Rain hammered the tin roof like war drums. Zayden Wu sat at the edge of a threadbare sofa, fingers clenched around a crumpled, rain-soaked envelope. Across from him stood Aria Feng—eyes swollen, lips trembling, holding onto something even more fragile than hope: him.
"You're breaking up with me… because you're poor?"Her voice cracked—not with anger, but heartbreak.
For a moment, Zayden lifted his gaze.
And there she was—the woman he loved more than his own life.Even standing there in the dim, flickering light of their crumbling apartment, Aria looked ethereal. Her loose hair framed a face too delicate for this brutal world. She was the kind of woman men in suits tried to chase—rich, successful men who offered her more than he ever could.
But she had chosen him.A man with nothing.
Zayden's throat tightened. He looked away.
"You deserve better," he said quietly. "A life that doesn't come with hunger, eviction notices… or me."
Aria stepped forward. Her hands shook. "I don't want better. I want you. Even if we eat instant noodles for the rest of our lives, I'd still choose you, Zayden."
He swallowed hard."I enlisted in the military."
The words cut sharper than any blade.
She froze, chest rising and falling like she'd been punched.
"When?" she whispered.
"Tomorrow."
Her breath caught. "So that's it? You disappear, and I'm just supposed to pretend we never happened? Is this... what love means to you?"
Zayden stood. His knuckles turned white around the door handle.
"No," he said, voice raw. "This is what saving you looks like."
And then—he walked away.
Then he left.
He didn't hear her fall to her knees.
He didn't see the white stick she dropped an hour later.
He didn't know the two red lines meant he was already a father.