8
For a second, I was stunned. Then I snapped back to reality, pushed Cassandra to the ground, and rushed to Anna’s side.
“Anna, are you okay?”
“I’m fine, just a scratch!”
But I could see the cut on her cheek was deep, bleeding more as she spoke. I spun around, my eyes blazing as if I were looking at my mortal enemy.
“Cassandra, are you sick? What gives you the right to attack people?
She flinched, her face a mask of disbelief and wounded innocence. “Daniel, I was protecting you! How can you say that to me?”
I laughed out loud, the sound sharp and humorless.
Protecting me? Now she wanted to protect me? Where was this
She was his accomplice.
protective instinct when Scott was humiliating and mocking me?
“The best way you can protect me is by staying out of my life,” I said, my voice dripping And Cassandra, we are divorced.
We have nothing to do with each other. Why do you keep showing up and bothering me?”
Her lips trembled, and her face went deathly pale. Her voice cracked as she shook her head, pleading. “Daniel, you must have mis- understood something. Our divorce was just temporary. We can get remarried anytime!”
I didn’t know where she got the audacity.
I scoffed. “Remarry? Did I agree to that? Cassandra, from the moment we signed those papers, I never once thought about getting back with you. The biggest mistake of my life was falling in love with you three years ago.”
My words hit her like a physical blow. Her body sagged, and she had to brace herself against a wall to stay upright. Her pupils cons tricted, her voice an unsteady whisper.
l’s impossible, Daniel. How can you say something so cruel? We agreed. This was just temporary. We were going to get remar-
ried after I calmed Scott down.”
I carefully helped Anna to her feet, then turned back to Cassandra, my face a blank slate. “That was your delusion, not our agreem- ent. Why should I have to play along with your games over and over again? When I loved you, I was willing to give you everything. Now that I don’t, you’re worth less to me than a stray dog on the street.”
I helped Anna walk away, brushing past Cassandra without a second glance.
took Anna to the clinic to get the cut cleaned and bandaged. Even with a long, angry gash on her cheek, she still had the heart to
joke with me.
“Saving you from disaster again today. Why is it that whenever I’m with you, Daniel, I’m the one who gets hurt?”
The tears that had been welling in my eyes vanished, replaced by a sudden laugh. I shot her a mock glare and puffed out my chest. “It’s your honor to be wounded for my sake.”
We laughed as I walked her home. I was just about to head to my own rented apartment nearby when Cassandra appeared in front of me again. She was calmer now, and had clearly done her homework.
“She’s your professor’s daughter, your senior from the institute, isn’t she?”
“Daniel, you don’t have to use her as a shield just to make me angry.
couldn’t believe she had been following me. A bitter laugh escaped my lips. “Who said I’m using her as a shield? And who says a senior can’t become a lover? Cassandra, you and your precious childhood friend are inseparable. Why can’t my senior and I be the
same?”
My words seemed to shatter her last line of defense. Her eyes reddened, and her voice was thick with unshed tears.
“Daniel, why do you have to torture me like this? If you don’t like Scott, then… then I’ll cut ties with him. Okay? We can go get remar-
ried right now. We’ll never be apart again.”
I sneered, about to reply, when Scott himself emerged from the shadows.
He stared at Cassandra, his expression panicked, a dangerous glint in his eyes.
