“What’s there to fear about death?” Hannah smiled nonchalantly. “I feel happy that I can die alongside you! Do you know I used to be afraid of dying? I didn’t want to die because I didn’t want to become the child my parents abandoned, but it’s different now. I have you, and it’s enough to be by your side. Dying with you would be a beautiful thing in my life too.”Hannah expressed her feelings while she looked at Ralph gently, her eyes filled with adoration for the man.However, her words only made him frown deeper, and he could not help but say, “Annie, don’t think about this situation that way! If we could survive, why should we choose to die? Death is scary, so we should try our best to live.“When we’re alive, we can breathe fresh air, eat delicious food, and drink all the wine we want. There’s hope as long as we’re alive, and who knows? One day we might be able to turn the tides, right? Life is a cycle, and there’s only hope for us if we stay alive!”Hannah shook her head and r
Chump snorted. “Aren’t you going to drink too?”“I’ll drink it! I’ll drink! I’m so thirsty!” Ralph nodded fervently before he asked again, “Did you bring any food? I’m starving!”That earned him a sneer and nothing else from Chump, who continued to feed him water. Ralph was extremely thirsty and opened his mouth eagerly to drink, but when he tasted the water, he found it did not taste right. It was salt water, and it was the kind that tasted like they poured a whole packet of salt into the water.He refused to drink it in an instant and wanted to turn his head away to avoid the bowl coming into contact with his lips, but Chump could not let that happen. His resistance made Chump grab his chin, forcing him to open his mouth as Chump poured the bowl of concentrated salt water down his throat. “Cough! Cough!” It choked him, causing him to cough incessantly to the point of tears. It was salty yet bitter at the same time. Disgusted, he wanted to puke, but nothing came out as he had not
“You’re just saying it.” Hannah expressed her disappointment, knowing he was distracted. “Dude, what makes you think I’m in the mood to talk about that right now? We’re going to die soon! Do you know what death is? If we’re dead, then we’ll have nothing! You’ve worked so hard since you were young, so why would you give up now? You can’t die, and I can’t as well!” Ralph roared impatiently.“Are you that afraid of dying?” Hannah asked with a raised brow.Ralph did not hesitate at all. “Of course I am! I’m scared as h*ll! I don’t want to die, and I want to keep living. My life is great, so why would I want to die?”Hannah nodded in an exceptionally calm manner. “Okay. I got it.”He could sense that her tone was somewhat off, but he paid no attention to it because he was miserable. He was starving, his stomach was gurgling, and his body was in pain and exhausted. On top of that, his throat felt like it was on fire. He decided just to stay silent and save his energy.The night went b
When they arrived at the door, Chump was already waiting there, and he went forward to open the door for her. “Mrs. Russell, Ms. Riggs is waiting for you inside.”Lily nodded and took a few steps forward, but she stopped when she came to the door. Suddenly, she turned around to look at Chump.He stood there, not moving or showing any expression.“Chump,” Lily called out, remembering that Heather addressed him this way. Sure enough, she noticed that he was stunned for a moment. It made her chuckle, and she called out again, “Chump, is there only one Ms. Riggs?”Chump said nothing, but a glimpse of surprise flashed across his gaze. It did not go unnoticed by Lily. It seemed that her guess was close and that there was something off about Heather.Initially, she thought that Heather would be in the living room, but it was empty. At this time, Chump came forward. “Mrs. Russell, please follow me.”Lily followed behind him and ascended the stairs. She did not expect them to be talking i
“Not long ago,” Lily said. “After all, the two of you are so alike.”“Since that’s the case, how did you notice our differences?” Heather was curious because no one had noticed their differences all these years. No one had ever discovered that they were two people.Lily tilted her head, then raised her hand to scratch it, pondering for a moment before she spoke, “How should I put it? As someone who practices kickboxing, I’m sure you know we can’t hide our vitality completely. Your twin sister can’t fight at all, can she?”“You’re right.” Heather nodded, not denying it. “She can’t fight, and she was born weak. It took a long time for her health to be similar to normal people.”“Hence, it’s easy to differentiate between the two of you. It’s just that I wasn’t familiar with you back then, and you two were too much alike regarding your appearance, demeanor, and even habits.” Lily recalled. The images in her head were slightly messy, and she could not differentiate between Heather and H
“Life is a journey with no return trip. I used to be obsessed with my career, but I later realized many other things in life are equally as important or even more important than my work. I’ve focused on chasing my goals and moving forward, but I’ve forgotten to slow down and smell the flowers.“Sometimes, slowing down and experiencing the beautiful things life offers might even bring me a step further in my career.”When Lily began to slow down, she was anxious and would also feel restless. Later, her focus shifted to her child when her belly enlarged, and she no longer felt as indifferent about it as before.Moreover, she learned about the scent only a baby would have after learning about prenatal education and meeting a few mothers. She learned about the smell of sweat on pregnant mothers who also neglected themselves because they were too busy caring for their children.It gave her the idea to create a perfume for pregnant mothers, so they could still smell great and feel good a
Heather doubted the secret handbook’s authenticity the most because Alexander had not come looking for her even after such a long time. She had spent so much time and effort to steal the secret handbook. Logically, Alexander should go all out just to retrieve such a crucial lost item.She put herself in Alexander’s shoes and concluded that she would search every corner of Kingsland if she had lost something so important to her.However, Alexander was so calm, as if nothing had happened. Ralph said Alexander did not look for him at all, which meant he did not care about his lost handbook.There was only one reason for Alexander’s indifference—the secret handbooks Heather and Ralph stole were fakes. If Alexander could set up a trap for Ralph, Heather believed he would also set one up for her.After calming down and thinking things through, she figured out many things.“The real secret handbook is still with you guys.” Heather continued after she sucked in a deep breath and cleared h
After a few years of training, my trainer told my grandpa to take me home and said there was nothing else he could teach me. Before I left, he gave me a box of meditation books and asked me to read them whenever I was free.”At that time, Alexander stopped for a moment before continuing, “After reading more of these books, I gradually understood that the key to kickboxing is strengthening the mind. No matter how important the moves are, our minds are most important. From these meditation books, we can sometimes find answers for kickboxing and business skills.”Hearing what he said, Lily said half-jokingly, “In other words, you almost became a Zen master at teaching meditation.”If Alexander did, he probably would not have met her. To her surprise, Alexander nodded thoughtfully. “Well, I almost did.”Laughing, she playfully swatted at him. Now, Lily related what Alexander told her to Heather. Shocked, the latter became speechless for a long time as her face flushed and then pale