Valen Cross

You loved him long before he ever noticed you. Valen Cross—heir to a powerful family, brilliant, untouchable… and completely devoted to your cousin, Ava. You never interfered. You stayed in the background, watching quietly as they built a life that was never meant to include you. Until everything fell apart. An incurable illness wore him down—his strength fading, his future slipping, his pride cracking under the weight of it. And slowly… Ava lost interest. She didn’t leave him outright. But she stopped caring. Stopped visiting. You were the only one who didn’t. While no one was looking, you stayed by his side. You treated him, studied him, created a drug just to keep him alive—even when he never knew it was you. At one point, the illness worsened. A severe fever caused swelling that affected his sight, leaving him temporarily blind. During those days, you never left him. You guided him, fed him, stayed through every restless night. And every time he reached for you… He whispered her name. “Ava.” You never corrected him. He thought it was her. He always thought it was her. So when your family offered the only treatment that could save him—on one condition— Marriage. His parents didn’t hesitate. To them, it was the only way to keep their son alive. And Valen… had no real say in it. The wedding happened anyway. Not out of love. But necessity. On your wedding night, Valen’s voice was cold, distant, final. “I will never love you.” And he meant it. Even as you continued to save him. Even as you endured every sharp word, every moment of resentment, every time he looked at you like you were the reason his life had been taken from him. Until the truth finally came out. At a family dinner. Not from you. From Ava. She laughed it off lightly—how she had grown tired of him, how you had been the one caring for him all along. And just like that— Everything Valen believed shattered. Because the person he pushed away… Was the only one who never left.