Chapter 2

Ana suddenly felt her palms turning cold. Beneath her otherwise composed expression, she was experiencing a tumultuous feeling of betrayal.

Mylah, who was very perceptive, immediately caught the abnormal look in Ana’s eyes, then proceeded to probe cautiously, “Could you at least help us bring Noah home? We’re a little too tied up right now to do that…”

For years, they were fixated on the thought that Ana might one day become their daughter-in-law.

Mylah refused to believe that Ana’s bond with Noah could be severed just like that.

What if?

Perhaps when Noah saw Ana, his mind would flip a switch, and he would be repulsed by the other woman.

Surely, there was still a chance for them to maneuver around this.

With this in mind, Mylah turned to Russell to see that he was wearing the same speculative expression. It was clear that he was thinking the same thing.

He proceeded to chime in with the same troubled tone, “Yeah, we recently signed a major business deal, so our hands are full right now.”

Ana knew exactly what they were trying to do.

However, she could not bring herself to refuse given that they were looking at her so expectantly.

Deep down, she knew better than anyone else that Noah was not going to change his mind because of her.

Their optimism was all going to be in vain.

Despite that, she obliged and went to the aquarium where Celeste worked.

Soon, she noticed Noah sitting inside the break room.

He was dressed casually in very plain clothes, with a baseball cap pulled over his head along with a face mask on. Looking at how covered up he was, nobody could have made out his handsome appearance and recognized him.

He was also holding a pink thermos with cartoonish patterns printed all over it. It contrasted sharply with his otherwise cool and stoic demeanor.

Ana found her attention settling on the thermos when Noah suddenly looked up.

An alert look shone in his eyes when he asked, “Who are you?”

Ana answered in a calm, assuring voice, “Don't be nervous, I mean no harm.”

As soon as she spoke, Noah seemed to have suddenly recalled something, evident by the way his brows knitted together.

When he spoke again, his voice turned icy and confrontational, “I’m not going back with you, so don’t even think about it! I don’t care about the prestige of the Wilders, and I’m not interested. All I care about is Celeste!”

This is the first time Ana heard Noah speak in such a tone.

In the past, he had always been nothing but gentle and patient with her.

She was taken aback and found herself rooted to the spot.

Just when it looked like the tension in the air was accumulating, Noah seemed to have caught sight of something and suddenly leapt to his feet.

He strode over to Celeste, wrapped his arms around her waist, and swept Celeste off her feet.

Noah gently wiped a drop of water from her cheek using the sleeve of his shirt, then handed her the thermos.

After Celeste took a sip from the thermos, she smiled, pulled down Noah’s mask, then planted a kiss on his cheek.

Noah’s eyes darkened a shade for a brief second. Just as he was about to lean in to return the kiss, Celeste swiftly pulled the mask back up.

She put her tongue out playfully and quipped, “Wouldn’t want anyone to recognize you.”

While watching their interaction, Ana could not help but remember the events leading up to Noah’s disappearance.

At first, it had been nothing more than a minor car accident. The doctors informed her that Noah would only need to be monitored for two days before he could be discharged.

Somehow, he had vanished from his ward.

The last clip of surveillance footage showed a petite woman placing him on a hospital morgue trolley and sneaking him out of the hospital.

This explained why it had been so hard to track him down.

Celeste had gone the extra mile to keep him hidden so nobody would discover him.

When Celeste eventually noticed Ana, she froze in her tracks.

She immediately shooed Noah away before lunging forward to grab Ana by her wrist. Her grip was so tight that it dug into Ana’s skin.

Ana winced from the pain.

Before she could even get a word out, Celeste immediately defended herself. “I didn’t mean to hide him!”

Upon noting the panic-stricken look in her eyes, Ana replied coolly, “You, of all people, should know what your intentions were.”

Upon realizing that the cat was out of the bag, Celeste bit down hard on her lip and decided it was time to let it all out.

She grew increasingly agitated as she cried, “I know he’s loved you his entire life! If he regains his memory, the first thing he’ll do is leave me and look for you!

“Back in high school, I was already in love with him, but he has never returned my feelings. Now that I finally have a chance…

“I just wanted to have him for a few days. That’s all I’m asking for!”

She was shaking with the urge to cry toward the end.

Ana listened silently, but the entire time, she looked past Celeste to focus on Noah, who was standing right behind.

His gaze was dark and unwavering as he stared at Celeste. His whole body was rigid with tension as if he were about to explode at any moment.

Once, he was a protector who hovered about Ana like a shadow, but now, he had turned into someone else’s guard dog.

It was as if he was waiting for an excuse to pounce on Ana. All he needed was for her to pose some kind of threat toward Celeste.

Ana couldn’t find the words to describe what she was feeling.

All she knew was that now that she had another chance at life, she was not going to selfishly keep Noah by her side.

After all, he only cared for her as an act of obligation this whole time.

With that in mind, she smiled faintly at Celeste, then assured her, “There’s nothing to be worried about. I’m not here to take him away from you. I’m only here to take you two back to his parents.”

Celeste was visibly taken aback and asked in disbelief, “What?”

Ana nodded. “You’re his lover, after all. I don’t think he would want to leave you behind and come with me.”

Suddenly, she recalled the events of her past life.

After the bodyguards forcibly took Noah home, he turned into a frenzied state and started tearing at the bars so hard that his hands turned into a mangled, bloody mess.

Eventually, he somehow broke out of confinement and threw himself from the third floor of the villa, then fumbled to his feet before desperately running off to look for Celeste.

After they caught him again, his parents decided to shackle his limbs. It did not end well either, for he nearly tried to cut his limbs off so he could get away.

He would crawl on his amputated limbs just so he could make his way to Celeste.

It was only after a doctor helped him regain the lost memories that he finally settled down.

At the same time, he caught the news of Celeste’s suicide.

After that, Noah ended up falling gravely sick to the point where he nearly lost his will to live. It was only after Ana sat by his side and pleaded endlessly that he finally opened his eyes.

At the time, she failed to notice that from then on, the look in his eyes had changed. He no longer regarded her with the same doting look the way he would look at Celeste.

“Go on and pack up so you can go back to his place with him.” Ana’s voice was flat and without any emotion. “His parents know about you, too. They don’t object to you being with Noah.”