Chapter 1

After I finished signing the agreement, Xavier came out of Lydia’s room.

Sweat beaded on his forehead. He picked up the water on the table and took two gulps.

I looked at him and suddenly remembered that today was my birthday.

From morning until now, he hadn’t even asked me a single question.

“Xavier,” I called him. “Do you remember what day it is today?”

He glanced at Lydia’s door, then turned and frowned at me:

“It’s just moving day… Can you stop making a fuss? The curtain rod in Lydia’s room is a bit crooked. I’m going to adjust it again.”

With that, he turned and went back in.

When he passed me, he didn’t even spare me a sideways glance.

On the day we moved into the apartment, I carried all the heavy suitcases up to the fifth floor myself, trip after trip.

When I pushed the door open, this was what I saw:

Xavier mopping the floor for Lydia in the room, Lucas organizing her wardrobe, Victor wiping the window glass for her.

And Lydia, wearing soft pajamas, sat on the spacious big bed, swinging her legs and smiling as she directed them to put things where she liked.

No one cared about me, dripping with sweat.

I had originally thought Lydia’s appearance wouldn’t affect the relationship between us.

After all, we had grown up together. Xavier and I still had a marriage contract.

But only when we moved into this apartment did I realize that among the four bedrooms, there was simply no place for me.

“Cecilia, just put your things in the storage room for now.”

Lucas pointed to the narrow little door at the end of the hallway.

“Anyway, you don’t stay in the apartment much. Make do for a while.”

I looked at the room full of miscellaneous junk and asked him, “You mean you want me to live here from now on?”

“Just temporarily,” Victor said casually. “Once Lydia’s health improves, we’ll rearrange.”

Lydia had just been found by Blackthorn Pack.

She was a frail Omega wolf who had wandered for a long time, so everyone had started feeling sorry for her.

I looked at Xavier.

He was still making the bed for Lydia and didn’t look up.

“Follow the arrangement. Cecilia, you don’t mind, right?”

I suddenly didn’t know what to say.

Xavier and I had a marriage contract.

Yet he hadn’t even thought about where his fiancée’s luggage should go.

I walked into the storage room and took a look.

Less than four square meters, piled with mop buckets and junk. A damp, musty smell hit me in the face.

No windows, only a bare white light bulb with an exposed filament.

A yoga mat laid on the floor counted as a bed.

I thought it over. There were still three days until I left, and there were no hotels nearby. Putting up with it for a couple of nights wasn’t impossible.

In the evening they suggested eating together to celebrate moving into the new apartment.

Steak, roast chicken, and the desserts Lydia liked filled the table.

Xavier cut her steak for her, Lucas poured her a full glass of drink, Victor patiently helped her open the packaging.

I quietly finished the bread in front of me.

No one noticed that I hadn’t touched a single dish.

After eating, I got up and went into the kitchen, preparing to make myself a birthday cake.

Xavier’s voice came from the living room.

“Cecilia, what are you doing? Everyone’s outside. Why did you run into the kitchen?”

“I’m making a birthday cake.”

“It’s not Lydia’s birthday today. Why are you fussing with this?”

He frowned. “If you do this, Lydia will think she’s made you unhappy.”

No one remembered my birthday, and I no longer bothered to tell them.

I poured all the ingredients into the trash.

Lydia uneasily peeked over.

“Cecilia, do you not like this food? Next time I can go with you to buy the things you like…”

Victor impatiently waved his hand.

“She can even make a scene over a meal. Just ignore her.”

Xavier said nothing.

He only smiled and lowered his head to continue cutting steak for Lydia.

The four of them talked and laughed, completely ignoring the small incident just now.

I returned to the storage room and closed the door.

I lay on the yoga mat. The phone screen still showed the signed transfer application.

The new school was Frostwood Academy.

It had better research resources than the current university, and the confidential-level research project I had always wanted to join.

Actually, I had received the invitation long ago.

I had only chosen to stay in this pack because of Xavier, Lucas, and Victor.

I had believed that as long as we stayed together, eighteen years of feelings wouldn’t change easily.

Now it seemed I had been wrong.

But it didn’t matter. There were less than three days left until I left.