On graduation day, I caught Julian—the boy who had been my shadow for twelve years—pinning another woman against the wall, kissing her hard.

His hand smacked her ass before he scooped her up and carried her into the hotel.

When my call interrupted him, he just hung up impatiently and texted back:

"Aria, stop playing the fragile little girl with your panic attacks. I'm not your babysitter anymore."

"I'm the next in line for the Valerius family. I have real business to handle. I don't have the energy to be your nanny."

Then, he coldly sent me a link to some newly developed AI personal assistant app.

"If you're that lonely, go chat with the AI. It's way more useful than you clinging to me every day."

I stood frozen, tears streaming down my face. A suffocating wave of heartbreak and loss swallowed me whole.

My parents died saving his parents—the current Don and Donna of the Valerius Family.

We grew up together. He took care of me for twelve years. I always thought he loved me. I even thought we'd get married one day.

But now, I was just a burden. An annoyance.

Watching his back disappear into the hotel lobby, I numbly downloaded the app.

"What color should I wear to the graduation party?"

"Burgundy. It complements your pale skin and hugs your curves perfectly."

"I want to change up my jewelry too..."

"You have beautiful collarbones. You don't need anything complicated. A minimalist platinum necklace would be perfect."

"Where should I go for my solo graduation trip?"

"Your private account shows a love for the Mediterranean. Go to the Amalfi Coast. The sun will look good on you."

"Okay. I'll listen to you."

Wait.

Something was wrong.

Why would an AI app know about my secret Instagram account?

Julian and I were inseparable for twelve years. But since I got this AI he recommended, I hadn't reached out to him in ten days.

But something felt off. It acted too much like a real person.

Late at night, just before my trip to Amalfi, I stared at the screen and typed out a line almost instinctively.

"I'm leaving for my solo trip to Amalfi tomorrow. Can you come with me?"

The AI replied instantly.

"Are you sure?"

I stared at the text. Would an AI ask me that?

Just as I was about to question it, another message popped up.

"I'm right here. I won't hide. I won't run. When you fall, I'll catch you."

...Right, definitely an AI.

I gave up, packed my bags, and got ready for my solo trip.

But I didn't expect to run into Julian at the airport the next day.

The untouchable heir to the Valerius Family. The man who wouldn't flinch with a gun to his head was currently looking down, patiently zipping up a woman's suitcase.

It was Sloane.

Seeing their intimacy, the memory of them making out in front of the hotel ten days ago pierced my brain again.

My heart painfully contracted.

"Oh my God, Aria!"

Sloane turned her head and gasped dramatically.

She looped her arm through Julian's like she owned him. Like she was already the Donna.

"Julian, you're so mean!" She pouted, her voice dripping with fake sweetness. "You knew it was your 'little sister's' graduation trip today. Why didn't you tell me? We should have at least seen her off!"

Little sister.

The words slipped from her mouth with blatant pity and provocation.

Ever since she showed up, she played the "future girlfriend" card, wedging herself between me and Julian.

Like they were a power couple. And I was just the stray orphan they couldn't get rid of. A piece of dead weight clinging to the Valerius estate.

A wave of physical nausea hit my stomach.

I didn't want to stay a second longer. Gripping my suitcase handle, I turned to leave, but my eyes met Julian's.

"Why did you follow us?" Julian frowned, taking long strides toward me. His tone was laced with suppressed irritation. "Aria, I'm just taking Sloane on a trip for a few days. Can you stop showing up the second I feel like I can finally breathe?"

I opened my mouth, but before I could make a sound, his words crashed down on me.

"Stop using my mother's guilt to keep me chained to you."

He looked down at me, deliberately avoiding my eyes. His voice was cold and hard. "You've graduated. We should have our own lives now. Sloane loves wild, unrestricted adventures just like me. But you... I refuse to be held hostage by family duty anymore. I'm done playing the guardian angel who revolves around you. Save your tears. They won't work on me."

Seeing his tense, avoiding gaze, a suffocating sorrow swelled in my chest.

My eyes burned slightly, but in the next second, I felt completely numb.

"Are you even listening to me—"

"You think I'm here for you?" I opened my eyes, cutting off his lecture.

Julian froze.

He clearly didn't expect the submissive doll who always trailed behind him to dare interrupt.

The smug look on Sloane's face stiffened.

I ignored their reactions, simply raising my wrist and pointing at my watch.

"Excuse me. My flight boards in twenty minutes. You're in my way."

Until this moment, Julian hadn't really looked at me.

His gaze swept over my cold face and landed on my burgundy velvet dress.

