Disgusted by him? Loke listened, pain crossing his face."Maybe missing out on something is just normal in life. Just like you and me.""When you hurt me, I used to fantasize you would apologize to me one day, telling me how much you regretted it. I fantasized about how you would promise not to hurt me, and that you loved me. I even thought I could forgive you if you really said that to me.""And you... " The pain on his face was replaced by even more urgency.There was a pause as Coco continued her story. Her voice was calm, but that just made it worse for Loke."But then, remember how everyone at school committed all sorts of violence against me? You stood by and watched coldly as they mistreated me. Gradually, I stopped fantasizing about the impossible, and the feelings I had for you faded to nothing."How calm she had been, describing her own journey to Loke. She had already gotten past the heartbreak and confusion from her miserable past. Coco began to wonder if time would
"Hey, Loke! Over here!" Layla turned her head to Loke, greeting him. "I'd like to raise a toast with Coco. I thought we could resolve our past conflicts, but she refused just because you were interested in me back then," Layla said to Loke in a complaining tone."Layla, what the hell are you up to?" Loke glared at her."I just want to clear things up between us. We're all university friends, after all!" Layla said, pretending to look troubled. "Is Coco still in love with you? Maybe that's why she won't reconcile with me."Everyone around them was listening, curious to hear the gossip."You—" Layla's words made Loke even more embarrassed. "That's enough!""How can you do that? I really want to make up with Coco!" Layla protested."I'll tell you a secret, Coco. Loke is still in love with you. He even told me he wanted to be with you. You both didn't get together because of me, so why don't you take this chance to begin a new relationship? You both like each other anyway, don't y
"Nonsense?" Loke grunted. "Let the people judge. I'm sure they'll figure it out!" Loke then told the story of what happened back then. How Layla had used his love for her to get him close to Coco, then accused Coco of being a shameless relationship wrecker. The truth spilled out in a rush, almost as if it had been pent up for too long. Coco looked at Loke in shock. Loke confessed everything in front of all these witnesses. Did he realize what he was doing? He could drag Layla down with him by exposing the truth, but his reputation would be in shambles too.Loke should have been well aware of the consequences, but being a better person, he told the truth anyway."S-Stop it! Loke, that's enough!"Layla had a look of pure panic on her face. She tried to stop Loke from spilling the truth, but it was futile. Loke went on, telling everything to the witnesses. The way people looked at her soon changed.When Loke finished, he sighed with apparent relief. He had finally found the courag
"I'll take you home. I don't feel comfortable with you going back alone," Lucas said."No need. I'll feel uncomfortable with you, so I'll go home alone," Coco insisted. This time, he finally released her arm from his grip.Coco looked around and saw a cab coming by. She waved her hand and stepped out onto the curb, and the cab pulled up in front of her.Coco got in and gave the address to the driver. As the cab drove toward her place, Coco closed her eyes, recounting everything that had happened at the party.Loke's apology and confession of truth had come too late. The pain she had gone through would not go away. Even so, Loke had finally given her justice, which made her feel less depressed.The cab driver's voice came from the front, interrupting her thoughts. "Miss, do you recognize the Porsche behind?"Startled, Coco opened her eyes and looked in the rearview mirror. A Porsche was behind them, following the cab.That was Lucas' car!"The Porsche has been following us from
Lucas misunderstood Coco's silence. He even thought he had guessed it right."What? Are you going to be with Loke? He finally did you justice by telling the truth and smearing his own reputation." Lucas made a face, his voice low and dangerous."What about you? Are you so impressed that you might fall in love with him again?"His approaching footsteps made all the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. She tried to retreat, but his hands immediately went around her waist, trapping her with him."Say something. How hard is it to answer my question?" Coco's silence added to his unease, and he stood there with a mixture of emotions coursing through him. "I don't have feelings for Loke," Coco denied. "After Loke did me justice, I do have a different impression of him, but that's all. To me, he will always be the cause of my misfortune. I was a victim of his actions. I don't have Stockholm syndrome. I'm not going to love someone who has hurt me in the past."Coco's answer calmed
Layla Stone had been living in fear since the party. Lucas' warnings were still ringing in her ears after she had accidentally thrown the wine at him.Her family became a mess after the incident. Her parents kept fighting and blaming each other for turning Layla into a spoiled brat.Furious with Layla, her father slapped her until she fell to the ground. "Do you know who you're messing with? You think the Stone family is powerful enough to give you a free pass?!""I-I just don't like Coco. Even if Lucas is protecting Coco now, so what?""Lucas is probably still interested in Coco and did that on a whim. It's not a big deal. I'll try to avoid meeting Lucas from now on," Layla promised."That's easy for you to say!" Her father scowled and glared hatefully at her. "You think you can just avoid him? Do you realize the Stewart family is going down because of Lucas?!" "The Stewart family?" Layla was stunned. "Which Stewart family?""The ones who run the Stewart Group." Her mother sai
