At that moment, the scent of antiseptic hit his nose, silencing all sound except the monotonous beeping of the heart monitor, which finally stopped. Silence. Cold. The world seemed to collapse before him. In an instant, the life he had so disciplinedly managed turned into silent chaos. No longer was there the soft laughter that used to greet him in the afternoons, no longer was there someone to gaze at him warmly from beneath the medicine-scented hospital blankets.

From that day on, Damian closed himself off. He returned to teaching, writing academic journals, giving morning lectures, but inside he was frozen. Every word, every smile he showed was merely an extension of his obligation. He no longer lived to love, only to keep something—the promise he had made to Cassandra hours before she left.

The memory of holding his woman's hand so tightly that his knuckles turned white. In a barely audible voice, between the faint beats of his heart, he pleaded—not for himself, but for her sister.

Olivia.

"Take care of her for me, Damian."

It wasn't just any request. It was the final will of someone he had loved with his entire life. And Damian, through all his wounds, answered with a soft nod. He knew all too well what it meant to care for someone. He also knew that marrying Olivia wouldn't be easy—for either of them.

Olivia was still young. Eightteen, a sophomore at the same faculty where Damian taught. She still had a vast world, dreams yet to be explored. And now, she was bound to someone ten years her senior—someone who had even been her own sister's lover.

It had been a night since the ring had been placed on her ring finger—thin, simple, but its weight seemed to hang on her chest every time Olivia looked at it. In a high-rise apartment overlooking the Manhattan skyline, two people with completely different lives were now learning to breathe in the same space, though neither of them quite knew how.

Damian finished making warm milk and arrived at Olivia's door, still holding the glass in his right hand. As soon as the door opened, he saw the girl standing in her plain pajamas. She hadn't left her room since returning from campus, knowing she was busy with her thesis.

"Can I come in, Liv?"