The jade pendant traced an arc through the air and dropped into a trash can full of filth.

Vivienne laughed.

“You want it? Go fish it out.”

I glanced at her, then picked up the coat she'd draped over a chair and plunged it into the trash can——

Vivienne shrieked.

“That's my coat!”

I acted as if I couldn't hear her, using a clean section of the fabric to wipe the grime off the pendant.

Only after every trace of filth was gone did I turn to Andrew.

“We're done.”

Andrew let out a low laugh, not believing a word of it.

“Joy, threatening to break up every time we fight is getting really old.”

As he spoke, he shrugged off his own coat and draped it over Vivienne's shoulders.

“Wear mine for now.”

“I don't want it!” Vivienne yanked it off and threw it on the floor, grinding it under her heel.

I stared at that coat, a hollow ache spreading through my chest.

I'd worked part-time jobs for a full year to save up enough to buy it for him.

It wasn't worth as much as the cheapest thing hanging in Andrew's closet.

But when he'd unwrapped it, his eyes had gone red with emotion.

He'd said he couldn't bear to wear it, that even if it fell apart someday he'd keep it forever.

Well. Andrew would never have to worry about storing that cheap coat again.

Just like this, trampled underfoot along with everything I'd ever felt for him.

That worked out just fine.

On my way out of the private room I could still hear Vivienne throwing a tantrum,

and Andrew coaxing her without a shred of dignity.

The June wind cut strangely cold against my skin.

I went back to the apartment I shared with Andrew.

Shared was generous. He'd paid for everything when we first moved in.

Later, after I'd saved up enough from part-time work, I tried to give him my half, but he wouldn't take it.

I transferred every cent to his account now, labeled it rent.

For once, Andrew replied instantly.

【What's that supposed to mean? You trying to cut me out of your life?】

【Vivienne's been spoiled, she's got a temper. Don't take it personally.】

【I already sent the coat you gave me to get cleaned. I'm not throwing it away.】

【Joy, so what if you stay in Riverside City? I'll be right here with you.】

He still didn't understand.

He had no idea what his lie had done to me.

I could never again trust that boy who used to climb the orphanage wall just to sneak me out to play.

The glass marbles Andrew had tossed to me when we were kids,

the cicada he'd folded from a leaf,

the three lines of poetry he'd written during calligraphy practice,

I poured every last one of them out of the tin box and cinched the garbage bag shut.

I was dragging my suitcase downstairs to toss the bag when

Andrew came back.

He hurled his suitcase to the ground so hard the shell cracked open, though there was barely anything inside.

He was breathing hard when he turned on me.

“You're breaking up with me, moving out, and you don't even want to stay in Riverside City. Is this about the owner of that coffee shop where you work Sundays?”

Andrew didn't wait for an answer.

“Vivienne told me everything. She saw you laughing and chatting with that manager, and now he's moving up north, so you're just going to follow him……”

“Do you fall for anyone who's nice to you? Joy, are you really that desperate for love?”

I was almost numb.

The Andrew who'd cupped my face in his hands and sworn he would love me with everything he had. Where did that person go?

Why did everything change the moment Vivienne came back from overseas for high school?

My phone buzzed. An anonymous text.

【You want to break up with Andrew, right? Let me give you a hand.】

Andrew saw the screen light up and assumed I was texting someone else. His face went white with rage.

“I'm standing right here and you're already flirting with someone else? Have you no shame?!”

I couldn't hold back the bitter fury any longer.

“You're calling me shameless? Like you and Vivienne have any room to talk?!”

Andrew swung his hand at me, and I flinched, eyes shutting on instinct.

But the slap froze inches from my face. Not a hair closer.

Cold fury spread through his gaze.

“I never realized your mind was this filthy.”

I said nothing.

I just bent down, gathered my luggage, and didn't look at him again.

Clutching the overstuffed suitcase that wouldn't latch, I made the long walk back to Graceheart Orphanage.

Beds were tight, but when Director Harris heard I only needed a few days, she nodded and let me stay.

The next day, the water and electricity cut out without warning. Director Harris came to find me, sighing heavily.

“Joy, sweetheart, you know how tight funds have been. We barely have room as it is, and you're grown now. It'd really be better if you found somewhere else.”

I wanted to offer my part-time earnings to rent a room and cover a few months of utilities for everyone.

I went to talk it over with Director Harris, but I heard her on the phone before I could knock.

“Please, don't let the Curry family pull their funding yet. I've already told the girl to move out. Yes, within three days, I promise!”

“Mr. Curry can't possibly be short on cash for a yacht. Could you talk to him one more time……”

My fingers went white around the doorframe. Then, slowly, I let go.

It wasn't long before Andrew posted on Instagram.

The photo was a selfie angled at the fresh tattoo just below his collarbone, the skin still flushed red around it.

Vivienne's initials.

His caption read:

【Happy birthday Princess Vivienne! Didn't know what to get you so I bought a yacht. Anyone free tonight, come to the west-side marina.】

One of the comments said:

“Damn, Andrew finally ditched the charity case? About time! Congrats bro!”

Andrew replied ‘yep’ right as my thumb hit the like button.

At the same time, a video call from Andrew came through in my DMs.

His features were as sharp and handsome as ever.

But his tone was stiff, almost defensive.

“Today's Vivienne's birthday. I only got the tattoo because I couldn't think of a gift. It doesn't mean anything.”

