Chapter 4

I locked eyes with Lucian.

"Have you even bothered to investigate what actually happened?"

Lucian’s face hardened.

"Julian comes from an educated, respectable family. He wouldn't pick a fight without a reason."

"On the other hand, Leo just moved here from a rural town. Adjusting to a competitive city school is tough, and it's completely understandable if he's feeling insecure and lashes out with an attitude."

Leo jerked his head up, stunned, as silent tears spilled down his bruised cheeks.

It felt like someone had driven a dull blade straight into my heart.

"Lucian! What right do you have to talk about my brother like that?"

Lucian frowned, crossing his arms. "I'm just looking at the facts objectively."

"A kid from the countryside suddenly thrown into a top-tier prep school deals with massive psychological pressure. They become overly sensitive and impulsive."

"As his older sister, you shouldn't blindly defend his bad behavior."

Chloe chimed in with a soft, trembling voice. "Avery, Lucian is only saying this for Leo’s own good..."

I didn't spare her a single glance. I kept my eyes locked on Lucian.

"You haven't asked Leo a single question, yet you've already decided he has an attitude problem and likes violence. You call that 'objective'?"

Lucian faltered for a second, then gestured toward Julian. "The fact is that Julian is clearly more visibly hurt."

"Julian took the brunt of the beating and hasn't said a single cruel word. Doesn't Leo owe him an apology?"

Before I could snap back, Julian clutched his forehead and groaned theatrically. "Ow... my head hurts so bad. Everything's spinning."

Chloe immediately burst into fresh tears. "Lucian, what should we do?"

Lucian nodded urgently. "I drove here. I'll take you two to the hospital to get a full medical evaluation for his injuries."

I watched in silence as Lucian took Chloe’s arm and led her toward the door.

Strangely, seeing them walk away didn't make me angry anymore. A dead, suffocating calm settled over my chest.

I turned toward Leo and softened my voice. "Tell me, Leo. Why did you fight?"

A long silence stretched between us before he choked out in a cracked, trembling voice:

"I didn't want to fight..."

"Today during break, I saw Julian holding a wooden carved pendant."

"It was the one Dad hand-carved. I recognized the grain immediately."

"Dad's hands were covered in blisters when he made that, Avery."

"He told me it was a gift for his future son-in-law, to keep Lucian safe during his long surgeries."

A heavy tear dropped onto Leo’s torn uniform collar.

"Julian was banging it against the desks, showing it off to everyone, laughing that it was cheap garbage that Lucian didn't even want."

"I told him to give it back to me. He refused."

"He sneered and said Lucian gave it to him as a toy, but even as a toy, it was too tacky to keep."

A loud roar filled my ears.

Leo sniffled, his voice breaking into quiet sobs. "Then... then he threw it on the floor. It cracked."

"I bent down to pick up the pieces, and he stepped right on it with his sneaker. That's when I shoved him."

"He called Dad a worthless redneck carpenter. He said our whole family was rural trash who treated garbage like treasure."

His trembling words cut through my heart like a serrated knife.

I pulled Leo gently into my arms, my voice steady and resolute. "Don't cry. Your sister is going to handle this."

I demanded to view the hallway surveillance footage with the administration and had them transfer a copy directly to my phone.

After walking Leo back to his dorms and making sure he was safe, I drove straight back to the two-bedroom apartment Lucian and I shared.

Three years ago, when Lucian was promoted to an attending surgeon, his schedule exploded with emergency night shifts and long operations. His old bachelor pad was too far from the hospital.

One night, at two in the morning, he had slumped on my tiny couch, eyes closed in sheer exhaustion.

He had whispered, “Avery, if there was just a light waiting for me when I got home, maybe all of this wouldn’t feel so overwhelming.”

My heart had ached for him.

So, I terminated the lease on my own affordable studio and stretched my savings to rent this two-bedroom place right across from his hospital.

I turned the spare bedroom into a private study for his research, bought him an ergonomic lumbar chair, and kept his ulcer medication stocked.

Whenever he walked out of the operating room at dawn, there was always a warm porch light on, and a glass of warm water beside the bed.

I used to believe that this was what building a life together meant.

Only now did I realize it was nothing more than an elaborate illusion I had constructed all by myself.

I began packing.

I moved with a ruthless speed that surprised even me.

When you truly decide to walk away from someone, there is no screaming, no crying, no theatrical door-slamming.

There is only the cold, sterile efficiency of cutting out a dead infection.

Once everything of mine was packed, I called the landlord to break the lease early, paying the penalty without hesitation, and scheduled a moving van.

When the movers arrived and saw the mountain of taped cardboard boxes stacked in the living room, the driver looked bewildered.

"Where are we delivering these, miss?"

"St. Jude’s Hospital, Cardiothoracic Surgery Department, Office 402."

The driver scratched his head. "To a hospital? You're moving your apartment into a hospital?"

"Yes."

"Whose stuff is all this?"

"My ex-boyfriend's."

At 7:00 PM, I handed the keys over to the landlord.

The apartment was hollow and empty.

The warm entryway lamp I had kept burning for Lucian every night for three years was clicked off by my own hand.

I cast one final glance into the dark hallway.

There was no nostalgia. Only an overwhelming wave of relief.

I pulled out my phone and sent Lucian one final SnapChat:

【All your belongings have been delivered to your hospital office.】

【I terminated the lease on the apartment.】

【Lucian, we're over.】

The moment the message delivered, I blocked his number, deleted his contact, and wiped him from my life.