The striking color perfectly hugged my curves. The minimalist platinum necklace on my collarbone glinted sharply.

In my eyes, there were no tears. And there was no him.

Julian flinched.

He snapped his gaze to my suitcase, then stared hard at the boarding pass in my hand.

Destination: Amalfi.

It wasn't where he was going.

The shock of losing control shattered his arrogance.

For a split second, something that looked like guilt flashed in his eyes, but it was gone before he could name it.

His superior tone wavered, his voice tightening.

"You're traveling alone?" He stared at me, complex emotions swirling in his eyes. "Why didn't you tell me?"

Hearing this, I couldn't help but let out a self-deprecating laugh.

He was the one who said he had his own life and didn't want to be tied down by family duties.

So why was he acting like I abandoned him?

"Why would I tell you?"

He choked on his words. A vein popped on his forehead as he spoke with a cold face, "Do you have any idea how dangerous it is for you to travel alone? The Family has enemies everywhere. If something happens to you, who's going to save you?"

"Don't flatter yourself," I shot back. "Your biggest weakness is standing right next to you. They'd be stupid to kidnap me when they could just take her."

Sloane's face stiffened. Julian gritted his teeth in anger. "Aria, you're being unreasonable! I'm worrying about you!"

Just then, a sudden ringtone interrupted our fight.

The screen flashed "Mother".

It was Julian's mom, my adoptive mother.

Julian took a deep breath and answered.

In just a few seconds, his already impatient face grew darker. He furrowed his brows deeply, throwing complicated glances at me.

I didn't even need to hear the conversation to know what she was saying.

Before I left, I left my adoptive mother a message thanking her for twelve years of care. She must have seen it. Driven by the guilt over my dead parents, she was forcing her son to go to Amalfi to protect me.

He hung up and shoved his phone into his pocket in frustration.

He looked at me with complex eyes and sighed heavily, looking for a way out.

"Looks like I still can't shake you off." He looked away, his tone awkward but harsh. "My mom insists I look after you. Fine, Amalfi, right? Change of plans. I'm coming with you. Just so you don't get into trouble out there and get me yelled at."

I froze.

If this were the past, I would have cried tears of joy hearing those words.

When I was six, my parents were gunned down by a rival syndicate to cover the escape of the current Don and Donna.

My mind completely broke back then. I would scream the moment the lights went out.

It was my adoptive mother, eyes red, who forced a young Julian to kneel before the cross and swear a blood oath: "You will protect Aria with your life, for the rest of your life."

From six to eighteen, he was my whole world. My absolute reliance.

Our bond made everyone in the Family assume that Aria would eventually become the Donna of the Valerius Family.

Whenever the elders teased us about when we'd get engaged, the always-cold Julian would secretly blush, awkwardly swapping his cut steak for mine.

But all of this was completely shattered in the last three months of college.

Sloane showed up. A girl who loved street racing and lived for the thrill.

At first, Julian scoffed at this crazy girl.

Until one day, at the Family's underground shooting range, Sloane held a gun with one hand and smoothly shot a perfect bullseye.

That bullet didn't just hit the target; it pierced right through Julian's heart.

He started pulling Sloane into our inner circle.

He started ignoring me out of habit. He even broke his promise to be my date for the graduation prom.

He left me alone at the entrance of the prom to go bail out Sloane's nobody friend at an underground casino, making me the laughingstock of the whole school.

Twelve years of history. Wiped out by three months of a fatal attraction.

The feeling of being abandoned by the whole world gnawed at my heart.

A wave of nausea rose in my throat. I violently pulled my drifting thoughts back.

"No need." I took a deep breath, looking at the man in front of me whose face screamed 'forced'. My voice was totally clear. "I'll call her myself. I'll tell her I want to be alone and I don't need you trailing after me."

Since I decided to cut ties, I was going to cut them clean.

Julian paused. He clearly didn't expect me to reject his "charity".

But he scoffed, turned his head, and showed me the successful booking confirmation on his phone.

Amalfi.

"Can't help it." He gave a self-deprecating smirk to Sloane, his eyes full of indulgence. "My mom gave a strict order. If I don't watch over her, I can kiss the Southside docks goodbye. Looks like I have to go."

Sloane instantly pouted, naturally wrapping her arms around his waist.

"Fine." she sighed dramatically. "Who told you to be such a responsible big brother? For you, I don't mind suffering a bit. I'll follow your lead."

They smiled at each other. The thick, flirtatious tension between them almost drowned me.

I stood there, watching this performance with cold eyes.

How ridiculous.

I wasn't just an unwanted burden anymore. I was a prop in their twisted love story. A tool they used to prove their devotion to each other.

