"I'm your Auntie, your mother’s best friend. Before she passed away, she entrusted you to my care. I raised you,” she wrote.

"Let go of these unrealistic thoughts. If this is another attempt to confess your feelings, I must decline and refuse your invitation," she had typed.

I actually was not surprised by her rejection.

Ever since I was head over heels with my Auntie at nine years old, I kept professing my love to her and because I was a child at that time, she would scold me and call me a silly kid who didn’t know better.

I naively believed that once I grew up, I could be with her. Each year on my birthday, I eagerly declared my feelings once again.

However, over time her rebuttal became lesser and lesser. Then on the day, I came of age, her attitude toward me changed completely. She became cold and unyielding.

This time, however, I truly just wanted to celebrate her birthday. Couldn't she know that after more than ten years, I finally called her "Auntie" again, just like before?

I just shook my head and replied, "Yes, Auntie, I understand. Don’t worry. I really just want to celebrate your birthday this time. I promise."

She started typing ... then stopped. After what felt like an eternity, she finally replied with a cold "Hmm."

I let out a wry laugh and decided not to press further.

This would be the last time I celebrated her birthday. The last chance to repay her kindness.

***

When I got home, Auntie was not back yet. I glanced at the clock in the living room, it was already eleven thirty at night and she never stayed out this late before.

I recalled that when I was still a child, I was afraid of the dark. As soon as Auntie knew about it, she would go home to accompany me, no matter how busy the company was. She even turned down meetings for me.

However, once she learned about my feelings, she started avoiding me. Her eyes grew distant and stranger when she looked at me.

The toys that she once brought for me from every business trip stopped appearing, The bedtime story and chatting before bed were all gone. She started coming home later and later.

Now she played the role of a polite but detached elder, her words filled with artificial warmth and long-standing insincerity.

At half past twelve, my Auntie finally showed up in a drunken state. However, when I opened the door to greet her, I saw her leaning on a tall man. Her cheeks were flushed and she rested her small face against his chest.

Pain stabbed my heart. The ache spread in my heart.

This was the scene I had feared most, which was Auntie becoming someone else’s woman. It was the reason I could not let go of my feelings, why I confessed to her year after year.

However, my fear became a reality in front of my eyes. So, I just lowered my head and did not say anything.

Half-drunk, Auntie pushed me away with a look of irritation. "Joey? Didn’t I tell you not to wait up for me? I don’t need you taking care of me anymore."

With that, she grabbed the man’s arm and headed upstairs to the second floor. The place where I had not set foot since I grew up.

I stood there, rooted to the spot while watching them as my heart sank even deeper. I knew what would happen once they reached the second floor.

The thought of it and the pain that followed shattered the emotional barriers I had tried so hard to maintain. With a clenched fist, I mustered all my courage and pleaded desperately, "Auntie! Please, don't …."

She paused for a moment, her steps faltering. However, then, with the man’s support, she continued upstairs.

The man glanced back at me, a faint smirk tugging at his lips.

It was like the damage had already been done. It was an irreversible reality.

That night I could not sleep and just sat in the living room while listening to the muffled, ambiguous sounds from the second floor. The lights in their room flickered on and off, each change like a stab to my chest.

I clenched my teeth to stifle the sobs threatening to escape, and in my head, I kept chanting, "Haven't you let go already? You know perfectly well this is not possible. Your feeling for Auntie is doomed not to happen."

Yet no matter what tears kept flooding.

It was not until I heard footsteps descending the stairs that I realized dawn had arrived. Hastily, I wiped my face, erasing the traces of my anguish.

It was Auntie who walked downstairs. Her freshly washed hair cascaded over her shoulders and she carried herself with an elegance that seemed to exude a newfound confidence. A woman who had just had her first taste of intimacy.

My chest tightened further.

She glanced at me briefly, her expression cold and distant, as if I were a stranger. She did not even utter a word to me.

Panic welled within me and I couldn’t stop myself from calling out loudly at her back, "Auntie!"

She knitted her brows with annoyance. "What is it?"

Her voice was unfamiliar, icy enough to freeze the air around her. For a moment, I was speechless.

Yet, it was precisely her detached demeanor that snapped me back to reason. Forcing a smile, I said, "Auntie, I just wanted to ask, what would you like to eat for your birthday tomorrow?"

Perhaps relieved that I wasn’t uttering forbidden words, her tone softened slightly, "Do whatever you want. I'm heading off to work now."

Then she left and the house went empty again.

Before I could leave, the man from last night strolled down from the second floor, still in a bathrobe. He smiled casually at me and said, "I’ve heard a lot about you from your Auntie. You’re Joey, right? I’m her fiancé. You should call me Uncle-in-law."

