My husband sent me to prison for two years. After I was released from prison, I changed my name and moved abroad.

After seven years, we reunited in front of my brother’s grave.

Our eyes met and he stopped wiping the tombstone.

Shock, ecstasy and guilt flickered through his eyes in a rush of tangled emotion.

"Stacy, I've been looking for you for many years. I thought you... were gone too."

"Where have you been all these years and why haven't you contacted me once?"

Seeing that I was silent, he quickly wiped the corners of his eyes.

"You are avoiding me on purpose. Are you still remembering what happened in the past? I have my own reasons."

I still didn’t understand why he killed my brother, slept with his woman, or pushed me to survive.

But how dare he say those words in front of my brother’s grave?

Love and hate were luxuries I no longer had for him.

To me, he was nothing now.

——

Just an old friend I met again when both our hearts had gone quiet.

When I didn’t answer him, Oliver Hurley simply turned and walked away.

I knelt down and placed the white chrysanthemum I’d been holding in front of my brother’s grave.

In the photo, he still had that warm smile and those clear eyes. He would always be twenty-five.

If my brother were still alive, he would have picked me up at the airport that day, just like when I was young, ruffling my hair.

"Kid, why are you keeping such a straight face?"

No, if he was there, he would not allow me to be bullied into traveling far away.

I knelt down and gently touched my brother's grave with my fingertips. "Brother, I have good news for you..."

Before I finished speaking, Oliver returned, delivering a heavy bag in front of me. "I promised you before that I would personally make you a gift every birthday."

"I haven't seen you in years, so I’ve saved it all together here."

From small earrings, embroidered hats, to soft cashmere scarves.

It could be seen that he really put his heart into it. But I was indifferent.

His hands froze in mid-air and there was a bit of embarrassment and loss on his face.

"If you don't like it, I'll arrange for someone to prepare it again. Let's have a meal together at noon."

I rejected immediately, "No, I have something else to do."

He wanted to persist, but his cell phone rang. "Hubby, when will you come back? It's our seventh wedding anniversary today and I've booked the restaurant."

His fingers paused, stroking away the yellow leaves that had fallen in the wind.

Brother, this was the person you tried your best to protect.

You read it wrong.

I also believed it was wrong.

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

"Hubby, where are you? Why are there female voices around you?"

Oliver hung up the phone without saying a word, took out a mask from his coat pocket and handed it to me.

"You are allergic to cold air and cough when autumn comes. Remember to wear a mask at all times."

I turned my head away from him. "It's already healed."

I said goodbye to my brother, turned around and walked out. 

Oliver followed quickly.

If I remembered correctly, seven years ago he warned me never to show up in front of him again. So why was he clinging to me now?

A line of shared bicycles stood at the cemetery entrance. I scanned the code and unlocked one.

Just as I was about to pedal away, Oliver pulled up beside me in his Mercedes. "Stacy, are you still alone after all these years?"

Under the autumn sunshine, there was a hint of cautious expectation in his eyes.

I nodded without any further explanation.

I came back this time just to tell my brother in person that I was getting married.

I was so selfish that I just wanted to share this joy with my brother.

“Stacy, don’t try to show off by yourself. If you need help, come to me.”

"The number is still the same as before. It hasn't changed. I'm just afraid that when you want to contact me, you can't find it."

I couldn't help but twitch the corners of my lips.

Unexpectedly, I cut off all ties with my own hands and wished I could never see the person again.

Now he was showing such a deep and unrepentant attitude.

"No, I'm not interested in getting entangled with a married man."

I pedaled hard and the bicycle carried me along the long road covered with golden ginkgo leaves.

The wheels rustled over the fallen leaves.

I was once very familiar with this road.

When I was young, that was my favorite place to go for morning jogs and rides with my brother.

At that time, he always said that I was his follower, but he always slowed down and waited for me.

He liked to ruffle my hair and watch me dance.

He said that even when we were old—seventy or eighty—we would still walk this road together and enjoy the sun.

But now I was two years older than him.

I cycled all the way back to the old neighborhood where my brother was still alive.

Ever since my brother's accident, that place had been vacant.

Opening the rusty security door, a stale smell hit my face.

A group photo of four people hung in the living room, covered with dust.

Growing up, my brother and I depended on each other.

When I was sixteen, Oliver appeared in our lives.

He said my brother had saved him from drowning and given him a second chance at life. So he promised, “From now on, I’ll be your best brother.”

But he and I never got along. We clashed over the smallest things.

It wasn't until my senior year of high school trip that a mudslide occurred in the resort area.

The classmates were picked up by their parents one after another, but my brother was on a business trip out of reach.

The pouring silt instantly flooded the hotel.

I was pressed under the collapsed beams, silently waiting for death to come.

