Chapter 4

Elara POV

"That's it for now. We can talk tomorrow if anything comes up."

A dial tone sounded, Adrian had already hung up.

I held my phone, listening to the tone, and after a long moment, gave a self-mocking smile.

"Colleague..."

I, his fiancée, was merely a "colleague" in his words.

Putting away my phone, I left the lab and took a cab back to the single-family house in West New York.

Adrian had bought this house as our marital home, but I had handled all the renovations and furniture selection by myself.

From the overall style to the tiniest details like a lamp's color temperature or the placement of a houseplant, I had arranged everything, carefully considering his preferences.

But Adrian had never paid attention to any of it.

Even after six months of being together and living under the same roof, we still slept in separate rooms.

He once explained, "I'm a light sleeper and not used to having someone beside me. Besides, we're not married yet, so it wouldn't be appropriate to share a bedroom."

Back then, I thought he was conservative and didn't want to cross any boundaries before marriage.

Now, I realized it was simply because he didn't love me.

I went into the bedroom and pulled out my suitcase, packing all my personal belongings.

I hadn't lived here long, so I had surprisingly few things. A 24-inch suitcase was more than enough.

Then, dragging my suitcase, I returned to my parents' house.

I opened the door with my key. The TV was on in the living room, blaring a noisy reality show.

My father, Robert Jenkins, was sprawled on the couch, watching, while my mother, Carol, was carefully feeding slices of apple to my brother, Kevin.

Hearing the noise, the three of them looked over.

Robert was the first to frown. "Why are you back? And dragging a suitcase?"

I leaned the suitcase against the wall, took off my shoes, my voice devoid of emotion. "This is my home, can't I come back?"

Robert sat up, scrutinizing me. "Did you and Adrian have a fight?"

"No."

"No fight, yet you're dragging a suitcase back home?" Robert's tone sharpened. "Does Adrian know?"

I bent down, took my water bottle from the suitcase's side pocket, and walked towards the kitchen to get water, my back to them. "Whether he knows or not doesn't matter, because I've decided to call off the engagement."

"What?!" Robert shot up from the couch. "Call off the engagement? Did Adrian back out? How dare he! You nearly lost your life for him, and now, after agreeing to marry you just a few days ago, he dares to back out? That ungrateful jerk! I'm going to find him!"

He started to rush out.

"Dad!" I turned and stopped him, hot water splashing onto my hand, a slight sting. "I'm the one calling off the engagement, not him."

"What did you say? Say that again!"

"I said, I'm the one who wants to cancel the engagement. I don't want to marry him anymore."

"Are you out of your mind?" Robert's fury instantly shifted, his finger practically poking my nose.

"Adrian has such great prospects. He's a brilliant young professor from a well-respected family, and so many people want to marry him. You're actually giving him up? Are you crazy?"

Carol also put down the fruit plate and walked over. "Elara, don't be so impulsive and headstrong."

Kevin sneered, "Elara, you're really reckless. A man as handsome, wealthy, and respected as Adrian, do you know how many women are chasing him? You're lucky to marry him. So don't be so willful. Hurry back and apologize to Adrian."

Robert even directly threw my suitcase out and kicked me out of the house.

"I'm telling you, you will marry him! Go back right now, and don't you dare abandon your wedding! Otherwise, you'll never step foot in this house again!"

The door slammed shut in front of me, making my eardrums throb.

No one asked why, no one cared if I was hurting. There was only panic over potentially losing money and accusations that I was "misbehaving."

I stood there, staring at the closed door of my home, closed my eyes, and forcefully suppressed the emotions welling up inside me.

It had always been like this since childhood. My parents didn't like me. Not only did they make me tolerate my brother in everything, but they also gave him all the best things.

If Kevin scraped his knee, they were heartbroken; when I had an appendectomy at twelve, they left me alone in the hospital.

He did poorly in school, always at the bottom of his class, and they gently coaxed him; I graduated among the top three in my program, and they ignored it.

In this family, I was always an expendable character.

If Adrian hadn't said he would marry me, perhaps if I had died in that lab accident, they might not have even looked at me once.

And now that I was canceling the engagement with Adrian, I didn't even have the right to enter this house.

The world was so vast, yet there was no place for me.