"I have a high tolerance for you, but I also hope you won't keep showcasing your limited intelligence in front of me. It only makes me look down on you more, and it’s utterly pointless."With that, Tatiana turned on her heel and walked away, not bothering to glance back at Delany. There was really nothing more to say to someone like her.As Tatiana walked down the street, she initially planned to head home. However, she remembered Tara and realized she hadn’t seen her in the hospital earlier. She took out her phone and sent Tara a message. It didn’t take long for Tara to reply, confirming that she was back at school and not in class. Tatiana decided she would go visit her. Tara was happy to hear that.Putting her phone away, Tatiana hailed a taxi and headed over.Meanwhile, Tara had just finished her meal and put down her empty plate. She left the cafeteria, planning to wait in a small garden behind the school for the hot pot delivery to arrive.Just before Tatiana arrived, Tara s
While Tatiana was absorbed in the movie, she didn’t notice that Maxim, who had previously worn a serious expression, broke into a smile the moment he felt her lean closer.The film was a classic, and as it wrapped up, Tatiana finished the last of the fruit on the platter.The softness of the couch made Tatiana reluctant to move, so she just stayed seated."Are you not getting up? Do you plan to skip dinner tonight?" Maxim asked, looking at the person still lounging on the couch with irritation."Um..." Tatiana's originally cool tone took on a sweet, childlike quality due to her lazy demeanor, and Maxim found himself surrendering.With no other choice, Maxim said, "Alright, if you want to keep sitting, then go ahead. Do you need any fruit?""Yes, please." Handing the fruit platter to Maxim, Tatiana looked up and smiled at him.After Tatiana finished a small plate of fruit, Maxim insisted on taking her to the supermarket.The two of them pushed a shopping cart together. Looking at the
While Tatiana was absorbed in the movie, she didn’t notice that Maxim, who had previously worn a serious expression, broke into a smile the moment he felt her lean closer. The film was a classic, and as it wrapped up, Tatiana finished the last of the fruit on the platter. The softness of the couch made Tatiana reluctant to move, so she just stayed seated. "Are you not getting up? Do you plan to skip dinner tonight?" Maxim asked, looking at the person still lounging on the couch with irritation. "Um..." Tatiana's originally cool tone took on a sweet, childlike quality due to her lazy demeanor, and Maxim found himself surrendering. With no other choice, Maxim said, "Alright, if you want to keep sitting, then go ahead. Do you need any fruit?" "Yes, please." Handing the fruit platter to Maxim, Tatiana looked up and smiled at him. After Tatiana finished a small plate of fruit, Maxim insisted on taking her to the supermarket. The two of them pushed a shopping cart together.
Feeling the sting, Tatiana finally snapped back to reality. She rubbed her forehead and looked at Maxim, saying, “Why did you flick me?” “Who told you to zone out? Do you remember what I just said to you?” Maxim didn’t need to guess that she hadn’t been paying attention, so he reluctantly repeated himself. To his surprise, Tatiana replied, “I was talking to you, but you didn’t hear me. You were busy chopping vegetables, and I was worried you’d cut yourself, so I didn’t want to distract you. I just wanted to help, but I didn’t realize the water was hot and ended up burning myself.” After saying that, she felt like she had only added to Maxim’s troubles. With a pout, she said, “Fine, I’ll just leave you to it. Take your time.” With that, Tatum waved her little hand and walked away. Watching her retreating figure, Maxim couldn’t help but feel helpless. He lowered his head and continued chopping vegetables, but the love in his eyes and the smile at the corners of his mouth
Asking herself this question wouldn’t yield any answers. After half an hour of lost thoughts, she couldn’t fight off the sleepiness any longer and slowly drifted off.The next day, Tatiana still had her mind on last night. She intentionally stayed in bed late before finally heading to the living room, thinking that by now, Maxim must have already retreated to his study to focus on his work.However, to her surprise, as soon as she stepped out, she found Maxim sitting in the living room. She was taken aback. "What are you doing in the living room? Shouldn't you be working in the study at this hour?"Perhaps Tatiana's tone was too filled with surprise and confusion, as Maxim glancedat her and kindly reminded her, "Did you forget that my work on that project is already done?"Hearing this, Tatiana finally remembered that Maxim had indeed completed his work earlier. She slapped her forehead, cursing herself inwardly for her poor memory. How could she forget something like that?Althou
As she walked toward the body, Tatiana replied, "Exactly. This time, the person he's imitating just happens to be a cannibal."As she spoke, Tatiana looked at the corpse on the autopsy table. The body was almost unrecognizable; aside from the flesh that had been cut away, she could hardly see what the person's face looked like."Have we figured out who this person is? Did someone come to report it today?" she asked."It's an elderly man who discovered it while passing by that alley. We're still investigating who this woman is, but we should have results by this afternoon at the latest," Vance said, moving closer to Tatiana."Can you tell who the imitator is yet?" he asked."There are many famous cannibals in the world. I'm still looking into it," Tatiana replied.Using a specialized tool, Tatiana flipped the body over and examined it closely. "Dismembered, raped, and partially eaten," she noted grimly.She looked at Vance and murmured, "Many of these twisted cannibals operate this wa
