Chapter 4

Liam sighed, sounding more exasperated than anything.

"Mrs. Lawson, come on. Don't joke about something like that.

"Yara's been so negative lately. She's nothing like she used to be, and sometimes I really miss the old her."

After a moment, he added, "Starting tomorrow, I'll have a serious talk with her. She needs to learn to stop acting like this so we can get back to having a normal life together."

He was the one who had changed me beyond recognition, yet somehow, in his version of events, every bit of it had become my fault.

Diane still wouldn't let it go.

"Liam, don't force yourself to stay with that girl and make yourself miserable. Look, I posted these pictures of Sophie in the wedding dress in our family group chat. Every single relative said she looked beautiful and elegant."

Her voice turned colder.

"Yara's never been likable, even when she was little. That's her own fault."

Curled up on the floor behind the bedroom door, I clenched my teeth and tried to keep my breathing steady through the pain.

I'd muted the family group chat a long time ago because I was tired of the endless favoritism. I'd thought that if I didn't see it, maybe it couldn't hurt me as much.

Diane always found a way to put it right in front of me anyway.

I pulled out my phone and quietly left the group. Then I spent three minutes deleting every photo of Liam and me together and wiping years of messages from our chat history.

Maybe there was a point where something hurt so badly that there were simply no tears left.

The night grew quiet, and the laughter in the living room had long since died away.

No footsteps ever came toward the bedroom.

Liam had no intention of coming back.

There it was. The silent treatment again.

Over the years, whenever I did something he didn't like, this was how he forced me to give in. He would withdraw until I couldn't stand it anymore, certain that sooner or later, I would be the one to apologize and make peace.

He was counting on me to do it again.

This time, he'd miscalculated.

I slowly got to my feet, walked to the closet, and pulled out a suitcase I hadn't used in years.

Then I started packing.

At three in the morning, I wheeled it out of the master bedroom.

The guest room door was slightly ajar, and I couldn't stop myself from looking inside as I passed.

Light from the hallway spilled through the gap.

Liam was asleep with his upper body slumped beside the bed. Sophie lay on her side, lightly holding his hand.

He wasn't holding hers back, but he hadn't pulled away either.

I stood there for a long moment before finally turning away and heading for the door.

I'd barely made it two steps outside the building when the ground suddenly lurched beneath my feet.

A second jolt hit almost immediately, much stronger than the first.

An earthquake.

Screams erupted around me, followed by the pounding of frantic footsteps as residents came pouring out of the surrounding buildings in a panic.

Within minutes, the open area outside the complex was packed with people seeking safety.

I stood at the edge of the crowd and looked up.

Three familiar figures immediately caught my eye.

Liam had one arm protectively around Sophie, while Diane pressed close on the other side. The three of them clung to one another, their faces filled with the shaken relief of people who had just escaped something terrible.

Not one of them had noticed I was there.

A few seconds later, Liam suddenly lifted his head.

His gaze darted desperately across the crowded courtyard, and his lips began to tremble.

"Yara. We ran downstairs without Yara."

Diane, who had been completely focused on comforting Sophie, went rigid.

For the first time, genuine panic flooded her face.

"Yara... Yara's still upstairs."

She looked between them helplessly.

"Neither of you woke her?"

Sophie stared at them blankly.

"What? I don't know. She didn't come down?"

Watching them from across the crowd, I gave a small, bitter smile.

Something inside me felt even emptier than before.

The ground lurched again.

A deep, ominous groan rolled through the apartment building, as though the entire structure might come down at any moment.

People screamed and surged farther back.

Liam whipped around toward the entrance. Without seeming to realize it, he took a step in that direction.

"Yara..."