It was like the damage had already been done. It was an irreversible reality.
That night I could not sleep and just sat in the living room while listening to the muffled, ambiguous sounds from the second floor. The lights in their room flickered on and off, each change like a stab to my chest.
I clenched my teeth to stifle the sobs threatening to escape, and in my head, I kept chanting, "Haven't you let go already? You know perfectly well this is not possible. Your feeling for Auntie is doomed not to happen."
Yet no matter what tears kept flooding.
It was not until I heard footsteps descending the stairs that I realized dawn had arrived. Hastily, I wiped my face, erasing the traces of my anguish.
It was Auntie who walked downstairs. Her freshly washed hair cascaded over her shoulders and she carried herself with an elegance that seemed to exude a newfound confidence. A woman who had just had her first taste of intimacy.
My chest tightened further.
She glanced at me briefly, her expression cold and distant, as if I were a stranger. She did not even utter a word to me.
Panic welled within me and I couldn’t stop myself from calling out loudly at her back, "Auntie!"
She knitted her brows with annoyance. "What is it?"
Her voice was unfamiliar, icy enough to freeze the air around her. For a moment, I was speechless.
Yet, it was precisely her detached demeanor that snapped me back to reason. Forcing a smile, I said, "Auntie, I just wanted to ask, what would you like to eat for your birthday tomorrow?"
Perhaps relieved that I wasn’t uttering forbidden words, her tone softened slightly, "Do whatever you want. I'm heading off to work now."
Then she left and the house went empty again.
Before I could leave, the man from last night strolled down from the second floor, still in a bathrobe. He smiled casually at me and said, "I’ve heard a lot about you from your Auntie. You’re Joey, right? I’m her fiancé. You should call me Uncle-in-law."
He gave a sly smirk before continuing, "I hear you’re a taxidermist. It's quite a rare profession in the country. What a coincidence, so am I."
I barely registered his words. My gaze was locked on the vivid marks on his
A surge of grief and anger welled up inside me. I did not want to have anything to do with him, so I turned around to leave.
However, he grabbed my arm and pulled me back. "What's wrong? Joey, my nephew, aren't you going to greet your uncle?"
While saying that, he leaned over and whispered in my ear, "Everyone in Mirage City knows you’re in love with your Auntie. Do you think it’s some big secret?"
"Let me tell you something. While Leslie agreed to our family’s alliance, she wasn’t planning to fully commit to me yesterday."
"Do you want to know how I changed her mind? I told her that if she didn’t comply, I’d leak to the media that her precious nephew was hopelessly in love with her. Let’s see how the public reacts to such a scandal."
"You … despicable!" I said and turned to glare at him. My hands clenched tightly.
The realization that Auntie had been coerced into submission cut me like a blade.
"Despicable?" He sneered, "Joey, you’ve got it wrong. I’m not the one who fell in love with the aunt who raised me. That’s all you. In fact, I’m helping you, aren’t I?"
He laughed mockingly and poked my chest with his finger.
The fury in my chest erupted. Out of control, I grabbed him by the collar and dragged him toward the backyard pool. Then I slammed him to the ground. My fist was ready to pound his smug face.
Ye, he just smiled calmly at me.
