"Joey, do you think if you hit me, your Auntie will like you more or hate you more?” he asked. "Don't forget! Your feelings for her can never be a reality. Leslie will never accept this kind of love."

His words drained the fight out of me. I slumped to the ground, silent and defeated.

However, he wasn’t done yet. Right before my eyes, he took out his phone and dialed Auntie’s number.

Before I could figure out what he was about to do, with a panicked voice, he yelled loudly to the phone, "Leslie! Joey has gone crazy! He didn’t just hit me, he tried to kill me!”

My auntie had not had a chance respond, before he hung up abruptly. Then, with a sudden, violent motion, he dragged me and leaped into the pool with me in tow.

The sharp, chemical sting of chlorine filled my nose as he shoved me underwater.

I could not swim, moreover I suffered from claustrophobia. So, I became panic.

My limbs were flailing wildly, I felt as though I were being swallowed by an unending whirlpool. My vision blurred, my senses dulled and I spiraled deeper into fear.

In the haze, I thought I saw Auntie leaping into the water, reaching out her hand toward me. For a fleeting moment, I believed salvation was at hand. However, her hand passed me by and she grabbed him instead.

***

When I woke up, I was in the hospital room. Beside me, sat an imposing middle-aged man. He looked sternly at me while his mouth chewing gum. It was Harry.

"Harry," I croaked weakly. "Why am I here?"

Harry raised his hand as if to flick my forehead, but then sighed heavily and dropped it. He just said I was the one who pulled you out. Have you packed your things for the trip?”

I nodded faintly.

There wasn’t much to pack. A few clothes and I could leave this place behind.

“I don’t even need to ask to know who’s behind this,” Harry said grimly. “That guy, the one from the Lombart Family. He must’ve done something to you, didn’t he?”

“President Morris always spoiled you back then. Even the slightest argument and she’d fight tooth and nail for your sake. She turned down countless big deals just for you.”

“Yet now … how did it come to this?” He sighed deeply.

Harry’s words brought back vivid fragments of the pool incident. Yet, I did not answer his question, Instead, I asked, “Where … where is Auntie?”

He hesitated before nodding toward the door.

I dragged myself out of the bed and shuffled toward the door. As I peered through the gap, I could just see the room across the hall.

Auntie was sitting by the bed. In her hand, she was holding a bowl of porridge. She carefully blew on each spoonful before feeding it to him, the man from the Lombart Family.

As if on cue, the damn man noticed me. With a smirk, he wrapped an arm around Auntie’s waist and flashed me a triumphant, mocking wink.

There was a time when Auntie never left my side in a hospital. Even the smallest scratch would make her fuss over me, bandaging my wounds and soothing my pain.

Yet now? She knew I couldn’t swim, knew I had claustrophobia and knew how close I came to dying, but still, she chose to save him first.

A bitter smile tugged at my lips. Yet, beneath the surface, the pain began to ease, replaced by a strange, quiet calm. The turmoil in my heart subsided. It made me able to look at them without flinching.

Finally, Auntie noticed me. Her expression frosted over as she stood to shut the door in my face.

I stepped forward and stopped her.

“Auntie,” I said softly, “whatever happened, I just want to say to you that tomorrow, for your birthday, I’ll be at home waiting for you. Consider it my last request. Can you grant me this?”

Auntie hesitated for a moment. When she looked at my pleading expression, she finally nodded. Then, she closed the door, shutting me out.

The doctor soon came by to assure me that I was fine, I just inhaled a bit of water.

After saying goodbye to Harry, I headed out to buy groceries, determined to make Auntie a proper birthday meal. I even started preparing the ingredients for her birthday cake.

Yet, Auntie did not come home that night. Even when the clock struck at midnight, marking the time of her birthday, she still did not come home.

I told myself she must have been delayed by something important. Yet deep down, I knew better. Auntie had never let anything else come before spending time with me on her birthday.

I stayed up until dawn and prepared a bowl of longevity noodles for breakfast, yet she did not come home.

I waited for her until lunchtime and started to bake a cake for her but she still did not show up.

When the cake was done and dinner prepared, the house remained empty. Only silence and loneliness kept me company.

From dusk to dawn, in the darkness, I looked at the lonely window. Then I realized that I could not wait for her anymore.

When I glanced at the TV from the corner of my eyes, there she was, standing with that man who was from the Lombart Family. In the TV, they were standing in front of an exhibition hall, arm in arm, holding up a piece of art together.

However, the more I looked at that work, the more familiar it looked and the more I was shocked. Wasn't this the birthday present I was going to give Auntie?

I heard the man on the TV say proudly, "I opened this exhibition today for two purposes. The first one is, I want to show you my works, on the other hand, I want to introduce you to my fiancée, the president of Morris Group, Leslie, President Morris!"

“Today is also her birthday, so this piece of work in my hand that has consumed several years of my energy, a portrait of President Morris made from countless beautiful butterfly specimens, is given to her as a birthday gift!”

Rage erupted within me like a wildfire.

Rushing to my workspace, I compared his so-called masterpiece to my original. They were identical in every detail. He had stolen my art piece! My work!

As a small-time specimen artist with a modest online following, I’d shared bits and pieces of my process before. Now, the backlash hit me like a tidal wave.

“Unbelievable! Turns out all those details you posted were plagiarized!”

“I knew it! A small-time influencer like you trying to imitate a big-name artist? I actually thought you were talented!”

“Shameless. Mr. Lombart has been famous for ages and you dare to copy him? Look at that exhibition, how many pieces are identical to yours!”

He hadn’t just stolen one piece but he had replicated my entire portfolio. With his earlier fame and conveniently earlier timestamps, the internet was convinced I was the fraud.

I stared at the butterfly specimen in my hands, the one I’d poured so much heart and effort into. A strange calm settled over me as I tossed it into the flames.

How had he gotten access to my private work? I had never published my work. I didn’t want to think about the role Auntie might have played in this betrayal.

She would never accept the feelings I had for her. That much was clear.

After packing my things and securing the house, I finally replied to Harry, who had been urging me to join him at the dock for hours.

In my heart, I said a silent farewell, "Goodbye, Auntie. Goodbye forever.

I hadn’t been gone long when my phone buzzed with a series of furious messages.

“Joey, where are you? Why are you vanishing like this? Are you serious? How childish can you get?”

"Don't you understand? Your feelings for me will only invite endless gossip and scandal. They shouldn't exist!"

"Stop acting childish. I'll give you one day to show up in front of me, immediately!"