No More Waiting for Love

When Mom heard my voice, she choked up for a moment, but more than anything, she sounded happy. This was the first time in the five years since I ran away with Ian Blake that I was not going against her."Sweetheart, trust me. I only want what's best for you. I don't want you to suffer. You'll be happy if you marry the man we choose for you." She went on and on over the phone. I could not help but grip the phone tighter.In the past, I was blind and chased after so-called freedom with Ian. My actions only ended up letting my parents down. I asked, "Mom, what about… Dad?" "Don't worry. Your father is glad to hear that you're willing to come back."I felt a tingle in my nose, and I could no longer hold back the tears. "Come back soon, okay? Your dad and I will be waiting for you at home.""Alright… I'll be back home tomorrow."Just then, Ian pushed the door open and walked in. He happened to catch the last few words of my conversation. His brows furrowed slightly. "Home? Which

I thought Ian had time to watch me perform and excitedly told him that I had reserved a seat for him in the front row. I also told him how much it would mean to me to have him there. However, it was silent for a long time on the other end of the call before Ian finally spoke."I'm sorry, Sienna... Can you come to Purple Inn? Eva is having trouble closing the deal with Mr. Walter.""But today's my first performance on stage."The stage lights were just ahead, shimmering with bright colors. It was supposed to be my moment.However, Ian's voice turned soft, almost pleading. "Sienna, just this once. Help me one more time. Please?"So, I rushed toward Purple Inn in my performance dress and downed two bottles of wine to get the deal signed. It was just for Ian.However, once an exception was made, there would always be another and another after that. Before I knew it, I had gone from being a manager to somehow becoming Eva's subordinate.A bitter smile emerged on my face as I lowere

It had always been like this. Ever since I ran away with Ian, he had never once apologized for anything. Whenever I did something he didn't like, he would just shut me down completely. He would become silent, cold, and unreachable.The longest stretch of silent treatment was because of Eva's fear of thunderstorms. At 3:00 am, he left me behind in a torrential downpour to find her. He didn't come back until noon the next day.I only asked a few questions and did not kick up a fuss at all, but even that was enough to make him impatient. We had been living under the same roof at the time, but I might as well have been a stranger to him.Seven days passed before I finally caved. I apologized, saying I should not have doubted him. Only then did he start speaking to me again.But now? I did not even look at him. I walked right past.Ian froze, his expression turning gloomy.I continued walking with Dad, chatting casually with his business partners.It was not until later, when I final

A few days later, I received a call from my former colleague at Ian's company. She called me in tears, telling me she had accidentally lost the backup files and asked if I had another copy.I always backed up important files in at least two places, but she had difficulty finding them. We used to get along well, so in consideration of that, I used my lunch break to stop by the office and help her out.She was incredibly grateful and insisted on paying me. What I did not expect was to run into Ian and Eva, who had just come back from Hawee Island. It looked like their time there had been blissful. Eva even got a pretty sun tan. The moment Eva saw me, she apologized sweetly, saying that she was sorry for 'stealing the brothers away' for a whole month.However, behind those apologetic words, her eyes gleamed with smug satisfaction—like a woman proud of her conquest.I did not respond to her. I just fixed the work issue in a few quick clicks and then turned to leave. That was when I h

The bid had skyrocketed to five million dollars when that necklace was really only worth one million dollars.I stopped Jasper just as he was about to raise his hand again.Five million dollars. That was likely everything the Blake brothers had in liquid assets.Jasper leaned in, his lips brushing against my ear as he said in a teasing voice, "What's the matter? You can't bear to see them lose this bidding war?"I rolled my eyes. "That necklace is worth only one million dollars. Are you going to pay five times that price? Is it fun to watch your money go down the drain?"His voice turned jealous. "It's just because you don't want your ex-boyfriend to keep bidding."I was speechless. I had not expected the usually stern Jasper to get so easily jealous.Still, I took the time to explain patiently, "He only has about five and a half million dollars of liquid assets. If you bid again and it goes past six, he won't be able to follow. Then, you'll be stuck paying six million dollars.