Chapter 1

Julian and I had been together since we were eighteen.

He used to do the craziest things for me. He once got into a brutal fight just to protect me, leaving a permanent scar near his temple.

But by our eighth year, the spark had faded. Our relationship hit a quiet, dry plateau.

When our friends brought up his past heroics, Julian would only shake his head and laugh.

"I was young and stupid back then," he’d say. "I would never do something that reckless now."

Yet, not long after, he went wild for a new medical intern in his department, beating a patient half to death to defend her.

Afterward, he wept as he confessed to me, "I'm sorry, Maya. I have to take responsibility for her."

I touched his face, feeling no anger, no urge to blame him.

He had no idea that my face blindness was consuming me.

It had gotten so bad that I could no longer picture his face. I had completely forgotten what the scar on his temple even looked like.

Driven mad by my coldness, Julian pinned me against the wall, kissing me desperately.

Lost in the rush of emotion, I caressed his cheek. But the name that slipped from my lips was a whisper:

"Ethan..."

He froze instantly.

Ethan Sinclair was his older brother.

And he was the only man whose face I could still clearly see.