No one in the room seemed to have expected that I would one day stop fighting with Elaine. After all, just four months ago, we had a very public confrontation at the airport. The media later mocked me as the pathetic wife who had already lost.

At the time, we had arrived in Cascade City on the same day. I was the woman whose husband had not accompanied her home for Christmas. She was the adopted sister my husband had just returned from vacation with.

It was my fifth year of marriage to Julian.

For the previous four Christmases, I was not able to spend the holiday with my parents even once. The Carter family had always believed that since I had married into their family, I should spend the holidays with them.

This year, I finally decided I was not going to give in anymore.

"I want to spend Christmas with my parents."

Julian did not even look up.

"I need to be with my family too." His tone was as casual as if he were discussing the weather. "If you want to go, then go by yourself."

My parents were overjoyed to see me. The whole family gathered around, asking if I was doing well, whether anyone had mistreated me, and whether I was happy. Whenever they asked about Julian, all I could say was that he was busy.

I wanted to call him and ask him to at least send my parents his regards. I dialed his number, but the call was declined. I dialed again, only for the call to be declined again.

No one answered.

Then, I saw the photos Elaine posted online. The background was a beautiful beach.

The caption read: [Thanks to my amazing photographer brother.]

I looked away from the screen and met my parents' warm, hopeful eyes. For the first time, I felt a deep exhaustion settle into my bones.

Now, in the present moment, I was curious. The moment I saw him, I said, "Julian, you said you were busy, too busy to come home with me. But somehow, you had time to be Elaine's personal photographer."

I stared at him. "Do the two of you have no sense of boundaries at all? You're not even biological siblings.

"Julian, you're a married man. Yet every few days, Elaine calls, saying something hurts or that she doesn't feel well, and one phone call is enough to pull you away from me. Even when we're together as husband and wife. Even when you're in the middle of taking a shower, she's calling you.

"Don't either of you think that's crossing the line?"

Julian's eyes darkened. "Laura, Elaine is my sister. Stop using your filthy imagination to judge us."

His expression turned colder. "Are you trying to make headlines again? Haven't you embarrassed yourself enough already?"

As if she could not bear hearing my words, Elaine lowered her head and quietly started crying beside him.

Without a second thought, Julian grabbed my arm. "Apologize to Elaine. Right now."

I laughed so hard that tears came to my eyes.

"Julian, why should I apologize to someone who inserted herself into my marriage and helped destroy my family?"

His grip tightened, and pain shot through my arm. It felt as though my bones were being crushed.

Julian bent down, staring directly into my eyes. Every word came out cold and deliberate.

"What family did she destroy? Laura, get one thing straight. Even if I hadn't married you, I would've married someone else. However, Elaine and I grew up together. We're the ones who will always be family."

His gaze remained fixed on mine.

"And don't forget. I told you a long time ago, I don't love you. This marriage happened because you begged for it."

The first time I met Julian was on a snowy mountain. A blizzard had rolled in, not catastrophic, but dangerous enough. I still remember the moment he skied toward me and grabbed my wrist. "Come with me."

Maybe it was the dependence that fear creates, or maybe it really was love at first sight.

When Julian turned his head and told me, "Don't be scared," my heart skipped a beat. Later, I asked around at school and found out who he was.

One of my classmates winked at me. "Oh, that ridiculously handsome guy? He's just as famous as you are. You two would make the perfect match."

I chased after Julian for a very long time, just like every dating guide told me to. I invested my time, my money, and my energy, giving him everything I had and then some, convinced that one day he would finally love me back.

Then, one day, Julian came to find me. His adopted sister was seriously ill. My tissue type was a match.

I looked at his sincere expression. With one finger, I gently pressed the deep crease between his brows.

"I'll help. However, I have one condition."

I looked straight into his eyes. "I want to marry you. Will you try to fall in love with me?"

Julian extended his hand. Then, he hooked his pinky around mine. In that moment, we made a promise, a promise that became our marriage.

I had believed that love could grow with time, and I had believed that sincerity could move mountains; that enough devotion could melt even the coldest heart.

After all those years, I finally understood. It had all been nothing more than my own wishful thinking. I had been nothing more than a moth drawn to a flame.

Ever since that day at the airport, my marriage with Julian, which had never been particularly close to begin with, seemed to have grown even more distant.

The Carter family had always maintained a tradition of going to church on New Year's.

Elaine had been sick for days. She was down with a fever, was dizzy, and experienced weakness that refused to go away.

