Seeing Adriana squatting down like this, Calvin couldn't help but frown. He thought that she was just pretending to be weak to gain his sympathy.
"Adriana, you don't have to pretend in front of me, I know you well! Just get the hell out of here! I can't stand your hypocrisy. It made me feel disgusted!" Calvin said coldly.
Hearing his words, Adriana felt as if someone had stabbed a knife in her heart. She wanted to stand up and leave, but the weight of those memories was too much for her to bear.
Adriana felt that as if her legs got weak, and all her energy of her body had been drained out. No matter how hard she tried to stand up, she couldn't.
"Calvin?"
Just then a sweet woman's voice came, breaking the tension.
Adriana looked up, only to see a beautiful woman walking towards them.
The woman was wearing a white shirt and black skirt, with delicate, fair skin. Her long black hair cascaded down her back, making her look even more beautiful.
"Rose! What are you doing here?" Calvin asked lightly.
The woman was Rose Richard, Calvin's therapist. Over the past three years, Calvin had suffered from insomnia, only managing to get about three hours of sleep a night, relying on medical interventions. However, he hadn't seen her in a week. Rose had planned to reach out to him to check in, but instead, she found him here.
"Oh, I am here to meet a friend." She said sweetly.
Seeing Adriana collapsed on the floor, her eyes filled with confusion as she asked, "What happened to her? Does she need my help?"
"Oh, no. She won't die now," Calvin said, his voice cold and cruel, completely different from his earlier gentleness.
"Well, okay then." Rose didn't press the issue further. She glanced at Calvin from head to toe, nodding slightly before saying, "You look much better. You haven't been to therapy this week, how are you feeling? Sleeping better?"
"I am much better, all thanks to your help," Calvin replied, his tone unexpectedly soft, a stark contrast to the anger he had shown when he was strangling Adriana just moments ago.
"Even if you are feeling well, you still have to take care of your routine and diet. You can't drink too much caffeine and you can't be working till late." Rose advised, her concern evident.
"Hmm, don't worry, I will. I have got more important things to do this week, so I didn't come to the therapy. But I am confident I can cure my insomnia. You know that, it all started because I was betrayed. But I am not stupid anymore," Calvin said sarcastically.
Adriana knew exactly who he was speaking to with those words, he was making it clear that by "curing my insomnia" he meant removing her, the "culprit."
Adrian felt like her heart had been crushed in his hands, and no matter how much she begged, he refused to let go, wanting her to suffer until the end.
In the past, she had loved him deeply, given him all her heart, hoping that one day he would fall in love with her.
But now, he was using her heart, which she had offered to him, as a tool to hurt her, carelessly squeezing it, with no end in sight.
For the past three years, she had told herself that this man was a cold-blooded, dangerous creature, incapable of love, incapable of tenderness.
But now, she could no longer deceive herself.
It wasn't that he didn't know how to love, he just reserved his warmth for others. It would never belong to her. And she had begged him like a desperate, tail-wagging beggar, only to end with nothing.
HOW FOOLISH!
Adriana cursed herself inwardly, clenched her fists, and tried to rise to her heart.
Ding-dong…
At that moment, her phone pinged with a message. Without even looking, she grabbed it as if it were lifeline, rising with all her strength. The sorrow on her face disappeared, and she quickly fixed her hair, acting as though nothing had happened. She softly called to the two still in conversation, "Sir, if there is nothing, I will finish it soon as possible and send it to you. It's been a pleasure working with you!"
Without waiting for Calvin to respond, she turned and left the cafe.
In her three years of living, the one thing she learned the best is to make her pain as her strength.
In that instant, she understood. Since he wants to keep dwelling on the past, let's see can be more ruthless!
"Adriana Clarke, STOP BEING WEAK! You are not the same person you were three years ago!" she told herself.
