Chapter 3

I was painfully aware of everything, and that only made it hurt more.

Nadine and I had been together for three years. In the beginning, we were amazing. She told me she would love me for the rest of her life, always stay by my side, give me everything she had, and treat me right.

I stood out in the wind alone for what felt like forever. Only after I called her until her phone was finally powered off did I drag myself toward the airport.

This was supposed to be a couples' getaway for the two of us to unwind together, but I was the only one going home now.

The loneliness was almost unbearable, and when I got home, I couldn't find my cat, Puffball.

Puffball was my emotional lifeline. She'd been with me for a long time, always curled up right beside me for so many of my livestreams.

I couldn't get through to Nadine, so I called the staff I'd hired to help feed Puffball while I was away. No one picked up, so I had no choice but to go to their storefront in the middle of the night to look for Puffball.

I waited there all night and finally saw the staff member at daybreak. When he heard I was there for Puffball, he gave me a strange look. Then, he gave me an address and told me that Puffball was there.

I couldn't believe my ears, but I still followed his directions to the trash cans by the south gate of the residential complex. There weren't many people around, and the trash hadn't been taken out yet. I spotted Puffball's snow-white body instantly.

That was it for me. I collapsed to my knees and just sobbed as if my whole world had ended. The tears wouldn't stop, and the pain in my chest only got sharper and sharper.

I never imagined that Puffball, who'd been with me for many years, would already be dead. Her body was covered in wounds, large and small. She was frozen stiff and already starting to rot in that reeking trash bin.

I couldn't accept that any of this was real. I yanked at my own hair, desperately trying to remember the last time I saw her.

Dad had forced me to go home, so I'd left Puffball in Nadine's care. She promised she'd take good care of her, but I was still worried, so I'd arranged for someone to check on her every day.

After that, I'd been in such a rush to take Nadine to Sandoff Isle that I hadn't gone home to check on Puffball myself. I never thought she would die because of it.

According to the staff member, Nadine had been abusing Puffball. Whenever she was angry, she would take it out on Puffball. The staff member had tried to stop her, but she'd snapped that it was a family matter and that he, as an outsider, had no right to interfere.

I drifted through the next few days in a daze. Nadine knew perfectly well how much Puffball meant to me. Every time I closed my eyes, all I could see was Puffball's broken little body, covered in wounds.

Losing her gutted me. It felt like the only thing I had left was this half-dead relationship.

…

The day Nadine came back from Sandoff Isle, I was a little late wrapping up a battle with another streamer. She stormed into my place, looking furious.

The moment I saw her livid face filling my livestream frame, my whole body went rigid. All I could see in my mind was Puffball's mangled body.

"Aaron, you bastard. Have you forgotten what day it is?" she snapped.

Her words suddenly reminded me that it was the 15th. In the past, whenever I was late, she would lose her mind and go off on me, screaming for ages.

"Nadine, can we talk later?" I asked in a small voice.

But all I saw in her eyes was impatience. Without warning, she raised her hand and slapped me across the face. Her nails scraped my cheek, leaving behind a burning sting.

Comments began flooding the livestream, but Nadine ignored them. She pointed at me with her phone and started screeching at me.

"You've really grown a pair, haven't you? What, do you want me to threaten you with a breakup again? Where's the money for today? Why hasn't it hit my account yet?

"Do I have to repeat myself every single time? How many times do I have to spell it out before you finally grow up? I don't wanna be stuck babysitting you forever!"