Chapter 1

Seven years ago, a fire killed my parents and brother. Only Zoey Shaw and I were left.

She was my future sister-in-law and was five years older than me.

She kept me by her side and took good care of me.

When I was 17, I saw her as the only light in my life.

On my coming-of-age party, I was a little drunk and took this chance to express my feelings to her.

However, what I didn't expect was that my words shocked her, caused to feel disgusted, and she kept her distance from me ever since.

She even found herself a boyfriend and acted intimately in front of me. This caused my heart to ache time after time.

With that, I finally decided to leave and never disturb Zoey ever again.

What I didn't know was that after I went abroad, Zoey started looking for me like crazy...

“Aunt Linda, I’ve made up my mind. I’ll go abroad with you. With my status, staying in the Shaw family really wasn’t appropriate...”

There was a brief pause on the other end of the line, followed by my aunt’s delighted voice.

“Good, I would arrange the procedures for you to go abroad right away. But there’s no rush. I would give you another month to properly say goodbye to your classmates and friends. After all, you would rarely come back in the future. I know you are sentimental, especially toward your sister-in-law. After your parents had their accident, she took care of you in every possible way. You must not forget that kindness!”

At the mention of Zoey, my heart tightened instinctively, and I nodded in agreement.

After hanging up the phone, I showed a helpless, bitter smile.

Lowering my head, I looked at the photo on my phone’s lock screen. It was a picture of me and Zoey.

In the photo, her clear smiling face seemed to pull me back to that summer when I was 17.

The evening glow had burned like fire, dyeing half the sky red. Back then, I had been tall and skinny, with youthful innocence all over my face.

Zoey held my hand and gently promised me, “It’s alright, Sam. You still have me! You can live with me from now on. You have my word that you’ll never be alone...”

That promise from back then remained vivid before my eyes. My lips couldn’t help but lift in a faint arc of happiness, but it quickly dimmed.

Seven years had passed. Everything had changed, and the people were no longer the same.

I sighed softly, my fingers brushing across the screen as memories surged like tides, drifting toward even more distant days.

The Lawson family and the Shaw family had been close for generations. Zoey and my brother had been a childhood betrothal arranged by the elders. When they reached the age, she naturally became my sister-in-law.

Unfortunately, a massive fire had killed my parents and my brother, leaving only me and the unwed Zoey behind.

Perhaps afraid that I wouldn’t be able to withstand such a blow and might do something foolish, Zoey brought me to the Shaw family and cared for me from then on.

She had given me almost all her gentleness and light.

When I was bullied at school, her slender figure would stand protectively in front of me without hesitation...

When I fought back in anger and got my head injured, she had shed distressed tears while gently wiping my wounds...

For years, she had taken care of all my food, clothing, and daily needs, ensuring that I never became a child unwanted by anyone...

Because of one promise, she became the faint light in my life that I could never let go of.

When my feelings first began to develop, the weight she held in my heart had already grown too heavy. I fell hopelessly in love with her.

A year later, on my 18th birthday, she hugged me lightly and congratulated me on becoming an adult, saying that I could protect her from now on.

I had drunk too much that night. Looking down at her delicate face, I kissed her...

I had thought our feelings were naturally evolving, but I hadn’t expected that kiss to make her turn cold and even deeply disgusted with me!

Zoey pushed me away abruptly and slapped me hard!

I thought she believed I was being impulsive, so I patiently explained, confessing the feelings I had buried in my heart all these years.

But I hadn’t expected that, to her, my words sounded like outrageous, unforgivable nonsense.

She was furious and scolded me in disappointment.

“Sam! I’m your sister-in-law!”

“I know, but you didn’t marry my brother. We aren’t related by blood. Why can’t you be with me?”

Maybe because I had always listened to her since I was young, my retort this time shocked and repulsed her.

“You’ve just turned 18, but I’m already 23. Even without this relationship, we wouldn’t be suitable. You’re just a kid to me.”

I still refused to give up.

“It’s fine. I can prove to you that I’m not a child. I really have grown up. I can become the man standing by your side!”

That birthday celebration ended with an unhappy separation between me and Zoey.

Every year afterward, I tried to become more mature and confessed to her again on my birthday.

But Zoey rejected me again and again, never once agreeing.

Until this year—one month before my birthday.

I no longer had the courage to confess to her, because last week, she brought home a boyfriend.

I was dumbfounded, overwhelmed with bitterness I couldn’t describe.

I once took the chance to ask her privately whether she had purposely hired someone to provoke me and make me give up.

But Zoey merely cast me a cold glance.

“Don’t overthink. You’re not that important.”

“Your brother has been gone for so many years. I’ve raised you to adulthood. Shouldn’t I find a boyfriend and have a life of my own?”

Leaving behind this non-explanation of an explanation, she walked away without looking back.

Watching her back, my tears overflowed. My heart felt hollow.

I knew I had lost the most important person in my life.

Sleepless through the night, I received a message from my aunt. She said she had settled everything abroad and wanted to bring me over to live...

I didn’t agree, because I wanted to try again.

I refused to believe Zoey had no feelings left for me at all.

But in the following days, she acted as if I didn’t exist and openly displayed intimacy with her boyfriend, Cameron Hilton.

Holding hands, hugging, kissing—Zoey showed all the shy gestures of a girlfriend before him.

I watched it all, feeling as if my heart were being carved open!

Last night before parting, Zoey personally invited Cameron to stay overnight in her room.

I couldn’t believe it. I hid in my room, suffering until two in the morning, when I heard ambiguous sounds coming from her room.

My eyes widened as silent tears fell. The pain in my chest made it impossible to breathe...

At that moment, I made up my mind to give up.

‘I’m sorry, Zoey. Looks like it’s time for me to leave and not disturb your life any more,’ I said inwardly.