Chapter Twenty-Eight – The Truth She Shouldn’t Have Heard
(Amara’s POV)
It came to her in whispers, the way ugly truths often did.
Amara had been sitting outside the campus café, notebook open but blank, when her roommate rushed over with wide eyes. She looked nervous, hesitant, as if holding something she didn’t want to share.
“Amara,” her roommate began carefully, “I… heard something today. And I think you should know.”
Amara frowned, setting her pen down. “What is it?”
Her roommate bit her lip. “One of my friends… she has a cousin who works as a housekeeper in the Daehan estate.” She hesitated. “She heard his father talking about you.”
The world seemed to tilt, but Amara forced herself to stay calm. “About me?”
Her roommate nodded slowly. “Apparently, Joon-Ho’s father gave him an ultimatum. Either he ends things with you, or he loses everything—his inheritance, the company, his family’s name.”
For a moment, Amara couldn’t breathe. Her heart dropped, heavy and cold, as if someone had pressed stone against her chest.
So that was why.
Why he had pulled away. Why he had ignored her, avoided her gaze, left her in silence. It wasn’t because she wasn’t enough. It was because loving her came with a cost too high to pay.
Her eyes stung, but she forced herself to blink it back. She couldn’t break down. Not here. Not in front of curious stares and passing students.
Her roommate reached for her hand. “Amara, I’m sorry. Maybe it’s not true—”
But Amara shook her head. “It makes sense. It explains everything.”
She tried to sound steady, but her voice cracked on the last word.
That night, lying in her bed, she let the tears fall. She thought of the way he had looked at her in the library, in the hallway, at the party. The way he had touched her like she was something precious. And now, all of it was tangled in this unbearable truth:
He couldn’t choose her.
Not without giving up his entire world.
And so, with her heart breaking in silence, Amara made her decision.
She had to let him go. Not because she wanted to, not because her feelings had faded, but because if staying meant destroying him, then walking away was the only choice she had left.
Even if it shattered her.
