She was suspended in the void.She saw herself shuddering. Every inch of her body was shaking like a lone leaf in the most biting gale. Any moment now, the leaf would be ripped into shreds.She raised her head, and her eyes lingering on the image on the gigantic screen. “The viewing angle here leaves much to be desired,” he had said. He was right. She could not see anything more than blurry silhouettes pressed against each other.Across her, Edward’s mouth was moving, but his speech was a muffle
She looked at Edward, then Vivian, without any sign of discomfort in her eyes. Finally, she drew her attention back at Edward as she waited for his answer slightly nervously.Edward nodded lightly. “I am.”A sweet smile blossomed on the girl’s face. “Hello, Mr. Levin! I’m an admirer who started really, really adoring you after listening to your speech about innovating capital. Could you please, please give me an autograph?”He was a little startled by her request. Thanks to his standing and his
Though a somewhat palatable floral design adorned the edge of the sticky note, it was still a stretch to call it adorable. Honestly, it was something Vivian had taken with her person so frequently that it was the first replacement she could come up with upon realizing she was underprepared to pass Seth her address.For some reason, Vivian had a nagging feeling that the girl before her was at least a bit…off. It was a feeling that had stuck since their first encounter.Regardless, Vivian snatched
Contrary to his usual temperament, Edward reacted with patient approval. He produced a business card from his pocket and handed it to her. “Send it to this number.”Elated, she received the card with both hands before turning to Vivian, who promptly rejected the question before she could ask, “I don’t need it. Thank you.”The girl seemed quite startled by her response but said nothing more than lightly shrugging her shoulders.“Alright! Sorry for taking up so much of your time. I’m very grateful
The foolishness of dishing out a barbed insult struck Vivian. The only good a sarcastic remark like this could do was raise his ire.She should be calmer, more rational. If it were true that Edward had grown addicted to her body, she should capitalize on his weakness and use it to her advantage rather than hold it as a weapon in a useless verbal duel.Vivian squeezed her mouth shut, letting silence take hold.The two were back to the same dead-like stasis as before the young girl’s interruption.
Liam laughed. “Wouldn’t hurt to try before making that conclusion, would it?”Her anxiety soared. “No, no! Just no! What would people think if we pulled something like that off?!” she insisted, “Seriously, Liam, stop joking with me like this, or…or I’m going to be very crossed!”“Okay, okay. I won’t book a room there then. I’ll just pay you a visit. Surely that’s acceptable, isn’t it?” Liam relented before coming up with a new offer. “But I’m driving in your direction, Viv. Go and inform one of
However, the only thing she did was cry until he almost grew impatient. She sobbed, “I’m fine. I’m just scared of you abandoning me.”He was stunned for a moment. Then, he felt like he was at a loss of whether to laugh or to cry at once. He felt exasperated by her teary-eyed look, yet he pitied her. He could not refrain from sending a heavy slap on her buttocks and saying in rage, “What have you been thinking about all day in that little mind of yours?”She could not answer the question, so sh
“Oh, noted. Thanks for informing me.” She smiled at her colleague courteously and turned back to walk into the hotel lobby. She assumed that the person looking for her was Edward or Wade. However, she did not expect that the person looking for her was the young girl who had requested for Edward’s autograph previously. Vivian took a glance at her. Her hands were still packing the items at the service desk while her lips spoke, “I know who you are. Leave your phone number with me and I’ll contac
Did you know, Vee?I’ve thought of this more than once. If only our beginning from that night wasn’t so unbearable, how wonderful would it be?… The light from the setting sun spilled towards her from the side, casting a glow on the piece of paper, illuminating the words on it, and giving them a slight shimmer. Just like last year, when she emerged from the ultrasound room in the maternity hospital, weak after a mere two steps, she had to lean against the corridor. She covered her mouth with
Vivian arrived home a little late. She parked the car at the side of the road first, then collected her subscribed newspapers and magazines from the mailbox at her gate. She flipped through the mail as she walked in. To her surprise, she found a letter. It was an envelope made from kraft paper with her name on it.It was a rare handwritten letter with the faint print of a bamboo tree, drawn with Chinese calligraphy ink. The bamboo was tall, straight, and fierce just like the script on the lette
“It’s been three months now, why isn’t the little one moving? When will the baby quicken?” he asked her, “Can it hear me? Will it remember my voice?”He even asked, “Who do you think it’ll look like, Vee? Will it be a girl or a boy?”She knew very well that he was harboring evil intentions, but she gave into him and crumbled anyway. She sobbed and screamed, “Kill me, Sean Jackson. Kill me. I will never give birth to this child even if I die! Never!”He soothed her, “Alright. Don’t give birth
His lower jaw tightened. The lines on his face stiffened icily like the cold edges of a knife. In reality, he had given up long ago. His heart was as dead as ash. However, refusing to accept this, he grasped at everything, hoping to find a straw that could save a life, not to save himself but to save his child’s life. That was how well he knew her. He knew that once she escaped, she would never spare his child. Did he hate her? Yes. He hated how he couldn’t shoot her dead. Love triumphed over ha
“Then, what should we do?” his aide asked.A hero’s end was, inevitably, death. He wasn’t afraid of death, but he was simply plagued with remaining grievances. After a bout of silence, Edward calmly said, “Do something for me. Once that’s done, just slip away. There are no lives in your hands and you aren’t in the cops’ database. No one will notice you.”This aide had received a great debt of gratitude from Edward once, so he was solely loyal to him. He became distressed when he heard this, so
“You deserve it for all of the crimes you’ve committed!” Vivian screamed, losing control. Her emotions felt strangely steady after that scream. She threw the gun away as her sparkling, dark eyes were filled with renewed determination. She stared at him and spoke, enunciating every word, “Sean Jackson and those brothers of yours, you’ve all got your justice. Beaten to death, right? Arrested, was it? But when you willfully hurt others and view their lives as nothing more than weeds, you should hav
She hadn’t slept the entire night, and she was extremely high-strung. However, she was feeling slightly fatigued. Perhaps because of the comforting glow from the brightening day outside, she lay down on the bed with her clothes on after a bout of hesitation. She had only intended on taking a nap but unexpectedly fell into a deep sleep.Vivian suddenly woke up, startled. She had lost track of how long she had been asleep. She found a figure standing in front of her bed when she awoke and was gre
Vivian was taken aback by his question. “You haven’t caught him?” she exclaimed in astonishment. She thought that they had already apprehended Edward based on the expression on Jake’s face.“Our men have surrounded the condominium,” he answered simply, “He and Wade seized a hostage and hid inside the study. Both sides were caught in a deadlock for a while, but when they burst the study door open, they only found Wade and that hostage inside.”Vivian trembled uncontrollably as she listened to h
The wedding day was drawing to a close. Vivian stayed at the condominium until the day before the wedding. Then, she moved to Edward’s villa by the lake to wait for the wedding ceremony. Edward drove her there himself, feeling reluctant before he left. He turned around and looked at her, then softly said, “Wait for me. I’ll come for you tomorrow, first thing in the morning.”Vivian didn’t respond and simply stood at the doorway, quietly watching him.For some reason, the sight of her like this