The loud noises in the ward naturally alerted Justin and Jovan."What's going on?" Justin became very nervous and kicked the door of the ward open. He saw that Renee had woken up and was crazily tearing at the bandages."Uh…" Justin was struck dumb. He had thought of the possibility of Stefan waking Renee up, but he did not expect it to be that effective. Renee ended up becoming a maniac who had lost control of herself. "You're awake?" Jovan was stunned too. He instantly understood the whole incident and gave Renee a thumbs-up. "You're great!"Renee looked coldly at them and ordered them, "Get out, you two! I haven't settled things with him!" Although she was fine with the way they regarded her, she did not want them to see her as a maniac. Besides, their presence would affect her and stop her from being crazy."I won't get out."Jovan turned Renee down. He rushed over and hugged her, stopping her from hurting herself."What are you doing? Let go of me!"Renee was still ha
Similarly, Renee used an iron wire to cut her wrist just to meet Stefan."Am I right? You did so many things just to see him. Now you finally met him. Are you happy and satisfied now? But you look worse than before." Jovan teased Renee. He found her pitiful, but at the same time, he felt that it served her right. It seemed everybody was a joke in their romance with others. Only those who never loved could be at the top of the food chain. They would laugh at those who gave up their hearts to others and could not understand those people's bizarre actions."Stop gloating. It's none of your business! Let go of me, or I'll make you feel sorry for yourself."Renee had just escaped death and was weak. Had it not been for that, Jovan wouldn't be able to stop her or watch her make a fool of herself. Still, she would be fine with losing blood again just to torment him if he kept on talking nonsense. Then, he would watch his tongue."Tell me, Phoenix. Is he telling the truth?" Justin
"What is it?" Renee looked at Justin curiously.Renee, Stefan, and Jovan were curious about what was on Justin's mind."If my family starts fighting the Hunt family, which side will you take?" Justin went straight to the point. He had been curious about that as he made wild guesses about Renee's mind. Since Renee was right before him, he wanted to get the answer from her before he could give up."Hmph! I thought it was something serious. Why did you make it sound that serious…" Jovan burst into laughter, finding Justin a loyal man. "Isn't that obvious? If she wants to take your side, you guys would be married by now. There wouldn't be so many shitty things either!""Shut up, Jovan!" Renee glared at Jovan. If she was stronger, she would beat him up. She said coldly, "Did you forget how you took me away?""Yes, I used some cunning means to take you away, but let's be frank. If I didn't come that day, would you marry him?"Jovan had long gotten used to Renee's fierceness. On the c
"Do you still want to marry me?" Justin asked Renee."I…" Renee could talk nonsense with Jovan, but she couldn't joke with Justin. She had harmed him many times and couldn't keep hurting him. Honestly, she didn't want to marry him or anyone else. She did not want to rely on anyone. She knew she could rely on a man and lead a steady life if there was love. But without love, it would be very hard to rely on a man.However, she knew that Justin liked her and wanted to marry her. If she promised to marry him, the impulsive Jovan would get the staff of the City Hall here. If she turned Justin down at that time, she would harm him again."Fine. You don't have to feel stressed. I know the answer." Justin was no fool. Renee's hesitation told him what she wanted. "When I begged you to marry me, you forced yourself to say yes. You just wanted to repay me for saving your life.""No, you're wrong!" Seeing Justin hurt pained her more than when she was hurt. She hurriedly explained, "I reall
Having said that, Justin turned to leave. He knew that if he stayed, he would only look more of a fool. "Tsk! What a pity!" Jovan watched him leave, shrugging and sighing. "He's sincere and loyal. Too bad he pales in comparison to the scumbag!""Get out!" Renee was overcome with sadness and pushed Jovan away fiercely. "Get out! I don't want to see anyone!" Knowing that she had harmed Justin again, she was filled with guilt. She just wanted to be left alone."Rest well. I'll be with you until you're recovered and discharged from the hospital," Stefan said calmly before exiting the ward.In a while, a nurse came to tend to the bandages that Renee had removed. She advised Renee, "Ms. Everheart, you have to be careful. You're weak now. You can't get angry, or it might be life-threatening.""I don't care. My life is so messy, I'd rather die."Thinking of the recent events and the men around her, a severe headache hit her. She wanted to keep being unconscious."Please don't say tha
Jovan had kidnapped Renee, but he risked his life for her though he appeared like a cunning and selfish man. Renee felt that she did not deserve his love. She had wronged both Jovan and Justin, but she could not love them back. On the other hand, the one she wanted to love kept pushing her away cruelly…She slapped herself fiercely. Her action frightened the nurse. "Ms. Everheart, we can talk things out! Why did you hurt yourself? You can't…" "Don't worry. I'll get better and won't harm myself again." Renee was teary and laughed at herself. "I slapped myself because I recalled the things I'd done. I was very stupid, and I wanted to knock some sense into myself." "Okay, I'm glad to hear that." The nurse heaved a sigh of relief, but she was afraid to see Renee keep acting crazily. After she was done bandaging Renee's wound, she left hurriedly.When Stefan saw the nurse exit the ward, he walked in nervously and inquired about Renee. "How she's doing?" "She's already feeling be
