Skye's POV

At the auction, Mr. Number 1 successfully bid on a diamond ring worth 100 million. I smiled warmly and congratulated him.

Midway through, he left the event, casually telling me to bid as I pleased. However, private messages soon flooded his phone on the seat beside me.

[Mr. Carlson is really a romantic—buying a birthday gift for his first love with his ‘canary’ in tow. A true role model for us all.]

[Well, the canary’s just a toy for fun. The one he truly loves is his first love.]

[Right? It's been seven years, and he still can’t forget Alanna. But honestly, doesn’t the girl who’s been by his side for seven years mean anything to him?]

[Hey! Don’t insult his love, dude. Wait until Alanna comes back. Then you’ll see what real love looks like.]

After reading those, I tossed aside his phone and messaged my brother overseas.

[Hey, is your lab still hiring?]

——

When I got home, Derick Carlson placed the ring box on the table. Then, without warning, he pushed me onto the couch.

“Skye, did you miss me?” he murmured and leaned forward to kiss me.

But I turned my head and dodged his kiss. As such, confusion consumed his face as he stared at me.

Before he could say anything, I stood up and grabbed his tie, fiddling with it as hope flickered in my eyes.

“Derick, didn’t you say we’d get married as soon as I graduated?”

Immediately, his expression darkened slightly, but his voice remained calm.

“Skye, just wait a little longer. The company is at a critical stage of financing right now. I can’t focus on marriage.”

He also added, “Besides, rushing things wouldn’t be fair to you. Let’s wait three more years. When the company goes public, I’ll give you a grand proposal.”

The same excuse—for the third time.

When I was finishing my undergraduate degree, he told me to wait until graduation. But when I completed my master’s, he said the same. Now, with only three days left before I earned my doctorate, he was asking for three more years.

But this time, I couldn’t bring myself to wait any longer.

Derick watched me grow up. He was five years older than me and was one of my brother’s best friends.

The first time I met him, I was in high school, crying over a physics problem I couldn’t solve. Back then, he crouched down, gently wiped my tears, and patiently explained the problem to me.

Sunlight streamed over him, and the breeze tousled his hair as he leaned closer. Witnessing such magnificence, I couldn’t help but blush.

From that moment, I fell for him and poured myself into studying physics, nurturing a three-year crush.

I fought my way into his university, and on the first day of school, he came to pick me up. That was the first time I mustered the courage to confess.

“Derick, I like you.”

To my surprise, a faint smile tugged at his lips as he wordlessly pulled me into an embrace and kissed me.

Even now, thinking back to that moment makes my face flush.

I thought I was the luckiest person for having my first love as my boyfriend.

But now, I saw the truth. I was not lucky at all. I’d only ever been a stand-in, a substitute for his first love, Alanna Snee.

How could a replacement ever take the place of the real thing?

Marriage? That was just Derick’s excuse to keep me by his side. As long as Alanna stayed abroad, I’d remain his caged canary.

His lies had clipped my wings time and again, keeping me willingly trapped in this cage.

Even now, I can’t seem to break free.

Over the past seven years, marrying Derick had become my obsession.

At this moment, one stubborn thought fills my mind: To hell with Alanna. Once Derick and I are married, he’ll be mine.

Standing up, I forced a smile.

“It’s okay. I don’t need a wedding. Let’s just get the marriage license tomorrow, alright?”

His hand froze slightly, and he looked at me with a rare seriousness.

“Skye, don’t be unreasonable.”

Unreasonable?

I’d made plenty of unreasonable demands before, and he’d always indulged me.

Skye's POV

“Derick, I don’t like you having a female assistant.” And just like that, he replaced all his secretaries with men.

“Derick, I want to eat Parisian pastries.” He’d wake up at dawn to stand in line and buy them for me.

“Derick, I wish I could see you as soon as I leave the lab.” The next day, he was at the school gates waiting to pick me up.

My classmates envied me. To them, I had the perfect boyfriend who always knew how to take care of me.

But when it came to marriage, that one request suddenly made me "unreasonable."

For the first time, I saw annoyance flash in Derick’s eyes when he looked at me. I realized then—I had made a mistake.

A bitter laugh escaped my lips. “Derick, I was joking. I just graduated! I still have so much I want to do. Marriage? I’m not ready either.”

He exhaled slowly, his shoulders relaxing, and cupped my face gently with his warm hands.

“Skye, don’t worry. I’ll keep my promises to you.”

I nodded, and we silently agreed to drop the topic.

But I knew. Seven years had passed, and he’d endured it all. Once his little first love returned, he could cast me aside without hesitation.

What can I do, though?

Derick, this time, I’ll leave you first.

We sat together on the couch in silence for a long while, the tension between us hanging heavily in the air.

All of a sudden, his phone rang, breaking the stillness.

Startled, he glanced at the screen, then smiled warmly and walked into his study to answer.

Quietly, I followed and stood outside the door. For the first time in seven years, I heard a woman’s voice on one of Derick’s calls.

“Derick, I’m coming back.”

“Derick, do you blame me for leaving all those years ago?”

“I still love you. Do you still love me?”

The man inside stayed silent for what felt like an eternity. At that moment, I was more nervous than Derick himself. I found myself praying—begging the heavens—for him to reject her.

