Even during her birthdays, when he rarely spent ti with her, he never forgot to prepare a gift.
Those silent gestures slowly ward Lana’s heart.
However, everything changed the day she noticed sothing strange.
Garrison’s birthday had never been celebrated. Not once.
The realization stunned her. "Why has no one ever celebrated his birthday?"
Her voice had been filled with confusion as she asked her nanny.
The answer she received left her speechless.
On the day Garrison was born, the elder Mr. Almond had died.
From that mont onward, many people in the family began whispering sothing cruel.
"Garrison is a jinx."
Because of that superstition, he was slowly isolated.
No celebrations. No warm wishes. No family gatherings.
It could be said that the cold and distant image Garrison carried today had been ford by years of rejection during his childhood.
When Lana learned the truth, her heart ached.
’So that is why he is always alone...’
She could not accept it.
Since she had no money of her own at that ti, she decided to do sothing simple.
She secretly prepared a small birthday celebration for him.
Using the little materials she could gather, Lana spent hours learning how to weave a simple black-thread bracelet.
Her fingers grew sore from tying the thin threads together again and again until the pattern looked neat enough.
Eventually, she created two identical bracelets. A pair.
When she finally presented one to Garrison, her young voice was filled with excitent.
"I made these myself."
She held the bracelet out to him with both hands. "One for you... and one for ."
Then she smiled brightly and spoke with the innocent sincerity only a child could have.
"As long as you keep this bracelet with you..."
Her eyes had sparkled with determination.
"I will always stay by your side. And I will protect you."
Lana didn’t know when that sharp, suffocating sense of competitiveness had begun.
’Was it always there?’ she wondered, her fingers curling slightly as if trying to grasp a mory that refused to stay still.
Maybe Garrison had always possessed those emotions, buried deep beneath a carefully crafted mask.
Or perhaps... perhaps everything had changed the mont he watched her turn eighteen.
From that day onward, sothing in him had twisted.
Garrison began treating her as if she were an enemy he needed to crush.
There was no warmth left, no trace of the boy who once stood beside her.
Instead, every glance he gave her carried a coldness.
He competed with her relentlessly... whether it was for their parents’ attention or sothing as trivial as social standing.
And when that wasn’t enough, he went after her friends, tearing apart every fragile connection she tried to build.
It beca common knowledge, no, a whispered certainty, that Lana was not favored in the family. Garrison made sure of it.
Lana however didn’t give up. She thought atleast she has her best friend Cassandra was on her side.
’At least I’m not completely alone...’ she had once thought, clinging to that fragile hope.
But that hope shattered.
The day she discovered that Cassandra and Garrison had been eting in secret, sothing inside her broke.
In her past life, the anger had consud her entirely.
She could still rember the way her chest had tightened, the way her hands trembled, the way her thoughts spiraled into chaos.
’Why...?’
Why was Garrison acting like this?
She had always been close to him, closer than anyone else.
So why did he suddenly treat her like a thief? Like soone he needed to guard against, as if she might steal sothing that belonged to him?
And then there was that strange, persistent feeling...
As if they were deliberately showing her that anything Garrison wanted, anything at all, he could take from her without hesitation.
Lana inhaled slowly. Her gaze lifted, settling on Garrison standing in front of her.
Calmly, she extended her hand.
"Give it to ."
Her voice was steady, almost indifferent, but the weight behind it was unmistakable.
Garrison frowned, his brows knitting together as confusion flickered across his face.
"What are you even talking about?"
"The bracelet," Lana replied without hesitation, her eyes locking onto his. "The threaded bracelet. Give them back, you don’t deserve it."
A brief silence followed.
"What?" Garrison’s voice sharpened, disbelief creeping in. "Are you backing out now? From your own vow?"
Lana shook her head slowly, her expression remaining composed, almost eerily so. "No. The Lana who made that promise... she is already dead."
For a fleeting mont, an old mory surfaced.
The younger Lana, the one who had made that promise, had believed Garrison had no one else. She had thought he needed her.
But the Lana standing here now knew better.
’He never needed .’
He already had people surrounding him, flattering him, supporting him, feeding his ego at every turn.
Garrison’s expression darkened, anger flashing in his eyes as he pointed a finger at her.
"You really know how to twist things, don’t you?"
Lana let out a soft chuckle, the sound light but carrying a quiet edge.
"I’m just telling the truth. And besides... it’s just a bracelet. You should give it back."
Garrison’s grip tightened instinctively, his jaw clenching. "No. I won’t."
For a brief second, Lana simply looked at him.
And then, a strange realization washed over her.
’How pathetic...’
In her previous life, when she had been thrown out, he had tossed that very sa threaded bracelet at her face, calling it nothing more than junk. Worthless. Disposable.
But now? Now he clung to it as if it were so priceless treasure.
It was... disgusting.
Her expression didn’t change, but her voice grew colder. "If you don’t listen... I have plenty of ways to make you."
Her gaze shifted briefly toward the distance, scanning the cityscape before returning to him. "From your attire and your bearing, I can deduce that you are regarding a business matter. So you’re here for the investing-related issue, right?"
As she spoke, realization dawned on Garrison’s face. He studied her carefully, a flicker of sothing unreadable crossing his eyes.
’She’s changed...’
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