Faye

Prologue

My name is Faye.

My friends sometimes calls me "ice girl" because of my icy cold demeanor and being a nonchalant in almost everything. 

I wasn't always like this, before. There was a time when my heart was wide open, ready to embrace the world and everyone in it. I used to believe in the goodness of people, in the beauty of vulnerability, and the strength that comes from letting others in. But that was before the betrayal, before the pain carved its deep trenches into my soul.

I remember the exact moment when my trust was shattered. It was the kind of betrayal that catches you off guard, the one you never see coming because it comes from someone you love, someone you thought would always have your back. I was fifteen years old when my mother caught my father with another woman which caused her depression. I was barely sixteen when she ended her life because she can't handle it. I was left alone, shattered and broken. After many years it still haunts me. 

I put up walls to protect myself. At first, it was just a small barrier, a cautious step back from the edge of vulnerability. But as the years passed, that pain and trauma still engulped me and those walls grew thicker and taller. 

People call me cold-hearted now. They say I'm distant, unapproachable, that there's a chill in my eyes that wasn't there before. They're not wrong. But they don't understand that it's not because I feel nothing; it's because I feel too much. The pain, the fear, the lingering dread of getting hurt again – it's all too overwhelming. So I freeze it out. I shut it down. I keep everyone at arm's length because it's easier to be alone than to risk the knife in the back again.

So now, I keep it all inside. It's safer that way.

The walls I've built aren't just for keeping others out; they're for keeping me safe within. I don't expect people to understand, and I don't need them to. I do what I must to survive, to protect the fragile pieces of myself that remain. Maybe one day, someone will come along who can break through these defenses, who can show me that it's okay to trust again. But until then, this is who I am – guarded, cold, and untouchable.

And maybe that's not such a bad thing. Because in this world, sometimes the only way to stay whole is to never let anyone get close enough to break you apart again.

But everything turned three sixty degree when I met her...my neighbor's daughter.

Yumi.