My father forced me into an arranged marriage, and I quickly called my boyfriend, Pietro Moretti.
He gave a cold laugh. “You’re still trying to trick me into meeting your parents again? Aren’t you ashamed?”
“I’ve told you already. Luna has no one to look after her now. Until she finds another man, I don’t want to talk about marriage.”
“I’m busy with work and I’m hanging up.”
The call ended.
The light in my eyes slowly faded as I looked at my father and said, “I lost the bet. I’ll go along with the arranged marriage.”
——
“I’ll come to get you in three days.”
After my father left, I sat alone in the corner, drinking quietly. Tears clung to my lashes as I stared blankly ahead, until two familiar faces caught my eye.
Pietro and Luna Palma were walking hand in hand through the cool autumn breeze, their steps crunching on fallen leaves.
They were talking and laughing together, looking so carefree, so happy.
A rush of anger rose inside me, and before I could stop myself, I ran straight toward them.
When our eyes met, and he saw the anger and disappointment on my face, a flicker of guilt passed through Pietro’s expression. He quickly pulled his hand away, but then, to my shock, he started blaming me instead. “Why are you here? Were you secretly following me?”
“Didn’t you say you were busy with work?” I asked, my fists tightening.
Before Pietro could answer, Luna jumped in to defend him. “Gaia, you can’t blame Brother Pietro completely. He only hid it because he didn’t want you to get jealous or upset.”
“Enough!” For the first time, I shouted that loudly.
“Pietro, your so-called little sister is already twenty-four, she’s no longer a child. She’s grown up and can take care of herself. Does she really need you around all the time?”
“What does her breakup have to do with our marriage? Just because she’s single now, does that mean she can hold your hand every day?”
“If anyone saw you two, they’d think you were the real couple!”
“Have you ever once thought about how that makes me feel?”
When I looked into Pietro’s eyes again, he looked startled at first, then slowly regained his calm and said coldly, “Are you done talking?”
I stood frozen, unable to say a word. Pietro’s face stayed calm, as if my feelings meant nothing.
“Brother Pietro, maybe I should say sorry to Gaia. You shouldn’t come see me anymore; I can handle myself.”
Luna spoke again, pretending like she was making some huge sacrifice, her eyes turning red. It was the same usual trick. Every time Pietro and I argued because of her, she would act pitiful, putting on that “I might as well die” look.
“No need, it’s not your fault. Let’s go watch a movie.”
Just like always, Pietro stood up for her and led Luna away. But after walking a few steps, he stopped.
For a brief moment, I thought he was finally feeling guilty.
“Gaia, even married couples break up, even those not married yet. You’re being too controlling.”
It felt like cold water poured straight over my heart. I stared at Pietro’s back as he walked off, my nails digging deep into my palms, the pain spreading through me.
My whole body shook.
This time, I didn’t run after him like before, pretending nothing happened. I quietly turned around.
“Pietro, there aren’t many seven-year stretches in one’s life, and I won’t waste any more of mine.”
When I got home, a message from Pietro popped up. [I won’t be coming back tonight.]
[Luna wants to see the meteor shower. I’ll stay with her.]
Almost at the same time, Luna posted on her Instagram Story. [Who doesn’t have someone to watch a movie with?]
[Who doesn’t have a thoughtful brother waiting under the night sky for the meteor shower to appear?]
The photo she shared showed their movie tickets, and their shadows forming a heart shape.
No matter how I saw it, it felt like they were laughing at me. After all, I was the one who suggested watching a movie today, and I was also the one who wanted us to wait for the meteor shower together.
Drunk and hurt, I smashed the photo in the living room, then grabbed the album that had held our memories for so long and cut it into pieces with scissors. At last, I took out the love letters I had saved and set them on fire.
As the flames burned, old memories came rushing back.
Pietro and I met during our first year of college. There wasn’t any big story behind us; we simply liked each other and naturally became a couple. From university to work, for seven years straight, we were the pair everyone around us admired.
But on the very day Pietro proposed to me, his so-called “little sister,” Luna came back crying, saying her heart was broken and that Pietro was the only man she had left in her life. She said if he got married, she wouldn’t know how to keep living.
Using the excuse of staying with Luna to help her recover from her mental trauma, Pietro backed out of his proposal.
I thought it was just a short delay, but soon, he didn’t even want to visit my parents anymore, and all his attention turned to pampering Luna.
On our anniversary, one call from Luna was enough to make him walk away. He skipped my birthday yet threw a huge celebration for hers.
Even though he always claimed to hate the smell of oil from cooking, he started preparing meals for Luna every single day.
