Never Too Late to Return

My mind felt like it was being pierced by a thousand needles, the agony swallowing my vision in black.

I bit down hard on my lip, fighting back tears.

In the haze, I saw Cassian—eyes red as blood—sliding a ring onto my finger. The image shattered, frame by frame, until it blurred into nothing.

At breakfast the next morning, Cassian didn’t see me. Panic twisted his face as he tore through the villa, then mobilized an entire search team.

They finally found me in the basement.

But I wasn’t alone.

A venomous a deadly viper coiled inches away. Its head snapped forward.

“Don’t move!”

Without hesitation, Cassian lunged, shielding me with his body.

The fangs sank into his neck. His skin turned an ugly shade of blue before he collapsed. They rushed him to the hospital, pumping out every drop of blood before dragging him back from death.

The doctor’s face was darker than soot as he pointed at Cassian’s entourage.

“Why were you more than ten minutes late? He should be dead right now!”

Everyone’s eyes turned on me like knives.

It was my fault. I had delayed the trip, insisting on retrieving his teddy bear.

The secretary who had followed Cassian for ten years finally snapped.

“How could a broken toy matter more than Mr. Durel’s life? He’s given you everything, and you— you don’t even care if he dies!”

Cassian’s face went cold.

“You’re fired. Collect your salary and leave.”

The ward fell silent.

Then he turned to me, forcing a smile onto his pale lips.

“Don’t listen to him. If it makes you happy, I’ll protect even an old teddy bear. Even if it killed me, I wouldn’t hesitate.”

I clutched the washed-out bear, smiling like a fool.

Strange… Cassian, who never forgets anything, always forgets this bear.

Because this is no ordinary toy.

He had saved five hundred dollars in high school—scrubbing toilets for five months—just to buy it for me.

For me, it wasn’t even enough for a gift box.

So, in front of all our classmates, I threw the bear in the trash. Then I slapped a hundred thousand dollar bill in his face.

“Take this and get lost. Don’t disgust me with your garbage again.”

Now my eyes dropped to his only remaining hand. Smooth. Pale. Pampered.

So different from back then, when corrosive cleaners had eaten his skin raw, leaving it swollen and blistered. Cassian’s hand should never have looked like this. Even now, I couldn’t reconcile it.

The ward door banged open. Sorrel rushed in, flinging herself at his bed and knocking me to the floor. The burn she’d given me days earlier split open; blood soaked through my sleeve.

But Cassian’s gaze filled only with pity—for her.

He didn’t even notice me until the nurse came for rounds. Then, awkwardly, he offered an explanation:

“Sorrel… she’s too empathetic. Don’t overthink it.”

He remembered my headaches and asked the doctor to check me, but his eyes never once flicked to the blood dripping down my arm.

When the doctor stepped away, leaving me in the hallway, I finally let out a breath—

But a brutal force slammed me forward.

Sorrel.

She wrenched the teddy bear from my arms and crushed it against my face, her voice shrill with venomous hatred.