Chapter 2

2.

The next morning, when I arrived at the facility, I saw all my personal belongings packed into a cardboard box.

They had been dumped from Derek’s private office into the cramped communal cubicle area.

Meanwhile, Lorelei Frost had already moved into his office.

She was draped in Derek’s flight jacket, enjoying the breakfast he had made with his own hands.

She was savoring everything that rightfully belonged to me.

So much for his promise to always look out for me.

Marcus couldn’t stand it and wanted to demand an explanation from Derek.

“Swapping partners behind your back was bad enough, but kicking you out of your own office? That’s bullshit!”

I held Marcus back with a calm smile.

“Leave it. I was the one who asked to dissolve the partnership.”

“That office really doesn’t belong to me anymore.”

And neither did the man inside it.

That afternoon was flight simulator training.

I had been demoted from the elite advanced group to Lorelei’s basic training group.

There was no need to guess who arranged that.

I marched straight over to Derek’s training module.

Lorelei had just exited the high-g centrifuge, completely drained.

Derek was carrying her out of the chamber in a bridal carry.

With worry etched across his face, he rubbed Lorelei’s back, unscrewed a water bottle, and fed her sip by sip.

“It’s all my fault. I shouldn’t have let you tackle such high-intensity drills right away.”

Lorelei wiped the sweat from his forehead with a tender smile.

“It’s okay. As long as I get to fly into space with you, I’ll endure anything.”

The two of them whispered back and forth before Derek finally noticed me standing there.

His hand snapped away from Lorelei’s waist, and he scrambled to explain.

“Honey, Lorelei wasn’t feeling well. As team leader, I was just checking on her condition.”

“Please don’t overthink this.”

I didn’t want to overthink it.

Yet the moment his hand left her waist, Lorelei cast an unmasked glare of jealousy straight at me.

“I’m really sorry, Jocelyn. Derek is just like this with me.”

“Please don’t pick a fight with him over me. He’s already exhausted.”

Her gentle tone dripped with blatant provocation.

She had always been this way.

Derek was simply too blind to see through her passive-aggressive games.

Ignoring her entirely, I cut straight to the point.

“Why did you reassign me to another training group?”

“You know the final astronaut selection review is coming up. Are you trying to get me eliminated?”

Derek’s breath hitched.

“You’re misunderstanding me.”

“You’ve been wound too tight lately. I just thought basic drills would help you decompress.”

Lorelei chimed in, “He’s right, Derek is only thinking about what’s best for you.”

“I didn’t transfer to his team to steal your spot. Derek just couldn’t bear to see me being treated unfairly in my old group.”

I let out a bitter laugh, tears prickling behind my eyes.

The advanced tier required over five years of rigorous basic training before qualifying.

Derek joined the program two years ahead of me.

He had seen me get pushed around, mocked, and chewed out by the flight instructors.

Back then, he never offered to transfer me to an easier unit.

All he gave me was cold, righteous advice:

“If you trained with everything you had, nobody would have a reason to criticize you.”

Yet the moment Lorelei received a light reprimand from her instructor, he transferred her to his own team immediately.

He completely disregarded the sweat and blood I poured into six years of relentless training.

“And you think Lorelei belongs in this tier? Her physical endurance can’t even handle the basics!”

“Derek! Transferring her here means stripping me of my qualification!”

My voice broke, turning into an outright scream.

What right did he have to treat me with such blatant unfairness?

Lorelei’s eyes instantly welled up with tears.

“Derek, just transfer me back.”

“I’d rather suffer and get yelled at than be humiliated like this!”

Derek rushed after her, letting her collapse into his chest.

He shot me a look full of blame and resentment.

“That’s uncalled for, Jocelyn.”

“Did you forget you only made it into the advanced group because I put in a good word for you?”

His tone hardened into an outright command.

“Throwing a tantrum only proves my decision was right.”

“Your temper is way too volatile. Stay in basic training and learn some discipline!”