Chapter 1
“Charlotte, I’m planning to head back home at the end of the month, and I’ll probably stay there for good. Save me a spot at your nail salon.”
The words had barely left her lips when her bestie Charlotte’s shocked voice came through the phone: “WHAT? You’re coming back? That little stray you rescued years ago is now Yale’s youngest professor! You supported him all those years, and just when things are finally looking up, you’re not staying in New Haven to enjoy the good life? Why would you suddenly want to come back to our tiny town? Did he treat you like shit or something?”
“No, he’s been good to me.” Violet cut her off, her fingers unconsciously tracing the edge of her phone. “I just don’t want to stay in New Haven anymore.”
“What about Adrian? Is he coming back with you?”
Violet’s breath caught for a moment, the setting sun outside casting her shadow long and lonely against the wall.
“No, just me.” She heard herself say. “He’ll stay here, get married, have kids, start a new life.”
After hanging up, her phone buzzed with a message from Seraphina Vale: [Miss Hayes, have you made up your mind?]
Violet’s fingertip hovered over the screen for a long time before she finally replied: [I’ve made up my mind. I’ll leave Adrian.]
Adrian-just the sound of his name rolling off her tongue made her heart ache with a familiar burn.
She still remembered the first time she saw Adrian-it was at their sophomore orientation ceremony.
He was the student representative giving a speech, wearing a crisp school uniform, standing in the sunlight with that cool,
beautiful voice.
Back then, he was every girl’s secret crush-outstanding grades, gorgeous looks, the golden boy everyone looked up to.
And Violet? She was just some girl who grew up in foster care with mediocre grades, too scared to even talk to him.
Until junior year, when everything changed-
Adrian’s identity as an illegitimate son got exposed, explicit photos of his mother were maliciously plastered all over school, and overnight he fell from grace to become everyone’s punching bag.
He was isolated, humiliated, even driven to attempt suicide by jumping into the river.
She was the one who pulled him out.
That night, soaking wet and hollow-eyed, he asked her: “Why did you save me?”
She couldn’t give him a reason-could only grip his hand tight, terrified that if she let go, he’d disappear again.
Later, they lived together in a cramped studio apartment, just the two of them against the world.
When SAT scores came back and they only had enough money for one person’s tuition, she voluntarily gave up her chance at college.
He asked her: “Why?”
Chapter 1
She forced a smile: “My scores were just okay anyway-only got into a decent state school. You should definitely go. Don’t worry about living expenses; I’m working three jobs now, I can support you.”
He was quiet for a long time before finally saying: “Violet, I’ll make sure you have a good life,”
And later, he really did.
He skipped grades, went straight through to his PhD, became Yale’s youngest professor at twenty-four, hailed as a “genius scholar.”
Their life finally got better, and he moved them into a luxury riverside apartment.
She thought their suffering was finally over.
Until that day when she accidentally saw his phone.
Seraphina Vale-Yale University president’s daughter-beautiful, brilliant, radiant.
A girl like that had been texting him nonstop:
[Failed another experiment today, so bummed]
[Brought you coffee, left it in your office]
[Why aren’t you texting me back? Do you hate me?]
Adrian had been responding coldly, until Seraphina angrily demanded an explanation and he finally wrote back: [I don’t hate you, I just don’t know how to talk to girls.]
The next day, Adrian came to ask Violet something unprecedented: “What kind of gift would make a girl happy?”
In that moment, Violet’s heart felt like it was being stabbed with needles.
All these years, she’d thought about confessing her feelings to Adrian.
But he was always busy with studies and research, so she kept her feelings buried.
Now she finally understood-Adrian felt only gratitude toward her, but not love.
Soon after, that girl named Seraphina actually came to find her.
That day, she brought a file folder containing copies of all the explicit photos that had once driven Adrian’s mother to suicide.
“Adrian’s half-brother wants to pull the same stunt again-destroy him completely. But I stopped it.”
“Miss Hayes, Adrian and I love each other, but he can’t accept my feelings because he feels obligated to stay by your side out. of gratitude.”
“But you can’t protect him. If you insist on staying with him, these photos will be leaked, and all his hard work over the years will be destroyed again.”
“But if you let him go,” she said softly, “I’ll protect him and help him rise to the top.”
That night, Violet sat on the balcony staring at the moon until dawn.
When morning came, she’d finally made her decision.
12:36
Two Twins One Tervikl
10.00
Chapter 1
She knew Seraphina was telling the truth-she couldn’t protect Adrian.
She also knew Adrian didn’t love her.
So leaving him was the best choice she could make.
Maybe letting go was for the best-
From now on, she wouldn’t have to sit alone in the dead of night with only a lamp for company, counting every second until he
came home.
She wouldn’t have to watch the genius scholar ask her how to talk to other girls, then swallow her bitterness in silence.
And she wouldn’t have to spend day after day hoping that someone who’d never love her back might just turn around and
notice her.
A sharp pain suddenly shot through her stomach, interrupting her memories.
Violet curled up on the floor, cold sweat soaking her back. The medici strength to reach for it.
was on the coffee table, but she didn’t even have the
Just then, the sound of keys turning echoed through the apartment. Adrian walked in to find her collapsed on the floor, his expression instantly changing.
He rushed over and scooped her up gently, placing her on the bed.
“Where’s your medicine?” His voice was urgent as he searched frantically. “Where did you put those stomach pills we bought
last time?”
Violet pointed weakly to the drawer. He immediately got water and pills, his movements practiced from doing this countless times before.
As the warm water touched her lips, Violet sipped slowly and whispered: “Thank you, sorry for the trouble.”
“It’s no trouble.” Adrian frowned. “You know you have stomach problems-why didn’t you take your medicine in time?”
Back when she was working three jobs to pay for his education, she often ate only once a day, which had ruined her stomach.
Every time her stomach hurt, he would hold her close and gently massage her stomach until she fell asleep.
But this time, when he reached out to hold her, she gently pushed him away.
Adrian was clearly taken aback, his brow furrowing.
“Adrian, I…”
Just as Violet was about to speak, his phone rang.
It was Seraphina.
“Hello?” He answered, still looking at Violet. “Stargazing? Right now? …Okay.”
After hanging up, he got up to grab his jacket: “I have something to take care of. Get some rest.”
Then he turned and left, his tall figure overlapping with the memory of that boy she’d once rescued.
Chapter
Violet opened her mouth, but the words “I’m going back home” never made it out.
The door closed softly, but it felt like a hammer blow to her heart. Violet sat alone in the darkness until the midnight bells
chimed.
There was a birthday cake in the refrigerator.
Adrian never remembered her birthday, but every year on this day, Violet would secretly make a wish.
This year she only made one:
I hope after I’m gone, Adrian finds happiness.
In the flickering candlelight, Violet seemed to see that rain-soaked boy again, with those impossibly bright eyes beneath wet
lashes.
www
He was the most beautiful shooting stars
