All Chapters of His Social Anxiety Vanished the Day His First Love Came Back: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

10 Chapters

Chapter 1

"Vivi, sweetheart, is Marcus not coming today either?"My father sighed, and the gray at his temples looked painfully bright under the restaurant lights.I followed his eyes to the empty seat we had set aside at the round table, and my throat tightened.Three full years of marriage, and Marcus, his son-in-law, had met my parents only through a phone screen.Every holiday there was a place setting for him at their table, and he never once showed up.Worse still, last year on my birthday I hadn't told him in advance that my parents were coming.He pushed open the door of the private room, and the second he saw them his face went cold. He turned around and walked out without a shred of hesitation.He left my parents standing there, not knowing what to do with their hands.That night I chased him through street after street in heels, coaxing him in the smallest voice I had.Under the dim streetlight, Marcus looked at me with nothing but irritation."Vivian, you know I can't handle social s

Chapter 2

"She won't be coming.""Different circles. She wouldn't have any fun with us."Marcus dropped the words like they cost him nothing and reached over to pull the wrap higher on Chloe's shoulders.The group behind him let out a few muffled snickers."Right, dragging some stranger along would kill the mood.""Marcus is as protective as ever. God forbid Chloe feel out of place."They tossed the lines back and forth, and every one of them spelled out the same cruel truth.In Marcus's world, I was the outsider. Chloe was the rightful leading lady, the one everyone gathered around.In college, Marcus and Chloe had been the golden couple, and nobody disputed it.Their families matched. Their faces matched.It lasted until the year they graduated, when Chloe left the country without a word to anyone.After that Marcus, who had always been so proud, fell apart completely and spent his days soaking himself in alcohol.I was the one who quietly stayed beside him and took care of him down to the sma

Chapter 3

The next second he snatched up the coat he had just put down and strode toward the entryway."Chloe has been scared of thunder since she was little. She just got back, she's living alone, she'll be terrified. I'm going to check on her."My face went white, and it took me a long moment to force out a sentence. "Could you not go?"He didn't slow down. "Whatever it is, it can wait until I'm back."Almost the instant he left, thunder cracked open the sky outside.My whole body jerked. Without thinking I wrapped my arms around myself and curled deep into the corner of the couch.Looking at the empty living room, I couldn't help a bitter little laugh.Three years.Marcus still couldn't remember that I was afraid of thunder too.I looked down at the divorce agreement in my hands and signed my name at the bottom.The rain fell all night and still hadn't stopped by daylight.I had drifted into a half sleep when a phone call jolted me awake."Vivi... your father spiked a fever in the middle of t

Chapter 4

By the time I came out of Marcus's office, the rain was heavier.At least it wasn't completely hopeless.Professor Reid released two appointment slots a day.I paid a small fortune, and I finally got one for the day before he was scheduled to leave.But right as we were about to walk into the exam room, the nurse at the desk stopped me, her face full of apology."I'm so sorry. Professor Reid was just called into an emergency consult on the eighth floor, the VIP wing. All the remaining appointments have to be refunded."The words came down on me like a bucket of ice water."My father is coughing so hard he can't breathe, a flare-up like this can't wait! Can't you make an exception, even just one look..."My voice shook with panic.The nurse sighed helplessly."There's really nothing I can do. Upstairs pulled him away directly. Go up to the eighth floor and beg. Maybe he can still squeeze you in."I tore up to the eighth floor like a madwoman, only to find two familiar figures outside th

Chapter 5

Marcus's eyes dropped to the ring rolling across the floor.He reached out on instinct to grab me, but I had already turned and walked away.The emergency lobby on the first floor was packed and loud.My head was full of the image of my father coughing blood, and I was moving too fast and too frantically. At the corner I slammed straight into a solid chest.The medical files in his hands scattered everywhere.I stumbled backward, but a hand caught my wrist and steadied me."Careful."The voice above me held a note of surprise. "Vivian?"I froze for a second and looked up.The man in front of me wore a plain white shirt and a light gray trench coat, and he stood very straight.The softness of boyhood had gone out of his features, replaced by something settled and grown, and only the small mole at the outer corner of his left eye still carried that familiar clean handsomeness.I said it hesitantly. "Noah?"Noah and I had grown up together, on the same lane in the old neighborhood in Port

