Chapter 1: Twilight of Misfortune

Twilight of Misfortune

I witnessed an unbelievable sight at the park during sunset.

My childhood friend was kissing a handsome senior I had seen at school before. And it wasn’t just a soft kiss—it was the kind lovers share.

Twilight, also known as the “time of misfortune,” is said to be an ominous hour. But I never expected to get caught up in it myself.

My heart ached with a grinding pain, yet my mind remained strangely calm.

To gather proof, I took a photo with my high-end smartphone, a gift from my older sister, which had an excellent camera.

However, doing so meant I had to keep watching for what felt like an eternity.

In the captured image, bathed in the hues of a cinematic sunset, my childhood friend gazed at the senior with a dreamy, love-struck expression—just like a maiden in love.

The sight shocked me so much that my thoughts completely halted. Standing there felt so out of place that I quietly left, making sure not to be noticed.

When I got home, I handed over the things my sister had asked me to buy without a word.

After thanking me, my sister noticed something was off and asked if I was okay, but her voice barely registered.

I simply said, “I’m fine,” and hurried to my room.

Back in my room, I finally regained a bit of composure.

My frozen thoughts, stuck as if broken, slowly began to move again.

The first question that came to mind was:

“How did this happen?”

I saw my childhood friend kissing someone at the park during sunset. If that was all, it wouldn’t be such a big deal.

The problem was that my childhood friend was supposed to be dating me.

And today, we had made plans for a date—until she suddenly canceled due to her “unexpected circumstances.”

So, she canceled our date just to be with that senior…?

The scene from earlier flashed through my mind, and a sharp, twisting pain gripped my stomach.

Hoping I had somehow misseen it, I checked the photo again. But there was no mistake—the person in the picture was undoubtedly my childhood friend, my girlfriend, Rindo Yuna.

I almost took my frustration out on the photo, resisting the urge to throw my smartphone. And then, I was surprised to realize just how intense my emotions were.

I looked at the picture again. The smile on her face—sweet and melting—was one she had never shown me before. But this time, the fire of my emotions cooled, leaving only emptiness, as if a hole had been carved into my chest. Memories of Yuna flickered through my mind.

Yuna and I had been neighbors and childhood friends since kindergarten. She had always walked beside me.

That changed last year when we entered high school.

We both worked hard to get into our preferred school, and once we did, Yuna confessed her feelings to me.

To be honest, back then, I had feelings for someone else. But that person was gone, and I couldn’t let go of the lingering attachment.

Of course, Yuna, who had always been close to me, knew all about it. But despite knowing, she still confessed her love to me.

She suggested that we could take things slowly and become a couple over time. She promised that one day, she would make me forget my pain.

And just as she had said, she gradually closed the distance between us, transforming from a childhood friend into a lover. Before I knew it, I had truly come to love her as a woman.

And yet…

As if escaping reality, I stared blankly at my phone.

Memories and thoughts raced through my mind, but the moment I snapped out of it, I was confronted with the undeniable proof of that twilight scene.

That sight shattered the feelings I had built over the past year and completely destroyed the trust we had nurtured for so long.

My mind had been a mess back at the park, preventing me from saying anything, but I made a firm decision—I would break up with her tomorrow, using this photo as proof.

And yet, despite making that decision, I couldn’t rid myself of my lingering feelings for my childhood friend. It seemed Yuna meant more to me than I had realized.

Maybe… just maybe, there was some kind of reason. That desperate thought slipped into my mind.

That’s why I decided to hear her explanation first before making my final judgment. But just as I came to that conclusion, a message notification popped up—it was an apology from Yuna.

[Sorry for canceling our date so suddenly today.]

[There was something I absolutely couldn’t get out of.]

[I really am sorry! I’ll definitely make it up to you!]

The messages came in rapid succession.

After seeing her expression at the park, I was appalled that she could so easily apologize without guilt, trying to patch things up with a simple promise.

It was true—trust could be destroyed in an instant.

Even if I listened to her side of the story tomorrow, unless she had a truly exceptional reason, I knew I wouldn’t be able to trust her again.

I had planned to hear her out in person, but after seeing her messages, I changed my mind.

[What is this supposed to mean?]

I sent my reply along with the photo I had taken at the park.

The message was marked as read almost instantly.

However, even by the end of the night, I didn’t receive a single response or explanation.

Irritated, I considered calling her myself—but I stopped.

No reply… maybe that was her answer.

[I see. I understand.]

By the time I finally sent that message, the morning sun had already risen.

Unsurprisingly, after staying up all night in this emotional state, I had no energy or desire to go to school. I decided to take the day off.

Some companies even offer heartbreak leave—so skipping school for a day should be fine. I tried to convince myself.

But if I stayed home, my sister would definitely worry. Yuna and my sister had always been close, so telling her was difficult, but during breakfast, I explained what had happened yesterday.

My sister’s first words were, “I can’t believe Yuna-chan would do something like that.”

Of course, she couldn’t. Even I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes.

With no other choice, I showed her the photo that was now burned into my brain.

My sister fell silent, her eyes hardening with anger—an anger I hadn’t been able to muster myself.

“That girl will never step foot in this house again.”

I knew it was just a figure of speech, but hearing her say that with such conviction made me feel… relieved.

“Thanks, Nee-san.”

More than anger, I was overwhelmed by the sadness of being betrayed. Even in this situation, I couldn’t bring myself to truly hate Yuna. Maybe I was too soft.

That’s why my sister’s righteous anger, the emotion I couldn’t summon, felt like it saved me.

“You should just take the day off… If you want, I can skip too—”

“It’s okay. You should go to university like usual.”

“…Are you sure? You’re really okay?”

“Yeah. It’s shocking, but not as bad as I thought it would be.”

I had meant it as bravado to reassure her, but saying it out loud made me realize it was actually true.

The loss of trust was painful, yes. But compared to when my stepmother and father passed away, this was nothing—it was just a breakup caused by infidelity.

Yuna wasn’t dead. There was no reason to grieve excessively over this.

“I see… It’s like you’ve gone back to how you were before, even just a little…”

At some point, my sister had been watching me, murmuring those words with a slightly melancholic expression.

“Maybe… but talking to you helped me sort things out.”

I still wasn’t ready to talk to Yuna face-to-face. But at least I had gained enough perspective to keep my emotions in check.

However, as if to disrupt that fragile recovery, the doorbell suddenly rang.

When I checked the intercom monitor, I saw her—Yuna, the very embodiment of last night’s nightmare.