Chapter 2

Nia's pathetic, trembling voice pulled me back to the present. She squeezed Xavier's hand, looking like she was on the verge of a breakdown.

"Sera has already done so much. If it wasn't for her liver, I'd be dead. Even if she didn't want to give it, I'm still grateful."

Xavier let out a sharp, mocking laugh.

"She's the reason you were in that state to begin with! This is the least she could do. If I hadn't sued her, she would have let you rot. I don't know what I was thinking when I married a woman that heartless."

It was true that I had been obsessed with Xavier for years. I had crushed on him since high school.

Back then, Xavier was the golden boy―athletic, brilliant, and handsome. I hid all my feelings in the water bottles I left for him after basketball games. I watched him from the crowd every time he gave a speech.

I spent my life chasing his shadow. I studied day and night just to see my name next to his on the rankings. I even forced myself into a major I hated just to be near him.

I thought my years of devotion had finally paid off when he proposed. But after the wedding, I realized the truth.

Xavier always knew I loved him. He just didn't care. He ignored me until the night he found out Nia had married someone else abroad.

He spent that entire night drinking. Only then did he remember he had a backup option waiting in the wings.

I once overheard him talking to a friend at a bar.

"If I can't have the woman I love, I might as well marry the one who loves me. It's easier that way."

I was pathetic. I was naive. I thought if I gave him enough time and enough love, he would eventually see my worth.

But then Nia came back. She targeted me, framed me, and Xavier took her side every single time. It proved how delusional I had been.

Looking at Nia now, I saw the tiny, triumphant smirk she was hiding. She wanted me to see exactly how little I meant to him.

But she didn't need to bother. I already knew I was nothing to Xavier.

I was trash. My life was trash.

A nurse came by to move the two lovebirds to a private room. At that same moment, a gurney covered in a white sheet came down the hall from the opposite direction.

As my corpse passed Xavier, he frowned and stepped aside. He pulled Nia closer to his chest, shielding her.

It was as if he was afraid my dead body would bring her bad luck.

The gurney jolted, and my hand slid out from under the sheet. On my wrist was a simple red silk bracelet.

I had hiked up a mountain to get a pair of those blessed at a famous shrine. One was red, the other blue.

I had been so excited to give Xavier his. He had just tossed it aside with a sneer.

"I don't wear garbage like that. It's childish."

Yet, back in college, I saw Nia give him a cheap hair tie from her wrist. He wore it for years. He didn't even take it off to shower.

When they broke up and the hair tie finally snapped, Xavier was devastated for weeks.

Nia was his exception. She was the only one allowed to be demanding. I, on the other hand, had to walk on eggshells every day of my life.

I should have known better. I shouldn't have expected him to care, even in death.

Xavier's eyes lingered on that red bracelet for a long time. He didn't look away until the gurney disappeared around the corner.

"Xavier? What's wrong?"