Chapter 6

Marcus sat at a window table in the restaurant, his eyes drifting on nothing, the food in front of him almost untouched.For some reason, his mind kept replaying that scene in the hospital hallway.Vivian, eyes rimmed red, throwing the ring at him with absolute finality.The feel of that bit of metal hitting bone had been so slight, and yet remembering it now, his chest went strangely tight.Chloe, sitting across from him, picked up on his distraction right away.She thoughtfully lifted a piece of fish onto his plate. "What are you thinking about? You're miles away."Marcus pulled himself back and smoothed whatever was in his eyes."Nothing. A project at work."Chloe laughed softly and laid her hand over his on the table. "Is it about Vivian just now? It's all right, Marc. You still have me."Her eyes burned into him."You shut yourself away all these years because of me. You wouldn't even do normal socializing. I'm back now. Let's be together again."Marcus yanked his hand back, his b

Chapter 7

The face that had been so pitiful a moment ago was now white as paper.Marcus stood frozen, disbelief all over him."Chloe, what is this?"The man caught the name and turned, looking Marcus up and down before letting out a nasty snort of a laugh."So you're the Ashford guy? The idiot backup?""You still don't know, do you? Back when she was with you, she was already working on me. I told her I could get her legal residency abroad, and she walked out with me without blinking. Now my business is in trouble and she cleaned out my money behind my back and ran home to find you to bail her out."Chloe threw herself at Marcus and locked both arms around his legs, sobbing so hard her face was a mess."Marc, let me explain, he forced me into all of it! You're the only one I love!"Marcus looked down at her, his face ashen.The pristine vision of the girl in the white dress, which had returned to him countless times, shattered completely in that moment; no piece could be fitted back into what it

Chapter 8

My father's numbers steadied out, and he was moved from intensive care into a regular room.I turned to my mother, whose eyes had gone bruised with exhaustion. "Mom, go home and sleep. I can stay with him."She nodded, and had barely pushed the door open when she found Marcus standing outside."Margaret, is Robert doing any better?"He gestured to the two men behind him."These are two of the top pulmonary specialists in the next city. I got them here overnight. Medicine in this country is every bit as good as it is abroad. Let them go in and look Robert over properly. I've taken care of all the costs."Marcus was carrying an armload of expensive supplements.There was nothing but ice in my mother's face. "It's Mrs. Sloane to you, Mr. Ashford. We're small, ordinary people. We can't reach up to a man of your standing."I pushed the door open and came out, putting myself between them."Mom, go sit with Dad."I turned and looked at Marcus's exhausted face."Let's talk downstairs."In the

Chapter 9

For the next two weeks, Marcus showed up at the hospital right on time.He ran every errand there was to run, conscientious about all of it."Vivi, these pastries just came out of the oven. Eat some while they're hot."He pushed the box toward me.Before, this would have been pure fantasy.There was a time when my cramps had me sweating cold and I begged him for a cup of hot water, and he frowned and told me to get over it myself.I didn't even lift my eyes. "Put it down."He had been my father's son-in-law for three years, and after missing so much of it, running errands now was a debt he owed.I didn't stop him and I certainly wasn't moved. I simply treated it as having gained a free nurse.The day my father was discharged, Marcus took over all the packing."Robert, Margaret, come stay at the house with me."He looked at the two of them and said earnestly, "There are plenty of rooms, the housekeeper's cooking suits older stomachs better, and it's close to the downtown hospital, so fo

Chapter 10

"Margaret..." Marcus got to his feet in a fluster, at a total loss."The two of us are plain people," my mother said. "We're not good with words, we never have been."She walked over and pulled me behind her."The truth is, as parents, we never once hoped our daughter would land a rich or important husband. We only hoped she'd live comfortably, and freely."Marcus's back went rigid, and his head sank."I didn't take care of Vivi.""No, you didn't."My mother sighed, and a fine layer of water rose in her eyes."She used to be such a lively girl. She loved noise, she loved to laugh.""But since the wedding, she's spent every day walking on eggshells around your moods."She reached up and stroked my hair, and her voice thickened."She isn't happy with you. Not at all. A perfectly good person, and the light in her eyes is gone."The words were light as a passing breeze, yet they struck Marcus like a stone.His pale lips shook violently, but for a long time nothing came out."So let an old

SCAN CODE TO READ ON APP