“Today is… Valentine’s Day?”
Ethan repeated the question, momentarily stunned.
Today was the anniversary of when he marked me, but he had forgotten.
He had planned to finish the wedding ceremony today and then comfort me afterward.
He had prepared many explanations, but never imagined that his daughter and I wouldn’t wait for him.
Outside the window, the impatient honking of car horns interwove endlessly. A bone–chilling wind blew in from outside.
He suddenly remembered how, in the early days of our relationship, he would climb through my window in similarly cold winds.
Back then, I would always pull him inside with concern.
I would lovingly offer him ginger tea and hand warmers I had prepared in advance.
Now, all of that was gone.
In the front seat, the driver continued honking dutifully, but the line of cars refused to budge even an inch.
Ethan wiped his face, as if making some kind of resolution:
“Open the door. I’ll run there myself.”
The road to the airport was so long.
When Ethan finally reached the airport, the taste of iron filled his mouth.
He stared blankly at the airport staff, as if he couldn’t understand her words:
“The passengers you mentioned took off an hour ago.”
He looked at the empty waiting area, feeling like a piece of his heart was missing.
It was as if someone he had always taken for granted had suddenly disappeared.
At this thought, Ethan suddenly laughed out loud.
How could this be?
How could Autumn bear to leave him?
She… wouldn’t leave him…
In a trance–like state, he returned to the car and ordered the driver to take him to his office.
Avoiding his mistakes, as if by not confronting them, everything would return to normal
That’s how he was when he lied to me.
That’s how he was when he hurt Lily.
The phone rang. It was Victoria.
“Ethan, where did you go? Are you planning to abandon the Mating Ceremony halfway?”
The voice he once loved most sounded frail yet hysterical.
She seemed helpless without him, completely different from me.
If Victoria was a dodder plant, then I was a trumpet vine.
nto
Full of vitality, not relying on any tree, able to grow toward the sun on my own.
Ethan pressed his tongue against his cheek, finding the dodder plant tasteless for the first time.
He answered casually: “Yeah, I’m done.”
After saying this, regardless of how Victoria screamed on the other end, Ethan hung up.
He leaned back in the leather seat, staring at the ceiling of the car.
+15 Bonus
.15 Bonus
For the first time, he truly realized what he had lost.
The driver cleared his throat nervously. “Alpha, where to now? The pack house or your office?”
Ethan closed his eyes. “Take me home.”
“The main house, sir?”
“No. The villa. Where Autumn and Lily were staying ”
When he arrived, the villa was eerily quiet. He pushed open the door, half–expecting to see Lily running toward him, arms
outstretched for a hug.
But there was nothing but silence.
In the backyard, the smoldering remains of a fire caught his attention. Walking closer, he saw charred fragments of photos–the edges of smiling faces turned to ash.
Every trace of Autumn and Lily had been methodically removed.
It was as if they had never existed
Ethan wandered through the empty rooms, eventually stopping in Lily’s bedroom. A forgotten stuffed wolf–his first gift to her -lay abandoned in the corner.
He picked it up, remembering how her eyes had lit up when he gave it to her.
“Your wolf will al
wolf will always protect you,” he had promised.
Another broken promise.
His phone buzzed with messages from Victoria, from the pack Elders, from his grandmother–all demanding to know where he was, why he had abandoned the ceremony.
He ignored them all.
