“Zac, you got here just in time. Check on my sister—see how her recovery is going. Did the poison affect her eyesight? Can she use her phone?” With her back to Haley, Helen exaggerated her expressions at Zac, her brows wiggling meaningfully. Zac smirked, unable to help himself. Did she have any idea how adorable she looked right now? She was hitting him right in the heart. He stepped forward, ruffled Helen’s hair, and said warmly, “Alright.” Haley watched the two of them act all lovey-dovey like no one else was in the room. She shuddered internally. Really? They were feeding her this much PDA first thing in the morning? After thoroughly messing up Helen’s hair, Zac finally stepped aside and motioned for the head physician to check on Haley. Haley obediently followed the doctor’s instructions as they examined her. “You’re recovering—” The doctor had barely started speaking when Zac shot him a look. Their eyes met, and the doctor immediately caught on to his
Justin had saved her, and she was grateful—but that didn’t mean they could live under the same roof. The bodyguards dropped off the luggage and left before she even had a chance to object. Justin didn’t respond to her rejection directly. Instead, he calmly opened the thermal food container, taking out each dish and setting it on the coffee table. “You must be hungry. Mrs. Zimmer made these—they’re all your favorites.” That morning, he had called the villa, instructing them to pack her clothes and prepare food. As soon as his morning meetings wrapped up, he had rushed straight to the hospital. Given her condition, takeout wouldn’t be the best option. Home-cooked meals were better for her recovery. And if it was Mrs. Zimmer’s cooking, she would definitely want to eat. As the rich aroma of food filled the room, Haley swallowed involuntarily. Her stomach growled in protest, making her hunger even more unbearable. Justin set the table, placing the utensils in front of her.
Or could it be that he had neglected his workouts over the past five years, and his body wasn’t as fit as before? Was that why she found him unattractive?The thought stung for a moment, but he quickly shook it off and gave himself a mental pep talk. After all, his "wounded soldier" act had worked, hadn’t it? *After dinner, Justin cleaned up the table, neatly packing everything so the bodyguards could take it back later. It was his first time doing this kind of task, yet he moved efficiently, without a trace of frustration. Rather than feeling like he was lowering himself, he felt a sense of warmth, like home.Haley was recovering, and he was taking care of her. After wiping down the coffee table with a wet wipe and tossing it in the trash, he handed her a glass of water and her post-meal medication. Only after watching her take it did he return to his work at the table. Just then, his phone rang—a call from Sam overseas. Not wanting to disturb Haley, he stepped onto
“If you need any help, I can assist you.” Justin read the message Emma had sent him and responded with just two cold words: “No need.” He hadn’t included Emma in this project team—partly because of her lack of ability and partly because he wanted to avoid unnecessary interactions with her. Setting his phone down, he intended to refocus on his work. But after reading only a few lines, he picked up his phone again and called a secretary from his office. This time, instead of stepping out onto the balcony, he walked out of his room and headed toward the end of the hallway, turning the corner. “Has Emma’s transfer paperwork been completed?” “Yes, Mr. Yates, Miss Xander’s transfer is all set. But…” The secretary hesitated, aware of the rumors circulating in the company about Justin and Emma. He didn’t dare to continue. “But what?” Justin’s patience wore thin, his tone sharp. The male secretary gulped, struggling to find the right words. “Miss Xander… doesn’t seem wil
That night in the underground parking garage, as soon as Heidi overheard the call, Emma grabbed her and pulled her into the car.Heidi screamed and struggled, but afraid of attracting attention, Emma had no choice but to silence her with a wrench. She went down so easily. Emma hadn’t even hit her that hard, yet she collapsed right away.She even had to haul “her” into the trunk and wipe the blood clean. How infuriating. Even in “death,” Heidi was still such a hassle! On the way to dispose of the body, Emma came up with the perfect plan. She drove back home and carefully wiped the burner phone clean with alcohol. Then, putting on disposable gloves, she stripped Heidi’s clothes off and put them on herself. Fixing her hair, she returned to the hospital parking lot and drove off in Heidi’s car. Halfway to her destination, she stopped in an area without surveillance and “picked up” Heidi. Then, she drove all the way to an isolated riverside in the outskirts. She changed
