Chapter 2

“Perhaps, I might even find it in my heart to be merciful and allow you to come back home, my dear… little sister.”

Home. It felt like I had lost my home a long time ago, especially after that one thoughtless answer.

I used to have a happy family, too. I had a mother who loved me, a kind and gentle stepfather, and an older stepbrother who would literally give me the stars if I asked.

On my third birthday, the whole family gathered to celebrate. My aunt held up a toy she bought for me and jokingly asked, “You’re so beautiful, little Nova. Who are you going to marry when you grow up?”

Young and naive, I pointed my chubby little finger at Christian, who was standing right next to me.

“I’m going to marry Chris.”

The entire family burst into laughter, and Christian laughed, too. They all said how wonderful that would be and told me that when I grew up, I absolutely had to marry someone who would dote on me just as much as Christian did.

When I was eight years old, I was watching a drama on TV and asked my mother, “What does it mean to get married?”

My mother smiled and told me, “It means living together forever, just like your dad and I do.”

I nodded in understanding. “Then Christian and I live together, so does that mean we’re married too?”

My stepfather sighed with a warm smile. “I certainly hope Christian marries a girl as sweet and well-behaved as you in the future. It would save me a lot of worrying.”

I vividly remembered how Christian’s face flushed bright red back then. As for me, I was absolutely thrilled at the thought of living with Christian forever.

Fast forward to when I graduated from high school and got accepted into the same university Christian was attending. When we went back home together for the winter break, my mother pulled me aside and secretly asked if I had a boyfriend yet.

“How could I? I’m going to marry Chris in the future,” I replied. “My only boyfriend will ever be Christian.”

The moment those words left my mouth, my mother struck me for the very first time in my life. She grabbed my shoulders like a woman possessed, shaking me violently as if she were desperately trying to snap me out of a trance.

“You two are siblings! Siblings! How can siblings ever get married?”

I didn’t understand. They were the ones who had told me we could marry each other. Why was it suddenly against the rules now?

After being slapped by my mother, I covered my stinging cheek and ran out of the house in tears. Right outside, I bumped into Christian, who was just returning with a bag of hot, roasted chestnuts he had bought for me. He ended up running after me down the street.

It was a freezing winter day in the North, and I hadn’t even put on a coat before running out. He immediately took off his own down jacket and wrapped it around my shoulders.

“I’m right here. Tell me, why are you crying?”

The moment I was told that I could never marry Christian, that specific title of a brother became the most loathsome word in my entire vocabulary.

I wept and tried to push him away, but he gripped my hand tightly and refused to let go. Eventually, I cried myself out. We sat together on a freezing park bench from dawn to night.

“Before today, it never crossed my mind that siblings could only ever be siblings. It looks like… we can’t be together forever after all.”

There was a long, heavy silence from Christian. It seemed like the dream I had cherished so deeply was nothing more than a pathetic, one-sided delusion. Overwhelmed by shame, humiliation, and a desperate urge to escape, I started to stand up to leave.

Yet, right then, he suddenly held my freezing fingers in his hands.

“As long as you want me, Nova, I’ll always belong to you and no one else.”

I was nineteen that year, and he was twenty-two. In that exact moment, it felt like something between us shifted irrevocably.

For the rest of the winter break, my mother guarded me like a hawk, making sure Christian and I were never left alone in a room. She grew paranoid, treating me like some sort of cursed omen while subjecting me to cold glares and constant scolding.

Just like that, my home stopped being a safe haven.