Chapter 2 Chapter 2

"After your family lost everything, my mom threatened to kill herself if I didn't leave you. She forced me to break it off. "

"Elena-" Bran started, but she held up a hand, her tears spilling freely now.

"I didn't want to go!" Her voice cracked.

"Do you know what it's like to think about someone every day and not be able to reach out? To want to know if they're okay, but be too scared they'll hate you?"

"Elena, stop-"

"No!" She stood suddenly, her chair scraping loudly against the floor.

"When I saw you at the airport, I thought it was a dream. But then you brought me here, and now I don't know."

Her voice dropped, trembling. "Bran, tell me the truth. Did you bring me here because you still care? Or is this your way of showing me that I'm nothing to you?"

Bran and Elena were childhood sweethearts, inseparable until university.

They loved deeply, and Bran once confessed he'd marry her the moment they graduated.

But fate intervened.

The year Bran's pack, Silvermoon, faced ruin, Elena was away studying in another pack. When she heard, she ended things over a phone call-cold and final.

Bran spiraled into despair.

Everyone knew I was chasing him, ignoring the warnings.

"Aren't you scared? Bran loved Elena with his whole soul," his friends teased.

I was naïve, believing I could be his salvation.

When a border tumult hit Silvermoon, everyone fled, but I dragged two suitcases of food through the chaos to Bran's doorstep. I earned his house code that day, but not his heart.

For three years, I waited.

Until one night, tears streaming, I asked, "Do you even like me?"

He pulled me into his arms.

"Let's try," he whispered.

Three months later, Elena returned.

Tonight was the final blow.

In the shower, I scrubbed off the humiliation. Dressed, hair dried, I stepped out of the room to overhear him.

"Elena's had a lot to drink. Aunt Sasra, make her some soup when she gets home. Keep an eye on her tonight, okay?"

My breath caught. A breakup years ago, yet he still had her family servant's number, still worried over her like she was his mate.

I recalled how he treated me drunk-

"Get off me. You stink of alcohol. Disgusting."

I'd once thought it was tough love. It wasn't.

"Bran," his friend asked casually, "are you getting back with Elena? Laura looked upset."

He scoffed. "Upset? So what? She won't leave me."

I closed the door and sat in silence.

Later, Bran staggered into the room, collapsing onto the bed. "Everyone's gone. Go clean up and turn off the lights."

I didn't move.

"Bran," I said.

"What?"

"We're done. Let's not see each other again."

The room went quiet.

For a moment, I thought he'd fallen asleep. Then-

"Do whatever you want."

Just indifference, like discussing the weather.

I swallowed the lump in my throat.

I packed silently.

Bran sat up suddenly, his eyes flashing with irritation. "You're noisy as hell."