When I find out there's a tumor growing in my brain, the Kane sisters are in the middle of celebrating Evan Kennedy's birthday with him.

If I undergo the tumor-extracting surgery, I'll risk losing my memories. I don't want to forget the sisters at all, so I call them in hopes of seeking their help.

But all three sisters don't hesitate to berate me on the spot.

"Why can't you be more understanding, Declan? It's Evan's birthday today! Nothing is more important than his birthday!"

Heartbroken, I feel immense pain wrecking my head. That's how I end up collapsing three times in a row later on.

When I regain my consciousness in the hospital, I see a text message sent by Evan.

"Declan, the Kane sisters have given me three protective charms just to protect me."

In the photo, the "protective charms" are actually the very same charms I have managed to obtain after spending ten hours climbing a mountain while groveling all the way.

My heart has officially died at that moment. So, I decide to fly overseas on my own to undergo that life-saving surgery and forget all about the Kanes.

Weirdly enough, the sisters go crazy right after I've forgotten about them.

The first thing I did after getting home from the hospital was call my aunt, Linda Hayden, in Sovrane.

"Aunt Linda, I've made up my mind. I'm coming to Sovrane. Could you please help me find a top-tier neurosurgeon? I want to have the surgery."

Aunt Linda's voice cracked with panic at the mention of surgery. She frantically pressed me for details.

I forced a light chuckle, masking my frailty. "It's nothing major. Just a tumor in my head."

"Just a tumor? Declan, that is a massive deal! Do the Kane sisters know?"

The mention of them brought a wave of sharp pain, and a few stray tears escaped my eyes.

"There's no need to tell them."

Aunt Linda was silent for a long moment before finally sighing. "Okay. I've booked you a flight for two weeks from now. Just get here as soon as you can so I can take care of you."

My tears wouldn't stop falling. Aside from Aunt Linda, it felt like no one in the world cared about me.

I choked out, "Okay, Aunt Linda. I'll be there soon."

The moment I hung up, a smug male voice drifted in from the doorway. "Soon? Soon what? What are you up to now, Declan?"

Evan Kennedy strolled into the room, dangling three lucky charms from his fingers.

I blinked rapidly to force back the tears and replied coldly, "None of your business. What are you even doing in my house?"

He pouted, feigning hurt. "Didn't Amelia tell you? I haven't been feeling well, so I'm staying here for a few days."

He suddenly leaned in. The fake pout vanished, and his eyes locked onto mine with a challenging glint. "How much longer do you think it'll take for me to officially replace you?"

At the invasion of my space, I instinctively shoved him away.

But Evan flew back six feet as if struck by a tremendous force. His head slammed against the wardrobe with a bang, and blood instantly poured out. He cried out in pain, "Declan, I only came here to check on you. You don't have to like me, but there was no need to get violent!"

His shrill wailing immediately drew the attention of the Kane sisters downstairs.

Amelia Kane, the eldest, was the first to burst into the room. She rushed to Evan's side, her hands fluttering over him in a panic. "Evan, are you okay? Where does it hurt? I'm calling a doctor right now!"

Bethany Kane followed right behind her. "Call a therapist, too. We can't let this turn into some kind of trauma."

Chloe Kane, the youngest, turned on me with a look of pure loathing. "Declan Booth, I can't believe you! Evan just wanted to share some highlights from his birthday yesterday, and you attacked him? You're absolutely disgusting!"

Watching the Kane sisters shower Evan with such blatant favoritism felt like being plunged into a freezing lake.

Evan's question from moments ago echoed relentlessly in my mind.

How long would it take to replace me? The bitter truth was, they already had.

My chest tightened so much I couldn't breathe, let alone find the words to defend myself.

Suddenly, Evan scrambled up from the floor and dropped to his knees in front of me. "I'm so sorry, Declan! I didn't realize you'd be this angry about Amelia, Bethany, and Chloe throwing me a birthday party. It's all my fault. You told me to crawl out of this villa like a dog, right? I'll do it! Just please, don't make things hard for me anymore and don't break their hearts."

With that, he actually began to crawl toward the door.

The Kane sisters' faces shifted from pale to livid. Their eyes burned with rage as they glared at me.

I trembled, my mouth hanging open. But seeing that they were looking at me like I was their worst enemy, I felt a wave of desolation wash over me. I knew it didn't matter what I said. They wouldn't believe a single word of it.

…

Late into the night, the massive villa was a hive of activity.

The city's top medical team had been summoned just to examine Evan, while the Kane sisters hovered over him anxiously.

I stood a few feet away. My head throbbed with pain so intense that it felt like I was being torn in two, as if a dagger were twisting inside my mind, leaving me unable to stand upright.

Gritting my teeth, I approached one of the renowned neurosurgeons. "Doctor, my head hurts. I—"

"Declan, can you please grow up? These doctors are here for Evan. Stop being a nuisance. They had to come all this way in the middle of the night just to clean up your mess." Amelia's voice carried a hint of reproach.

