Chapter 29 The Past Tense
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“He said he smeared you online just because he couldn’t stand you. It had nothing to do with Elsa. Jones Corp’s legal team will sue him and make him pay the price. Lily, I know you’ve been wronged. But you were slandered, and I’ll take care of that. You really shouldn’t have taken matters into your own hands and humiliated Elsa like that.”
Seeing him reach out to pull her into his arms, Lily coldly slapped his hand away and kept her distance.
Something came to mind, and she couldn’t help but laugh. “You’ll handle it? Like how you handled it when you married Elsa -pulling down the trending posts, scrubbing the news coverage? And what did scrubbing it even accomplish? After the news was pulled, the people who saw it still remember. They still know you and Elsa held a wedding and looked like a perfect match. And just the same, they’ll still believe I, Lily, am a shameless mistress. I didn’t do anything wrong. Why should I carry the stain of being called a homewrecker, have people whisper behind my back?”
“And you say you didn’t want Elsa to be embarrassed. She had the nerve to ask you to marry her when we weren’t even broken up yet. If she’s humiliated, isn’t that exactly what she deserves? We were supposed to be the ones getting married. The two of you were the ones sneaking around, hugging and kissing. Wasn’t that cheating? Isn’t she the mistress? Trying to act like a saint–how convenient for the both of you.”
“Lily!”
John’s expression went cold the moment her words turned cutting.
His voice was laced with warning. “Elsa is not a mistress.”
“Ha!”
Lily couldn’t help but feel like he was telling a joke.
There was no point continuing this conversation. She turned her face away and
gave
her final command,
voice icy.
“Get out.”
He didn’t move.
In fact, he stubbornly pulled her into his arms again.
The more she struggled, the tighter he held her, like he wanted to absorb her into himself.
He let out a sigh, as if he was compromising. “If you really don’t want to, I won’t make you apologize to Elsa. But Lily… Elsa’s not doing well. The online hate triggered her depression and she tried to kill herself. Even if you won’t say sorry, I hope you’ll stop hurting her. She’s fragile now. She can’t handle any more. I’m only taking care of her out of pity. I don’t have any romantic feelings for her. When she’s gone, I’ll marry you. Just stop targeting her. Let her finish her last journey in peace… please?”
Lily couldn’t break free from his arms. She closed her eyes, numb.
This morning, she had been surrounded and pelted with filth. And now somehow, she had become the villain–bullying Elsa.
No romantic feelings? Then why the kisses, the stolen intimacy?
And as for marriage…
When she had wanted to marry him, he kept delaying the date for Elsa’s sake, Even on the day they were supposed to register, he stood her up. Who even wants to marry
him anymore?
Her voice was flat, almost dead. “I support you staying by Elsa’s side until the end. That’s why I’m breaking up with you. Go be a couple. John, I’m letting you go. So please–let me go too.”
“Lily!”
John’s face instantly darkened. “Why are you still making a scene? Do you have to drag everyone down before you’re satisfied? Don’t go too far. You-”
Just as he was about to continue, he noticed how unnaturally red her face was.
Chapter 29 The Past Tense
He quickly raised a hand to her forehead. Her body was ice cold, but her skin burned.
“You have a fever?”
Seeing her trembling from the heat, he stopped arguing and immediately grabbed the thermometer.
100 degrees.
Seeing the number, his usual cold gaze was full of rare panic. “Why are you burning up this badly?”
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He gently cradled her in his arms, his voice uncharacteristically soft and worried. “Let’s stop fighting, okay? Let’s just be together–peacefully.”
She could hear the concern in his voice and wavered for a second.
But her heart stayed cold.
Because he cared about Elsa too.
She wasn’t the only one he cared about.
“John, there’s no way we can be together.”
The old Lily used to love curling up in his arms. Just listening to his heartbeat could make her feel full of joy.
But now, that same heartbeat felt like torture with every beat.
She instinctively tried to push him away, but her fever had gotten worse. Her body was limp and numb.
She was too tired–too exhausted to fight.
ミ
She didn’t want to resist anymore, just set her boundaries. “As long as Elsa’s around, we’ll never have peace. And I’m not someone who looks back. Everything behind me is just a sea of pain. I can only move forward. John, in my heart… you’re already the past.
“I really did like you once,” Lily said quietly. “But feelings change. Just like you fell out of love, so can I.”
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