“Yeah, she loves me. I can give other women jewelry, cars, properties, and even various jobs in the entertainment industry, but she…” ‘She only wanted my love.’ Those words were left unsaid. Even though Lucas hadn’t fallen in love with Coco, he still couldn't bear to part with her.He wanted to keep her by his side and wanted her to only love him. He knew he was being selfish by expecting her to do what he couldn't.Just then, Lucas’s phone rang. After a brief conversation, his expression changed slightly. He placed his wine glass on the table and prepared to leave."Hey, where are you going?" Caleb asked."Something came up, and I have to deal with it," Lucas replied coldly with a murderous glint in his eyes.Caleb was startled. It wasn't often that something could evoke such a reaction from his friend. Could this be about Coco again?Lucas’s driver was already waiting for him at the entrance. Just as Lucas was about to get into the car, Layla suddenly rushed toward him. Fortunat
Someone immediately approached Lucas as he got out of the car.“Mr. Gomez, he’s inside,” one of his subordinates reported.“Don't let anyone else in,” Lucas ordered coldly.“Yes, sir,” the subordinate replied.The vast warehouse was filled with dust and cobwebs. In the center of the warehouse, a man was lying on the ground miserably being watched by three men. He had clearly been severely beaten.Seeing Lucas, the three men immediately greeted him respectfully. “Mr. Gomez.”One of them stepped forward and handed Lucas a stack of photos. “These were found on him.”Lucas flipped through the photos that featured Coco and Loke. His expression turned darker as he continued browsing the photos. Lucas felt a pang in his chest when he noticed that Coco and Loke were very close to each other in the photos. “Where did you get these?” Lucas asked coldly.The man on the ground was trembling. “I... I took the photos at the wrap party. I happened to go to the restroom and saw them. I didn’t know wh
“……” Morgan suddenly found himself unable to retort. She... wasn't wrong. “But when you play house, you can pretend to be parents with one person today and another person tomorrow. Real marriage is different; you can’t choose someone else.”Renee widened her eyes, listening intently.“The only person you can choose is me. Do you understand, Renee?” he continued.She nodded vigorously. “I understand!”“Do you really?” Morgan asked, a little skeptical. He was already fifteen, so he could grasp the concept of marriage, but she was only eight. Could she truly comprehend it?“So, in the future, I can only marry Morgan and be your bride, right? I can't be someone else's bride, right?” she asked. “I don’t want to marry other boys anyway. I like you the most, Morgan. Of course I’ll only be your bride!” she happily declared, her worries fading away.So she could be Morgan's bride when she grew up! That's great!After finishing another piece of snack, Renee thought of something. She put o
Despite her unease, she couldn’t resist when she saw the sweet desserts. She indulged herself.However, as she ate, her eyes remained fixed on Morgan, clearly still waiting for him to clarify Lucy’s claims.“You want to know if you’re a child bride, right?” Morgan began.Renee nodded.“Do you know what a child bride is?” he asked.She blinked. She had a vague idea, but not enough for her to articulate it.“To put it simply, a child bride is a girl raised by a boy's family. The girl will marry the boy when she comes of age. In the old days, some families were too poor to raise their daughters, so they would sell their daughters to become child brides for richer families,” Morgan explained.Renee blinked. “But my parents aren’t poor, and I'm raised by them, not by other people. That means I’m not a child bride, right?”“Correct, you are not,” Morgan affirmed.She breathed a sigh of relief, and a bright smile spread across her face. “I knew it! My parents would never sell me! The
"Morgan!" Renee turned to Morgan, unease etched on her face."The Moon family, eh? I'll remember this," Morgan replied calmly, then lowered his head to meet Renee's anxious and confused face. "Let's go, Renee. I’ll tell you what you want to know later."He led her away holding her hand.Benson looked worried. "Miss Lucy, how could you say that?""It's the truth!" Lucy shook off her fear and spoke defiantly. "Daddy and Mommy said she’s a child bride. A child bride is a girl sold by her own parents!""But the White family is not like that. Those things only happened to daughters of poor families in the old days," Benson explained. "You really shouldn’t have said that, Miss Lucy. You shouldn’t do that again.""Why do I have to listen to you?" Lucy retorted, displeased.Benson was too ashamed to tell Lucy in front of others that the Moon family simply couldn’t afford to offend Morgan. Dealing with the White family was already a headache, and Morgan's background was even more formi
