Sierra's POV

At three in the morning, snow was falling hard across the empty streets. Liam’s face was streaked with tears that had frozen into tiny crystals.

When we fell into each other’s arms and cried, the snowflakes on his eyelashes melted into clear drops, and in that moment, they slipped straight into my heart.

Right then, I truly believed that nothing in this world could ever separate us. Our love had crossed a thousand kilometers, so it could survive anything. Hardships, distance, time—none of it mattered. We would, without a doubt, spend our lives together in happiness.

But the cruelest thing was that very night, I discovered he had been cheating.

The taxi driver watched me through the rearview mirror, waiting for the rest.

I gave a small, resigned smile and said calmly, “He drove too long that night. After making sure I was okay, he passed out immediately. He forgot to lock his phone and didn’t switch chat accounts. The very first pinned message was a nude photo from my best friend.”

The driver let out a long sigh and handed me tissues kindly.

But I didn’t need them. I had run out of tears long ago.

All I remember was that, in that moment, it felt like the blood in my body flowed backward. It was like a massive stone had dropped into a peaceful lake, shattering every beautiful illusion I’d ever held.

Back then, I kept scrolling. I saw years of messages between them, uninterrupted.

The very first one was from the day Veronica returned to the country after her divorce, the day I threw her a welcome-back dinner.

While I was drunk, Liam confessed to her.

He told her, [My feelings for Sierra aren’t love. They’re responsibility. You’re the unattainable love of my youth.]

The latest message was from last night.

She had said to him, [You already undressed me, and now you say you’re leaving?]

[Liam, what exactly do you take me for?]

[If you can’t let go of Sierra, then we should cut this off.]

[Sierra is my best friend. She helped me find a place to live and a job when I came back. Without her, I would’ve been on the streets. I don’t want to hurt her.]

By then, Liam was already asleep, so he hadn’t replied yet. He hadn’t even had the chance to choose before I saw everything.

That snowflake that had become a tear now turned into an icicle stabbing straight into my chest.

All the little things I’d ignored, all the strange details I’d brushed aside, they suddenly connected.

The faint perfume smell I thought I imagined turned out not to be my imagination. It was the scent of betrayal.

That uneasy feeling I kept dismissing as paranoia turned out to be not paranoia. It was instinct.

In an instant, my world collapsed.

I yanked him out of bed like someone possessed, sobbing as I asked him why? Why stay with me if he didn’t love me? Why brave the storm just to confess to me? Why cheat with my best friend when I loved him the most?

Watching me break down in front of him, Liam panicked and looked away. He didn’t know what to do.

“Sierra, it’s not that I don’t like you,” he said softly. “I just don’t like you as much anymore.”

Ten years. Youth faded and passion quieted. What used to be fierce love had turned into a debt that could never be repaid.

That time, I refused to accept it. I couldn’t believe it.

We had been together for ten years. Ten whole years. Three thousand six hundred fifty days and nights. A thousand kilometers between us. And he wanted me to believe that all of that had been nothing more than repayment?

Sierra's POV

Was I really just the thief standing between him and Veronica, stealing the happiness that should’ve been theirs?

I broke down. I screamed, I lost control, I completely fell apart.

Refusing to accept any of it, I smashed everything in the house. I clawed at Liam’s face until it bled.

Yet he didn’t move. He just stood there and let me unleash all of my rage.

But before my anger had even burned out, his phone buzzed again.

It was a new message.

A 5 a.m. plane ticket and pregnancy report.

Then came Veronica’s shaky and miserable voice, echoing through the dead-silent night again and again.

“Liam, I don’t want to pressure you, but I’m pregnant. I’m right next door. I need you to choose between us. I’m not like Sierra. I have nothing. If you don’t come talk to me when the sun comes up, I’ll die with this baby in front of you.”

The man who was always calm panicked.

The same Liam, who never wavered at my questions, who showed no reaction to my tears, suddenly lost all reason when it came to Veronica.

And just like that, he rushed to her.

I slumped against the wall, exhausted and hollow, and whispered, “Liam, if you walk out that door today, there will never be a way back for us.”

There, he stopped, but only for a second. Then he walked out without even looking back.

The driver grimaced, lit a cigarette, then, remembering my condition, quickly put it out. He sighed helplessly and remarked, “You can never predict people’s hearts.”

He was right. People were unpredictable, and fate was even more so.

If the story had ended there, then at worst, it would’ve been a breakup. Painful, yes, but after some crying, after enough time, I would’ve healed.

But that night, fate played the cruelest joke on me.

I called my dad and told him Liam had hurt me, that I couldn’t stay anymore, that I wanted to come back home, back to them.

My dad panicked. He got in the car immediately, driving through the night to pick me up.

But the snowstorm was too heavy. The mountain roads were too dangerous.

And on the way to me, he crashed.

The car was destroyed, and my dad died on the spot.

Just how unfair this world was.

A man as cold and faithless as Liam got to live, yet the person who loved me the most was taken away.

