Chapter 3

After finishing the admission paperwork for my mother, I returned to the place we called "home". The walls were still covered in those piercing red decorations. I wasn't tall enough to reach, so Julian had lifted me up, letting me press them into place with my own hands. I remembered leaning against his shoulder, the scent of pine clinging to him, feeling like the luckiest woman in the world. Even the red bedding had been something we picked out together. The happiness we had built brick by brick was shattered in a single day.

I had just opened my suitcase when Julian walked in. He headed straight for the bedroom, likely assuming I was just throwing a tantrum.

"The house is yours. You don’t have to move; I’ll be the one to leave," he said, his tone chillingly calm. "You don't need to pay back any of the money I gave you; consider it a settlement. Just stop making trouble for Chloe. She hasn't had it easy"

That last sentence made me snap.

"She hasn't had it easy? What about me, Julian?"

"I was with you when you had absolutely nothing, and the moment you became Alpha, you betrayed me!"

We had been in love for eight years. We had squeezed into leaky apartments and shared bowls of instant ramen together, where even adding an egg felt like a luxury. During the years I should have been my most beautiful, I didn't even own a decent dress. My parents called me a fool for it, and Chloe—hypocritically—called me a fool too. Only now did I realize that Julian had been mocking my stupidity in his heart all along.

Meeting my bloodshot eyes, Julian froze. He leaned down and pulled me into his arms, just the way he used to when he comforted me. His embrace was still warm, but it only made me feel sick.

"Elara, I told you, the choice is in your hands," he whispered. "If you still want to complete the ceremony and become my Luna, I can arrange another one for you. But Chloe has truly suffered so much. Do you know how much it killed me to see that look of longing in her eyes every time you hugged me?"

"You got to kiss me out in the sunshine without a care in the world, while she had to hide in the corners and cry"

He said it so casually, but every word felt like a knife. Truthfully, I hadn't been entirely blind. Every time the three of us went out, I felt like the third wheel, unable to break into their private conversations. Whenever Chloe wore heels, Julian always happened to have a band-aid ready. When we went on a roller coaster and both ended up sick, he bypassed me to rub her back first. Afterward, Chloe would always laugh it off. "See? A man who truly loves you takes care of your friends, too. Elara, Alphas this good are hard to find!"

In that moment, I clearly saw the flash of disappointment in Julian’s eyes. I didn’t understand it then, but I understand everything now.

"Julian, what do you even see in her?". I looked up through my tears and forced a mocking smile. "I heard her say that during your wildest night, you took her eight times. What is it? Does she really make you that insatiable?"

The words had barely left my mouth when the door swung open. Chloe walked in, looking like the victim.

"Elara, how can you say that about me?". She was holding a box of pineapple cakes—my favorite—the kind you have to wait in a long line for. "I told you it was just an accident. Why do you have to insult me like this?"

Her tears began to fall, one by one. If this had been the old me, I would have rushed over to hug her and apologize. But now, I just sat on the bed, exhausted, watching her performance with cold indifference.

My numbness, however, looked like cold-hearted cruelty to Julian. He tenderly brushed away Chloe’s tears and whirled around to yell at me.

"Fine! We were that insatiable!". "So that time your father died—when I was on the phone comforting you and my voice broke? That wasn't because I was grieving for you!". "It was because Chloe was biting down on me so hard with her mouth that I couldn't hold back the sound..."

"Julian!" Chloe shrieked, cutting him off and covering his mouth with her hand.