Melany hadn’t napped. She woke up Shannon and, as she rubbed her neck, asked, “Did you have a nightmare?”She then handed her a tissue. “You’re sweating. What’s wrong?”Shannon took the tissue and wiped the beads of sweat on her forehead, thinking back to the dream. Her face was still hot, and she could feel the heat rushing to her cheeks.She didn’t answer Melany, sitting up and blankly staring at the blankets on her bed.Melany thought she really had a nightmare and quickly went over to hug her. “Shae, don’t be scared, it was just a dream. Now that you’re awake, everything in the dream is fake!”Shannon pursed her lips and glanced at Melany’s face. Feeling guilty, she murmured, “Mm.”She gently pushed Melany away. “I’m going to wash my face.”“Okay.”Melany let go of her.Shannon shuffled into the bathroom, splashing cold water on her face.She looked at herself in the mirror. The cold water helped her wake up, but as soon as she looked into the mirror, she couldn’t help but recall
In the end, it was Melany who compromised for Shannon’s happy marriage. She agreed to Shannon’s suggestion, and the two of them chose a Mexican restaurant with fewer people.After they finished their meal, Melany tactfully suggested, “Shae, I’ll take a cab home. You don’t have to drop me off.”Shannon shook her head. “It’s hard to get a cab. I’ll give you a ride.”Melany felt a bit relieved and quickly paid the bill before heading to the parking lot with Shannon.It was around seven o'clock, the sun was setting, and dusk had fallen. The traffic wasn’t great today, so they were moving at a slow pace.Just as Melany was about to ask Shannon if she knew whether Emmett would attend the event on the 17th, Shannon’s phone rang.With the green light ahead, Shannon couldn’t answer the call, so she let Melany press the answer button.It was Emmett calling, and the first thing he asked was what time Shannon planned to come home.His low, deep voice carried a barely perceptible hint of amusement
Shannon didn’t take Melany’s words seriously. She had already thought about Melany’s guess, but it was utterly unfounded!If Emmett had known she was JJ from the start, why didn’t he just say so when Claire kept mentioning that JJ was a jet ski racer? Why didn’t he just tell her?Clearly, Emmett had no idea who she was!As the red light came on ahead, Shannon slowly stopped the car and took out her phone. It was nearly eight o'clock now.Emmett had sent her a message with a picture.Curious, Shannon opened it and saw that it was a photo of the moon.Confused, she sent a question mark: “? What’s up?”Emmett didn’t answer her question but instead told her to focus on driving.Shannon felt awkward, instinctively looking out at the moon.Well, there was nothing special about it.If she had to say something, the moon tonight was especially round.The green light came on with only a few seconds left, and she put her phone down to start driving again.The traffic was smooth, and soon, Shanno
Realizing this, Shannon felt warmth spread across her chest. She raised her leg and walked over to Emmett, wrapping her arms around him from behind."Emmett."Leaning against his broad shoulder, she said slowly, "I miss you a little today."Emmett clicked his tongue lightly, holding her hand, and turned to look at her. "What a coincidence, me too."He turned, wrapped his arm around her waist, and with his other hand, gently touched the corner of her lips. "Does it still hurt?"Shannon froze for a moment, then replied, "No, it doesn’t hurt anymore. It never did!""Mm."His dark eyes flickered slightly, and he responded in a soft murmur, though his hand remained near her lips.Shannon could clearly feel the texture of his fingers as they brushed over her lips, making her feel slightly parched. She instinctively pressed her lips together and, unable to resist, pushed his hand away. "I need some water."Emmett gave her a deep look, turned, and entered the room. He returned with a glass of
Emmett looked at her with a faint smile. "I want to watch the moon a little longer. After all, my Mrs. Dunn doesn’t let me look at her."Shannon froze, not daring to ask again, and hurriedly ran back to the room and got into bed.Standing outside on the balcony for a while earlier, her hair had mostly dried.She pulled the light blanket over herself, lying down and glancing at the balcony. "Aren’t you tired?"She had to get up early tomorrow for training, and they wouldn’t see each other all day. Tonight, she wanted to hold him more.She didn’t know why, but being in Emmett’s arms made her feel secure and a strange, indescribable happiness filled her heart, making her feel content and happy.Emmett glanced at her and answered with actions.He closed the balcony door and walked to her bed, sitting at her side. "I haven’t showered yet.""Ah!" Shannon sighed in regret. "Well, should I sleep first then?"He nodded, reaching out to pat her head.Shannon yawned again, her eyes becoming mist
September 16th happened to fall on a Saturday.Shannon used a short trip with Melany as an excuse and took the high-speed train to L City early in the morning."You’re hiding this from your husband, what are you going to do when you take off the mask tomorrow?"Shannon had just replied to Emmett's message and froze for a moment. "Should I tell him the truth now?"Melany snatched her phone away. "Forget it. Telling him now won’t make a difference! Wait until tomorrow. If he’s angry, just say you wanted to give him a little surprise!""Besides, it’s still unclear if he’s even coming to the event tomorrow."Hearing this, Shannon couldn't help but give her a thumbs up. "Wow, Melany, you’re amazing! Why didn’t I think of that?"Melany raised her eyebrows smugly. "Eh, it’s no big deal, I’m world’s third at this. You really need to read more romance novels! All these tricks, I picked them up from novels!""…"Recently, Shannon had been training intensely, and it seemed like she was constantl
