Zoey felt like she had been attacked. His words had always stung badly. With just a few words, he had humiliated her. Her face paled.The elevator dinged. As the doors opened, she said, “Thanks for the compliment.”Laurence grabbed her arm, his expression indiscernible.Zoey was already tired. “Let go of me,” she said while averting her eyes.Laurence eyed Zoey’s pale face but he didn’t feel any sense of victory at all. He had hurt her, but he had lost as well.Zoey didn’t have the energy to resist him. She lifted her head, her eyes teary but with tears of anger. “How long are you going to hold onto my arm like that?” she asked.Laurence’s eyes were bloodshot. His throat hurt as though he had swallowed broken glass. He couldn’t stand the weariness in her eyes, as if she hated him. She hadn’t been like that with Damien earlier, however. No, with him, she was animated—a rare display.“You just had to mention those events to prove you’re more innocent than I am. I’ve never slept
Before Sarah could speak, Laurence handed her coat to her. “Stop acting like this. It’s no use,” he said.Sarah’s body went stiff before she shook her head hard. In the end, Laurence loved Zoey instead. What was this? Fate? Even though it had been a long time since Zoey had been the princess of the family, everyone still loved her.Sarah envied Zoey. It was normal to be jealous. She just wanted a better life for herself. She wasn’t in the wrong. Now, she couldn’t stop Zoey even if she wanted to. What would Laurence do in the future? Sarah couldn't imagine it.Sarah remembered that Laurence had a thing for Zoey back then. His face, usually so icy, became animated every time he brought up the events inside the factory. The brilliance of youth filled him, and he shone with it.He seemed to be afraid of Sarah, thinking she was angry because of his momentary slip of the tongue. Laurence grabbed her hands and explained, “I was only teasing you when I said you were ugly. I was worried tha
Zoey was still disoriented from being woken up so suddenly, so she didn’t understand what Shawn was saying. They were the ones who lied to him, not her. What was the point in running to her and announcing that? Even if Shawn felt he had been wronged, he shouldn’t have knocked on her door. She also wasn’t someone he could pour his heart out to.Zoey didn’t say anything as she hung up and went back to sleep, clutching her pillow.Shawn’s expression was blank as Zoey hung up on him. He remained seated, fingers mindlessly tapping away on the desk. There was a gun on it.The hospital director’s office was locked from the inside. Cold sweat beaded on Dr. Sheppard’s forehead, and his heart hammered deafeningly in his chest. He couldn’t bear the consequences of the conspiracy being unearthed. That case had been faked so realistically that it should have been impossible for anyone to discover the truth. He never thought that Shawn would come knocking on his door so soon. Before Shawn kicked
“Zoey?” Shawn muttered as he lowered his gaze.Dr. Sheppard thought Shawn didn’t believe him. He hadn’t been lying this time, and he didn’t dare to lie to Shawn again. “Yes, it’s her. She’s probably someone you had a crush on, right? You kept repeating her name back then.”Shawn racked his brain, but he couldn’t recall a single memory of this girl.Dr. Sheppard’s heart beat fast as he stared at Shawn’s pale face. He didn’t dare to make a sound, worried he would anger him.Waves of dull pain attacked Shawn’s chest. He could barely stand the pain much longer. He pressed a hand to his chest, gradually bending over. His face was whiter than a sheet of paper. He looked up at the doctor with bloodshot eyes and asked softly in slight disbelief, “I liked her?”Dr. Sheppard didn’t dare to hide anything from Shawn anymore, so he nodded. “Yes.” If his memory served him correctly, that was the case. Both Zoey and Shawn had been very young then. They had been at the age when young crushes deve
Zoey had slept for too long. Her head felt heavy as she woke up. She sat in bed for a while, daydreaming. Shawn’s call had felt like a dream. She groped under her pillow for her phone, realizing the call had been real when she checked her call history.Zoey felt nothing. Shawn had been acting weird recently.She got out of bed to prepare a simple dinner for herself. After pouring a glass of milk, she settled in the living room and turned on her computer. Since Laurence wouldn’t let her find a new job in such a short time, she would continue her side gig. She still had to earn money and still had her life to live.Shawn’s sister, Dana, frequently contacted Zoey with new leads. Zoey was grateful for Dana’s good intentions but didn’t want to keep dealing with the Zuckman family. So, she turned Dana’s introductions down. She didn’t want to ask Dana for help either.Zoey’s roommate from her university days, Rose Shelby, currently worked at a famous studio, so her network was far wider t
Rose and Zoey hadn’t been speaking loudly, but they still alerted the two men to their presence.Laurence looked in their direction with dark eyes, his expression seemingly unchanged. He quietly looked at Zoey as his Adam’s apple bobbed, but he said nothing. Tristan looked at them as well. It had been a while since he last saw Zoey. She didn’t seem any different—still as quiet and gentle as ever. Even as she stood there, she somehow managed to draw people in. There was just something calming about her presence.“You know them?” Rose whispered into Zoey’s ear.“No,” Zoey answered immediately.Rose didn’t buy it, but she accepted Zoey’s curt reply. She tugged on Zoey’s sleeve. “Let’s go.”Zoey hummed in affirmation. They had to go through this corridor to reach the hot springs, so she lowered her gaze and walked on expressionlessly, pretending that the two men were invisible and ignoring them.It felt nice pretending they were strangers, actually.As she passed Laurence, he grabbe
“You heard everything?” Laurence asked.Zoey nodded. “Yes, everything.”The stairwell they were in was dimly-lit. The scant rays of light illuminated Laurence’s blank face. Zoey couldn’t tell whether he was angry or not. After a long silence, he said through clenched teeth, “You want me to sleep with someone else?”Zoey’s jaw hurt from his grip. She still couldn’t tell—was he angry? But why? She nodded anyway. “If you think that’ll make you happy.”Laurence’s lips pulled up into a smile. “Ah, but I can’t bring myself to cheat.”There didn’t seem to be anything wrong with his words, but they sounded condescending coming from him. Zoey recalled the women who had been entangled in rumors with Laurence. Maybe they had never slept with him. Someone as particular as Laurence would have demanded a health screening from them before he bedded them. She was the only dirty one here. If that was the case, then there was nothing else to discuss.Still, Laurence didn’t intend to let her go
“Regret what? That you slept with me?” Laurence sent the message without thinking twice.Zoey didn’t reply.Laurence waited patiently for ten minutes, but his expression turned icy when he didn’t get an answer.Tristan raised an eyebrow when he noticed Laurence staring at his phone. “Who are you waiting for?”Laurence looked up at him. “No one,” he said.They walked over to the end of the corridor to smoke by the window. As smoke swirled around them, it was late at night but neither felt sleepy. Tristan was wide awake from seeing Zoey just now. He couldn’t quite tell what he was feeling. Meanwhile, Laurence was still awake because of Zoey’s curt reply. He had been a little out of it the last few days. Sometimes, he would instinctively reach out to wrap an arm around her waist, only to realize that no one was there.It had been a while since Zoey had moved out. Laurence had never been so anxious over another person before. He recalled how Zoey had slipped away earlier. Right now,