A week later, Renee recovered because she listened to the doctor and underwent treatment. She could be discharged from the hospital.In the meantime, Stefan stayed outside the ward and did not enter the ward.On the contrary, Jovan kept entering the ward from time to time. Renee would either scold or drive him away. Stefan entered the ward on the day Renee was leaving the hospital. He quietly helped Renee pack up her things. Generally, a caretaker could do that. However, Stefan acted like he wanted to repent and felt better when he took it upon himself. "Do you still need this?" Stefan pointed at a Lotso bear toy at the head of the bed and asked Renee calmly.During the one-week hospitalization, Renee got bored. Stefan would give her some blind boxes as entertainment. Renee found Rubik's cubes, stickers, and keychains when she opened the boxes. She would always throw them away because she was not interested in them. When she unpacked a rather large Lotso bear toy, she became
The Lotso bear was a villain in the movie, but it was a pitiful villain because it was abandoned by its owner. It used various means and encountered a lot of hardships to return to Daisy, its owner. In the end, it found that its owner had long gained new toys.After getting hurt, it no longer wanted to be kind. It was used to act cunningly as a form of disguise. But honestly, it was a dear baby who needed love. Of course, it was not a villain at all. Renee liked it because she saw herself as well as others in it. Everyone was gloomy in some way. People got hurt and slowly became gloomy. Instead of criticizing such a thing, Renee felt more compassion and sorry for such a situation. "But you still don't want it and want to throw it away." Stefan was gripped with complicated feelings after listening to Renee's explanation. He sounded sad."Yes, I like it. But I still want to throw it away. It's better to stop in time." Renee laughed and stopped shaking her legs. She was her usual
"What's that?" Justin frowned and said with disdain, "That's something to fool naive women like you. Only lovestruck fools will believe that." As a materialistic person, he never believed in things like horoscopes and fortune-telling. At most, they were mixed with some psychology. They weren't trustworthy at all.If Renee wanted to use those things to talk about their relationships and destinies, it would seem very childish. "Don't be so extreme. Those things are real and logical." Renee acted like an experienced salesperson and gradually eliminated Justin's prejudice. She said patiently, "If you believe those things, they can guide you and help you to see things through. If not, you can use them to kill time. Just try to get to know them. Isn't that nice?"Finally, Justin was convinced. He had some milk and asked her leisurely, "Fine. Tell me what kind of relationship we have based on those things." "I learned that our relationship is a declining friendship based on our birt
"I…" Renee paused. For a moment, she had no idea how to answer that question."Don't put yourself in a difficult position. Just follow your heart," Justin said calmly. "If you want to stay, my family will still welcome you readily. If you want to leave, I'll come up with a way to help you leave smoothly."After listening to Justin, Renee answered honestly, "Maybe it's better for me to leave, though I know this choice will hurt you."She could choose to stay to protect Justin's dignity and give Austin a good explanation. It would be more relaxing and steadier for her. However, Renee knew that it could only last briefly. She would cause Justin greater harm. She might as well be decisive and stop the damage in time. "Don't say that." Justin cracked a bitter smile and said with relief, "I've stopped taking things too seriously. If you like me, you won't stop loving me even if we're apart. Similarly, you'll think about another man if you don't like me, even though you're always b
Austin was having breakfast in the dining room. When he saw Justin and Renee walk over intimately, he finally believed that they had slept together. They seemed like a real couple."Good morning, Grandpa Baldwin!" Renee obediently greeted Austin just like before. She acted normally."Good morning." Austin nodded, unable to suppress his smile. After sizing them up, he calmly said to Renee, "We know how apologetic you are after you toasted to us last night. We'll forget about the past. You're still a part of my family." "Grandpa!" Justin interrupted Austin; he was very protective of Renee. "She's a woman, and we're not married yet. Please don't say that. A woman's reputation is the most important thing.""You…" Austin wanted to refute Justin, but their conflict was just resolved so it would be bad to pressure them more. He shook his head and said, "Fine. You two always have a bland romance. Finally, you've made some progress. I'll let you two decide what to do next.""Got it, Gr