Benson and Lucy were also dumbfounded. Benson started getting anxious. He felt like things were starting to unfold in ways that he did not expect."Mr. Grimes, I..." Benson stepped forward, intending to speak to Mr. Grimes.However, Mr. Grimes moved past Benson without so much as a glance at him. He went up to Morgan and said, "Master Morgan, I apologize for the oversight!"Everyone was stunned to hear that, including the security guards who had been called over. They were secretly relieved they hadn't forcibly removed anyone yet. If they had offended someone Mr. Grimes was showing so much respect to, it would have been really bad for them!Morgan regarded Mr. Grimes with an unreadable expression. He calmly recounted the situation to Mr. Grimes.After hearing about what happened, Mr. Grimes responded, "This set of stamps was not pre-ordered. If you like it, please take it. Feel free to take anything else in the exhibition that catches your eye."This declaration shocked every
"Who are you?!" Benson exclaimed, astonished. The mysterious figure remained silent, simply looking at Morgan.Morgan calmly reiterated to Benson, "I said, wait for Mr. Grimes." He then pulled out his phone and dialed a number. "I'm Morgan Wood. Please have Mr. Grimes from Lazy Cat Culture come to the Sleepy Cat Exhibition in Solaria. He should be in the area, right?"After ending the call, the person on the other end stared at the phone in disbelief.The Sleepy Cat Exhibition? What's going on?Benson, Lucy, and the staff stared at Morgan in shock, but the look in their eyes quickly turned to ridicule."Ah, a young man's naive bravado – how impudent!" Benson scoffed."Sir, please don't cause trouble," the staff member warned. "Or I'll have to call security."Morgan simply lowered his head to say to Renee, "Looks like we'll be here for a while. If you're bored, I can ask someone to walk around with you."Renee shook her head. "Morgan, what if this stamp set has really been p
Benson's words were not only meant to exert pressure on the staff, but also to inform him that they were on the same side.As expected, when the staff heard what he said, there was an instant change in his expression. He turned to Morgan and Renee and said, "I'm sorry, but it turns out this stamp set has already been pre-ordered by this customer."Morgan saw through the so-called pre-order as nothing more than an act. "When I asked you to wrap it up earlier, I didn’t hear you mention it was pre-ordered.""We forgot to mention that. Our apologies," the staff replied.Lucy, wearing a smug expression, raised her chin at Renee, causing Renee to puff out her cheeks in frustration.Benson calmly observed Morgan and Renee. The White family's White Maple Group had numerous overlapping businesses with the Moon Group. They were often competing with each other. Originally, the White Maple Group’s business activities weren't concentrated in Solaria, so even though there was competition wi
But before Morgan had even finished speaking, a girl's voice piped up, "I want this stamp set!"He turned to the voice and, upon seeing who it was, narrowed his eyes slightly. It was Lucy Moon, the girl Renee mentioned earlier. At the sight of Lucy, Renee immediately reacted like an angry little kitten. "Lucy Moon, why do you always try to take my stuff away?""Your stuff? How is this your stuff? You haven't paid yet!" Lucy shot back, her eyes fixed on Morgan.Morgan was well-known in their class, admired by many girls who claimed he was even more handsome than movie stars. If only Lucy had a big brother like that! She would be the envy of all the girls in class... no, all the girls in school!Unfortunately, her own big brother was not as good-looking.Last time, Lucy had tried to give Renee Sleepy Cat toys, asking for Morgan's email address in return. However, Renee accepted gifts from everyone but her, which infuriated Lucy."But if you want, I can give this stamp set to Re
Unlike many wealthy kids, Renee was quite restrained with her spending. She had never spent recklessly and often saved leftover money. Of course, when she wanted something beyond her budget, she would act cute and ask her Daddy or Morgan to buy it for her.Lisa was the least susceptible to her charms, so Renee didn’t dare to bother her!When they arrived at the exhibition, Renee’s eyes sparkled with excitement. There were so many adorable Sleepy Cat merchandise! They're all so cute! She wanted a lot of them, but realizing her limited budget, she knew she needed a sponsor! The best one was right beside her: Morgan!"Morgan," she said, flashing him a super bright smile.Seeing her like this, Morgan immediately knew she wanted to ask him for something. "What is it? Do you want me to buy you Sleepy Cat merchandise?""You’re so smart, Morgan! No wonder so many girls in our class like you and asked me for your phone number!" Renee praised him.As soon as she mentioned it, Morgan'
"Okay," Renee replied obediently, snuggling up to Morgan and acting cute. "Take me to the exhibition, Morgan! I know you’re the best. You’ll definitely take me, right?"Morgan pursed his lips. At 15, he was no longer a little boy. Although Renee was only 8, she was his destined wife.He had been protecting her since the day she was born. At first, he thought that he would only marry her because according to the family prophecy, she was the one most suitable for him. Over the years, however, he realized that his feelings for her ran deeper than he had initially thought.He found himself wanting to help her fulfill her wishes, and would clean up the mess when she caused trouble. Things had become different from what he had expected, but he welcomed them. He felt grateful that she was the one who was destined for him!With her by his side for the rest of his life, he would never feel lonely."Will you get into fights again?" Morgan asked."No more fighting, I promise!" Renee quickly