Mag-log inOver the next few years, Kyle never bothered me again.I spent three years completing my assignment with distinction before being transferred back home.When I arrived, I caught sight of a familiar figure standing in the distance.It was Kyle.He was waiting outside my doorstep, holding a thick stack of letters in his hands.When he saw me walk over, a moment of visible awkwardness washed over him. "Welcome back."I gave a short nod."How have you been these past few years?" he asked."Good."A heavy silence fell over us. After a long moment, he thrust the stack of letters into my hands. "Whenever I missed you, I wrote one. But I didn't want to bother you, so I never mailed them. I didn't realize I'd ended up with so many."I looked down at the letters in my grip, momentarily lost for words.If this had happened in the past, I couldn't even imagine how overjoyed I would have been.But now, I felt nothing.He waved his hands in a frantic hurry. "You don't need to feel press
For his 99th attempt, Kyle booked out a small, quiet theater in the North.I wasn't surprised, as he had been making frequent trips here ever since I relocated here.However, I chose not to see him every time before this.He sent me an address.He didn't force me to show up, but this time, I chose to go.There were certain things that needed to be said clearly once and for all.Only a single spotlight was lit inside the theater.Kyle sat in the very front row.Perhaps it was the weariness from his frequent trips to the North, but he looked like he had lost a noticeable amount of weight.When he saw me, a flicker of surprised joy crossed his eyes as he stood up immediately, only to freeze in place. "Thank you for coming.""I only have half an hour," I said coldly."That's enough."He handed me a folder.Inside was an itemized sheet detailing all the reimbursements for the failed bonding ceremony. Every single cent was paid out of his own pocket.Accompanying it was a prope
Mom was also someone who was very good at waiting.On the day of her bonding ceremony with Dad, he was three hours late.My maternal grandmother was on the brink of death, yet Dad turned off his phone and cut the mind-link for the sake of pack business, remaining completely unreachable for three whole days.Many people advised Mom to stop waiting, but she refused to listen.She stood there in her gown, waiting for three full hours.When Dad finally arrived and offered soft-spoken apologies, she slapped him across the face and then went ahead with the bonding ceremony anyway.When I was little, I thought their story was romantic.Dad often brought up how good Mom was, praising her for always seeing the bigger picture and handling things with grace.He said those three hours were a debt he would owe her for the rest of his life.Yet the waiting he put Mom through extended far beyond those three hours.When Mom gave birth to me, he was in a meeting.When she was at the healing
Three days later, I set off to head back to the North once again.Kyle hadn't stopped just because of that single failure.For his second try, he bought out the giant display screen right across from my temporary residence, running apology messages on a loop all night long.For the seventh, he rented the hall at the Pack Academy, playing the photograph of him kissing the back of my hand on repeat.For the 33rd, he gathered everyone who had attended the original ceremony and offered a public apology.For the 50th, he waited by the cliffs of the North Sea for ten whole hours.Every single attempt was recorded and shared throughout the pack.Discussions rippled through the pack as the topic slowly shifted from "an Alpha's quest to win back his mate" to "how impossible is Serafina to satisfy?"Some claimed I was playing hard to get, some urged me to let it go now that Kyle knew he was wrong, and others calculated how much of his fortune he had drained just to pursue me. Some went a
A month later, our bond was officially dissolved. I returned to the territory to hand over my recent work files and retrieve the moonstone necklace Mom had left me.However, after searching through all my luggage, I couldn't find it anywhere.My subordinate sent me a message informing me that Kyle was at the central plaza. Having heard about my return, he claimed he was going to hold the ceremony again and would wait there until I showed up.Most importantly, he had the moonstone necklace I was looking for right in his hand.I went over and stood at the very back of the crowd, watching him speak to the people around him.He had set up the venue to look exactly like that day—the candlesticks, the drapes, and even that ring displayed in the center.Kyle was standing on stage in the ceremonial suit he hadn't managed to wear back then.Someone asked him, "Do you think she'll come?"His face was full of devotion. "I will keep waiting until she comes."The pack members were instantl
A week later, Naomi asked to meet me at a coffee shop on the central plaza.The scars on her wrist were still raw, and her eyes welled with tears the moment she sat down. "Serafina, I'm so sorry. I didn't know Kyle would miss the bonding ceremony because of me."I looked at her. "Did you know that day was our ceremony?"She stopped crying, remaining quiet for a second. "Yes.""Then why didn't you call a healer, contact the pack's emergency response team, or reach out to the neighbors living nearby?"Her face went pale. "I was just so weak at the time. I couldn't think straight—""Yet you remembered to call him."She opened her mouth but couldn't squeeze out a single word of explanation.After a short silence, she spoke up again in a low voice."Serafina, you're luckier than I am. You carry the bloodline of the Alpha King. You have rights to a council seat, and you have so many people willing to take your side. Meanwhile, I have nothing at all."In the past, I dreaded hearing