"Hey, Haze! What are you doing? Get off of me!" Renee struggled in confusion."Hush!" Justin gestured and stopped her.In a while, someone unlocked the door of the room."Mr. Baldwin, let me help you and Ms. Everheart change your clothes." A kind middle-aged woman walked into the room casually. When she found them sleeping together intimately, relief washed over her. "Oh, you guys are still sleeping… Fine, I'll leave you be." Then, the woman exited the room.After that, Justin stopped hovering above Renee, looking awkward. "I'm sorry. It happened all of a sudden. If I hadn't done that, they wouldn't let us go. I just did a small thing to resolve the issue." Justin was fully aware of Austin's thoughts. Although Austin was still angry at Renee, he was satisfied with her and wanted to see her get into a real intimate relationship with Justin. If that did not happen, Austin might tie them up together since the drug had failed. Justin could only act with Renee to avoid the in
Renee grinned, satisfied after a long rest. "Why didn't you sleep a bit longer? This bed is comfortable and fluffy." While talking, she behaved like a fish as she extended her limbs and rolled around in bed childishly. In comparison to her calmness and ease, Justin behaved gingerly and did not dare to move as he lay in bed."Do you have any idea what had happened? We aren't dreaming. We're lying in the same bed," Justin said.He was certain that Renee was not fully awake. It explained why she was that composed. Otherwise, any normal woman would get out of bed with a start and keep screaming if they found herself lying in a man's bed."I know!" Renee said. After having a great time rolling around, Renee faced Justin with her head on her arm while lying on her side. "I wanted to drink wine to say sorry to you guys last night, but your family drugged the wine. You drank the same wine when you tried to stop me. We were controlled by the drug and were locked up in this room. T
Renee instantly understood what Justin meant by that. It turned out that the incident was just a part of the Baldwin family's plan. If she left, the Baldwin family would not easily let her off the hook.Justin still cared about her at a time like that, which moved her. "Thank you. You're great." Renee cried; she had no idea how to repay him. "You don't have to thank me. I'm not so great, either. I just hate that they always pester me." Justin purposely sounded relaxed. He finally calmed himself down as he casually grabbed some bandages to bandage his wound. Then, he lay in bed.He slept on one side of the bed and said to Renee, "It's late. You should rest early. This bed is large enough. If you don't mind, you can lie in bed too."The bed was large. It was more than enough even if Renee and Justin lay there."I…" Renee hesitated briefly before she finally got in bed. She trusted Justin. If he wanted to do something indecent to her, he would have long done that. He would no
"I don't know how to tell you. I'm sure you can understand." Renee could not bring herself to say more because it was a humiliating privacy. She might as well keep it to herself."Let me guess…" Justin's gaze grew sharp as he went straight to the point. "The man in your story is Stefan, isn't it?" Silence washed over Renee as she kept her head bowed. It was a silent approval.Justin burst into reckless laughter, which was scary. He looked down at his cut wound and laughed pathetically. "This is why he could make you fall in love with him, and I couldn't. I'm too cultured compared to him.""Don't say that, Haze!"Seeing how defeated Justin was, Renee became uneasy. "It isn't written in the stars for us. Plus, I've fallen in love with Stefan a long time ago before I even got to know you. I also rely on him physically and psychologically. I can't control my feelings. It's not something we can change. We…" "Stop!" Heartbroken, Justin pushed away everything in front of him and s
Time passed by. Gradually, the pain knocked some sense into Justin. He no longer wanted to take advantage of Renee."Let me get you some water." Renee had no idea what she could do for Justin. After some contemplation, she got to her feet and poured him a glass of water.Finally, she studied the room closely and found that it was a wedding room as Justin had mentioned. Everything was set up according to her preferences, which she had occasionally mentioned to Justin. For example, she loved keeping some ceramic ornaments on the bedside cabinet and hanging some seashell wind chimes at the windows. The entire room was painted in beige and green, which were her favorites, too. Beige gave a sense of warmth, while green gave a sense of gloominess. All of those details became the perfect wedding room for Renee.If everything went on smoothly, she would spend most of her time there, and he would be her life companion. Unfortunately, there were no ifs in the world.Renee handed the gla
Renee covered her lips, her tone filled with disbelief. "I…cut myself." Justin leaned against the corner and frowned deeply. He was in deep pain."Why did you cut yourself?" Renee was scared out of her wits and grew more sober. In her panic, she threw herself at him and tried to stop his bleeding.Justin reacted aggressively as he waved his dagger and warned fiercely, "Get away from me! Don't touch me!" "I…" Renee paused, too afraid to act recklessly. She pointed at his wound and said, "I'm just worried about you. You're bleeding. It must hurt a lot. Why did you hurt yourself?" "It's better to be in pain!" Justin gnashed his teeth and said in agony, "The pain will knock some sense into me, so I won't act like an animal and lose control of myself.""I see…" Stunned, Renee was moved to tears. She understood why he cut himself. Surprisingly, he wanted to stay sober and not be controlled by the drug in the wine.He could have used her to satisfy his desire, and she would never b