I stared at the streamers glinting in the background behind him and murmured ‘mm’.

“And that comment I replied to, I was just mad about yesterday……”

Andrew cleared his throat.

“Why is it so dark where you are? I can barely see your face.”

When he was eight, Andrew used to crouch by the small hole in the orphanage's back wall and peer through it,

asking me:

“How come it's so dark in there? I can't even see your face.”

Back then I'd answered in a tiny, timid voice:

“We can't afford the electric bill. We have to save power.”

Little Andrew had blinked, then broken into a grin.

“Then I'll do a magic trick for you. Ten minutes and there'll be light in there!”

Ten minutes later, every light in the orphanage blazed on, and I could just make out Director Harris weeping with relief：‘We got funding.’

I hadn't known what funding meant then. I only knew that when Andrew said there would be light, there was.

I also knew this boy who climbed the wall to play with me,

who stepped in front of the rocks other kids threw at me,

who still grinned at me with those bright, crescent-moon eyes even as blood ran down his brow, was different from anyone else.

I hadn't spoken in a long time. Andrew broke the silence first.

“Vivienne said there might've been a misunderstanding and she wants to apologize. She's really just spoiled, Joy. She doesn't mean any harm.”

I had fought so hard to test out of Riverside City, to claw my way up high enough to stand beside Andrew.

And one careless stunt from Vivienne had sent me crashing back down.

That was "no harm."

I drew a long breath and swallowed the bitterness whole.

“Are you done? Then I'm hanging up.”

I ended the call before he could answer.

Outside the window, fireworks burst in huge blooms across the sky. Every kid in the orphanage pressed against the glass to watch.

When the final volley rose, the sparks converged into the shape of Vivienne's face.

Vivienne sent me a selfie moments later. Her and Andrew, standing together on the deck of the yacht.

“Some people, you could take ninety-nine steps toward them and still never reach them.”

She wasn't wrong. So I stopped walking toward Andrew.

I turned off my phone and lay in bed,

listening to the fireworks outside rage on for a full three hours before they finally died.

The next morning, someone grabbed me by the collar and hauled me out of bed.

I had rarely seen Andrew wear an expression like that.

Both eyes bloodshot, fury and disappointment burning beneath them.

“I never thought you'd stoop to something that disgusting to try and destroy Vivienne.”

His phone screen was shoved so close it nearly touched my nose.

Someone had distributed flyers around school, printed with photos of Vivienne and a man whose face was hidden walking into a hotel.

On the forums, wave after wave of anonymous accounts mocked Vivienne, calling her cheap and shameless.

Andrew shouted at me.

“Vivienne cried all night. She's in the hospital! If something happens to her, can you afford to pay for that?!”

A crowd had gathered outside the door, their eyes crawling over me like snakes, like stinging ants.

“So you think it was me?”

Andrew didn't even hesitate.

“If not you, then who?”

My nails dug through the bedsheet until I felt the sting of torn skin.

That was when Vivienne appeared in the doorway with a group of people behind her.

“Andrew, don't waste your breath on her. All she knows how to do is play the victim!”

She looked as if she'd swallowed every injustice in the world, dabbing endlessly at the tears pooling in the corners of her eyes.

“Trash her stuff. Let's see if she admits it then!”

Dread shot through me. I tried to stand, but Andrew pinned me down.

“I said it wasn't me!”

Several people barged in carrying cans of paint and started splashing it across everything in the room.

The fumes hit so hard my eyes watered instantly.

Something flickered behind Andrew's eyes. Pain, maybe.

“The innocent have nothing to hide. If it turns out it wasn't you, I'll make Vivienne apologize.”

Right then, a bodyguard dragged in someone wearing a face mask.

The second that person saw me, they burst into tears.

“Lady, when you paid me to spread those rumors, you didn't say I'd get beaten up!”

“I don't want the money anymore. Just tell them to let me go!”

They held up their phone, showing a screenshot of a payment transfer.

My eyes went wide.

“I don't even know you!”

Andrew cut me off, impatient.

“Enough. Stop making excuses.”

He turned to Vivienne, his voice softening like consolation.

“Today, you can do whatever you want to make yourself feel better.”

Vivienne's gaze drifted to the nightstand, landing on the photo frame lying facedown.

She picked it up with two fingers, then flicked open a lighter.

My voice cracked into something I didn't recognize.

“Don't burn it!!”

It was the last photograph of my parents. The only one left after they died.

I could no longer remember what their voices sounded like. Without that photo, there would be nothing left of them at all.

Vivienne scoffed.

“Scared now? Should've thought about that before.”

‘Click.’ A small, clean sound. The flame caught the edge of the photo and swallowed it whole, curling it into ash in seconds.

“No!!” I lunged forward.

“Joy! A photo can be restored, but spreading rumors like that is going too far! How can you still not see you're wrong?!”

Andrew barely held me down, the veins in his arms bulging as he locked my wrists.

Wrong? I was wrong, all right.

That year, I never should have spoken to the boy on the other side of the wall.

We were never from the same world.

I stared at the ash on the floor without blinking,

didn't even feel it when Vivienne tilted my face up.

She picked up a paint brush and dragged a big, slow X across my face, laughing so hard she could barely stand.

“That's what you get for messing with me.”

“Come on, Andrew. Take her out and show everyone what happens to people who cross me.”

Every last ounce of strength had drained from my body. They dragged me into a car and drove all the way to the school auditorium.