Chapter 96: Chapter 95
"What, you haven’t moved in with Simon yet?" Anna asked, surprised, after hearing the whole story.
"He’s acting so weird lately. I’m scared," Joanna said honestly.
The Simon Anna remembered was always silent, cold, and distant. She couldn’t imagine what Joanna meant by "weird."
"You’re probably overthinking it."
Seeing Anna’s obvious disbelief, Joanna got flustered. "He’s always biting me, and always in the same spot! Look, if you don’t believe me..."
As she spoke, Joanna started pulling at the collar of her thin turtleneck sweater. There, on the pale, smooth skin of her neck, was a startling, swollen, and bruised bite mark. It looked like he was staking a claim, surrounded by a scattering of smaller red marks.
Anna: "..."
’How many times did he have to bite her to get that kind of result?’ Anna suddenly felt her own teeth ache in sympathy.
One second, two seconds...
Anna suddenly roared in frustration, "...Joanna, I’m over here trying to help you, and you’re just rubbing your love life in my face?!"
’Showing this to someone who just called off her engagement?!’
’Does she think I’m some kind of masochist?!!!’
Joanna jumped, startled by her outburst. Her eyes went wide in disbelief. "This is supposed to be romantic?!"
"What else could it be?!" Anna blurted out. "Why isn’t Simon gnawing on me!"
Joanna: "..."
Joanna still wanted to explain. "Don’t you think it’s a bit much?" she asked.
Anna: "...?"
Anna sighed and tried to comfort her. "Okay, he’s definitely overbearing and way too possessive, but that’s just because—"
Before she could finish, Joanna cut in angrily, "They put purple ink stamps on pigs! He’s treating me like livestock!"
Anna: "..."
At this point, she didn’t know who to feel sorry for. Only one thought crossed her mind: Simon and Joanna were a perfect match. They complemented each other in every way.
「In the villa’s study」
Simon checked the time for what felt like the hundredth time.
’The clock must be broken.’ How had only ten minutes passed?
’What was the time I agreed on with Joanna?’
’Oh, right. Half an hour.’
Half an hour for dinner, then a trip to the apartment to grab her luggage, and then the drive from the apartment to the villa... all told, it should take over an hour.
Simon stood up and went downstairs.
The housekeeper had just finished simmering the soup when she heard the front door open. Peeking out, she only caught a glimpse of the man’s tall, straight back before she heard a car engine start in the driveway.
’Young people these days, so impatient.’
Even someone as cool and composed as the high-and-mighty Mr. Lockwood was no exception.
The housekeeper shook her head, but an unconscious smile spread across her face.
Her thoughts drifted to the small, locked attic on the third floor. She had only been inside once to clean, right after she started, before he’d locked it. Thinking of the items kept in there, the housekeeper let out a nearly imperceptible sigh.
She didn’t understand the love lives of young people, but she still felt happy for Mr. Lockwood.
Simon drove straight to her apartment building. He got out, took the elevator up, and used his spare key to open the door. He was met with a wave of cold, dark silence.
The girl hadn’t come back yet.
Realizing this, Simon pressed his lips together in displeasure. He flipped on the lights. The modest living room was spotless, clearly having been cleaned with care.
On the balcony sat a succulent and two pots of devil’s ivy. Joanna always liked raising plants that were easy to keep alive.
A faint, fresh scent wafted from the bedroom. A suitcase stood by the door with a black backpack resting on top of it. A Piggy Hero figurine dangled from a keychain on the bag.
’Such childish taste...’
Simon carried the suitcase and backpack into the living room. As he was leaving the bedroom, the figurine on the keychain got snagged on the doorframe.
The backpack tumbled to the floor, spilling some of its contents. Simon bent down to pick them up.
Bluetooth earbuds, a power bank, sunglasses, and a few other miscellaneous items... Then Simon saw something that made his gaze freeze.
It was a square, white gift box. It didn’t look special—in fact, it was a little worn.
But for some reason, Simon couldn’t look away. He stared at it for a long moment before slowly opening it.
Under the stark white light, a silver bracelet glinted with a cool luminescence.
In that instant, Simon froze. His pupils contracted sharply.
Without warning, memories he had deliberately sealed in the deepest corners of his heart came rushing back like a flood.
His six years abroad had been numbing, a straight line between school and the office. Simon once thought he had forgotten most of it, but now, seeing this bracelet, he realized he still remembered that night with perfect clarity.
The girl’s bright, dazzling smile beneath the roses, the way she had sobbed uncontrollably when she accepted the bracelet...
Simon couldn’t remember how much it had cost. Two months’ salary? Three? It was the best he could afford back when he was young.
All he could remember was her young, innocent face, her eyes filled with love.
Back then, Simon hadn’t considered whether a bracelet worth several thousand was worth it or not.
In his heart, Joanna deserved the best. She was beautiful and precious, raised in the lap of luxury, and she deserved to be cherished forever.
Later, she left, and Simon had always believed she’d taken nothing with her. But reality, time and again, had shown him that wasn’t true.
The pale-yellow water cup, the old-fashioned bracelet...
All of it made his six years of self-pity, resentment, and pain feel like a complete joke.
His Joanie... so simple, so naively cruel, so selfish and domineering, yet so indecisive...
Simon tugged at the corner of his mouth, but a smile wouldn’t form. He gripped the cold bracelet, his hand almost trembling as he placed it back in the box and closed the lid.
*
Just as Anna’s car entered the complex, Joanna, in the passenger seat, spotted the black Maybach parked downstairs. She recognized the license plate.
"Whoa, someone important lives in your complex. Whose big shot’s car is this?! That license plate number is insane," Anna marveled.
Joanna’s voice was hollow. "Simon’s."
Anna: "..."
The lights were on in her ninth-floor apartment. Someone was definitely inside.
"...Can you come up with me?" Joanna pleaded, wrinkling her nose.
Simon had given her thirty minutes, and it had already been fifty. Joanna felt a pang of guilt. She just hadn’t expected Simon to have so much free time that he would actually follow her here!
Anna heartlessly pried Joanna’s hand off her and flatly refused. "Don’t even think about asking me to be a third wheel."
"Anna..."
Joanna tried to protest, but Anna caught her off guard and pushed her out of the car. By the time Joanna had steadied herself, the car had already sped off, leaving only a cloud of exhaust in its wake.
Joanna: "..."
’True friendship means never caring if the other person lives or dies.’
’Anna really is her best friend.’
Joanna’s head drooped as she tried to figure out what to do. The more she thought, the more annoyed she became.
’So what if I’m twenty minutes late?!’
’Am I not allowed to have a life of my own?!’
’That’s right! I have to stand my ground. Otherwise, once I move into the villa, Simon will bully me to death!’
