Chapter 3

Aria froze completely when she heard my words.

She looked up at me in disbelief.

"Frost, what did you just say?"

I pressed my lips together tightly and repeated it once more.

Aria realized I wasn't joking and fell into complete silence.

We had been dating for four years, and in those four years we had never fought.

When we first got together, we made an agreement that no matter what conflicts arose, we would never say things like "break up" or "separate" in the heat of the moment.

So even during cold wars, we had never once mentioned breaking up.

At this moment, the atmosphere in the car reached a freezing point.

She seemed to ponder for a long while, still unable to understand.

"Frost, can you tell me if I did something wrong? We were doing fine, why do you want to break up?"

Other people break up because of cheating or a breakdown in their relationship, when they can no longer stay together.

But my reason for breaking up was difficult to express.

I couldn't exactly say, "Because seven years from now, you and your first love will wipe out my entire family, so I have to break up with you now."

That would sound too absurd.

Yet reason told me that if I didn't break up with her now, I would end up causing the death of myself and my parents.

A wise man doesn't stand beneath a dangerous wall!

I took a deep breath, feigning indifference: "There's no particular reason. I'm just tired of it all.""Frost, can you stop messing around, please?"

"Did something happen? Tell me and we'll work it out together. Don't carry this burden alone."

"I don't understand why we need to break up..."

I remained silent as I made Aria get out of the car.

Once I was alone in the vehicle, I finally broke down and sobbed uncontrollably.

I loved Aria deeply. Even if I were to die by her hand, I wouldn't harbor much resentment. Perhaps I had done something wrong?

But I had no right to implicate my parents, who gave birth to me and raised me, because of my actions.

I couldn't be that selfish!

So, I had to let Aria go.

Of course, if necessary, I would try to orchestrate that Shaw guy's death as a backup plan.

After returning home, I deleted and blocked all of Aria's contact information with tears in my eyes.

Unable to reach me, Aria started coming to my house every other day to find me.

I locked myself in my room and hadn't left for several days.

My mom thought we had a fight and walked around with a worried expression every day.

She was very fond of Aria as a potential daughter-in-law, so she tried to persuade me multiple times.

"Son, it's normal for young couples to argue. Aria is good to you, and she hasn't done anything wrong. Why do you want to break up?"I stood silently, not saying a word.

"Mom, tell her to go home," I said.

My mom shook her head, let out a heavy sigh, and left.

But Aria still didn't leave.

She stayed downstairs, calling me over a dozen times from an unfamiliar phone number.

I turned my phone off completely.

I stood by the window looking down. Aria gazed up at me with a sorrowful expression.

"Sweetheart, please don't give me the cold shoulder, okay?"

I closed my eyes briefly, turned around to draw the curtains, and didn't look out again.

I don't know how much time passed, but snowflakes began to fall from the sky.

When I realized it and rushed to the window to look down, a blizzard had already started.

That foolish Aria was standing motionless in the snow like a snowman, not even going back to her car to warm up.

I walked over and handed her a down jacket.

"Aria, we've already broken up. Stop being silly out here."

After saying this, I turned to leave, but unexpectedly Aria stepped forward and hugged me from behind.

She looked as pitiful as an abandoned innocent puppy.

"Can you tell me what I did wrong?"

"I don't want to break up with you. Whatever I did wrong, I'll change. I'll do anything you ask! How can you suddenly abandon me like this? I can't accept it!"I stood frozen in place.

Tentatively, I turned back to look at her.

"You'll really do anything?"

Aria nodded frantically.

I heard my own cold-hearted voice speak.

"I want you to quit your job and never have any contact with Zoran again. Can you do that?"

Aria looked at me with some bewilderment.

I knew she had invested a lot of effort to reach her current position.

Suddenly asking her to give it up, she surely couldn't accept it.

Seeming to suddenly realize something, Aria frowned and asked me.

"Frost, is this because of Zoran?"

"I've explained to you many times, we're just in a normal superior-subordinate relationship. He's only my boss, nothing more than that."

"You're not usually a petty person either, so why... do you dislike him so much?"