After hanging up, Shannon nervously glanced at Melany and Nina. "I’m so hungry, can we go eat now, my beautiful sisters?"Nina immediately nodded enthusiastically. "Yes, yes! The hotel restaurant is ready! JJ, you need to rest before tomorrow’s competition, so we’ll keep it simple tonight. After the event’s over tomorrow morning, I’ll take you somewhere nice!"Melany, standing nearby, hummed smugly. "Once the competition is over, your JJ might not be going with you to eat anything nice!"Nina, confused, blinked. "Huh? Why?""Of course, because she’ll be with her husband! Didn’t you hear her just now?"Shannon blushed and couldn’t take Melany’s teasing anymore. She rushed over and tackled her. "That’s enough, Melany! Keep teasing me, and I’ll throw you into the sea to feed the sharks!""I’m so scared! What will you say when I point out those missed calls?"Shannon froze for a moment. "You’re the best, you’re the best! I’m so hungry. May I please have dinner, the best Melany in the worl
That night,Claire checked her phone several times, but Shannon hadn’t replied to her messages.She wasn’t bothered, though. It was useless to bury her head in the sand.From what she knew, Emmett had bought a high-speed train ticket to L City for 7 AM tomorrow.Even if Shannon didn’t show up, tomorrow she would still get the footage.She couldn’t wait to see, when Emmett was at the event tomorrow, if Shannon would still be able to keep pretending!Just wait!She had already bribed a lot of media, so the moment Emmett appeared at the competition tomorrow, the internet would be flooded with news about "Emmett’s first love."She couldn’t beat JJ, but would she lose to Shannon?Ha.At 6 AM in A City, the sky hadn’t fully brightened yet, and Owen could barely keep his eyes open.He couldn’t understand why Emmett was taking the early train to L City.If he wanted to go, why did he have to drag him along?Owen, still sleepy, squinted at Emmett, who was sitting in the driver’s seat beside hi
The fastest the hotel food could arrive was in half an hour. Just after Emmett placed the order, he received a call from Dax."I need to take this call."Shannon looked up at him and nodded. "Okay."Emmett glanced at her, then walked over to the floor-to-ceiling window to answer the call.Shannon put down the coconut and opened Twitter.It was the first time she had time to properly check Twitter after a whole day.To be honest, the day had been full of excitement on Twitter.Shannon’s name had been trending all day long.In the top ten of trending topics, three of them were related to her: #JJEmmettFirstLove#, #ShannonSubstitute#, and #JJShannon#.She had missed the morning’s trending, all of it from the screenshots Melany had sent her via WhatsApp.But now, Shannon clicked into Twitter and got to enjoy some "old gossip."The earliest trending topic was #JJEmmettFirstLove#, clearly bought by Claire.When Shannon clicked on it, the most liked comment read: "I’ve always said, there’s n
Leyla frantically grabbed the phone Emmett had tossed at her. "We’re not done yet! Why don’t you take a few more pictures? You’re so stingy!"But thinking of what Emmett had said, Leyla did feel sorry for Shannon, so she didn’t chase after him.She opened the photo album, only to find that Emmett had only taken two photos for her. The last one, the one where she was supposed to kiss Shannon, wasn’t even taken!She was furious!Emmett, that jerk!Leyla was really angry. Just then, she saw Melany and Nina.Melany had met Leyla a few times and was somewhat familiar with her. She also knew from Shannon that Leyla had been constantly sending her a ton of attention.When she saw Leyla now, Melany was a little slow to react. "Miss Wallace? What’s wrong? You look like you’re in a bad mood?""I’m so mad! I had Emmett help me take pictures with baby Shae, and that jerk only took two pictures! The one where I kissed Shae? He didn’t even take it! And then he lied and said he did!"Melany couldn’t
Shannon overheard the excited chatter around her, and her ears turned as red as cooked shrimp.Embarrassed, she glanced at Emmett. “Shall we go back to the hotel?”Emmett looked at her for a moment. “Aren’t you going to watch the sunset?”Shannon scanned the surroundings. “Not anymore, I’m a bit hungry.”If they stayed here any longer to watch the sunset, it would just feel like everyone else was watching them instead.With that, she instinctively tugged at Emmett’s sleeve.It was a completely unconscious gesture, and Shannon didn’t even realize she was doing it.Emmett looked down at her hand holding his sleeve and felt as if his heart had been tugged as well.It was like there was a string tied to Mrs. Dunn’s hand. When she moved it even slightly, his heart followed her lead.“Alright, we’ll go back to the hotel.”If it wasn’t for the helmet she was holding, Shannon might have put it back on.On their way back, they attracted quite a bit of attention.Melany and Nina, standing in th