“Alright, since you can handle it yourself, I won’t interfere. I still have patient rounds to do. I’ll take Helen with me and get back to work.” With one hand pushing the medication cart, Zac took Helen’s hand with the other, leading her out of the room. Helen yanked her hand free. “If you’re busy, go be busy. Why are you dragging me along? I need to stay with my sister!” Her voice trailed off as she was pulled out the door. “Zac, are you trying to create opportunities for those two?” Helen suddenly realized in the hallway. Seeing that she had caught on, Zac shook his head in denial. “Of course not. Your sister still hasn’t fully recovered, and you never stop talking all day. It affects her rest. One person keeping her company is enough.” “But that person shouldn’t be Justin! If I can’t take care of her, we can hire a nurse.” “That’s just a waste of money. Didn’t Justin wrong your sister? Let him play nurse and make up for it. He can’t just get off scot-free, can h
That evening, Zac drove Helen home after dinner. The car pulled up on Mistletoe Street, and Helen unbuckled her seatbelt, ready to get out. “Bye-bye. Don’t forget to pick me up tomorrow morning.” “Got it.” She stepped out of the car and headed inside. The moment she pushed open the door, she stopped in her tracks. Seated on the living room couch were four men—Wilfred, Richard, Chase, and Alex—all sitting upright with tense expressions. The atmosphere was heavy, especially with the pressure radiating from Wilfred. Helen walked over. “Wilfred, you’re home early today.” Wilfred explained calmly, “Work wasn’t too busy today.” Richard, however, scoffed. “Oh, please. You’re practically living at the hospital these days. Do you even care if our brother gets off work early or not? I bet you’re ready to make the hospital your new home.” Helen swung her purse at him. “What do you mean ‘my home’? I’m staying there to take care of my sister, keeping her company at the
“The first article and everything that followed were all paid for by Emma. She hired the media to write them. As for the comments smearing my sister, aside from a few people jumping on the bandwagon, ninety percent of them were bots. The accounts funding those bots also had direct financial transactions with the people writing the hit pieces.” “Emma!” Helen gritted her teeth in fury, clenching her fists. “I knew it was her from the start! I called it!” “I wasn’t the one who uncovered this. It was Chase—he was the first to notice the unusual activity online.” Richard shifted his gaze to Chase, who was sitting quietly to the side. “Well done,” Wilfred praised. Chase pursed his lips, his cheeks flushing slightly as he lowered his head. Compliments still made him a little shy. “Look into Emma Xander. Dig into her connections and go through every detail of her bank records.” Wilfred’s expression darkened. He never dismissed conflicts between women as trivial. When jealousy
Haley shook her head quickly, flustered. “No… I mean—no.” Then she realized how that sounded and corrected herself. “Actually, yes. I’m just hot.”Helen blinked in confusion. “Hot? The classroom has air conditioning. Was the sunlight from the window hitting her seat?” Helen wondered.Without missing a beat, she rushed over and tugged the curtains tighter, making sure her bestie didn’t get “sunburned.” She still needed Haley to hold onto that top spot. Otherwise, she would lose her excuse at home for going out to “study” with Zac.The pressure and tension of senior year finally came to a close. On the day of the college entrance exam, when everyone stepped out of the test hall for the last time, their faces lit up with genuine smiles—relaxed, free, and full of relief.Haley tossed aside her textbooks. Her summer break was filled with makeup shopping trips with Helen or third-wheeling her and Zac on their study-dates-turned-real-dates.That routine came to an end the d
Haley’s eyes shifted as she thought quickly. “But… I don’t really like guys who rank higher than me on exams.”She gave a light shrug and continued, “I mean, I think we should be focusing on school right now. Relationships can wait until after we get into college, right? What if we don’t even end up at the same school? Long-distance never works, and after a while, we’d probably drift apart. Don’t you think?”Was that a gentle rejection? It seemed like it. Haley wondered if she had been too blunt. Had she left him any dignity at all?They still had a whole year of high school left together. She didn’t want things to get awkward between them. A harsh rejection would only make everything more uncomfortable.Justin furrowed his brows, thinking for a long moment before giving a single reply. “Okay.”Then he slung his backpack over his shoulder and walked off.Haley stood there, completely confused.“Okay? What did he mean by that?“Did he understand what I was trying to say?
