Chapter 2
Adeline stared at Hugo’s back. He was so frantic and desperate, and not once did he look back. Pain tore through her.
And suddenly, she remembered that he used to get that frantic over her
too.
Back then, she was just a fish seller at the seafood market. She would tie up her hair into a simple ponytail and wouldn’t wear any makeup, but her bare face was still striking. People called her “The Fish Belle“.
The first time Hugo saw her, he stood at her stall for two full hours. Then, he pulled out a black card and said, “Come with me. You’ll never have to touch this stuff again.”
She was poor but proud and nonchalant. She froze for a moment, then handed the card back. “No thanks, sir. Earning a living through hard
work isn’t shameful.”
He stared at her quietly for a long while before handing her a business card. “I’m Hugo Bernard. I’ll be back tomorrow.”
She didn’t take it seriously.
But the next day, he really came back. He arrived in a black Maybach and was wearing a suit as he stood awkwardly among the stalls that reeked of fish.
For three whole months, the most privileged prince of New York’s elite did outrageous things to win Adeline over.
She rejected his roses, so he had imported seafood delivered to her stall every day.
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She avoided his luxury car, so he walked to the stinking market on foot.
She said they were from different worlds, so he bent down by her fish basin and scaled fish with his hands.
He stood in that market for three months straight. Every single time she rejected him, he would come straight to the market again the next day.
It wasn’t that Adeline wasn’t moved. She just knew too well how big the gap between them was, so she wouldn’t–couldn’t–let herself fall.
Until one day, he jumped in to shield her when a competitor splashed acid on her. In an instant, a hideous mess of burns covered his back.
Even when drenched in cold sweat from the pain, Hugo smiled at her and said, “Aline, remember, you owe me a life. You’ll have to repay it with a lifetime.”
She cried, hot tears hitting the palm of his hand.
Once, she tripped and scraped her knee. He was so distressed that his eyes turned red. On the way to the hospital, his hands wouldn’t stop shaking.
The doctor, half–laughing, said it was just a surface wound. But Hugo still insisted on a CT scan, afraid Adeline might’ve fractured something.
And now…
Adeline looked down at the pool of blood at her feet and laughed, until tears streamed down her face.
She took a cab to the hospital–alone.
Even after getting her wound treated, her head was still spinning, and her legs were barely steady. Just as she stepped out of the exam room, someone grabbed her wrist–hard.
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“I get it.” She pushed him away. “Go take care of her.”
She turned to leave, but he grabbed her wrist again.
“Aline, no matter what, believe this–I only love you. Everything I’ve done… It’s all so we can leave sooner.
་་
He gently touched the gauze on her forehead. “I’ll have the maid take care of you. Don’t let the wound get wet.”
Then, he let go and walked toward Steffie’s ward.
Adeline stood there, watching his tall figure fade into the hallway.
“I don’t believe you anymore, Hugo–not a single word,” she whispered.
