they saw her awake. "Leona, you're awake! Thank goodness! You scared us to death!"

It turned out that those classmates had happened to pass by the lake and saw her unconscious body being washed ashore. They quickly called for help and got her to the hospital.

"We tried calling your parents, but the call didn't go through... So we, um, we took the liberty of calling Sebastian…" one of the classmates explained awkwardly.

Another added, his tone tinged with disbelief and anger, "We told him you were in the hospital and asked him to come. But he said that you two had broken up, and you have nothing to do with him!"

Leona quietly listened, her expression unreadable. When she heard the words "nothing to do with him," a faint, almost imperceptible sneer tugged at her lips.

Look at that. That was the very same guy she had loved for so many years.

When he didn't love her anymore, his heart was harder than the rocks at the bottom of the lake.

Her classmates saw the look on her face and felt both uncomfortable and sorry for her. They began offering words of comfort.

Leona propped herself up and gave them a reassuring smile.

"Sebastian's right. We've broken up. From now on, I don't have anything to do with him," she said softly.

Her classmates exchanged uneasy glances, still not believing it. "How is that possible? Didn't you two make plans to go to Northsea University together?"

Leona lowered her gaze and quietly replied, "No, he and Maureen are going to Northsea University. I applied to…"

Before she could finish, the door to the room was suddenly flung open.

Leona's parents rushed in, their faces full of worry. "Nana! What happened? How did you fall into the lake? You scared us half to death!"

Her parents surrounded her, asking about her condition and making sure she was okay. Leona reassured them, but her mind wandered.

In a daze, she thought she saw a familiar tall figure by the door, wearing that black jacket she knew so well.

But when she looked again, the doorway was empty, and the only people passing by were medical staff and patients.

After confirming that Leona was fine, her parents completed the discharge paperwork.

Leona thanked her classmates and bade them goodbye.

For the next week, Leona focused on resting at home while she connected with a senior from Southsea University in her new student group chat, learning about the campus as well as booking her flight.

Her parents, watching her busy, seemed hesitant but eventually spoke up. "Nana, Sebastian's family is holding a celebration party for his college admission, and they've invited our family. What do you think?"

Leona stopped packing for a moment, then nodded quietly. "Okay, I'll go."

On the day of the party, Leona and her parents arrived on time with their gifts.

When she saw Sebastian, they merely nodded at each other without exchanging a single word.

Their parents immediately noticed the awkwardness and assumed their kids must have had some kind of disagreement.

Trying to smooth things over, Sebastian's mother, Olivia Walters, grabbed Leona's hand and laughed. "Nana, come over and sit here. Seb's just a little obstinate. You two will be going to university together soon, so make sure to be more considerate of each other, okay?"

Henry Kane, Sebastian's father, also patted Sebastian on the shoulder. "You should give in to Nana."

Sebastian silently stood to the side, his expression as cold as ever. He didn't even glance at Leona.

Leona took a deep breath, about to tell them she and Sebastian had broken up, when suddenly, the door opened with a commotion.

Holding a huge bouquet of bright sunflowers, Maureen walked in looking gorgeous and radiant. She greeted Henry and Olivia politely. "Hi, Mr. and Mrs. Kane! Sebastian, I've come to congratulate you!"

As soon as Sebastian saw Maureen, his cold expression melted away, and his eyes softened. Without waiting for a response from his parents, he naturally said, "You're here. Come in."

He completely ignored Leona and her parents, walking straight past them as he led Maureen in.

Henry's and Olivia's smiles turned awkward as they quickly ushered Leona's family inside. "Oh, come in, come in, please sit…"

The entire evening, Leona's parents couldn't take their eyes off Sebastian and Maureen.

They watched how Sebastian served Maureen food, how he drank on her behalf when others offered her, and how they whispered intimately to each other.

Gradually, their expressions shifted from confusion to understanding, and then to a deep sorrow for their daughter.