Shannon jogged over to Emmett and stopped in front of him. "Why did you come over here?"There were a lot of people around, and Emmett didn't particularly like crowded places.He raised his hand and gently tucked her windblown hair behind her ear. "Because Mrs. Dunn is here."From the crowd, someone murmured, "Ugh, I was just passing by, but why does it feel like I'm being force-fed dog food?"Shannon’s face turned red. She wasn’t intentionally showing off her affection, but when she saw Emmett, she couldn’t help but walk over to him.The sun at around six o'clock was warm and gentle. Not only was the temperature mild, but the light was soft too. The warm orange sunset bathed both of them, as if it had carved out a space just for them. Their good looks made them seem like they existed in a different dimension from the people around them.Originally, people had come over to get autographs and photos with the athletes, but upon seeing Emmett and Shannon, many subconsciously turned their
“Is this the champion from the women’s group?”Everyone saw her for the first time and mistook her for Becky.Shannon, feeling a little shy, smiled. “I’m JJ.”As soon as her soft voice fell, someone couldn’t help but mutter, “Damn…”“JJ, you’re not only great at your skills but you’re also stunning. Do you mind adding me as a friend?”“JJ, let’s exchange WhatsApp! Now that your mask is off, we won’t need to keep our distance anymore, right?”“Yeah, yeah! JJ, you probably haven’t joined our group yet! We have a group with most of the people who ride jet skis across the country. We often arrange to go out to sea together. Add me on WhatsApp, and I’ll pull you in!”Shannon was about to refuse when A suddenly said in a sarcastic tone, “You all should stop. This year’s champion is Jiaqi. Some people are just so scared of losing their fame after losing the championship that they take off their masks. Tsk, you’ve been low-key for so many years, why suddenly stop this year?”In the past, Shan
Emmett looked at her, smiling without answering.Shannon blinked, and for some reason, she suddenly remembered Claire’s words.“By the way, Miss Heath, your first love is completely different from Benjamin’s.”“Miss Heath is gentle and sweet, while Benjamin’s first love is a very cool girl. Oh, she’s really good at jet skiing.”“This JJ is Benjamin’s first love, I thought you’d be curious to come and take a look.”...Was Claire talking nonsense?She and Emmett really didn’t know each other!How could she be Emmett’s first love?“By the way, Emmett, do you have a first love?”She actually wanted to ask him if she was his first love.But that question felt so self-centered that Shannon couldn’t bring herself to ask it.The words swirled around in her mouth, and in the end, she could only ask this one.“What do you think?”He threw the question back at her.Shannon was a bit flustered. Just as she was about to say something, her phone rang from inside her bag.She glanced at Emmett. “It
Shannon felt herself being pulled into a strong embrace, surrounded by the overwhelming scent of male hormones.The usual fresh cedarwood fragrance seemed to become an intoxicating scent at that moment, wrapping around her, leaving her lightheaded.Emmett’s kiss felt like an intricate web, trapping her with no way to escape.In the background, she could hear the sound of waves crashing against the rocks, along with Emmett’s slightly labored breathing.Shannon felt her heart racing like never before, and the air in her chest seemed to be stolen away little by little.She felt like a stranded fish, drying out and growing restless under the scorching sun.Her mind and clarity were at odds with each other, making her acutely aware of how his lips left hers, finally moving to her ear. With a burning breath, Emmett took her earlobe into his mouth.Shannon trembled, her face turning bright red as the sound of water leaving her ear filled the air.Emmett looked down at her. "A thank you gift,
The person behind her hadn’t made a sound for a while. Shannon began to worry that she might have gone overboard. She quickly slowed down the jet ski.At this point, they were nearly a hundred meters from the shore. The vast ocean stretched before them, with the noise and excitement a kilometer away, while their area was calm and quiet.Shannon stopped the jet ski and turned to look at Emmett. "Emmett, was I going too fast?"Through the helmet, she couldn’t see his expression clearly.A deep male voice sounded near her ear, "Doesn’t Mrs. Dunn like it fast?"Shannon blushed. "If you think it's too fast, you could have told me.""It’s fine. I like whatever Mrs. Dunn likes.""Really?""When have I ever lied to you?"It seemed true.Shannon smiled and said, "Emmett, let me give you a small gift.""Mm?"She glanced at the drone above them, tracking them for safety. Not explaining, she simply said, "Hold on tight."The next moment, the jet ski shot forward at high speed, sending splashes of
Shannon was lost in thought until Emmett took the umbrella from her hand, bringing her back to reality.Realizing she had spaced out, Shannon tried to salvage the situation. "The suit doesn’t seem to fit very well."Emmett lowered his head and smiled slightly. "The pants are a bit short."She had only said it casually, but hearing his response made her instinctively glance down at his legs.At the end of his long legs, his ankles were exposed. Indeed, it wasn’t a perfect fit.Shannon froze. "It’s a bit short... should we change it?""Forget it, if we change it, the top will probably be too big.""True," she muttered, "You do have long legs."Shannon pursed her lips. "Shall we go now?""Let’s go."The jet ski she had rented was already parked by the beach. A staff member was standing by, waiting.The staff member asked, "Do you both know how to ride?"Before Shannon could speak, Emmett answered first, "My wife is a contestant today."The staff member’s expression immediately changed. "