Semua Bab I wish it were you: Bab 1681 - Bab 1690

The thugs were all down, writhing on the ground and groaning in pain. They’d clearly been hit where it hurt, but none were fatally injured.Isabel stood at the edge of the courtyard, dazed as she watched the scene unfold. It felt surreal—like she was watching a movie.She even forgot for a moment that Perry was still lying nearby, and that the only reason she came here in the first place was to save *him*.Perry had called out to her several times before she finally heard him and turned his way.“Isabel, now’s our chance—let’s get out of here!”She glanced at him and replied coolly, “I’m not you.”At a moment of crisis, thinking only of self-preservation—that was Perry’s way, not hers.Rial was fighting with everything he had to protect her. How could she possibly leave him behind?Perry froze, realizing what she meant. “He’s that strong. He’ll be fine. Why don’t… why don’t we drive off first and then figure out how to help him?”Isabel didn’t even know what to say to that.There was

The ambiguous atmosphere in the car, coupled with the serious tone of Rial, made Isabel feel very uncomfortable. She snapped, “I heard you! Stop being so dramatic.”“Don’t brush me off,” he said.“I’m not brushing you off! I never had any feelings for your brother. You’re the one being jealous for no reason.”Isabel quickly defended herself but was confused as to why she was in such a hurry to explain to him.“You just said you wanted to get to know my brother,” Rial reminded her.Isabel gave him a speechless look. That had only been a joke, but to her surprise, he took it seriously. She responded, “Fine, I do want to get to know your brother. That way, if you bully me again, I can just tell him!”“What kind of bullying? The kind just now?” He said playfully, glancing down at her waist, his gaze far too bold, making Isabel want to hit him.But seeing that he was injured for her, she shot him a warning glare instead of acting on her impulse.Rial leaned close to her ear and whispered,

Rial gave her a helpless look. "Alright, since you want to hear it... but let's make it clear, if you're jealous, you can hit me, but you can't ignore me."Isabel patiently nodded. "Hurry up, I want to sleep after hearing this."So, in his embrace, she listened to him recount his past relationships.He said, strictly speaking, he had only ever had one girlfriend.That was when he was in college, and they had been together for several years.Unfortunately, they eventually broke up.He wrapped up years of story in just a few words.But Isabel could tell that he had been deeply invested in his first girlfriend, or else he wouldn't have said that, strictly speaking, she was the only one he had ever truly dated."Why did you break up?"He calmly replied, "There wasn’t anything special. She went abroad, and I chose to stay in the country. Maybe we both had things that were more important and harder to let go of, so neither of us was willing to compromise. It ended peacefully.""Just like th

Kendrick held Annabelle for a moment, then lifted his head from her shoulder, cupped her face, and kissed her forehead. "It's just that there have been too many things lately, and I'm a little tired. Don't worry."Annabelle's eyes filled with tears.It seemed like no matter what she did, she couldn’t get close to him, couldn’t help him with his worries. That feeling left her powerless.But he wasn’t willing to talk, and she couldn’t force him. If he didn’t want to speak, forcing him wouldn’t help.She helped him sit on a nearby chair, took off his tie, then his suit and shirt. She half-knelt in front of him to undo his belt. Although bending over was a bit hard now, this posture was more comfortable.But when Kendrick looked at her, there was a look of pain in his eyes. He urged her to get up, saying he could do it himself."Don’t move, sit still," Annabelle ordered.Kendrick smiled apologetically and gently stroked her cheek.Annabelle undid his belt and helped him remove his pants.

When Kendrick heard his father's response, the turmoil he had been feeling for more than half a month finally found some comfort.However, there were still many questions in his heart. He was afraid that his father was hiding the truth just to spare his feelings. After all, according to Lydia's account, many things seemed to make sense.For instance, before his mother passed away, his father had stopped visiting her because he had learned about her affair with Damien and her pregnancy—meaning that Kendrick was the child of that affair.Kendrick vaguely remembered that once, his father had come to visit his mother, only to be thrown out by her. His mother had even said, “If you have the time, why don’t you go see your real son?” At that time, his parents were already separated, and when she referred to her "real son," it was likely referring to Marvin.This sentence carried another implication: Kendrick was not the biological son of his father.Lydia also claimed that his mother’s depr