---- "Aria, wait. Please." He looked awful. Unshaven. His clothes wrinkled. Dark circles under his eyes. He looked at me, his eyes filled with an emotion I couldn't understand. "Aria. I miss you so much." His voice was slurred, desperate. "Garrett, we've already dissolved our bond." My expression was calm, as if I were looking at a stranger. Because that's what he was now. A stranger who used to share my bed. But Garrett kept shaking his head, stubbornly holding that ring up in front of me. The Luna ring I'd left behind. The symbol of everything I'd lost. ---- "T don't agree. Aria, I can't live without you." "The whole time you were gone, I missed you like crazy. I never dared tell you before, but I genuinely liked you." Ialmost laughed at the absurdity. "Those early days when we were first together were the happiest time of my entire life. I thought someone in this world could finally love me wholeheartedly. I thought I could finally have a home." His words sounded rehearsed. Like he'd practiced this speech in the mirror. "But that agreement you signed with Grandfather shattered all my illusions. I couldn't accept that the woman I loved so deeply had approached me with ulterior motives. To get back at you, I did all those ridiculous things..." Garrett spoke through his tears. ---- As if he had suffered some great injustice. As if I was the villain in this story. I looked up at Garrett with new eyes. "Do you remember which day our mating ceremony anniversary is?" The question was a test. One I knew he would fail. Garrett froze. His mouth opened and closed like a fish out of water. He stammered for a long time but couldn't give an accurate date. "June? July? It was summer..." I let out a cold laugh and said slowly, "I remember. I'll never forget." "April 15th. We were married on April 15th."