The Year of No Return

Summary

My parents died in an accident.

My relatives fought over their inheritance while simultaneously treating me like a burden.

Only my Uncle Xander, who wasn't related by blood, extended a hand when I had nowhere else to go.

He asked if I wanted to go with him.

He raised me well. Everyone said I was the rose he cherished most.

And on the night of my twentieth birthday, he personally plucked the rose he had nurtured for years.

The next day, as I endured the soreness all over my body, shy yet happy, I went to find him on the balcony.

Instead, I heard him talking casually on the phone.