"Why didn't you answer the phone?"
Elena Shen's fingers remained still around her phone.
Her expression was calm, as always.
"I was busy. Didn't hear it."
Adrian Jiang let out a faint, dry chuckle.
A hint of self-mockery flickered in his eyes.
"Not busy now, I suppose?"
Elena glanced at him. "Is there something you need?"
Adrian tossed away his cigarette. "Yeah, something I wanted to ask."
His tone was as casual and nonchalant as ever—like nothing ever really mattered.
"I heard you're marrying my brother. Is that true?"
"It's only been two weeks, Elena. A decision like marriage—are you really going to make it this hastily?"
He still used that overly familiar nickname, the one he'd used since they were kids. But his tone, layered with barely contained emotion, betrayed him.
Elena's hand, which had been reaching for the doorknob, froze mid-motion.
"Adrian, what exactly are you trying to say?"
His smile disappeared, and whatever humor had lingered never reached his eyes.
But his voice remained calm, like he was just confused.
"Weren't you always afraid of Ethan? In the ten years you lived in the Jiang household, you two barely even spoke."
"Do you even know him? Does he know you? You're really going to treat something like marriage this casually?"
Elena's lips pressed into a tight line.
Even her knuckles had turned white around the edge of her phone from how tightly she gripped it.
She'd known Adrian too long to miss the accusations hidden in his voice.
They had been growing apart for years now. She had no intention of letting yet another argument drain whatever threadbare bond they still had. Without answering, she turned and reached for the door.
But he wasn't done.
Just as she moved, his hand shot out and grabbed her wrist.
He didn't hold back. Red marks bloomed almost instantly on her pale skin.
Adrian was too focused on her face to notice what his grip had done.
"Why won't you answer me?"
"Elena." His voice had gone cold now—like all those times over the past two years when they'd fought and parted on bitter terms.
"Do you really see love and marriage as two completely separate things?"
Elena furrowed her brows.
She pulled her hand free from his grasp, forcing herself to speak calmly.
"Adrian, I know you're against family-arranged marriages. But I've never forced you to marry me. Whether or not the Jiang and Shen families continue with the engagement, whether I choose to marry your brother—that's my business. You didn't need to come here just to interrogate me."
As expected, the conversation ended in yet another cold, unresolved silence.
Just like it had so many times before.
Before she turned eighteen, Elena never imagined things between her and Adrian would deteriorate like that.
The elevator doors opened and closed.
The hallway's motion-sensor lights flickered on, then off again.
Elena clenched her hand into a fist, her nails biting into her palm. The exhaustion that had melted away while playing with the golden retriever earlier now began to creep back, slowly and relentlessly.
The smoke he'd left behind still lingered in the air, irritating her nerves like an invisible thorn pressing against her temples.
Without hesitation, she unlocked the door with her fingerprint, walked into her apartment, and shut out the haze behind her.
After a long day at school, her mind felt foggy and heavy. She poured herself a glass of cold water to soothe her throat, took a quick shower, and went straight to bed.
She tried to push what had just happened out of her mind, convincing herself it didn't matter.
But her dreams told a different story.
Her subconscious dragged her back to two years ago—the first time she and Adrian had truly fallen out.
It was right after she moved out of the Jiang family estate.
Adrian had tracked her down to this apartment, demanding to know why she left so suddenly.
She gave him the same explanation she'd given Ethan's parents: the apartment was closer to school, more convenient for her studies.
But they'd lived under the same roof for eight years. They knew each other's personalities too well.
That excuse worked on Ethan's parents—but not on Adrian.
When he kept pressing, she dropped the act and told him the truth.
They weren't going to end up together. They are both adults now. With people already making assumptions, continuing to live under the same roof was awkward at best.
And he'd made his stance clear—he wanted no part in the arranged marriage. So much so that he'd all but stopped coming home. They went weeks without seeing each other.
Given that, she thought the decent thing to do was leave. That was his home, after all. She was the outsider.
She expected he'd be relieved.
Instead, he'd laughed bitterly, his eyes filled with contempt.
To this day, Elena can still recall that night—how much it mirrored tonight.
He stood outside her apartment, a sneer on his face as he asked if all those years she'd stayed close to him were simply because he was her fiancé.
Like their entire relationship had been conditional.
Before he rejected the marriage, she'd followed him everywhere. Like his shadow. Always by his side.
But the moment he distanced himself from the engagement, she moved out.
Like she couldn't wait to draw a line between them.
That night, she had wanted to explain. Wanted him to know her feelings had nothing to do with the engagement.
When she was brought into the Jiang household, she was still grieving her parents' sudden death.
He and his family had helped her through the darkest days of her life. They'd been with her, year after year, as she grew up.
Her affection for them had nothing to do with marriage.
But Adrian hadn't given her the chance to explain.
And just like that, their first Cold War began.
Later, she did find another opportunity to talk things through, and though he listened, it was clear—he didn't believe her.
From that point on, neither of them ever mentioned the engagement again.
It was as if it had never existed.
He rarely returned to the family estate.
Rumors of him and Grace Su surfaced often.
Elena, in turn, distanced herself from the Jiang household and threw herself into her studies and research.
Two years of memories blurred like a carousel in her dream, endlessly spinning.
Face buried in the pillow, Elena couldn't sleep peacefully.
The dull throbbing in her temple only worsened.
At midnight, her phone suddenly rang—sharp and insistent.
Frowning, she reached out groggily, hand searching the nightstand.
"Elena, are you asleep?"
On the other end, Silas Ji's warm voice is laced with a gentle chuckle. In the quiet of her room, it felt impossibly loud.
Elena held her breath for a second.
Her fingers brushed her heated forehead as she glanced at the caller ID.
"…Silas?"
His smile deepened over the line.
"It's me. Adrian's drunk. Could you come by for a bit?"
In her rush to fall asleep earlier, Elena had forgotten to close the curtains.
She turned to glance out the window into the pitch-black night. Without hesitation, her dry lips parted and she declined softly.
"Sorry, Silas. I'm not really in a position to go out. Why don't you ask Grace Su to look after him instead?"
There was a moment of silence.
Silas blinked, glancing instinctively at Adrian seated across from him.
Before he could respond, the line went dead. Elena had politely but firmly ended the call.