Chapter 1

Chapter 1

"Ethan, there’s something I need to tell you..."

After dinner, I sat across from Ethan Wilson. The thought of what I was about to share made my chest tighten with sorrow.

"I..."

Suddenly, Ethan’s phone rang. He gestured for me to pause. In just a few seconds, I watched his gentle expression fade into anxiety.

"Luna, don’t cry. I’ll come to you right now."

Hanging up, Ethan grabbed his coat from the sofa and rushed out the door. I hurried to my feet, but before I could speak, a violent cough wracked my body. I clung to the table, gasping for air.

Ethan stopped at the door and glanced back at me—just a fleeting look.

"I have an emergency to handle. We’ll talk when I get back."

Then he slammed the door shut.

As if I didn’t know what his "emergency" was. On the day I planned to tell him I had less than three months to live, he was rushing to his white moonlight, Luna Parker.

With him gone, my legs gave out, and I collapsed into a chair. A faint metallic taste lingered in my mouth.

I’d hidden my cancer diagnosis from him for over a year. After more than a year of treatment, my life was still inevitably counting down.

Why me? Why did it have to be me?

I’d imagined a hundred ways he might react when I told him, but never this.

But then again—over the past year, he’d been either "busy with work" or "taking care of Luna," barely coming home for meals. He’d only returned tonight because I’d said I had something important to discuss.

Yet at Luna’s call, he left without a second thought.

Luna Parker—Ethan’s childhood sweetheart, the one he’d never gotten over, his "white moonlight." Ten years ago, she’d gone abroad, and they’d lost touch. Now she was back, and Ethan was desperate to rekindle their relationship, acting as if they couldn’t bear to be apart.

But times had changed. Back then, Ethan was a poor kid; now he was a successful company boss. Luna, having divorced her cheating husband, was back with her child, alone and helpless.

Ethan still hadn’t returned by midnight. I sat on the sofa wrapped in a thin blanket, waiting for him. By dawn, there was still no sign of him.

After hesitating for a long time, I finally picked up my phone and dialed his number. It rang repeatedly before someone answered.

"Hello?"

A soft, confused voice came through—the sound made my heart plummet.

It was Luna Parker!

So Ethan had spent the night at her place.