I lowered my head, refusing to look at them anymore. I quietly unlocked my phone and tapped open the AI app.

They were completely wrapped up in each other, as if I didn't exist.

"Ran into some trouble."

"What kind of trouble?" The AI replied in seconds.

"Supposed to be a solo trip. Now it's a forced party of three."

Silence on the other end for a few seconds.

Then:

"That's a damn shame."

During the long three-hour flight, the one chattering away with Julian was Sloane.

And I was completely shut out of their world.

I jammed in my noise-canceling earbuds, blocking out their piercing laughter, and stared down at my phone, casually chatting with the AI.

"Will you really show up?" I typed, a sliver of absurd anticipation rising in my chest.

"Whenever you want me to, I'll be there."

Seeing the instant reply, my heart skipped two beats, and my cheeks flushed uncontrollably.

"Aria? What's wrong?"

Julian's voice suddenly rang in my ears, laced with rare urgency.

I looked up to meet his furrowed brows. He stared hard at my flushed cheeks.

"Are you having another panic attack?"

Before I could answer, he started frantically digging through his carry-on.

He used to always, without fail, carry my anxiety meds in that bag.

Ever since I watched my parents get gunned down, being in enclosed spaces triggered my panic attacks.

For twelve years, whenever we went out, the meds were always in his bag.

But after rummaging for a while, his movements slowed down. His face dropped.

The meds weren't there.

When he packed, his head was probably so full of this thrilling trip with Sloane that he had completely forgotten about me.

"I didn't bring them..." He looked at me, a flash of genuine panic in his eyes as he gripped the empty bag, at a loss.

To cover up his guilt, his tone instantly hardened, as if blaming me for having an attack now. "Why didn't you check your own stuff before we left? I can't be expected to remember every little thing for you!"

"I'm fine." I coldly looked away, staring at the clouds out the window. "Besides, you won't need to carry them for me anymore."

After being abandoned by him over and over again, I had long been forced to handle my illness on my own.

Julian opened his mouth to speak, but Sloane suddenly screamed.

"Ah! Julian!"

A glass of champagne had spilled right onto Sloane's pale thighs.

Julian whipped his head around. His earlier panic over me vanished in a second.

He pulled out some tissues and patiently wiped her legs.

"It's okay, don't move, I got it." His voice was dripping with tenderness.

Sloane leaned back in her seat with a fake pout, but her eyes looked past Julian, staring directly at me.

"Oops. Sorry, Aria." She drawled in her signature mean-girl tone. "Did Julian used to take care of you this carefully too? I feel a little bad being the third wheel between you two."

I didn't know how Sloane always managed to make the air so incredibly toxic.

I smiled, didn't reply, and stood up to go to the restroom.

Suddenly, the plane hit turbulence. I lost my balance and fell backward.

A ringing filled my ears. Just as I thought I was going to hit the floor, a pair of strong hands caught me steady.

In that split second, I remembered what the AI had said.

"I'm right here. I won't hide. I won't run. When you fall, I'll catch you."

I turned around, still in shock. The person holding me was a muscular bald guy, smiling warmly at me.

"Thank you..." I breathed a sigh of relief, but a deep, inexplicable wave of disappointment washed over me.

What was I even expecting? It was just a damn app.

I stood up straight. Before I could thank him again, a sharp pain shot through my wrist.

A strong force yanked me into the camera's blind spot by the restroom.

It was Julian. He looked furious.

"You're not a kid anymore, Aria! Do you know how dangerous that was? Did you think you could get my attention with a cheap trick like pretending to fall? What if you got hurt!"

I looked at him in disbelief, like I was staring at a complete stranger.

"You think I did that on purpose?"

"Didn't you?" He ran a hand through his hair in sheer frustration. "I'm going to say this one last time: drop the act. I want a free life. I don't want to walk on eggshells every day, holding a glass doll that could shatter at any second! Would it kill you to stop relying on me?"

With those few words, he burned my world to the ground.

A wave of humiliating shame, mixed with bone-chilling cold, shot from my toes straight to my head.

I looked at the man who had been by my side for twelve years.

So, in his eyes, all my pain, my fragility, and even my accidents weren't just shackles holding him back. They were cheap tricks to beg for his pity.

I gave a bitter smile. The last shred of hope in my heart turned to dust.

I suddenly felt so exhausted.

"Understood."

I turned around and locked myself in the restroom.

Splashing freezing water on my face, I looked at my pale, empty-eyed reflection.

Ten minutes.

In this tiny space, I finally figured one thing out.

I would never love Julian again.