My fingers were already dug into my palms, nails cutting into skin, but I still took the check. What else was I supposed to do, refuse? Beg him to stay? I almost laughed at myself.
“Okay,” I said.
We both looked up at the same time, and for a second everything felt stuck between us. Then we spoke together, like it was the last thing we had left.
“Dahlia… goodbye.”
“Arkin… goodbye.”
He looked away first, then turned and walked off without hesitation. I stood there watching his back disappear until there was nothing left, then I turned in the opposite direction and left too.
...
Three days before the wedding, I paid off my sea burial. Everything was settled, clean, no loose ends. At the same time, news about Arkin and Trixie’s wedding was everywhere. People couldn’t stop talking about it because it was a billionaire wedding by the sea, and the whole city treated it like some kind of spectacle.
Two days before the wedding, I booked a flight. I didn’t care where it was going as long as it was far enough.
That same night, Arkin spent millions on fireworks. The sky lit up, bright and loud, and people were cheering, posting, celebrating like it was the perfect love story. I stood far away and watched, wondering if this was what happiness looked like when it no longer had anything to do with me.
Good, I thought. Let it stay with them.
The day before the wedding, I packed everything I had into a box and burned it. I didn’t rush, just sat there watching the flames eat through everything. The gifts he gave me, the memories we built, even the things I kept from prison because they were the only things that kept me going back then. None of it meant anything now. I was leaving, and I was dying, so there was no reason to keep any of it.
I stared at the fire and thought about him walking down the aisle with Trixie. Maybe he’d smile, maybe they’d have kids, maybe he’d forget me completely. Isn’t that better? Isn’t that what I wanted?
That same night, Arkin sat across from Trixie at dinner, and she kept watching him like she was trying to read something off his face.
“Arkin,” she said softly, “why do you look so distracted? Don’t tell me you’re still thinking about my sister. That would be disappointing.”
Arkin snapped out of it and took her hand,
“No. I’ve already let her go,” he said. “There’s nothing left between us, so you don’t need to worry about her anymore.”
“Really? Because it doesn’t feel like she’s gone,” her voice softer but sharper underneath. “And I don’t like sharing, you know that. If there’s even a part of you still thinking about her, you should fix it.”
Arkin’s expression hardened slightly.
“She doesn’t matter anymore,” he said. “You’re the one I chose. From now on, you’re the most important person in my life.”
That satisfied her. She smiled, leaning closer.
“Good. Don’t make me regret this.”
After dinner, they walked out together, but before they could leave, the chandelier above them suddenly broke loose and crashed down, hitting Trixie directly.
She dropped instantly.
Blood spread fast, and Arkin’s face changed completely.
“Trixie!” he shouted, catching her. “Stay awake. Look at me. Don’t close your eyes, you hear me?”
He rushed her to the hospital, and everything moved fast until the doctor said she needed a transfusion immediately, but her blood type was rare and the hospital didn’t have enough.
“Find a match,” Arkin said without hesitation. “I don’t care how, just find one.”
The assistant searched and came back with one name.
“Sir… it’s—”
Arkin didn’t even pause.
“Bring the person here,” he said coldly. “If that's person blood can save Trixie, then take it.”
The assistant hesitated. “Even if it kills—”
“I said fucking do it!”
At that moment, I was already on my way out, holding my ticket, thinking everything was finally over. Then they stopped me and dragged me to the hospital before I could even understand what was happening.
I struggled at first.
“What are you doing? Let go of me!”
No one answered properly until the assistant name Mara walked in and looked at me.
“It’s Arkin’s order,” she said. “Trixie is dying. Only your blood matches hers.”
I stared at him. “And if I refuse?”
“You don’t get to refuse,” she replied calmly. “You owe him a life, don’t you?”
That stopped me.
Yeah.
I did. And it didn’t matter anymore anyway. I was going to die sooner or later.
So I let go.
“Fine,” I said quietly.
They pushed me down and inserted the needle. I watched as my blood slowly drained out, and the numbers kept rising while my body grew weaker.
Four hundred.
Six hundred.
Eight hundred.
The machine started beeping, and my vision blurred. Everything felt distant, like I was already fading out.
So this is it...
I closed my eyes slowly.
'Arkin… this time, it’s really goodbye.'
The sound stretched into a flat line, and somewhere nearby, someone started shouting in panic.
“She’s gone! Stop it! Stop taking her blood! She’s not breathing, she’s dead.”