Oliver, however, ignored the current and dug upstream from dawn to dusk with his bare hands.

"Stacy, don't be afraid, I'm here!"

He carried me on his back all night.

It wasn't until I was taken to the hospital that I realized he had lost two shoes.

The feet were covered with crisscross wounds that turned white.

The nails on the ten fingers were broken and bloody.

“Hey, don’t cry. As long as you’re safe, it’s worth it even if I end up disabled!”

At that moment, he was my ultimate hero.

On New Year’s Eve, the three of us were setting off fireworks when a disheveled Kathryn Guzman showed up at our door.

She was the daughter of my brother’s teacher. Her family had gone bankrupt and she was hiding from the creditors chasing her.

My kind-hearted brother took everything on himself.

He quit the job he loved, went into business, drank until his stomach bled and brushed against death more than once.

In two years, he lost thirty pounds, paid off Kathryn’s debts and won her heart.

We toasted their future and swore we would always love each other and never be apart.

Just as I was lost in thought, I heard a key turning in the door.

The door opened and Kathryn and Oliver stood there suddenly. 

I forgot that we each had a key to this place.

"I heard from Oliver that you are back, so we guessed that you must be here."

"Why didn't you tell us that you were coming back so we could pick you up, Stacy?"

She stepped forward to hold my hand, but I avoided her.

"How can anyone live here? Come back with us. The nanny is on leave and has a room available."

I lowered my eyes and saw that the person in my family’s home was in this city.

I just came back to see my brother and later I was going to meet my in-laws, whom I had never met before.

I held out my hand to them, "Keys!"

This house was bought by my brother and it had my name on it.

It had nothing to do with either of them.

Oliver glanced at the photo in my hand with complicated eyes.

"Stacy, if Marion is here, he must also want to see the three of us doing well."

Kathryn turned away, not daring to look directly at the photo.

Oliver walked straight in, took off his suit jacket, rolled up his sleeves and picked up the broom behind the door.

"Kathryn, go open the window and get some air."

It took me back to many years ago.

The four of us often gathered there at that time.

My brother cooked, Kathryn helped and Oliver did housework. I was too busy pointing fingers.

The small house was filled with laughter and happiness, but now there was only silence.

I wiped the table clean and placed my brother's portrait upright on it.

In the photo, my brother smiles so gently.

Unexpectedly, the reunion of the four people would take place in this way.

Kathryn rushed over and slammed the portrait onto the table. "Okay, what are you doing with this?"

Seeing her panic, I couldn't help but sneer in my heart, ‘It turns out that she will also feel guilty and be embarrassed to face my brother's clear eyes.’

"Stacy, Kathryn is also worried about you. After all, people have died here."

"Don't you know best how my brother died?"

The broom in Oliver's hand fell to the ground with a clang.

The room was deathly silent except for the sound of the wind blowing outside the window.

In the second year after my brother got married, we all changed.

My brother’s company kept growing and he was often away from home for days at a time.

Then one day, he received an angel investment and was so excited he invited us out to celebrate.

Halfway through the meal, he received a call from Oliver who was absent, "Marion, I got into trouble, they cornered me in the bar."

Without a word, my brother dropped his fork and rushed out. 

He left—and never came back the same.

While protecting Oliver, he was struck on the back of the head with a wine bottle.

When Kathryn and I arrived at the hospital, we found him with his mind reduced to that of a five-year-old child.

He forgot everything except me as his sister.

My world was falling apart.

While I endured my grief and took care of my brother, I cruelly rejected Kathryn, “When my brother was healthy, he loved you the most. He wouldn’t want you to waste your life on him.”

“I’m making the decision for him—you two should get a divorce.”

Kathryn held my brother's hands tightly and cried until her heart broke. "I will not leave Marion, not even if I die."

She chose to stay without hesitation.

I gave up the inheritance rights of my brother's company and gave them all to Kathryn.

Oliver blamed himself so much that he couldn't help himself and he was locked in the room drunk and dreaming.

Until Kathryn kicked open the door and slapped him hard.

"If you want to be worthy of Marion, you must protect the company and this family for him."

From that day on, Oliver seemed to be a changed person.

He joined my brother's company and shouldered the burden of taking care of us.

At that time, I was immersed in great sadness and confusion about the future.

Oliver's company and support became my only driftwood.

He and I obtained a marriage certificate and swore before my brother's bedside that he would take care of me for the rest of his life.

Oliver's phone rang, interrupting my memories.

As if eager to get rid of the shackles of the old past, Kathryn became extremely talkative. "Don't blame Oliver. He is now the boss of a listed company and is very busy."

She flipped up her hair, deliberately revealing the huge diamond necklace around her neck. "This was my birthday gift last month. He went to a French auction to buy it and give it to me."

Oliver hung up the phone, "What were you talking about?"