When Leona went to the restroom, her parents pulled her aside. Her mother, Teresa Burton, whispered, "Nana, tell me honestly, what's going on with you and Sebastian? Is he deliberately trying to make you jealous with that girl? You two have been childhood sweethearts for so long. Don't let something insignificant get between you."

Leona thought about the countless breakups and reconciliations over the years. Each time they briefly made up, it was always followed by him becoming even more hurtful toward her.

She shook her head, her voice tired but resolute. "Mom, this isn't something insignificant. I'm really ending things with him for good."

Then, she took a deep breath and finally revealed the decision she had kept buried for so long. "Actually, I changed my college application. I'm not going to Northsea University. I'm going to Southsea University."

Her parents were shocked, unable to speak as they stared at her.

Southsea University? That was a thousand miles away from Northsea University!

Before they could say anything, a loud gasp followed by a sudden crash echoed through the center of the hall.

Above them, a massive crystal chandelier suddenly plummeted from the ceiling, and right underneath it stood Sebastian and Maureen, laughing together.

In a split second, Sebastian's reflexes kicked in. He spun around, wrapping his body tightly around Maureen to shield her from the falling chandelier.

As the heavy chandelier struck his back and head, the impact sent shards of glass skittering across the floor with a bone-jarring crash.

Sebastian groaned, and blood quickly began to flow from his forehead and back. He staggered for a moment, then collapsed to the ground, losing consciousness.

The scene erupted into chaos. Screams, cries, and calls for help filled the room.

Soon, an ambulance arrived, promptly rushing the bloodied and unconscious Sebastian to the hospital.

Leona, her face pale, followed behind with her parents.

The lights in the surgery room remained on for a long time, and it wasn't until the doctor came out to announce that the surgery was successful and Sebastian was no longer in danger that everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

Leona's parents, seeing how hollow and dazed their daughter looked, sighed deeply but didn't say anything more. They quietly took her home.

The drive back was quiet, filled with the weight of things left unsaid.

After a long while, Teresa finally spoke softly. "Nana, have you really thought this through? Are you sure you want to break up with Sebastian?"

Leona stared out the window, watching the night scenery pass by her. Slowly, a faint, weary smile spread across her face, as if a great weight had been lifted from her shoulders. "Yes, I've made up my mind."

She added, "Mom, you saw for yourself today. The person he cares about is no longer me."

Leona's parents exchanged a look through the rearview mirror, their hearts aching for their daughter.

They remained silent for a long time, as if making up their minds.

Her father, Eric Langham, finally spoke. "Nana, since you've made your decision, your mother and I will support you."

He continued, "Actually, I've been planning to expand the company's business to the south. So, we'll be moving the company and our home there. That way, we'll be closer to you when you start your university term."

Leona froze, her eyes welling with tears as she looked at her parents, who were full of unconditional love and support for her. Her throat tightened before she nodded heavily, choking out, "Okay."

It seemed that in the future, she and Sebastian would never meet again.

For the next two weeks, Leona's family quietly prepared for the move.

It wasn't until the day they were to leave that they went to the Kane residence to say goodbye.

When Henry and Olivia heard that Leona and her family were moving and that Leona had definitively ended things with Sebastian, they were shocked and deeply regretful.

"Nana, we've always thought of you as our daughter-in-law… Seb is just confused right now…" Olivia grabbed Leona's hand, her eyes reddening.

Leona shook her head calmly, her voice soft but distant. "Mrs. Kane, puppy love doesn't last. We'll both find better partners in the future."

Henry and Olivia tried to persuade her, but when they realized she was firm in her decision, they could only sigh in disappointment.

Seeing that time was running out, Olivia pulled out her phone. "I'm going to call Seb right now! He needs to come back and see you off! That brat's nowhere to be found after he got better…"

The phone rang for a long time before being answered. Olivia hurriedly said, "Seb, where are you? Come back quickly! Nana's heading to the airport to go to her university today! She…"

On the other end, Sebastian cut her off. "She's leaving today? Oh. Maureen and I are going tomorrow. If she's leaving now, she can go on her own. I don't have time to see her off. Bye now."

Before Olivia could respond, the line went dead.