When I didn't move, she stepped forward, grabbed my arm, shoved me into my room, then locked the door tightly behind me.

The pain was so agonizing that I couldn't even walk. I had to crawl to the nightstand to find my painkillers. I shook a handful of pills into my palm, shoved them into my mouth, and chewed them dry.

The bitterness coated my tongue, but it was nothing compared to the bitterness in my heart.

After my parents died in a car accident, my grandparents and I moved to this city and became neighbors with the Kanes.

They were a few years older than me and had always looked out for me.

When my grandparents passed away, they stepped up to take care of me.

I was 19 then. To take care of me, they knocked down the walls between our two villas and remodeled the entire place exactly how I liked it.

The four of us were the closest people in the world until Evan showed up.

It had started on an ordinary day when Evan fainted on our doorstep. I'd felt sorry for the scrawny young man and helped him inside.

From the very first moment the Kane sisters saw him, they started ignoring me. Over the following months, they poured every ounce of their affection into him.

It was as if he had appeared out of thin air specifically to steal their love.

The painkillers finally kicked in. I pushed myself up to lie on the bed, but the door was suddenly kicked open with a violent bang.

Bethany and Chloe stormed in, hurling a thick stack of papers into my face.

I was stunned. Before I could recover, they began to scream at me.

"Since when have you become so jealous and petty? How could you beat and berate Evan when we weren't home?"

"You've bullied him so badly that he's developed clinical depression! Declan, I never knew you could be this cruel."

Having finished their tirade, Bethany and Chloe vanished as quickly as they'd arrived, rushing back to Evan's side.

I picked up the medical report they'd thrown at me. My hands shook as I flipped through the pages.

The diagnosis claimed Evan was suffering from long-term abuse, malnutrition, depression, and paranoid delusions.

Seeing that, I bolted out of the room, desperate to clear my name.

The doctors were already gone. The Kane sisters were huddled around Evan in a tight circle.

Amelia was peeling an apple for him, while Bethany had an arm around his shoulder, whispering soft words of comfort.

The moment Chloe spotted me, her face contorted with pure loathing. "What are you doing out here? Checking to see if we're still home so you can find another chance to bully Evan?"

Evan's eyes instantly turned red. His gaze toward me glistened with tears. "Declan, I really did learn my lesson."

The Kane sisters went into a frantic state, dabbing at his tears with tissues.

As I watched this touching display of devotion, the urge to defend myself suddenly evaporated.

Without saying a single word, I walked back into my room. I took down the portrait of the four of us—a piece the Kane sisters had painted themselves—and held a lighter to the corner. I watched in silence as the flames devoured the canvas.

Every ounce of affection I had left for them died with that fire.

I lay down on the bed and put in my earplugs, shutting out the noise outside, and drifted into sleep.

Perhaps because I had reached the point of utter despair, the Kane sisters didn't appear in my dreams for once. For the first time in ages, I actually slept well.

Early the next morning, I got up to start packing.

My walk-in closet was filled with clothes Bethany had designed for me. She used to call me the family's prince and insisted I wear something magnificent every day.

From Amelia, there were stacks of tickets—concerts, soccer matches, and flights to every corner of the globe. She told me she wanted me to see the world, so long as I always came back as the young man who loved them.

Chloe had personally prepared all my daily necessities and took care of everything for me, wanting me to rely on them for the rest of my life.

But now, I was taking all of it to the trash bins downstairs. I was throwing away all the good memories and bad blood.

I was stuffing the last of the clothes into the bin when I heard a sharp gasp. Bethany asked, her voice trembling, "Declan, why are you throwing away the clothes I made for you?"

I turned around. The Kane sisters were standing behind me, their eyes red and filled with a frantic panic.

Amelia ran to the bin and dug through the trash without a second thought for the filth. She saw the gifts from her and Chloe piled at the bottom.

Gritting their teeth, the three of them glared at me and demanded, "Declan, didn't you cherish these things? Why on earth would you throw them out?"

For a moment, I didn't know how to answer. My gaze drifted and landed on the garment Bethany was holding.

"I just figured it was time for some new clothes from you, Bethany. And I thought Amelia and Chloe would want to update my things, too. The old stuff was taking up too much space, so I cleared some out."

I took a step toward Bethany and pointed at the shirt in her hands. "Is that a new shirt for me, Bethany?"

Bethany looked even more flustered. She instinctively tried to hide the shirt behind her back.

I let my gaze drop, feigning disappointment. "Oh. I guess it's not for me."

When they saw my dejected expression, a flash of heartache crossed their faces. They lost the nerve to grill me further about the trash.

Amelia sighed softly. "Declan, Evan doesn't have any clothes here, so Bethany designed a few things for him. Don't start being jealous again."