She patted his shoulder, her smile bright, but the danger in her eyes was hard to ignore.Roman felt a jolt of fear and shook his head. "What are you talking about?"“It doesn’t matter if you don’t understand, and it doesn’t matter if you want to keep playing your role. Do whatever you want,” Tatiana said, staring directly at Roman with a slow, disdainful tone. “It’s time for you to run, like a rat scurrying across the street.”After saying that, Tatiana didn’t even bother to glance back at Roman. She simply continued on her way home, carrying her things.Roman’s expression went unnoticed by Tatiana, but Maxim, who was watching the two from the attic, saw everything clearly. After Tatiana's words, Roman’s face displayed a range of emotions—shock, fear, and murderous intent, eventually giving way to helplessness, almost like a clown in a circus.Back in the living room, just as Maxim picked up a book, he heard a noise at the door. He turned to see Tatiana returning with her things.A
Seeing Tatiana in such distress made Vance's heart ache, but he didn't know how to comfort her.All he could say was, "It's okay. If we hurry, maybe the suspect hasn't acted yet. We still have time. Don’t be upset.”It was unclear whether Tatiana heard his words; she fell silent, lost in her thoughts.Meanwhile, while Vance and Tatiana rushed to the alley, Delaney had arrived much earlier. After getting out of the taxi, she watched it drive away, leaving her in a nearly deserted area. At first, Delany felt reassured thinking Tatiana and Vance would be there too, but after searching the entire place and finding no sign of them, her anxiety grew as the clock ticked closer to three.Delany wanted to leave, but there was no way out; the location was too remote, and she couldn't spot a single taxi in sight.The clock on her watch had already struck three. With no other options, Delany decided to find a place to hide. After searching for a while, she finally spotted a house and let out a
Three days later—The first thing Tatiana saw when she opened her eyes was a blanket of white. After a few moments of confusion, she blinked and slowly turned her head to look around, realizing she was in a hospital.Before she could take in her surroundings, she heard the sound of a door opening. Turning toward the noise, she saw Maxim walking in.When Maxim saw Tatiana awake and looking at him, he felt a rush of excitement. He quickly approached her and asked,"You’re finally awake! How do you feel? Is there anywhere that still hurts?"Tatiana slowly shook her head, wanting to speak, but her throat was dry and raspy. Instead, she looked at Maxim, hoping he would understand that she needed water.Fortunately, Maxim got the hint. He smiled at her and hurried over to pour a glass of warm water. After helping her drink, Tatiana felt a wave of relief wash over her. "I’m fine. How long was I out?""Three days," Maxim replied, his eyes filled with an emotion she couldn't quite place.Emo
With that thought, Riley quickly left those people behind.Tatiana, on the other hand, was unaware of Riley's situation. She stood facing the assassin in front of her, her expression icy."Miss, we hope you can leave this place. We don't want to harm you; we just need you to leave that man behind. We assure you, you can leave here safely."These people had been here for a long time, trying to persuade Tatiana to leave. Their boss had ordered that she couldn't be harmed, but they couldn't understand why this woman refused to budge. They had been standing there for what felt like ages.Realizing that convincing Tatiana was futile, the leader turned his attention to Mazim. "Maxim, are you still a man? Hiding behind a woman?”Maxim pressed his hand against his shoulder, his face pale from blood loss. He managed a weak smile and replied, "Better than being unprotected like you."Though he said that, deep down, he hoped Tatiana would leave soon. He didn't know how long they could mainta
Crushing the herbs and applying them to the wound, then bandaging it up was all she could do for now. After tending to his injury, he looked at Tatiana and said, "You need to get out of here quickly. They’re not after you, and they won’t chase you. Find a way back and get someone to rescue me."Tatiana replied, "By then, it won’t be about saving you; it’ll just be about collecting your body."Seeing Maxim’s pale face, Tatiana insisted, "I’m not leaving. It was my idea to come here, and I won’t just abandon you.""Why are you being so foolish?" Maxim's lips curled into a slight smile. In such a dire situation, all he wanted was for Tatiana to leave.She was the girl he liked, and he wanted her to be safe, away from this suffering. But why, upon realizing she wouldn’t leave, did he feel even more touched and reluctant to let her go?"I’m not foolish. I’m with you, and we’re married—even if it’s just pretend. We’re friends, right?" Tatiana said, helping Maxim to his feet as they slowly
