When the Star and Moon No Longer Meet

Being loved by Ryan Spencer used to feel like my superpower.

When I was fifteen, the Nelson family went bankrupt. My parents died not long after.

The rich boys who once had crushes on me cornered me at the school gate. Laughing, they cut up my uniform like it was a joke.

It was the sixteen-year-old Ryan who charged in like a trapped animal, fighting them off until he was covered in blood.

That evening, the sunset was red as blood.

He shouted at me until his voice cracked.

“Run!

“Jane! Don’t look back! Just run!”

When I finally went back for him, his proud, cocky face was bruised and swollen.

But the way he looked at me burned.

“Jane, don’t be scared. You’ve still got me.”

He brushed the tears from the corner of my eye. His breath was warm against my face.

So warm it made my chest ache.

“Jane, in this lifetime, I will never lie to you. I’ll always be loyal to you.”

The way he said it was firm. Certain. It made my heart tremble.

What I didn’t know back then was this: promises are only real in the moment they’re spoken.

By the second year of our marriage, love had been drained dry by the Nelson family’s bottomless debt.

He had almost emptied his own fortune trying to save us.

The heat in his eyes faded. All that was left was a deep, endless exhaustion.

After that long rush of memories, my mind felt strangely clear.

Today was our fifth wedding anniversary.

I put on the white dress he liked best. I waited from sunset until well past midnight.

No flowers. No hug.

Just a silent house and the noise from a live stream of the Spencer Group’s gala playing on my phone.

Out of that sea of people, I spotted him immediately.

He was smiling gently, carefully fastening a necklace around Wendy’s neck.

The camera zoomed in.

It was a star-and-moon pendant.

Tiny diamonds formed a ring of stars, cradling a silver crescent in the center.

My breathing stopped.

I had sketched that design when I was fifteen, in the corner of my old sketchbook.

The day Ryan confessed to me, he had pointed at that drawing, his voice shaking.

“Jane, one day when I have money, I’ll make this for you.

“Stars always stay beside the moon.

“Just like I’ll never break my promise to you.”

Now he had finally made it.

He just put it on someone else.

On screen, Wendy touched the pendant at her collarbone and smiled shyly.

“Thank you, Mr. Spencer. This is the most special gift I’ve ever received.”

Ryan didn’t say anything.

But the way he looked at her was unmistakable.

Soft. Indulgent.

I had only ever seen that look on his sixteen-year-old face.

After that year, I never saw him smile like that again.

So stars fall after all.

And moons get abandoned.

Before I could steady my breath, the gala moved into the charity auction segment.

The host announced loudly from the stage,

“Our next item is the ownership of the Nelson Charity Foundation.”

My heart dropped.

On the screen, the bidding numbers kept climbing.

My fingers trembled so badly I could barely hold my phone. I called Ryan again and again.

The moment he picked up, my voice was already pleading.

“Ryan, I accept that you don’t love me anymore. We can divorce.

“Just help me one last time. That foundation is the last thing my parents left me. I just…”

There was a brief silence on the other end.

Then he spoke, slowly.

“Jane, haven’t I done enough for you?”

I tried to say more, but the line went dead.

On the live stream, the auctioneer’s gavel came down hard.

“Sold! Congratulations to Angel Investments for thirty million!”

The camera cut to Ryan.

He raised his glass calmly, toasting in Wendy’s direction.

The lights hit his sharp features. Refined. Distant.

He sold the last piece of my parents’ memory just to make her smile.

I didn’t scream. I couldn’t even cry.

There was a tight pressure in my chest, like something lodged there, making it hard to breathe. I coughed suddenly.

A metallic sweetness rose in my throat.

I sank to the floor and stared quietly at the red spreading beneath me.

Ryan.

You’re ruthless.

As everything inside me went dark, the boy’s voice came again.

He looked even more panicked than I was.

“Jane! Run! Don’t look back!

“Leave him! I don’t want to see you hurt over him.”