Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Half an hour later, long after she was home, Elias finally replied.

"No need to look. If you had me sign it, it can't be anything bad for me."

So he wasn't going to look.

Of course. He was in a hurry to pick up a drunk Sylvia. How could he have time to check a document?

Even if it was right within his reach.

The rain fell all day, finally stopping the next evening.

Kaelen stayed home, silently deleting every post about her married life from all her social media accounts.

After she was done, she saw Sylvia’s new post.

It was a casual photo of her on a yacht, shot from a clever angle that just happened to show a man's long, slender hand.

Kaelen knew it was Elias's hand. She knew Sylvia was doing it on purpose.

But now, she couldn't bring herself to care about such childish games.

She turned off her phone, went to the kitchen, and started making a salad.

Just as she finished, Elias suddenly came home.

He was holding a cake box, which made Kaelen pause.

"You don't even like sweets. Why did you buy a cake?"

Elias walked over, frowning slightly when he saw her simple dinner.

"It's your birthday, did you forget? Is this all you're eating?"

Kaelen froze.

Her parents had divorced when she was four or five, and her grandmother had raised her.

After her grandmother passed away when she was a teenager, no one had ever celebrated her birthday again.

But for the three years she was married to Elias, he remembered every single year. No matter how busy he was, he always made it home to celebrate with her.

When she returned from a long trip, he would insist on picking her up from the airport, worried about her safety.

During thunderstorms, he knew she was scared and would gently hold her in his arms.

Kaelen once believed that these small gestures of care and kindness were a form of love.

Until their wedding anniversary a month ago. Elias had canceled their candlelit dinner, using work as an excuse.

Feeling dejected, she went to a bar to bring a jacket to Megan, only to run into Sylvia.

She was completely wasted, clinging to Elias―the man who was supposed to be working late―and refusing to let go.

Elias's face was grim as he tried to pull her hands off him.

"Sylvia, that's enough! Let go! What do you take me for? Something you can just throw away and pick up whenever you want?"

Sylvia ignored him, stubbornly wrapping her arms around his waist again and again.

Finally, Elias surrendered.

He stood there, motionless, his gaze fixed on her. His eyes were filled with a love he was trying to suppress, his voice laced with defeat.

"Sylvia, what do you want me to do?"

In that instant, the bag in Kaelen's hand fell to the floor.

The hands that held on tight through crowded streets, the umbrella tilted to shield her from the rain, the figure kneeling on the ground in a graduation gown to propose…

Every single one was proof that Elias had only ever loved Sylvia.

She had witnessed those moments herself, so she couldn't deny the truth.

Even after three years of marriage, even after she became his wife, even if she had his attention for a fleeting moment.

None of it mattered.

She had poured everything into this marriage, only to receive a broken, secondhand version of love that someone else had discarded.

So, as she looked at the number "24" on the cake, Kaelen felt nothing.

She gave a slight nod and said, "Thank you."

Elias lit the candles. "We're married, you don't have to be so formal," he said with a soft smile. "Make a wish."

She nodded and was about to stand when Elias's phone rang again.

Seeing the flicker of emotion in his eyes, Kaelen knew who was calling and sat back down.

Just as she expected, he hung up a minute later and left.

Listening to the sound of his car fading away, a bitter smile touched Kaelen's lips.

The room was dark, the flickering candlelight casting her lonely shadow on the wall.

She clasped her hands together and made her twenty-fourth birthday wish.

"This year, I don't want to be anyone's backup plan anymore."