Bound by Chains and Choices      

[IRAYA]

 

I had planned to spend Christmas with my family, but it seemed like fate had other ideas—thanks to Leander.

 

I wasn't planning on going back home either. My parents were off somewhere on a combined honeymoon and business trip, a strange fusion of love and work that only they could pull off.

 

Meanwhile, my brothers? They were off celebrating the holidays with their girlfriends' families. Everyone had their own lives now, their own traditions, and their own plans that didn't include us being together.

 

Maybe next year we'd gather again, laughing around a table, trading gifts like we used to. Maybe next year things would go back to normal. But not this year. This year, I was on my way to Jason's birthday party.

 

Not that he'd invited me.