He gave a sly smirk before continuing, "I hear you’re a taxidermist. It's quite a rare profession in the country. What a coincidence, so am I."

I barely registered his words. My gaze was locked on the vivid marks on his

A surge of grief and anger welled up inside me. I did not want to have anything to do with him, so I turned around to leave.

However, he grabbed my arm and pulled me back. "What's wrong? Joey, my nephew, aren't you going to greet your uncle?"

While saying that, he leaned over and whispered in my ear, "Everyone in Mirage City knows you’re in love with your Auntie. Do you think it’s some big secret?"

"Let me tell you something. While Leslie agreed to our family’s alliance, she wasn’t planning to fully commit to me yesterday."

"Do you want to know how I changed her mind? I told her that if she didn’t comply, I’d leak to the media that her precious nephew was hopelessly in love with her. Let’s see how the public reacts to such a scandal."

"You … despicable!" I said and turned to glare at him. My hands clenched tightly.

The realization that Auntie had been coerced into submission cut me like a blade.

"Despicable?" He sneered, "Joey, you’ve got it wrong. I’m not the one who fell in love with the aunt who raised me. That’s all you. In fact, I’m helping you, aren’t I?"

He laughed mockingly and poked my chest with his finger.

The fury in my chest erupted. Out of control, I grabbed him by the collar and dragged him toward the backyard pool. Then I slammed him to the ground. My fist was ready to pound his smug face.

Ye, he just smiled calmly at me.

"Joey, do you think if you hit me, your Auntie will like you more or hate you more?” he asked. "Don't forget! Your feelings for her can never be a reality. Leslie will never accept this kind of love."

His words drained the fight out of me. I slumped to the ground, silent and defeated.

However, he wasn’t done yet. Right before my eyes, he took out his phone and dialed Auntie’s number.

Before I could figure out what he was about to do, with a panicked voice, he yelled loudly to the phone, "Leslie! Joey has gone crazy! He didn’t just hit me, he tried to kill me!”

My auntie had not had a chance respond, before he hung up abruptly. Then, with a sudden, violent motion, he dragged me and leaped into the pool with me in tow.

The sharp, chemical sting of chlorine filled my nose as he shoved me underwater.

I could not swim, moreover I suffered from claustrophobia. So, I became panic.

My limbs were flailing wildly, I felt as though I were being swallowed by an unending whirlpool. My vision blurred, my senses dulled and I spiraled deeper into fear.

In the haze, I thought I saw Auntie leaping into the water, reaching out her hand toward me. For a fleeting moment, I believed salvation was at hand. However, her hand passed me by and she grabbed him instead.

***

When I woke up, I was in the hospital room. Beside me, sat an imposing middle-aged man. He looked sternly at me while his mouth chewing gum. It was Harry.

"Harry," I croaked weakly. "Why am I here?"

Harry raised his hand as if to flick my forehead, but then sighed heavily and dropped it. He just said I was the one who pulled you out. Have you packed your things for the trip?”

I nodded faintly.

There wasn’t much to pack. A few clothes and I could leave this place behind.

“I don’t even need to ask to know who’s behind this,” Harry said grimly. “That guy, the one from the Lombart Family. He must’ve done something to you, didn’t he?”

“President Morris always spoiled you back then. Even the slightest argument and she’d fight tooth and nail for your sake. She turned down countless big deals just for you.”

“Yet now … how did it come to this?” He sighed deeply.

Harry’s words brought back vivid fragments of the pool incident. Yet, I did not answer his question, Instead, I asked, “Where … where is Auntie?”

He hesitated before nodding toward the door.

I dragged myself out of the bed and shuffled toward the door. As I peered through the gap, I could just see the room across the hall.

Auntie was sitting by the bed. In her hand, she was holding a bowl of porridge. She carefully blew on each spoonful before feeding it to him, the man from the Lombart Family.

As if on cue, the damn man noticed me. With a smirk, he wrapped an arm around Auntie’s waist and flashed me a triumphant, mocking wink.

There was a time when Auntie never left my side in a hospital. Even the smallest scratch would make her fuss over me, bandaging my wounds and soothing my pain.

Yet now? She knew I couldn’t swim, knew I had claustrophobia and knew how close I came to dying, but still, she chose to save him first.

A bitter smile tugged at my lips. Yet, beneath the surface, the pain began to ease, replaced by a strange, quiet calm. The turmoil in my heart subsided. It made me able to look at them without flinching.

Finally, Auntie noticed me. Her expression frosted over as she stood to shut the door in my face.

I stepped forward and stopped her.

“Auntie,” I said softly, “whatever happened, I just want to say to you that tomorrow, for your birthday, I’ll be at home waiting for you. Consider it my last request. Can you grant me this?”