Goodbye, My Alpha. I’m Gone

Chapter 3

Not long after our engagement party, Erica had Kieran take me along to another social gathering, and it was there that I saw Tina, who had just returned to the Pack.

She was so warm and welcoming toward me that, noticing Kieran was caught up with other things, she offered to show me around the place on her own.

She got pulled away by someone else a little while later, leaving me sitting alone in a corner, and that was when the whispers started drifting my way.

"Honestly, if you ask me, isn't Tina the one who really got the short end of the stick? She came back expecting to get engaged to Kieran, and then Sofia just swooped in and stole that chance from her, using her brother Sean's sacrifice as leverage."

"Right? Everyone knows Kieran has always had a thing for Tina ever since they were kids, like he had been treating her like his future Luna all along. They make such a perfect match."

"Sofia is honestly so shameless. If I were her and I had gotten my own brother killed, I would have found a cliff and jumped off a long time ago, let alone marry someone who was indirectly responsible for that death."

My face went pale, and not wanting to embarrass Kieran, I slipped away and ran up to the rooftop alone, where the wind swept through my hair and brought back countless memories of all the times Sean used to do my hair.

Sean had raised me, and as I let myself sink back into all those memories of the years when we had only each other, I could not hold it in any longer. I crouched down right there on the ground, crying so hard that by the time Kieran found me, all he saw was this small figure curled up in the corner, looking so fragile that even the lightest touch might have shattered her.

But he walked over anyway and demanded, "Why did you splash wine all over her?"

I looked up at him completely lost, which only seemed to make him more certain of what he believed, because he went on, "Lily just spoke up for Tina a little, and you splashed wine on her. So what, if Tina says something that bothers you, are you going to start hitting her?"

I had no idea what he was talking about, nothing about any wine or any attack, but it was clear enough that he had already made up his mind, and he had not come there to listen to anything I had to say.

He had come purely to warn me, to make sure I never let any resentment toward Tina take root in my heart, because if I ever did, I would have his full anger to deal with.

So, I chose not to say a single word in my own defense that day, simply telling myself over and over to keep as far away from those people as I possibly could.

I did feel some bitterness toward Tina from time to time, but I could never truly hate her because she had been so thoroughly sheltered by the Pack and the Alpha that she did not have a single calculating bone in her body and treated everyone with the same open, guileless warmth.

Even toward me, the woman who had taken her fiancé away from her, Tina remained nothing but warm and friendly, so warm and so genuinely kind that every time I saw her, a small pang of guilt stirred somewhere inside me.

My eyes blurred with tears, just as they had that night when Kieran had confronted me, except this time, the scene was different, because this time, Tina was really standing right there beside him. I watched as he helped her with her luggage and guided her into the beast carriage.

The moment the door swung shut, I caught the bright smile spreading across Tina's face and the slight smile on Kieran's face as he turned away. In that instant, I understood that all he had ever given me was cold distance and indifference, while with her, he was nothing but warmth and gentleness.

Everyone in the Pack had been right all along.

Kieran and Tina really were meant for each other. I was the one who did not belong, the outsider who had stepped into someone else's love story and broken up a pair who had grown up together.

'So goodbye, Kieran. And Tina, I am finally giving him back to you,' I thought.

The last tear fell the moment I turned around. Kieran, who had not once looked back the entire time, suddenly stopped in his tracks and spun around to face me, but by then, it was already too late. All he could see was my lonely retreating figure and the door slowly closing shut behind me.