Eighteen Days to Forget You

Eighteen days after giving up on Jarrett Sheppard, Alayna Dickerson cut off her waist-length hair and called her father, announcing her decision to move to California and attend the UC Berkeley College of Music.

Her father, Samuel Dickerson, surprised, asked about the sudden change, reminding her how she'd always insisted on staying with Jarrett. Alayna forced a laugh, revealing the painful truth: Jarrett was getting married, and she, his stepsister, could no longer cling to him.

That night, she tried to tell Jarrett about her college acceptance, but his fiancée, Kisha Prince, interrupted with a bubbly call, and Jarrett's tender words to Kisha twisted a knife in Alayna's heart. She remembered how his tenderness used to be hers alone, how he had given her her first harmonica when she was eight, becoming her musical mentor, and how she had poured out her heart to him in a love letter at seventeen, only for him to explode, tearing the letter and yelling, "I'm your brother!"

He had stormed out, leaving her to painstakingly tape the shredded pieces back together. Her love, however, didn't die, not even when he brought Kisha home and told her to call her "sister-in-law."

Now, she understood. She had to put that fire out herself. She had to dig Jarrett out of her heart.

Chapter 1

Eighteen days after she decided to give up on Jarrett Sheppard, Alayna Dickerson cut off her waist-length hair. She stood in front of the mirror and smoked her first cigarette, the smoke curling around her fingers. The taste was bitter.

That night, she called her father across the country.

"Dad, I got into the UC Berkeley College of Music."

Her voice was quiet.

"I want to move to California. I want to be with you again."

Her father, Samuel Dickerson, sounded surprised on the other end of the line. "After your mom and I divorced, I settled down here. I always asked you to come over, but you insisted on staying with your step-brother, Jarrett. Why the sudden change?"

Alayna lowered her eyes, which were red and swollen. She forced a small, light laugh.

"Some paths you have to walk to the end to know they're dead ends."

She paused, her voice shaking slightly.

"Jarrett is getting married. It's not right for me, his sister with no blood relation, to cling to him anymore."

Her father sighed, his voice full of sympathy. "It's good you've figured it out. Come live with me. You can pursue your music dreams properly."

"Okay," Alayna said, then hung up.

She saw her swollen eyes in the reflection of the dark phone screen. She went to the bathroom and splashed cold water on her face. She had two weeks until she left for Berkeley. She had to pull herself together.

She walked down the hallway and noticed the light was on in the study. She hesitated for a moment, then pulled up her e-acceptance letter on her phone and knocked on the door.

"Come in." Jarrett's voice was cool and magnetic.

Inside, Jarrett Sheppard sat at his desk. He wore gold-rimmed glasses and looked elegant, aloof, and disciplined as he typed on his computer.

"Jarrett," Alayna said softly. This was the man who was her step-brother. He was also the secret, hidden crush of her entire teenage life.

Jarrett looked up from his screen, his brow furrowed in a slight frown. "Something wrong?"

Alayna pursed her lips, hesitating. "The college admission results are out..."

Before she could finish, a cute, bubbly ringtone cut through the quiet room. "Darling, answer the phone~"

Jarrett's frown vanished instantly. He picked up his phone, and a gentle smile spread across his face as he listened to the person on the other end.

"Kisha, what's wrong? You can work directly with the wedding planner. Just tell them to arrange whatever designs you want. Remember, money is no object."

A sharp bitterness filled Alayna's chest. Jarrett's tenderness used to belong only to her.

When she was eight, her remarried mother brought her to the Sheppard household. She stood awkwardly in the grand mansion, lost and alone. Young Jarrett had walked over and handed her a delicate harmonica, playing a simple children's song. "Little Alayna, let music speak for you," he'd said.

That was the beginning of her musical dreams, and the beginning of her falling for him.

Then, on her seventeenth birthday, just before Jarrett graduated from college, she gave him everything. She gave him a diary filled with her feelings and a love letter where she poured out her heart.

That day, Jarrett exploded. He flipped the gift box over, sending its contents scattering across the floor.

"Alayna Dickerson, are you sick? I'm your brother! Do you have no shame?" he had yelled.

He stormed out of the house that day without a second glance. Alayna cried as she picked up the shredded pieces from the floor.

But on the day she finished high school, Jarrett brought a woman named Kisha Prince home.

"Alayna, call her 'sister-in-law'," he'd said.

That night, Alayna cried until she couldn't breathe. She finally understood that the ninety-nine steps she had taken through thorns to reach him meant nothing. She and Jarrett would only ever be siblings. There was no other possibility.

The intense love that had burned in her heart for years now felt like a fire that was burning her alive.

Now, she understood. She had to put that fire out herself. She had to dig Jarrett out of her heart.

