Kevin was still staring at the closed door when his phone rang.Jasper Doom.He almost didn't answer. Almost threw the phone against the wall instead, but something cold and curious made him press accept and lift it to his ear."Kevin?" Jasper's voice came through soft, almost gentle. Not broken… Not panicking…but soft. "Hey, I just wanted to call and check in on you. Make sure you're doing okay over there. All alone."Kevin said nothing.“The nurse called Sarah without my permission. I tried calling her myself to tell her not to come, she didn’t pick up. You know how she is when she’s worried about me.. She just drops everything.”The words sounded like an apology. But something underneath them was wrong, like a gift box with the ribbon tied too perfectly.“I”m sure she’ll be back soon.Eventually.” A pause that lasted one beat too long.“I really am sorry, Kevin. On your wedding night of all nights. That must feel…” Jasper let the sentence trail off, leaving the silence to fill in eve

Sarah's neck screamed as she lifted her head from the hard armrest of the hospital chair. The VIP ward was bright with morning sun streaming through the windows, and her cream coat was wrinkled beyond recognition. She blinked, disoriented, trying to remember where she was.A groan came from the bed."Jasper?" She shot to her feet, crossing to him immediately. "Are you okay? Does it hurt? Should I call the nurse?"Jasper's eyes fluttered open. He looked at her for a long moment, and then his face crumpled. Tears spilled down his cheeks."Why are you still here?" His voice came out weak and broken. "Sarah, why didn't you go back? It was your wedding night. Your wedding night with Kevin, and you spent it on a hospital chair because of me." He appeared shocked and guilty, as if he had completely forgotten that it was he himself who had begged Sarah to stay and accompany him the previous night.""Don't be ridiculous. You were sick. Of course I stayed.""But Kevin..." Jasper's hand reached

Kevin sat on the weathered iron bench in the Parco Sempione, watching the morning joggers pass without seeing them. The divorce agreement lay in a manila envelope on the bench beside him, delivered by a man who looked like an accountant but moved like a soldier.Commander Voss had arrived exactly on time. Clean suit, pressed collar, the kind of man who could blend into any crowd in any city in the world. But when he saluted Kevin, his posture was rigid with military precision that no civilian suit could hide."The documents are in order, sir. Standard terms as you requested." Voss handed over the envelope and stood at attention. "If I may ask, War God, have your injuries from three years ago fully healed?""The external ones are fine."Kevin didn't mention the rest. The internal damage from the final war still needed another six months to fully mend. Once it healed, his cultivation would break through to a level no living warrior had ever reached. But that was his business and no one e

"Do I have to report everything I do to you?"Kevin's voice was quiet, almost bored, and the words landed on Sarah like a bucket of cold water. She opened her mouth to fire back, but something stopped her. A memory, sharp and unwelcome, rising from just one week ago. Jasper had been bitten by a venomous snake during a field inspection, and she'd grabbed her coat and rushed out the door without explanation. When Kevin had asked where she was going, she'd said those exact words to him. That exact sentence. That exact tone.Guilt pressed against the inside of her ribs, brief and uncomfortable, before she shoved it down."That's different," she muttered."Is it?""You could have at least told me you were going out. I came home expecting you to be here, Kevin. I waited. I skipped dinner because I thought we'd eat together, and instead I walked into an empty apartment."Kevin looked at her with an expression so flat it barely qualified as a face. "Then learn to cook."Sarah blinked. "What?

Kevin opened the guest room door at dawn and found Sarah curled up on the sofa she'd dragged across the hallway during the night. She'd positioned it right against his door, as if sleeping close enough might undo everything that had broken between them. Her face was tight even in sleep, her brow furrowed, her lips pressed together like she was arguing with someone in a dream.Something inside his chest loosened. Just slightly, just enough to hurt in a different way than the cold numbness he'd been carrying since the wedding night. She looked small on that sofa, vulnerable in a way she never allowed herself to be when she was awake. Her hair fell across her face in messy strands, and her hands were tucked under her chin like a child trying to stay warm.The sound of his footsteps woke her. Sarah's eyes fluttered open, unfocused for a moment before they found him. Happiness flooded her face first, bright and immediate, like sunlight breaking through clouds. Then the memory of last ni