Chapter 3

03.

Luna crashed on my hospital bed and slept the whole night.

I sat on a small plastic stool in the corner, watching her until dawn.

When the doctor came to change my dressings, he shook his head at my mangled skin.

"Do you even want to live, kid?"

I just smiled. I had just seen Luna's latest post on my feed.

She wrote, "I want to get married."

After six years, I had finally heard those words.

But then I saw the comments.

"Congratulations, Boss! Luka is one lucky man."

I typed a question mark, but the post vanished instantly. When I tried to message her, a red exclamation mark appeared.

She had blocked me.

Luka's social media updated right on cue. He posted a photo of a luxury sports car and an intimate selfie of the two of them.

"We are getting married!"

I was stunned. I called Luna instinctively.

Her voice sounded groggy and annoyed. "What is it?"

"What does that post mean?" I asked, my voice trembling.

We had been together for six years. I had spoiled her like a princess and helped her become the CEO everyone admired.

And now she was marrying someone else?

Luna was blunt. "It means exactly what you saw."

"Oh, and don't forget what I told you yesterday. Get your junk out of my house. I don't want Luka to feel uncomfortable."

She hung up.

My heart felt like it had been shredded. Luka…

She used to call me by a nickname just as sweet.

She used to caress my face for hours.

Now, that intimacy belonged to a stranger.

I didn't have time to grieve. My phone rang again. It was my mother, and my grandfather was coughing uncontrollably in the background.

"Jaxen, I heard you and Luna are together? I won't stop you anymore. Just bring her home."

"I don't think I'm going to make it, son. I just want to see my grandson's wife one last time."

My grandfather's cough sounded like he was tearing his lungs out.

My mother sobbed into the phone. "Jaxen, you left home ten years ago for that girl. The family finally approves. Please, just come back."

"The doctors say your grandfather only has a few days left."

Hearing my family cry broke me. I hailed a cab and went straight to Luna's office.

I used the receptionist's phone to call her internal line.

"I'm downstairs. Are you coming down, or am I coming up?"