But fate had other plans. Even the gods must have grown tired of my foolishness.

His answer finally came, shattering me completely.

“I love you.”

Those three words—what I had longed to hear for seven years—were not meant for me.

Derick had never said “I love you” to me. The closest he ever came was, “Skye, I like you.”

Even in our most intimate moments, when I whispered, “Derick, I love you,” all I got in return was his raspy, “Skye, I like you too.”

I had once argued with him over it and moved back to my dorm in a fit of fury. That night, he stood outside my dorm building, waiting for me until dawn. Looking haggard, he begged me not to leave him and also said he liked me a lot.

Looking at the man who seemed so heartbroken, I couldn’t bring myself to leave him.

Now, it finally hit me. Derick was capable of loving someone. But not just me.

When he came out of the study, I was already lying in bed, pretending to be asleep.

He leaned down and whispered softly in my ear, “Skye, Paris has some new pastries. I’ll go get them for you.”

Half-asleep, I mumbled my agreement.

When I heard the door close behind him, I sat up instantly, fully awake. I then quickly got dressed and followed him.

He drove to a five-star restaurant, where his friends were already waiting at the entrance. When they saw him, they couldn’t resist teasing.

“Derick, have you already tuck Skye in?"

"You're now planning for Miss Alanna’s birthday party, huh? You sure have the energy to spare.”

“Miss Snee is coming back soon. Better hide Skye before she finds out!”

“Derick, treating Skye like this—do you think Piers will let you off the hook?”

Derick’s expression darkened with irritation. “Enough. Stop wasting time and get to work. Skye’s been acting crazy, insisting on marriage. It took me forever to shut her down. Don’t let anything slip, got it?”

Skye's POV

"In just two days, Alanna will be back. Seven years of waiting are finally coming to an end—we can’t afford any mistakes now."

Laughter erupted among the group after Derick’s announcement.

“Marriage? Bro, when Miss Alanna left for abroad all those years ago, you were bawling like a kid at the airport, swearing you’d marry her as soon as she came back.”

“Yeah! Don’t tell me you’ve fallen for the little one now.”

“Seriously, man, jokes are fine, but don’t mess around with marriage. If you do, you’ll have to grovel in Alanna’s ‘hell hath no fury’ zone.”

Derick smirked, unbothered. “Didn’t I already reject her? The only person I’ve ever wanted to marry is Alanna. She’s my dream.”

Hiding in the shadows, I felt tears blur my vision.

So, I had never been a part of Derick’s future—not from the very beginning.

I stumbled away from the scene, the cold night air hitting me like a slap in the face.

'Skye, if love isn’t yours to have, let it go,' I thought to myself in resignment.

Derick didn’t come home until the next morning but left warm Parisian pastries on the table, just like he always did.

When he saw me barefoot, he immediately rushed over and scooped me up, placing me on the couch.

“You never wear shoes. If your stomach cramps up during your period, don’t expect me to help,” he scolded lightly.

I laughed, tucking my feet under a cushion.

Derick knew my cycle like clockwork. Every time the pain made me pale, he’d hold me close, keeping my stomach warm.

But in two days, the person in his arms wouldn’t be me anymore.

When he held out a pastry to me, I shook my head.

No matter how sweet, love that doesn’t belong to you is just an illusion. Like pastries that taste overly sugary, they leave only bitterness behind.

“Derick, my advisor just called for a meeting, and I’m already running late. I’ll eat it when I get back.”

Before he could respond, I darted into the elevator, unable to bear sharing the same space with him any longer.

The moment I realized he didn’t love me, I should’ve understood—I didn’t belong here anymore.

For the first time, I lied to him. The truth was, there were no meetings. Apart from tomorrow’s graduation ceremony, I had nothing left at school.

At the café, I video called my brother.

His job was highly restrictive, and calls or video calls were always strictly scheduled. When he saw me, his first words were: “Are you and Derick now over?”

My brother had strongly opposed my relationship with Derick from the start, though he never told me why. Over time, as I gushed endlessly about Derick’s many virtues, he reluctantly came around.

Years ago, when Alanna invited me to study abroad, I chose to stay in the country for graduate school, unwilling to endure a long-distance relationship.

But I had always dreamed of working in an international lab.

This time, there was nothing holding me back. I was finally free to spread my wings and fly.

“Yeah, Alanna’s coming back,” I murmured, a silent understanding passing between us.

My brother, Piers Alvarez, stared at me through the screen, his expression somber. After a long pause, he finally spoke.

“I'll buy you a ticket for tomorrow, okay?”

Tears streamed down my face as I nodded.

Within three minutes, a flight confirmation appeared on my phone: [July 7th, 12:12 a.m.]

It wasn’t just any date. It was Alanna’s birthday.

Derick was meticulous to a fault. He even marked Alanna’s birthday down to the minute.

I’d once found those numbers written on the cover of a locked journal while tidying up the house. Back then, I thought they were scribbled absentmindedly.

Now I knew—the faded numbers represented seven years of his devotion to Alanna.

From the café window, I watched Derick’s car speed past before I returned home.

Once there, I pulled out my suitcase and started packing.