The only time Pietro ever got upset with Luna was when she cut my brake line on purpose, making me crash into the greenbelt and sending me to the hospital with a bleeding head.
That day, Pietro swore he would teach Luna a lesson and stay away from her, but by the next morning, everything was already different.
He came in holding chicken soup and said, “Luna has been feeling down since the breakup. She only did that because she was afraid you’d take me away from her. She didn’t realize things would turn out this bad.”
“Luna cried all night and almost slit her wrists. She already said she’s sorry, so please let it go, okay?”
At that moment, I should have known what truly mattered and what didn’t, but I still held onto a fragile hope, believing Pietro would really keep his distance.
Yet now, in just a year, Luna had nearly taken everything that once belonged to me.
The warmth between us faded, and what we once had turned into ashes.
Outside, a meteor shower crossed the night sky as I called a real estate agent to sell the house. Curling up alone on the sofa, I stayed there until morning. When I opened my eyes, someone had covered me with a blanket.
The living room was tidy and spotless. Then Pietro stepped out of the kitchen with breakfast in hand and said softly, “I made your favorite stuffed pancake.”
I didn’t touch the utensils.
Pietro said, “Luna can’t handle emotional pressure, so yesterday I could only protect her.”
“And you, you’re mentally stronger.”
Not one word of apology. Everything he said sounded like he was justifying himself.
As if I somehow deserved this humiliation.
“You forgot, I’ve always hated egg-stuffed pancakes.”
I finally spoke up.
Pietro froze for a second, then realized that egg-stuffed pancakes were Luna’s favorite.
He had made them without thinking.
This wasn’t the first or even the second time. The things I disliked were always the ones Luna loved.
As for my likes, Pietro had long forgotten them.
“It’s just breakfast, don’t be so picky.”
Once he regained his calm, a faint look of impatience flashed across his face.
He hadn’t been like this before.
Later, all his kindness went to Luna, and all his anger was saved for me, his reason being that I was the person closest to him.
“Go ahead.”
I took a deep breath. “What does Luna want this time?”
It was always the same; whenever Pietro showed me a bit of warmth, it was connected to Luna.
“It’s nothing big.” Pietro sounds patient again. “Luna wants to hold a pretend wedding with me.”
“The psychologist said this could help Luna recover.”
I froze.
I never imagined Pietro could go this far for Luna; he’d rather stage a fake wedding with her than meet my parents.
After a few seconds of silence, I nodded. “Let’s break up.”
“Do whatever you want.”
A look of surprise crossed Pietro’s face before he suddenly stood up.
“Gaia! I’m not asking for your opinion. I’m telling you!”
“Don’t try to use breaking up to threaten me! No matter what, I’ll go through with the wedding with Luna!”
His gaze was cold, like he was lecturing a criminal. I knew then that saying anything more was useless.
When he saw me staying quiet, Pietro grew even more forceful. “We’ll hold the wedding here, in this house.”
“But don’t worry, it’s just for show. It won’t be real.”
Not only was he marrying someone else, but he even wanted to use the home I had bought as their wedding venue.
It was the ultimate humiliation.
Right now, I have neither the energy nor the will to argue with Pietro. Just then, Pietro got a call from Luna.
“Brother Pietro, my head hurts a little.”
Luna’s voice was soft, almost like a kitten’s.
Pietro once said he disliked that kind of tone, yet now his face was full of patience.
“Luna, be good and wait a while. I’ll be back soon.”
His voice was softer than ever. After saying that, he rushed out, not even glancing my way.
A short while later, Pietro’s Instagram background photo changed, from one of us together to a new one of him and Luna sitting side by side, watching the meteor shower.
Luna’s background was the same.
Both of their bios read. [In this cold autumn full of falling leaves, you are the ray of sunlight that warms my life.]
Compared to that, I was nothing more than a fool living beneath their shadow. A heavy sense of shame rose in my chest.
I hurried back to my room to pack my things, but before I could finish, a call came from Pietro’s mother.
“Gaia, come to the office quickly. There’s a work matter only you can handle.”
I agreed.
Partly because Pietro’s mother had always treated me kindly, and I wanted to say a proper goodbye. And also because I needed to take back my grandfather’s keepsake.
When I arrived at the company, Rebecca handed me a bottle of yogurt with a smile. “Your favorite mango flavor.”
A faint warmth spread in my chest.
“By the way, I heard from Pietro that you two will be having a wedding in seven days. You should invite your parents over soon so we can all have a meal together.”
Rebecca went on. I froze, realizing Pietro had hidden the truth and planned to act first, explain later.
Just as I was about to tell her the truth, Rebecca added, “Even after you two get married, don’t be harsh with Luna. You must take good care of her.”