By the time I got the call and rushed to the scene, all that was left was a body covered in a white sheet, waiting to be pushed into the cremation chamber.

They told me his injuries were too horrible, so they didn’t want me to see him. They simply advised me to stay strong.

But he was my father. The man who loved me, protected me, and put me first for my entire life.

How could I ever be afraid of him?

Ignoring their advice, I tore away the sheet.

But what I saw wasn’t even a face, just blood and ruined flesh. No features left. Even the skull was shattered beyond recognition.

I couldn't describe what I felt then. It was like my mind slipped out of my body as if I drifted into a world far, far away, a world where there was no pain, no death, no betrayal, no tears.

Later, I went to see a psychologist. He told me I was experiencing dissociation, a severe psychological condition. He suggested I get treatment as soon as possible.

But my mother fell apart before I could even take care of myself.

My father’s death broke her completely. She became unrecognizable— confused, unstable.

The gentle, graceful woman she used to be had lost control whenever she saw me now. She hit me. She cursed me. She spat on my face.

Once, she cried and screamed at me.

Sierra's POV

“It was you. You’re the one who killed your father! You’re the one who destroyed this family! Sierra, why did you make that call? Why did you get involved with Liam? I hate you. I hate you!”

Yeah, why? Why did fate have to be so cruel to me? I kept asking myself that question, hoping someone could give me an answer.

But no one could.

Overnight, everything changed. I lost my husband. I lost my friends. I lost my parents. I lost the warm, happy home I once had.

And there I was, sitting alone on the street, letting the cold wind cut through me until I felt like nothing but open wounds.

That was when Veronica sent me their maternity check-up photos. The two of them holding hands, looking like a loving married couple—sweet, intimate, complete.

A picture-perfect family.

For a moment, I wanted them gone—both of them. But I still had my mother to take care of. My father was gone, so I couldn’t stay a child forever. I had to carry what was left of this broken home on my own.

So, I asked Liam for a divorce.

And the ridiculous thing was, he refused.

He said he couldn’t bear to lose me, couldn’t bear to throw away our ten years together.

“Sierra, you don’t understand,” he told me. “Feelings between people are complicated. Choosing Veronica doesn’t mean I don’t love you. She’s not like you. You grew up in a loving home. You had your parents supporting you. But Veronica, she only has me.”

He said that once Veronica gave birth, he’d give her some money, send her and the baby away, and then he and I could go back to living a good life together.

“Sierra, everything passes eventually. People have survived far worse than this. When the dust settles, let’s forget all of this and go back to how we were, alright?”

No. No, it was not alright.

Ten years of my life, and the cost of one human life. How was I supposed to forget everything and pretend it never happened? How could I live with myself?

So, I went to court.

The case dragged on for a while, but eventually he signed the papers. Not because he understood what he did wrong, but because he wanted to give the child in Veronica’s belly a name—to build a new family with another woman.

After the divorce, we cut all contact.

Liam went on teaching and painting, while I took my mother from hospital to hospital. We sold the cattle at home, one by one. But her condition never stabilized. Sometimes, she would cling to me and cry. Other times, she would hit me or scream at me when her illness flared up.

The house was filled with bottles of psychiatric medication back then.

There were countless moments when I wanted to end my life. But every single time, I forced myself to keep going because Mom still needed me.

And then, eventually, she couldn’t fight anymore. Her mind cleared again, just like the mother I remembered.

On her deathbed, she held my hand and said, “Sweetheart, you’ve suffered enough. Mom can’t keep dragging you down. I don’t blame you. Your father and I never blamed you. When I’m gone, let the past go. Live your life well. And don’t sacrifice your whole future for someone like him.”

Another ten years passed. I walked out of that snowy night of pain. I cried every tear I had left.

I told myself I was going to live differently—better.

But at my mother’s funeral, I was diagnosed with cancer.

“All those years of psychiatric medication harm the body. This isn’t unexpected,” they told me.

But despite hearing that, I wasn’t even that sad, just regretful. Regretful that in the past ten years, I never truly lived.

“So, in the final stretch of my life, I decided to take a trip—just drop everything and go. I just didn’t expect that after ten years of no contact, I’d run into Liam here of all places. But it’s fine. Everything’s in the past. I let it go a long time ago.”

By the time I finished, the driver beside me was already crying, tears streaming down his weathered face. He asked me why I didn’t tell Liam any of this.

I shook my head. “What’s the point?”

Was I supposed to hold up my father’s death like some tragic badge? Or admit that I was the one who ruined everything and killed him?

I couldn’t say it. I couldn’t even face that thought myself.

Life had already thrown every hardship it could at me. All I could do now was face it with whatever calm I had left and let go.

After all, this life of mine was already set on its course.

While we were talking, the car pulled up to my stop.

I got out and stretched, breathing in the thinning evening air.

The sky was dimming, but the wild cornflowers were still blooming.

Then, a gust of wind swept over them, sending petals across my coat and blowing several medical reports out of my bag.

Instinctively, I ran after them.

When I turned back, I saw Liam standing behind me.