Done Hiding as Your Backup Plaything I'm Shining Golden as a Queen - Chapter 31: Chapter 31

Luigi stared at the shattered glass scattered across the concrete, feeling like someone had just ripped his heart out through his throat.
"Aurelia, you—"
Aurelia's smile was vicious and beautiful as she cut him off. "Luigi, how does this feel? Getting some serious déjà vu right about now?"
Her words crashed into him like a freight train, dragging his mind back four years to that night by the waterfront.
The original jar of paper cranes she'd made for him—Rosalia had "accidentally" smashed it exactly like this, the glass exploding, the cranes scattering like broken dreams.
And he'd done absolutely fucking nothing to defend Aurelia. He'd rushed to coddle Rosalia and disappeared with her, leaving Aurelia alone to sweep up the pieces of something that had meant everything to her.
"That night wasn't... I was just worried about your sister getting hurt. It wasn't about choosing her over you—"
His voice cracked pathetically, each word sounding more hollow than the last.
Aurelia had zero patience left for his revisionist bullshit. Her voice was arctic as she delivered the killing blow.
"Some things, once they're destroyed, can never be put back together. No matter how desperately you try."
She'd barely taken three steps when fireworks suddenly erupted across the night sky.
BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.
The cruel irony wasn't lost on either of them—it was exactly like the display that had marked the death of their relationship four years ago.
Within days, news of Aurelia and Isaac's research breakthrough had spread across campus like wildfire.
Students couldn't shut up about the brilliant power couple, spinning romantic narratives about their academic success story.
Luigi heard their names everywhere—in dining halls, study lounges, even whispered in library corners. Each mention felt like salt being poured into an open wound.
He'd tried to convince himself it was all campus gossip until he overheard a group of undergrads practically swooning:
"Oh my God, Aurelia and Isaac are like something out of a movie—they're both insanely hot AND genius-level researchers. They're literally perfect together."
"I heard they're both heading to NIH for some elite research program. Power couple goals—they're definitely endgame material."
Luigi's vision started going white around the edges. At the celebration dinner, hadn't Aurelia told Professor Xavier she needed time to consider the NIH offer?
Was she really planning to build her entire fucking future with Isaac?
Panic consumed him as his mind spiraled through increasingly desperate scenarios.
Since Aurelia had been systematically avoiding him, Luigi resorted to camping outside her dormitory like some kind of unhinged stalker.
When she finally appeared, he practically lunged at her.
"Aurelia, please tell me it's not true. You and Isaac aren't actually together, are you? You're not both going to NIH?"
His voice was shaking so badly he could barely get the words out.
Aurelia's expression could have frozen hell over. "That's absolutely none of your fucking business."
She tried to walk around him like he was a piece of sidewalk trash.
Luigi grabbed her wrist with desperate, bruising force, his voice turning manic.
"You can't be with him! You can't!"
Aurelia hissed in pain and ripped her arm away with surprising strength. "Who the hell are you to tell me what I can't do? My boyfriend?"
Luigi's eyes went wild and desperate, because yes—in his delusional mind, that's exactly what he still thought he was.
For four years, he'd convinced himself that Aurelia would eventually forgive him and they'd pick up where they left off. The possibility of her actually moving on with someone else had never seemed real.
"We were kids, Aurelia! Everyone fucks up in high school—why are you holding grudges like we're in some soap opera?"
"I never loved Rosalia, nothing ever happened between us. You're obsessing over ancient fucking history!"
Aurelia's laugh was sharp enough to draw blood. She systematically eviscerated his pathetic excuses.
"Ancient history? You could memorize every detail about what made Rosalia smile, but you were completely blind when people treated me like garbage at school."
Her voice was rising, years of suppressed rage finally exploding. "Rosalia meant nothing to you, but you'd drop everything to play her hero while your actual girlfriend got shit on by everyone around us."
"And at graduation? You literally called yourself her knight in shining armor. To my face."
Luigi's face went ashen as the memories crashed back—all the times he'd prioritized Rosalia's comfort over Aurelia's pain, all the ways he'd taken Aurelia's devotion for granted.
"That wasn't about love," Aurelia continued, her voice deadly calm now. "You just knew I was so pathetically obsessed with you that I'd take any amount of abuse. You treated me like your personal punching bag because you could."
Luigi felt like he was drowning. "That's not—I never meant—"
"Save it." Aurelia pushed past him with vicious determination. When he tried to follow, she spun around with murder in her eyes.
"Back the fuck off, you manipulative piece of shit. I'm with Isaac now. If you don't stop stalking me, I'll get campus security to drag your ass off this campus."
Luigi stood there trembling as his entire world collapsed around him.
She was really choosing someone else. Forever.
He'd lost the only woman he'd ever loved, and it was entirely his own fault.
All he could do was watch helplessly as Aurelia walked toward Isaac, who was waiting with a perfect bouquet of red roses and a smile that made Luigi want to commit murder.
Isaac had been dying inside for weeks, watching Aurelia suffer through her family crisis and seeing Luigi's pathetic attempts to manipulate her back into his orbit.
But now, as she approached him with that radiant smile—the real one, not the polite mask she wore for everyone else—Isaac felt like he could breathe again.
Aurelia accepted the roses with genuine happiness, her heart finally ready to leave the graveyard of her past behind.
She'd been trapped in the wreckage of Luigi's betrayal for too long.
"Isaac, these are gorgeous," she said, then laughed as she noticed something. "Wait, why are there only eleven?"
Isaac's eyes crinkled with affection as he took her free hand. "So I'll know exactly when it's time to replace them with fresh ones. Can't have my girlfriend walking around with wilted flowers."
The word 'girlfriend' sent warmth flooding through both of them.
They walked hand in hand toward the sunset, leaving Luigi and all his toxic manipulation in the dust where it belonged.
"Tomorrow we start at NIH," Aurelia said, her voice bright with anticipation. "I heard it's packed with Nobel laureates and world-changing researchers. Are you nervous?"
Isaac brought her hand to his lips and kissed her knuckles gently, his voice steady with love and determination.
"That's where our real future begins, Aurelia. I've never been more excited about anything in my life."
The National Institutes of Health wasn't just a career opportunity—it was their chance to build something beautiful together, far away from everyone who'd tried to break them down.
Isaac wasn't nervous. He was ready to give Aurelia the love and partnership she'd always deserved.
As they walked away from the wreckage of her past, Aurelia felt something powerful settle in her chest. She was done hiding in corners, accepting crumbs, playing second fiddle to anyone.
She had dreamed hard and come so far. Now she believed in the woman she'd become.
This was her moment. She was glowing, ascending, becoming everything she was meant to be.
Behind them, Luigi stood alone among the scattered paper cranes and broken glass—a monument to chances squandered and love destroyed.
Aurelia didn't look back.
She was golden now.