Watching Jarrett still on the phone with Kisha Prince, his voice soft and loving, Alayna Dickerson swallowed the words she had come to say. She turned and quietly left the study.

To him, she was just a stepsister living in his house. He wouldn't care where she went to college. If that was the case, she didn't need to tell him.

In fifteen days, she would leave the Sheppard home. She would leave Jarrett.

Back in her room, Alayna looked around. A flicker of sadness crossed her face. But the past was the past.

She sighed softly. "Since I've decided to go, it's time to pack," she murmured to herself.

She pulled an old duffel bag from the top of her closet and opened the large, wall-to-wall display cabinet. Inside the glass-fronted shelves were all the memories. The perfume Jarrett had brought her from France. The cross necklace he had gotten for her, claiming it was a lucky charm.

One by one, she took them all out and placed them in the duffel bag. The bag slowly filled up, but her heart felt like it was emptying, a hollow space where a cold wind was blowing.

She pushed down the sadness and opened the bottom drawer of the cabinet. A yellowed diary lay inside. The pages were filled with childish pencil scribbles from her turbulent childhood.

She remembered how Jarrett used to protect her. But now, those memories were painful.

As she flipped through the diary, every single page was about Jarrett.

She turned page after page, her eyes blurring with tears. A tear fell silently onto the diary, blurring the ink.

Alayna pulled herself together, pushing down the complicated knot of feelings in her chest. Then, she started tearing the pages out of the diary. She tore up the letters, too. With each rip of the paper, a memory of her and Jarrett seemed to fade.

She threw all the shredded pieces into the duffel bag and zipped it shut.

A while later, she heard a commotion downstairs. She walked out of her room and saw Kisha Prince in the living room, hugging Jarrett. A suitcase stood beside her.

Alayna's heart stuttered, and she froze on the landing.

Seeing her, Kisha smiled and waved. "Alayna! I'm moving in for a few days. I brought you a gift!"

Kisha handed over a large bouquet of bright lilies.

Alayna instinctively took a step back, covering her nose. She was severely allergic to pollen, especially lilies. Contact caused rashes and breathing difficulties. Jarrett used to know this better than anyone. The house never had fresh flowers; the garden only had foliage plants.

"Why don't you take it?" Jarrett frowned, his tone impatient. "It's your sister-in-law's kindness."

Alayna looked at him in disbelief. "Jarrett, I'm allergic to pollen."

"Don't be so delicate," Jarrett said coldly. "Kisha's family situation is special. Her stepfather is abusive, so I brought her here to protect her. She bought these flowers specifically for you. Don't be ungrateful."

To protect Kisha, he could completely forget her restrictions?

Alayna held back the stinging in her eyes. She took the bouquet, holding her breath, and placed it on a distant table.

"Thank you, sister-in-law. And... thank you, brother."

Thank you for making my decision to leave even easier.

That night, Kisha Prince slept in Jarrett Sheppard's room.

Alayna knew they were a couple. She knew it was normal for them to stay together. But the quiet, ambiguous sounds that floated through the house in the dead of night kept her awake.

She lit another cigarette, watching the smoke curl around her slender fingers before taking a deep drag. It tasted bitter and acrid, just like her feelings.

The next morning, Alayna came downstairs with swollen eyes.

"Alayna!" Kisha called out, pulling her to sit on the sofa. A faint red mark was visible on Kisha's neck. "Your brother's birthday is coming up. I want to throw him a party. Do you know what style he likes?"

Kisha's question pulled Alayna back to the present. She couldn't help but remember a conversation she and Jarrett had once had.

She had told him she loved the sound of the waves, and how it reminded her of her harmonica music. That day, Jarrett had promised they would always spend birthdays by the sea.

"We agreed to go to the beach..." Alayna started to say.

"Let's just have a party at home," Jarrett interrupted, his eyes fixed on Kisha. "Kisha likes it lively."

Alayna lowered her head and swallowed her bitter porridge.

After breakfast, Alayna prepared to go out to handle her visa.

"Where are you going?" Jarrett asked.

"To run some errands."

"Alayna, you just graduated high school. Don't get mixed up with the wrong people and start dating too early," Jarrett warned sternly.

Kisha laughed coquettishly beside him. "Oh, it's normal for girls to date when they grow up. Jarrett, don't be so fierce."

Alayna didn't explain. She turned and walked into the rain.

On the way, she scrolled through Jarrett's social media.

He had posted a new photo: a wedding picture of them kissing in the rain. The caption read: [Rainy days are perfect for going public. Please guide me for the rest of my life.]

Alayna stood under the eaves of the visa office, looking at the photo, her heart dead.

She calmly typed two words: [Congratulations.]