The man didn’t even have time to react before he collapsed unconscious.The commotion drew attention, and all eyes turned toward Tatiana.“Run!” Tatiana shouted, grabbing Maxim’s hand and sprinting toward the nearby trees.Her shout jolted everyone awake, and the leader yelled for the others to pursue both of them.As Tatiana saw that they were about to disappear from sight, the leader at the front suddenly darkened his expression. He quickly pulled out something and fired a shot toward Maxim.Tatiana turned around just in time to witness this scene, and immediately grabbed Maxim, trying to switch places with him. But little did she know, Maxim had also spotted the bullet heading his way.The leader initially thought the bullet might miss Maxim since the woman beside him was ready to take the hit, but to his surprise, her didn’t let her take the bullet for him.“Bang—”The sound of the gunshot echoed, startling the birds perched in the trees, sending them flying off into the distance
Moreover, John had sent someone to wait for them so early. If they hadn't arrived earlier, and had waited until later to come, things would have been even more complicated.With these thoughts in mind, Maxim felt even more determined. Once they were out of here, he would make sure to pull John down from his position as soon as possible. Someone like him didn’t deserve to be in the company.He believed that his grandfather would never allow such a person to be part of the company either.The next morning, sunlight streamed through the leaves, casting bright rays that pierced Tatiana's eyes. She blinked a few times, slowly waking up.As she looked around, her mind began to piece together the events of the previous day. At that moment, Maxim also stirred awake as Tatiana shifted away from his shoulder.He had barely slept at all last night, finally drifting off only as morning approached.Tatiana stood up and checked her phone, only to find there was still no signal. She turned to Max
"The place ahead is Sylvia's home. Do you think they might not be looking for us and instead have gone to kill them?""No way, these assassins are all managed by someone. They only target their assignments and won't harm anyone else, so we need to protect ourselves first." Tatiana said this without a hint of hesitation, but then she realized that as a young lady, she probably shouldn't know about such things.Thinking this, Tatiana cautiously glanced at Maxim. His expression didn’t seem strange, so he likely hadn’t caught on to what she was implying. With that thought, she quietly sighed in relief; otherwise, she would have to find a way to explain everything, which would only complicate matters. She didn’t want Maxim to get dragged into this mess.With that in mind, Tatiana said, "Let’s stop talking about this and get out of here. We can’t stay for long, and we can’t be sure they won’t come back.”As she spoke, she tugged on Maxim's shirt and led him toward the exit. However, as she
As he spoke, Maxim glanced outside at the darkening sky. They had already wasted too much time, and they couldn't afford to linger any longer. They weren't familiar with the area, and it was best to get back to their car before it was completely dark. Otherwise, they might find it impossible to return.Tatiana understood his concerns and frowned as she looked at the weather outside. "Let's go talk to the old lady about this. If all goes well, we can leave right away. We can bring Sylvia and Marianna back with us when we return the notebook. Right now, going back is too risky."Sylvia and Marianna had only gone out a few years ago. Tatiana thought that it wouldn’t be right to leave them behind while taking Grandma alone, so her initial plan was to bring all three of them back together. However, it was clear that they couldn’t take Grandma on such a journey now. At her age, it wouldn’t be good for her to travel those long distances. They decided that once they returned the book, they
“She left when she was very young, and I don’t know much about it,” the old woman said, shaking her head as she looked at Tatiana. “But I haven’t dared to go into her room all these years, so I don’t know what’s inside. There might be something valuable in there. I have the key; you can go take a look.”Sitting on the stool, the old woman had thought it through. These two didn’t seem like bad people, and sharing this information with them wouldn’t hurt. Maybe they could even find the killer of Cordelia. After all, so many years had passed,and she had come to terms with it. The most important thing for her now was Sylvia and Marianna. So, for their sake, she decided to open the room today.Tatiana was a bit surprised. She hadn’t expected the old woman to be so accommodating, but this could indeed lead to more information. Feeling grateful, Tatiana smiled at the old woman and said, “If you don’t want to go in, you don’t have to. We won’t disturb anything inside.”The old woman stood
The elderly woman knew she was putting them in a tough spot, but she felt she had no choice. This was her only hope after all these years. She couldn’t afford to send her children to school herself, so she had to push for this arrangement. For her kids, she was willing to take the risk.The old man's request was something Tatiana hadn't expected. She thoughthe would ask for wealth or something similar, but it was just about reading books? Was that all?Tatiana appeared somewhat dazed, which seemed to signal to the old man that she was reluctant to give up this opportunity. So she quickly added, "You don't have to feel hesitant. Just take her out. All you need to do is cover some necessary expenses, and consider it a loan. Once they have the ability to earn money, they will definitely come back to repay you. I promise."This time, even though Tatiana hadn't fully processed the situation, Maxim had. He looked at the old man and calmly said,"No need.""What?" The old woman was momentar