Chapter 1

"Ethan, you married her?!"

Lily was stunned. Ethan had always loved her, so why would he suddenly marry a woman he'd known for less than six months?

In the past, Lily would have been thrilled for Ethan to marry someone else and sever all ties with her. But now, watching her only lifeline, her eternal backup plan, slip away, Lily felt like her world was crumbling.

"You've always loved me. Divorce her! Ethan, it's either me or her!" Lily cried.

Ethan's expression shifted. "Lily, have you lost your mind? I'm just your brother."

He would have given in to her before, but unfortunately for Lily, I had entered the picture.

Lily's return home was sudden. She had smashed the family photo and cut ties barely a month ago, yet here she was again, eyes downcast, looking as fragile as ever.

When Lily saw me sitting next to Ethan, she froze, clearly not expecting another woman by her brother's side.

I looked at Lily, equally shocked. In just one month, life had taken a heavy toll on her. The once pampered princess now had frostbite on her hands and had lost considerable weight.

Ethan abruptly stood up from the couch, his eyes dark with suppressed emotion behind his glasses. "What happened to your hands?"

Lily tried to hide her hands in her sleeves. "I've been biking to the hospital lately..." she mumbled.

After cutting ties with the Harrisons, Lily naturally had to return the car. She used to have gloves, but unfortunately, some patient at the hospital had stolen them.

Before, Lily wouldn't have even needed to mention it - someone would have automatically bought her a new pair. But when she casually told Jake about it, he immediately frowned.

"Once a spoiled princess, always a spoiled princess," Jake sneered. "You just can't handle living like us common folk, can you? It's just a pair of gloves, and it's already making you think of the Harrisons again. Why don't you just go crawling back to them then?"

"My aunt gets up at 5 AM every day to bike to the market and her hands haven't fallen off!" he chided unsympathetically.

Lily quickly shut up, not daring to say another word. She gazed at Jake's tense face in the warm light, her heart melting. "I know you're just afraid I'll get entangled with the Harrisons again," she thought. "You don't want to let me go."

After the fall-out with her family, Lily's adoptive mother Victoria seemed to age several years overnight. Seeing the daughter she had doted on since childhood in this state, Victoria was the first to soften.

"Lily, honey, if you're willing to come back, we'll return everything to you - your car, your house..." Victoria offered gently.

"Stop, Mom." Lily's face immediately hardened. She clutched her bag, looking at Victoria with defiant vulnerability.

"I told you, unless you accept Jake, I'm not coming back. You've already torn us apart once. I won't let you control me again. I can't change you, but I'll die for him!"

Lily braced herself for Victoria's anger. Her mother had always been like this, making life decisions for Lily under the guise of knowing what was best. If not for Jake, who knew how much longer Lily would have suffered in that gilded cage!

But instead of the scolding Lily expected, Victoria's eyes filled with disappointment and pain. "You'd sever ties with your own parents for a man?"

Lost in thought, Lily blurted out: "Adoptive parents."

That one word shattered everything, making the entire Harrison mansion tremble. With that single utterance, Lily had negated all the years of love and care Victoria and George had given her.

"Fine, fine." Victoria nodded repeatedly, her face gradually freezing into an impenetrable mask devoid of emotion. "From now on, you have no parents and no brother."

Lily left in tears, throwing herself into Jake's arms. Ethan, who had rushed out still holding a tube of ointment for her frostbite, called after her. "Lily-"

"Shut up!" Jake roared angrily. "Look at the state Lily is in. Can't you just leave her alone? Are you trying to drive her to suicide?!"

Lily cowered behind Jake, her doe eyes full of rejection and fear as if facing a mortal enemy rather than the brother she grew up with.

"Ethan Harrison, Lily treated you like family, but what did you ever treat her as? A pawn to toss aside at will! She's already suffering so much, yet you want to push her over the edge?!"

Jake berated Ethan harshly, his brows furrowed into a deep 'V'. Ethan's hand holding the ointment slowly fell to his side, disappearing into the shadows. I noticed the veins popping on the back of his hand. When had this dignified man ever been shouted at like this by some lowlife thug?

"Excuse me, Mr. Jake," I said, eyes full of contempt. "This is the Harrison residence. You're the ones who should leave."

I took the ointment from Ethan and tossed it at Lily's feet. "Your brother just wanted to give you some medicine. No need to act like you're on death's door."

"You two claim to be madly in love, yet he can't even afford to buy you gloves. Is this really the life you want?"

"What's wrong with this life?" Lily retorted, eyes red.

Jake let out a cold laugh, gazing at me with undisguised disgust and a perplexing sense of superiority. "Our Lily isn't as delicate as the likes of you!"

The likes of me? I glanced down at my designer coat and lambskin boots, every strand of my hair perfectly styled.

The likes of me lived in penthouses, not crammed into tiny apartments, fighting over the bathroom at 6 AM. The likes of me had a dozen cars to choose from, not biking for hours in the frigid wind before squeezing into the subway like frozen mutts.

The likes of me dined on delicacies from around the world, not moved to tears by a plain bowl of porridge.

"Lily, don't come to regret this," I warned.

After Lily left with Jake, Ethan and I returned inside. Victoria had already recomposed herself.

"Ethan, Olivia just got back from abroad and isn't familiar with things here. Spend more time with her," Victoria instructed, clearly pleased with me as a match. My mother had barely crossed the threshold before Victoria took my hand and invited me to stay for dinner.

"Of course, Mom." Ethan nodded. When he turned to me, his eyes behind the glasses held only unfamiliar detachment.

I suddenly reached out and gently brushed a piece of lint off his shoulder. "Mr. Harrison, could you pick me up at Capital Hospital at 5 PM tomorrow? There's an art exhibition I'd like you to attend with me."