Chapter 6

Since Jane moved in, Melanie saw a completely different side of Dustin. He remembered that Jane disliked cilantro and would replace any dish she frowned at. On stormy nights, he was the first to comfort her when she was frightened. The study, once off-limits to Melanie, was now open to Jane at will. Realization dawned on Melanie—so, this was how Dustin acted when he truly loved someone. She recalled how, in the past few years, she had secretly delighted at his attempt to restrain himself from harming himself whenever she was around, thinking it was proof he liked her. Now, that just seemed ridiculous. That day, Melanie passed by the study and caught a glimpse of Jane playing with something. She stopped and peered through the slightly ajar door. In Jane's hands was the pendant left by Dustin's grandmother. It wobbled in her grasp, almost slipping several times. Melanie's heart skipped a beat. She rushed in and snatched it away. "What are you doing? This is a keepsake from Dustin's grandmother. How could you—" "What's it got to do with you?" Jane snatched it back, her voice dripping with impatience. When she noticed Melanie's anxious expression, a grin spread across her face. "You care about it that much, huh? Then…" She loosened her grip. In the next instant, the pendant dropped to the floor, splitting into halves. Melanie's breath hitched. That was Dustin's most treasured possession, a family heirloom personally handed down to him by his grandmother on her deathbed. "What's going on?" Dustin's voice came from the doorway. Melanie looked up and saw him staring at the broken pieces with a grim expression. "Ms. Wright did it," Jane quickly said, sounding wronged. "I just wanted to look at it, and she rushed over to grab it…" Dustin's eyes instantly darkened. "Melanie, how dare you—" "There are surveillance cameras in the study." She cut him off, her voice trembling. "You can check it and find out what really happened." The air grew thick with tension. Jane's expression shifted. Eventually, she reluctantly admitted that it was her fault. "I'm sorry, Dustin," she mumbled. "I… I accidentally broke it. Does it matter a lot to you? I can buy one that looks the same for you." To everyone's surprise, Dustin's rage vanished in an instant. He strode toward Jane and held her hand. "Were you hurt?" Melanie remained rooted, watching him carefully observe Jane's fingers. She felt as though her chest had been ripped open. No one understood the pendant's significance to Dustin more than she did. Three years ago, he had just had leg surgery when Miriam accidentally lost the pendant. Dragging his weak body through a snowy night, he had searched for it for three hours to no avail. He had gotten into a huge fight with Miriam when he got back, smashing things in his room. It was Melanie who braved the snow, searching inch by inch in the yard. Her fingers went numb from the cold, but in the end, she found the pendant at dawn. Now, Jane had deliberately broken it, yet all he seemed to care about was whether she had been hurt. A wry smile tugged at Melanie's lips. She never expected Dustin's love for Jane to run this deep. All the time, she had naively assumed that he would marry her after he recovered. For countless days and nights, she had stayed by his side, witnessing how much pain he'd gone through during therapy sessions. She had silently vowed to herself that she would stay by his side forever. Even at his lowest, she had written in her diary that she would marry him once he could stand again. The promise seemed absurd now. Realization once again dawned on her as she looked back—she had been nothing but a joke all along. Luckily, she had come back to her senses. She would never give her heart to someone who didn't value it again.