Emma and her little clique of schoolyard mean girls had Justin completely surrounded.“I’ll ask you one more time,” she said, smug and unbothered. “Will you be my boyfriend or not?”“No,” Justin replied coldly, his face unreadable.“Hey!” one of Emma’s loyal followers stepped forward, cracking her knuckles and getting way too close. “Do you even know who our Emma is? She’s the heiress of the Xander Corporation. She’s giving you a chance, and you should be grateful. You better say yes.”“What, you want us to beat you up before you agree?” another girl sneered.Justin didn’t flinch. His icy stare locked onto the girl who spoke, completely unbothered by the threat.Emma waved a hand to hold her crew back, pretending to be generous. Then she turned to Justin again, cocky and bold.“I like you way too much to have anyone rough you up,” she said sweetly. “But I heard you’re trying to get into Altiplano University in the capital. Here’s the deal—if you go out with me, I’ll have my dad
As soon as Justin sat down and pulled out the textbook for the next class, a hand suddenly reached out from beside him.“Hey, I’m Zac White,” Zac said.Justin glanced up with a cold look, then went right back to pulling out his notebook and pen—completely ignoring the extended hand.Zac awkwardly pulled his hand back, speechless.“Man… this guy’s seriously cold. What a show-off,” he thought to himself.The class flew by. When the bell rang, signaling the end of the period, Haley and Helen linked arms and headed off toward the bathroom. Zac immediately trailed after them.“Where are you two going? Take me with you.”“You planning on going into the girls’ bathroom, you perv?” Helen smacked his hand away, not wanting their classmates—or worse, their teacher—to get any ideas about the two of them dating.Zac scratched his nose. “Fine, I won’t go in the girls’ room… but I can go to the guys’ one, can’t I?”“Hmph!” Helen huffed, scrunching her nose playfully.Zac clutched his chest
At a top-ranked high school in Lincourt City, the bell rang.Students still lingering in the hallways or restrooms were urged to hurry back to class.Outside, the summer heat simmered, accompanied by the steady buzz of cicadas. Inside, the air-conditioned classrooms offered a much more comfortable escape.In Class 2–1 of the junior year, students hurried back to their seats. Just as the final chime faded, the homeroom teacher walked in, holding a stack of freshly graded exam papers.“For this round of mock exams,” she announced, loud and clear, “the top score in the entire grade once again goes to our very own Haley!”A wave of murmurs and applause followed. “Let’s all work hard and try to catch up to her next time!”She began handing out the papers in order, from the highest score to the lowest.After Haley got her paper, the next few went to her seatmate, Helen, and the student sitting behind them—Zac.“Work hard and catch up?” Helen muttered as she slid back into her seat, s
But what did it matter, even if she still loved him? The pain he caused her in the past was still there, lingering beneath the surface.They had loved, they had hurt, they had been entangled for years. But not every love story had to end with forgiveness and reconciliation.Haley couldn’t pretend the past hadn’t happened. She couldn’t smile and pick up where they left off, as if nothing had ever gone wrong.She would always remember that street in Merika State, when Justin turned away, picked Emma up in his arms, and left her standing there alone.Even if he had mistaken someone else for her, the pain he caused and the love he failed to give were real.And that wasn’t something she could ever forget.She could make peace with the past, but she could never erase it.Her heart ached, but she didn’t say anything. Instead, she turned and walked away.*Years later, Haley passed away peacefully in her bedroom at the estate.That same day, Justin had gone out to the grocer
It was just a shame that life rarely worked out the way people wanted it to.*Ten years passed in the blink of an eye.Chase and Alex had grown taller and older. Haley’s once-small jewelry brand had not only found its place in the industry—it had grown into a globally recognized luxury label, known for bespoke, high-end pieces.As for Justin, he split his time between Haven State and Merika State. Whenever he wasn’t busy, he would shamelessly camp out at the estate, claiming he was just there to “see the kids.”Eventually, no one even bothered to call him out on it anymore.One day, Haley had a business meeting with a potential partner—a widowed single father. Somehow, Justin caught wind of a rumor that the man had feelings for Haley and was actively pursuing her. Word had it that she was interested too, and they were currently having dinner together at a restaurant.The second Justin heard that, he canceled a company meeting, boarded his private jet, and flew straight to Mer
As soon as Haley stepped into the room, Justin followed right behind her.It was the first time he had ever set foot in Haley’s room—the space where she lived in Merika State.“Get out!” she snapped.“Haley, I just wanted to see you. Please don’t make me leave, okay?”His eyes scanned the room. The walls, the shelves—everything was filled with Haley’s photos. There was even a custom-built glass display case, clearly made with love, housing her pictures from childhood to adulthood. It was something Evelyn had put together just for her, and it overflowed with affection.There were portraits of her alone, family pictures, and right at the top—photos of Chase and Alex.Justin looked at each one carefully, as if he were trying to piece together a life he hadn’t been part of, but desperately wished he had been.Then his gaze landed on a particular photo: Haley in her teens, wearing a soft pink-and-white hoodie with little bunny ears on the hood. Her pale skin, big round eyes, and brig
“Haley…” Justin’s voice was weak. There was so much he wanted to say, but he didn’t even know where to start.“I heard you’re sick?” Haley said.“I… I’m fine. I’m not really sick, I just—”“Take care of yourself. Heart problems aren’t like other illnesses. Just look forward. Let go of the past. Meet someone new. Live your life.”Justin fell silent. His head dropped, and the phone pressed against his ear was clenched so tightly in his hand that his knuckles turned white. He wrestled with the words for a long moment before finally managing to force out.“Okay.”But he knew. He wouldn’t meet someone new. Without Haley, what kind of life could he possibly call “living”?The call ended. Life went back to its quiet rhythm. Justin no longer clung to Haley or tried to find her. After one more day in the hospital, he threw himself back into work and took over the reins of RC Corporation.They had truly managed to part on peaceful terms.After returning to Merika State, Haley d