Lucas stood before the floor-to-ceiling windows of the high-rise, overlooking Kuala Lumpur at dawn. The city lights spread like a web, and he felt as if he were trapped at its very center.
He closed his eyes. Echoes of a car crash from over a decade ago played in his mind.
It had been a rainy night, just like tonight. Seventeen-year-old Lucas was supposed to be home revising for a mock exam the next day, but he had gone to a friend's birthday gathering instead.
When the call came, he thought it was just his parents checking in. He hadn't expected to hear a police officer. By the time he reached the hospital, his parents had already been wheeled into emergency surgery. The family's housekeeper was with Ryan, the nine-year-old boy crouched outside the operating room, crying so hard he could barely breathe.
The accident was officially declared a "loss of control." The police report was brief and cold. But Lucas knew that wasn't the whole story.
When he went to the police station to sign paperwork as next of kin, he accidentally saw footage from the car's dashcam — his mother yelling hysterically at his father: "So you really want to leave this family?" Then she suddenly grabbed the steering wheel. A scream followed, and then the footage cut off.
Lucas never showed Ryan that video. In Ryan's memories, their parents were kind and loving. But that warmth had long since been cracked and broken.
Their father hadn't been heartless. He had loved a man deeply for many years but had been forced to break it off when their grandfather threatened to cut off financial support unless he married a woman and continued the family business. Their father gave in, but never truly let go. His former lover kept trying to reach out even after the wedding and eventually took his own life, unable to bear the loss.
That death had been a slow, dull blade slicing into their already fragile marriage. Their father spiraled. Their mother eventually discovered the truth, and their fights became frequent and vicious — culminating in that final, fatal argument in the car.
Ryan never knew what happened that night. He had only been nine.
And Lucas, at seventeen, had inherited a shattered world.
He could have gone to study architecture — his dream — to design skyscrapers and the harmony of shadow and light. But there was no choice. He had to keep the family afloat.
Their relatives offered no sympathy, only suspicion: "What does a teenage boy know about running a business?" But he endured it. He managed his parents' funeral with dignity, enrolled Ryan in the best schools, joined the family's law firm, and worked his way up from paralegal. He spent sleepless nights fueled by coffee and sheer willpower.
People said he was cold, emotionless. But behind that shell was a heart constantly trying to shield his younger brother.
And now Ryan was walking a path that looked all too familiar —
— A secret lover. A plan to escape. Repressed emotions.
When Lucas first found the "prenup," fury had almost consumed him. It wasn't Ryan's sexuality he couldn't accept — it was the pattern. Ryan was unknowingly repeating their father's fate.
But unlike their father, Ryan had someone new beside him.
Emily.
She wasn't the type to cling or pretend. She had met his probing questions at the dinner table with calm eyes and a steady voice. She knew Ryan's past but didn't flinch.
Lucas remembered the first thing she said when she walked in with the box of snacks: "These are from my mom. I thought you might like them."
Just like their own mother had once brought traditional Penang treats to visit their grandfather.
Emily had a quiet strength — not aggressive, but unwavering beneath her gentleness.
Lucas kept recalling her and Ryan's interactions.
She would naturally support Ryan's arm, subtly deflect unwanted conversations. She'd offer him water when his face tensed up — without asking questions. None of it felt forced.
Maybe she could be the turning point.
But Ryan didn't know Lucas had already moved on from Kai. Ryan was still stuck in doubt, struggling, but hadn't told him a word.
Lucas sighed and leaned his forehead against the cold windowpane.
If he kept pressing, Ryan would only push him further away. But if he let go, Ryan might follow in their father's footsteps.
He had to find out whether this marriage was a performance — or the beginning of something real.
Outside, the rain was easing. Lucas opened his phone and scrolled to Emily's contact.
He typed a message, then deleted it.
He wasn't someone who gave trust easily.
But maybe, just maybe... this time, he could try.
Even just a little.