Chapter 4

After he was discharged, Shawn went home and gathered everything connected to Wendy.

The diary entries and love letters he wrote as a teenager, the photographs of her he secretly kept, the gifts he meant to give her, the surprises he planned…

He once imagined showing her all of it after they got together and telling her the story of how he fell in love with her.

Now he knew they would never be together. None of it had a place in his life anymore.

He threw it all away. When he turned around, he found Wendy at the door. She had just brought Ethan home.

She glanced at the trash, then looked at Shawn with the same coldness.

Ethan noticed what Shawn had thrown out. He deliberately took Wendy’s hand and smiled.

“Wendy, it looks like Shawn has finally learned his lesson. I’m sure he won’t keep pursuing you. He’s still my brother, though. You don’t have to be so cold to him all the time.”

Wendy looked at Shawn without a trace of warmth. “I’m always cold to people I don’t like. I can’t pretend to feel otherwise.”

Shawn listened without saying a word.

He took a quiet breath, swallowed his feelings, and returned to his room.

The next day was Ethan’s birthday party.

Guests filled the hall, talking among themselves.

“Miss Stone certainly went all out for her fiancé’s birthday. I heard these flowers were flown in from Westmere this morning.

“There’ll be fireworks for three days and three nights too! And the suit and watch Mr. Yates is wearing are worth tens of millions of dollars. Miss Stone bought them herself at Bellingham Auctions!”

“She’s spared no expense to make the man she loves happy. Mr. Yates is lucky to be marrying her, and his whole family is set for life. It’s a shame his younger brother is such a problem. He’s always after his future sister-in-law. How shameless can he be?”

“Exactly. How can two brothers be so different? Shawn can’t match Ethan in looks or personality, and he won’t leave Miss Stone alone. He has no decency, either. If he were my son, I’d throw him out. Mr. and Mrs. Yates are too kind to him!”

The gossip reached Shawn, but it stirred nothing in him.

He sat in a corner, hoping no one would notice him.

Across the room, his parents and Wendy stayed close to Ethan. Everyone’s attention was on him.

They straightened his suit, turned away the drinks guests offered him, lit his birthday candles, and sang to him with smiles on their faces.

Shawn watched them together and remembered his own birthdays. Ethan always found an excuse to take their parents away, leaving Shawn at home to blow out his candles alone.

During the years Shawn spent with Wendy, she celebrated with him. They made wishes, ate cake, and she gave him presents. He thought he would never have to feel alone again.

Now even the small measure of care and warmth he once knew was gone.

He would no longer cling to it.

Amid the birthday celebrations, Ethan closed his eyes and made a wish. Then the guests gave him their presents.

He opened them one by one. There were designer bags, fine jewelry, and other expensive gifts. His smile never faded.

The last two gifts came from his parents and Wendy. When they were announced, the room erupted in surprise.

“My wife and I have thought long and hard about this. We’ve decided that Ethan will take over Yates Group and inherit all the Yates family assets!”

“My gift to Ethan is a fifty percent stake in Stone Group, along with my family’s heirloom wedding rings. My grandmother told me that any couple who wears these rings will stand by each other for the rest of their lives.

“Ethan, you’re the only person I want to marry. Thank you for wanting to marry me.”

Before the assembled guests, Ethan slipped a ring onto Wendy’s finger, drew her into his arms, and kissed her.

The hall erupted in applause and cheers as everyone offered their congratulations.

Shawn watched from a distance, a heavy feeling pressing on his chest.

He dug his nails into his palm and tried to leave, but Ethan called out to him.

“Shawn, where’s my present? When are you going to give it to me?”

Every guest turned to look at Shawn.

He stopped, took out the gift he had prepared earlier, and handed it to Ethan.

Ethan opened it with a smile, ready to make a cutting remark.

But Wendy’s expression froze. She stared at the hand Shawn had raised.

“Why do you have that watch?”

Shawn looked up at the disbelief in her eyes and touched his watch without thinking.

When Wendy was blind, he knew she couldn’t see him, but he always made an effort to look his best before visiting her.

He often wore this watch back then. Whenever she held his hand, her fingers would brush against it, and she would ask him which gemstones were set into it.

Shawn said nothing. Wendy seized his wrist, her voice urgent.

“Answer me! Why do you have this watch? Who are you really?”