Chapter 1

On my birthday, Maya suddenly announced she was getting married.

She shoved my confession gift back into my hands with a cold look.

"Leo, I've always seen you as a younger brother. Please, don't make this difficult for us."

"You mentioned wanting to study abroad in London, right? I've already finished the paperwork. You leave at the end of the month."

I accepted everything in silence. Before I left, I erased every trace of my existence from her life.

Years later, as I was exchanging rings with my new bride, Maya stormed the stage in a mess.

With bloodshot eyes, she grabbed my arm and begged to know one thing.

She wanted to know if my promise to marry her still counted.

1

At my birthday party, Maya brought home a fiancé she had been dating for barely two months.

After we cut the cake, she reached out to wipe a bit of frosting from the corner of my mouth.

She smiled at me, though it didn't reach her eyes.

"So, what did you wish for this year?"

I kept my head down, focused on my plate. It took me a long time to whisper a response.

"The same thing as always."

The atmosphere turned icy the moment those words left my lips. Maya's smile vanished.

She stood up straight and placed the largest slice of cake in front of her fiancé, Hudson.

Then, she cleared her throat to get everyone's attention.

"Hudson and I have set our wedding date for early next month."

"Leo, if you keep acting like this, I'll have to find a different best man."

She picked up a strawberry and held it to my lips, her voice dropping to a warning tone.

"You're an adult now. Stop acting so foolish."

I remembered her saying something similar four years ago.

Back then, she was dating a senior from her department at the university.

They had been together for a year, but I ruined everything by throwing a tantrum at my birthday party.

Afterward, Maya found me at a bus stop, shivering in the pouring rain after I ran away from home.

She didn't scold me. Instead, she dried my hair and teased me gently.

"You've always been good at spotting the bad ones. If you don't like him, I'll just break up with him."

My face had flushed as I stripped off my wet clothes. I couldn't stop myself from kissing her cheek.

She didn't push me away. She just tapped my nose.

"You're still such a child."

That was the first time I confessed to her.

The rain was so loud that it almost drowned out my voice.

She tilted her head, giving me a sweet, lingering look.

"When you can stand on your own and help our parents run the family business, I'll marry you. How does that sound?"

I clung to that promise. I stopped questioning her love life.

I was naive enough to think she would dump any guy for me if I just asked.

"Maya, I don't like him. If you marry him, I'll―"

Before I could finish, Maya slammed a medical report onto the table.

"Congratulations, Leo. You're going to be an uncle."

"Do you like the birthday present I got you?"

Hudson looked ecstatic. He pressed his hand against Maya's belly, his voice trembling with excitement.

Watching them, I felt like I had been punched in the gut.

"You liar! You promised you'd marry me! Why are you with someone like him?"

Maya didn't even flinch at my outburst.

She pulled Hudson closer and glared at me with pure disgust.

"Because I love him. Do I need any other reason?"

"Leo, if you weren't the child my parents took in, I would have slapped you across the face by now."

In a fit of rage, I shoved the cake off the table.

I started smashing the plates and glasses, but Maya didn't move.

She watched me like I was a puppy having a tantrum over a toy.

Her cold indifference finally made me stop.

"When I dated that girl in my class, you went crazy. you didn't speak to me for days."

"Are you really going to tell me you never felt anything for me?"

I collapsed onto the floor, covered in sticky frosting and broken glass.

I looked at her, searching for one last spark of hope.

"Leo, I didn't care about your little girlfriend. But dating someone from a trashy family with failing grades? That was unacceptable."

"My father blamed me for not raising you right. That's why I was angry. Don't get it twisted."

I opened my mouth to argue, but she cut me off with a sharp slap to the face.

"My parents should have never adopted you. You're nothing but a headache."