Adriana was sunk into the sofa, holding a steaming cup of milk tea, looking perfectly at ease. “Milk tea is just a combination of tea and milk, isn’t it? The ones they sell outside add all sorts of extra ingredients, but mine is pure. Don’t believe me? Try a sip.”Calvin frowned, eyeing the pale-looking tea in his hand suspiciously, as if it might turn out to be some kind of dark cuisine.“I won’t die from drinking it, right?”Unable to stand his pickiness, Adriana took the initiative and drank two mouthfuls to demonstrate. A trace of milk clung to the corner of her lips, and she naturally swept her tongue over them to lick it off. “See? I’m not lying to you.”Calvin’s Adam’s apple bobbed. When he looked back at the cup, he couldn’t shake the feeling that her lips were still pressed against it, one after another. Heat pooled in his chest, pure desire making his heartbeat unstead
Adriana was smart enough to turn to the flour. After a few hands-on exercises, her mastery of the batter’s consistency and the addition of seasonings became more and more refined—almost flawless—and soon she was standing by the stovetop, holding a glass basin, ready to start cooking.Then she turned her head and froze. Calvin was cutting tomatoes.Still unable to use his right hand properly, he held the knife in his left and steadied it with his right, slicing horizontally and then dicing vertically. In no time, a ripe tomato had been transformed into neat, uniform red cubes, pleasing to the eye.What amazed Adriana even more was that Calvin, with his left hand, cracked an egg single-handedly. He tapped it lightly on the edge of the bowl, pried it open with a flick of his fingers, and let the egg slide effortlessly into the bowl. The movement was smooth and graceful, worthy of a close-up in a culinary documentary.Calvin stirred the eggs and, without lifting his head, said, “Heartbrok
Adriana understood immediately. He meant the place where she used to live.“Someone is living there now?” she asked.What else are you going to eat? Bricks?“No one,” Calvin replied.Adriana: “…”He entered the password to unlock the door, and they stepped inside.The air system had been running around the clock. Even though no one had lived in the house for a long time, the air still felt fresh and natural. The curtains were open, offering a clear view of the scenery outside. The house was clean and tidy—spotless, even.But then Adriana froze. She pointed uncertainly at a three-tiered sideboard. “Who assembled this?”When she left, all the big furniture was still in its packaging boxes in the living room. So, how had everything ended up neatly arranged? Some of the furniture wasn’t even where she had expected it to be.Calvin glanced at her. “What do you think?”Adriana ran her hand over the sturdy five-drawer cupboard. It didn’t wobble at all. The screws were perfectly in place, fix
Adriana thought Calvin would brush off his sleeve and leave her with his impenetrable back, but instead, he took her hand and walked out of the prosperous, opulent manor with the wind at his feet.This time, there wasn’t much strength in his grip, but she had no reason to shake him off.Calvin hadn’t killed Carson, nor had he done anything to hurt him. Although his words had been harsh, Carson was still safe and sound. That alone was enough to make Adriana bellyache for a long time.Once in the car, Adriana settled into the driver’s seat. She fastened her seat belt and glanced at the man beside her.“Why don’t I drive you home?” she offered.Calvin leaned back in his seat, silently watching as she started the engine and drove out the same way they had come.Once on the main road, Adriana asked again, “Where to?”Would Calvin, like the other man, simply say, wherever?“Not angry?” he asked.Adriana let out a soft laugh in her heart. Her face remained calm. “What’s there to be angry abo
For the past three hours, Calvin had been sitting silently on the open-air sofa, eyes closed.It was a habit he had developed over the years. Whenever a major decision loomed or a crisis at the company demanded his attention, he would retreat to a quiet, undisturbed place. There, he would let go of everything for a few hours, putting himself into a state of deep immersion.He would completely empty his mind of distractions, then calmly analyze the pros and cons. With a perspective that stretched five, even ten years into the future, he would weigh every angle before arriving at a decision—always from a vantage point far above the present moment.Many people praised Calvin’s forward-looking vision, saying he seemed to have the trends of the next few years already in his grasp.But no one knew that behind every landmark decision lay hours of intense focus and piercing insight.Today, however, he couldn’t clear his mind at all.He couldn’t untangle his thoughts no matter how hard he trie
Adriana’s head was spinning. Did this aunt and nephew deliberately want to watch her social death?Steadying herself, she didn’t let even a hint of her true emotions show in front of so many people. “The deputy director doesn’t need to trouble himself. It’s not necessary,” she said calmly.She deliberately emphasized “deputy director” to create distance between them and to remind Carson subtly: Don’t cross the line and make things difficult for everyone here.Carson recalled the phone call earlier, when Calvin had been in the car, and how she’d tried to cover it up. He couldn’t help but suspect that this so-called “friend” was actually Calvin. Hearing her say that now only confirmed his suspicion.His thin lips curled into a smirk as he chuckled. “Friendships develop from strangers to acquaintances, from unfamiliarity to closeness. Since he’s here as my guest, I should do my duty as a host. I can’t just leave your friend out in the cold, can I?”Adriana gritted her teeth, resisting th