One day, my devout mother-in-law suddenly turned her attention to me. "Perhaps someone brought something into this house that shouldn't have been brought back. We should invite a priest to perform a blessing ceremony."

Julian stood nearby with a calm expression, saying nothing.

I could not help laughing. "Julian, you're really just going to stand there and watch them blame everything on me?"

He pressed his tongue against the inside of his cheek. "They're worried about Elaine. And it's only a blessing ceremony. It'll give everyone peace of mind."

However, it was not nearly as simple as he made it sound.

When I tried to refuse, nobody listened. My objections were effortlessly drowned out. They took me to a prayer room behind the church.

As the priest recited scripture, he repeatedly sprinkled holy water over my hair, face, and shoulders. Cold droplets slid down my skin. Someone held my shoulders down, preventing me from leaving.

They chanted prayers over and over, as though they had already decided I was the source of the family's bad luck.

Humiliation crashed over me like a tidal wave, leaving my nose stinging and my eyes burning. Even so, I refused to cry. I gritted my teeth and stayed silent, knowing that no one there felt sorry for me. If I shed a single tear, I would only make myself the punchline of another joke. By the time it was over, I had gone completely numb.

There was a heavy ache in my lower abdomen, a tearing pain that grew worse with every passing second.

Then, I felt it. Warm blood slowly ran down my thigh.

That was the reason I wanted to return to Cascade City. There was something I wanted to tell Julian. I wanted to tell him I was pregnant.

I wanted to ask him, after all these years, if he had ever grown to love me—even a little. I wanted to ask if we could raise this child together.

However, I never got the chance.

I never would.

…

Outside the room, I could still hear Julian softly comforting Elaine.

"Julian, is it over?" she asked. "Let's go home."

"Okay," Julian replied.

They had come together as a loving family, and they left together as one.

The breeze stirred by the corner of his coat swept past the doorway. In that moment, it completely extinguished the last flickering spark that had been struggling to survive inside my heart.

In the end, years of memories amounted to only a handful of moments when I looked back on them.

I pulled my gaze away from Julian and the shattered ceramic pieces beside him.

"So, we're done now? Can I leave?"

…

The next time I woke up, I was pulled from a light sleep by a commotion downstairs. It took me a moment to figure out what was happening.

Julian's friends had been teasing Elaine about when she planned to get married and whether they should introduce her to someone. Apparently, they had pushed the joke too far.

Elaine was crying so hard her voice had gone hoarse.

"I don't want to get married. I don't want to leave my brother."

With tears clouding her eyes, she looked at Julian. "You promised you'd marry me when we grew up. You lied to me. I won't marry anyone except you. Can I stay by your side forever?"

An awkward silence fell over the room. Everyone looked uncomfortable, unsure how to respond.

Watching the scene unfold, I could not resist joining in. My voice sounded surprisingly cheerful.

"Sure." I smiled.

"Why don't your brother divorce me and marry you instead?"

Julian's head snapped toward me. He stared for a long moment, then something seemed to click in his mind.

"Fine. I'll have the divorce papers brought over right now." He gave a short laugh. "You can hurry up and make room for Elaine. How's that sound?"

Less than ten minutes later, the divorce agreement was placed in my hands. Julian tapped the document with one finger. "I had this drafted on the day we got married. At least it didn't go to waste."

A sharp, untimely ache twisted in my chest. I pushed it down. Then, stroke by stroke, I carefully signed my name.

When Julian left with Elaine tucked against his side, he glanced back at me. His expression was as careless as ever. "Laura, I hope you stick with it longer this time. Don't come crying and begging me later."

I later heard that Julian's friends started a betting pool. The wager? How long it would take before I went crawling back to him and asked for reconciliation. The whole thing sounded like a bad joke. I forgot about it almost immediately.

After the long waiting period finally passed came the day I was set to leave Cascade City. The weather was beautiful.

…

The moment my plane lifted off the runway, Julian pushed open the door to his office. He spoke to his assistant while grabbing his coat.

"I'm going to find Laura."

There was obvious impatience in his voice. "Does she think marriage and divorce are some kind of game? She wants to divorce me now, but later, she'll come back to cling to me again."

He scoffed. "It's not going to be that easy."

His assistant hesitated. His lips parted, then closed again. Finally, he said, "Mr. Carter… Ms. Rogers has already left."

Before Julian could respond, his assistant placed a box on the desk. "Before she left, she asked me to give this to you."

He paused. "She said to consider it your birthday gift."