In that moment, all the words I wanted to say stayed trapped in my throat. I lowered my head, finished the work matter, and then went straight to Pietro’s office.
Before my grandfather passed, he left me a sapphire pendant meant to ward off evil. I had worn it since I was little and treasured it deeply. When Pietro once mentioned that the company’s feng shui wasn’t good, I gave him the pendant to keep there for luck.
Now, it was time for me to take it back.
When I opened the safe, I was shocked to find the sapphire pendant missing. Just as confusion crossed my mind, the office door opened.
Luna stepped in, and hanging at her waist was a sapphire pendant, which was the one my grandfather had left me.
I never thought Pietro would give away my grandfather’s keepsake so easily.
“The sapphire pendant belongs to me. Return it.”
I frowned as I spoke.
“Sure.”
Luna nodded, took off the pendant, and pretended to toss it to me, but instead, she threw it hard to the floor.
The sapphire pendant shattered into pieces.
A wave of anger rushed straight to my head, and I lunged at Luna without a second thought.
She didn’t fight back; instead, she called out to Pietro in the hallway for help.
“Gaia! Stop right now!”
Pietro and several employees hurried over, pulled me away, and then his hand struck my face.
“Have you lost your mind?”
“Why did you hit Luna?” He shouted in anger.
Ignoring the numbness spreading across my cheek and the blood at the corner of my lips, I pointed to the broken pieces on the floor and asked, “Why did you give her the sapphire pendant?”
Pietro froze. “Luna’s condition, both body and mind, hasn’t been good. I thought something bad might be clinging to her, so I lent it to her for a while.”
He clearly knew what that pendant meant to me, and his voice wavered slightly.
“I’m sorry, Brother Pietro, I didn’t mean to.”
Luna cried as she twisted the truth. “I saw Gaia searching through the office, so I went over to stop her, but she got angry and started hitting and yelling at me.”
“While we were struggling, the sapphire pendant fell and broke.”
Seeing her like that, Pietro’s heart softened toward her, and he immediately raised his voice to defend her. “If you hadn’t been snooping around, would the pendant have shattered? If you want someone to blame, blame yourself.”
“To take revenge on Luna, you even destroyed your own grandfather’s keepsake, how cruel.”
“I never realized before how fake you truly are.”
Just like before, no matter what I said or what Luna said, Pietro always chose to believe her.
At that moment, Rebecca came after hearing the noise.
I thought she might say something for me, or at least ask what had happened.
But after hearing only one side, she immediately scolded me. “Gaia, that’s not right. How could you treat Luna that way?”
“You should show some kindness.”
So, this was how it was.
Everything I had given could never match a few words from Luna in front of Pietro and the Moretti family. I was always the outsider.
So I stayed silent, lowered my head, gathered the broken pieces of the sapphire pendant, and walked away as everyone watched.
Behind me, Rebecca’s voice sounded. “Pietro, go talk things out with Gaia.”
Pietro did follow me, but his face darkened. His tone was cold as he said, “Luna can’t handle emotional pressure. Don’t stir up any problems before the wedding.”
“Go find someone to decorate the wedding house.”
“I won’t be home for a few days. I’m going with Luna to take wedding photos.”
After saying that, he turned and left.
“Never again,” I whispered softly, then met with the agent and buyer, signing the house sale contract right there.
Aside from a few clothes and documents, I took nothing else from that house.
As planned, I returned to the capital with my father.
At the same time, I slowly withdrew all the quiet help I had been giving to the Moretti family.
Seven days later, Luna came smiling to pick up the bride, and that was when Rebecca finally understood what was happening. She froze for a moment, and her face quickly turned dark with anger.
“Mom! This is all for Luna’s good. You wouldn’t want her to stay sad and down every day, right? Besides, Gaia doesn’t mind.”
Pietro tried to convince her.
Hearing that, Rebecca paused for a moment before letting out a long sigh. “Then we’ll have to wrong Gaia this time.”
The wedding went on as planned. The ceremony continued, and the motorcade headed toward the wedding house with drums and gongs.
But as soon as they reached the entrance of the neighborhood, the security guard stopped them. “No one’s getting married here lately. Did you come to the wrong place?”
“Huh?”
Pietro frowned. “Didn’t the owner of Building 6, Unit 6, Room 606, Gaia, let you know in advance?”
His tone was clearly impatient.
“According to our records, the owner of 606 has already sold the house. The last name isn’t Rossi anymore, it’s Conti.”
The security guard answered.
“What?”
Pietro’s expression changed instantly. “That’s impossible! I’m her boyfriend, how could I not know she sold the house?”
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