All Chapters of When His Favorite Joke Walked Away: Chapter 1 - Chapter 9

9 Chapters

Chapter 1

Once Lily had laughed enough, she picked up a lock of my severed hair and held it against her chin.“Mom, do I look like a caveman?”My mother laughed so hard she nearly spilled the soup. “Go wash your hands and sit down. Stop playing with it.”Lily casually tossed the hair aside, then pulled out her phone and snapped several pictures of me. I raised a hand to cover my face and told her to stop, but she was already looking through the photos.“Thanksgiving special—one snip turns my sister into a stray wolf.”I reached for her phone, but Rowan pulled her behind him.“What are you doing? She hasn’t even posted the embarrassing ones.”As my officially registered future mate, he was supposed to protect me when someone hurt me. This time, however, the person he stepped forward to protect was Lily.A notification soon sounded from my phone. Lily had already posted a picture of me in the family group chat, my eyes red and the two sides of my hair hanging at uneven lengths.My aunt replied wit

Chapter 2

The next morning, I went to the hair salon in our pack town.The stylist parted the uneven hair on the left side of my head and examined it for a long time.“Extensions won’t work. Whoever did this cut almost against the nape of your neck, and the inner layers are uneven too. The only option is to cut all of it short.”I looked at myself in the mirror and nodded.“Cut it.”The scissors kept closing, and the hair I had spent seven years growing soon covered the floor around my feet.Rowan had once promised that on the day of our marking ceremony, he would place the moonstone crown on my head himself. I had believed him, so I had not cut my hair for seven years.Now, as I watched it fall to the floor, I realized I was not as reluctant to let it go as I had imagined.When I returned home, the living room was empty. My mother had clearly said the night before that once I finished at the salon, we would all go to the Thanksgiving parade together.I was about to call her when I saw that Lily

Chapter 3

The next day, Rowan came to the house carrying coffee and breakfast.I was taking the photographs down from my bedroom wall. He leaned against the doorway and watched me for a while. He probably assumed I was preparing to move into his house, so he did not ask any questions.“Are you still angry?”I did not answer and continued removing the frames.“That’s enough.” Rowan set the breakfast on the table. “Lily told me yesterday that she was afraid you might actually turn against her. She was so worried that she didn’t sleep all night.”My hands paused.“Why was she afraid? She wasn’t the one who had her hair cut off.”“She likes causing trouble, but she doesn’t mean any harm.” Rowan spoke as if the answer were obvious. “You’re her older sister. You can’t hold every little thing against her forever.”I removed the final photograph and placed it in my suitcase.It had been taken during the first year Rowan and I were together. In the picture, he was holding me from behind with his fingers

Chapter 4

On the day I left, the house was even livelier than usual.Lily had been setting up her phone in the living room since early that morning. As soon as I walked past, she placed it facedown on the table.“You can’t look. There’s a second round to tonight’s prank, and this time I’ve prepared an even bigger surprise.”My mother came out of the kitchen carrying a plate of fruit.“Try not to go too far. You really did upset your sister the other day.”Despite her words, she was the first to laugh.Lily waved dismissively.“Don’t worry. Claire never stays angry for more than two days.”My father was sitting on the couch reading the newspaper, and he joined in.“She’s been like that since she was a pup. She once packed a bag and threatened to leave the pack, but she only made it as far as the territory border. As soon as she got hungry, she came home on her own.”Rowan leaned against the dining table with a cup of coffee and glanced at me.“She’s no different now. Where else could she go?”My

Chapter 5

My mother was the first to recover.“Call her. Tell her to withdraw the application.”“It can’t be withdrawn.” Rowan’s voice tightened. “The link has already been severed. That means Northwatch Pack has officially accepted her.”Standing nearby, Lily forced a smile.“She’s probably only trying to scare us. Once she calms down, she can transfer back.”As she spoke, she pushed the cardboard box hidden beneath the sideboard farther out of sight with her foot.Inside were the bald cap, neon-green hair dye spray, and phone stand she had prepared for that evening. She had planned to pull the cap over my head when I returned and record my angry reaction.But the beef ribs on the grill had already gone cold, and I still had not appeared.Rowan called me several times, but none of his calls went through. The same thing happened when my parents tried.“She blocked all of us?” my mother finally asked in panic.Lily still refused to believe it and ran toward my bedroom.“I don’t believe she would

Chapter 6

That evening, Rowan rushed to the Blood Moon Wolf Core Laboratory where I used to work. Only the security guard on duty remained in the entire building.Refusing to give up, he called the head of my department.After hearing why he was calling, the director sounded surprised.“Claire completed her handover yesterday. Didn’t you know?”Rowan tightened his grip on the phone.“When did she apply for the transfer?”“She asked about it at the beginning of the month but never confirmed her decision. On Thanksgiving night, she suddenly accepted Northwatch’s offer. She came in first thing the next morning to complete the handover and said she wanted everything processed as quickly as possible.”Rowan was silent for a moment.“Did she say why?”“I didn’t ask about her personal reasons.” The director paused. “But she has officially joined Northwatch Pack. If you want to speak with her, you should contact her directly.”After the call ended, Rowan stood outside the laboratory for a long time with

Chapter 7

On my third day in Northwatch Pack, I officially began working at the Icefield Wolf Core Research Center.The new project had just launched, and the laboratory had been busy since early that morning. I did not leave the testing area until lunch. After hesitating for a moment, one of my colleagues handed me her phone.“Is this you in the video?”The screen was playing footage from Thanksgiving.Lily cut off my long hair from behind, then held it up and laughed. My mother said short hair would save money, my father told me not to ruin dinner over a few strands of hair, and Rowan transferred two hundred dollars to Lily in front of everyone.The video ended on an image of him waving his phone.“I bet it would take you three minutes to cry. I didn’t expect you to lose that fast.”The title read:[She Cut Off the Hair Her Sister Had Grown for Seven Years—and Her Sister Lost It on the Spot.]Lily had uploaded the video to a social platform before our pack link was severed. She probably expect

Chapter 8

A week later, my parents obtained one-day visitor permits for Northwatch Pack and came to see me without warning.After my meeting ended at noon, the receptionist told me that two visitors from Blood Moon Pack were waiting in the public reception area.My mother stood as soon as she saw me, and her eyes quickly reddened.“Claire, why haven’t you answered our calls?”My father stood beside her with a box of pastries from home at his feet.I stopped several steps away.“Why are you here?”My mother froze. No matter what had happened between us in the past, I had never treated them with such distance when we met.My father cleared his throat.“Let’s go to your apartment first.”“My apartment isn’t open to outside visitors.”His expression immediately darkened.“We’re your parents. How can you call us outsiders?”Several researchers happened to walk past, and my father instantly lowered his voice.“Don’t make a scene here. Everyone is watching.”Even after following me all the way to North

Chapter 9

The day after my parents left, Rowan obtained a temporary visitor permit and waited for me in Northwatch Pack’s public reception area.He looked exhausted. In his hand was the paper bag I had left behind, still holding the spare key, supplementary bank card, future-mate insignia, and engagement ring.“Claire, give me ten minutes.”I checked the time.“You have eight. I have a meeting at two.”Rowan gave me a bitter smile before finally apologizing in a low voice.“The hair and the white dress were both my fault. I honestly believed they were harmless jokes.”“I know.”My calm response made him freeze.“Then why can’t you give me another chance?”I looked at him.“What finally made me give up on you wasn’t how many times you participated. It was the fact that you knew I wouldn’t leave.”Rowan’s expression slowly changed.“You knew what I treasured and exactly how to make me break down. You dared to tell Lily those things because you believed that no matter how badly I cried, I would eve

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