Love Like You Never Loved Before

“Dad has agreed to it and will sign the documents once you’re back to the office. Also, he asked me to pass you the document about tomorrow’s meeting.”

Before Mark left the office, he gave me the document and said that Mom would be delighted upon reading it. He even blinked mischievously and assured me that Mom would agree to all demands that I made.

Just as expected, Isabelle’s lips curled into a grin as soon as she opened the document. It was as though she had won the lottery. However, I couldn’t help but feel slightly upset, for it proved that Isabelle was way more obsessed with self-interest than I thought. In the end, I didn’t ask anything of her.

I disdained using the contract to exchange for things that I needed. If we had to maintain our mother-daughter relationship using such tactics, I wondered what was left between us. Perhaps there will be nothing left.

As the weather had become colder, I draped a shirt on myself before leaving the house. I was surprised to see Tobey standing outside my main door. Given that his shirt looked slightly damp, I guessed he had been waiting out there for quite some time. Meanwhile, Tobey handed me a bouquet of red roses and said, “Good morning. I hope you’ll be as beautiful and cheerful as roses every day.”

I put on a faint smile and took the roses from him. “Are you gifting the flowers to me as an apology? If not, I’ll throw them into the garbage bin right away.”

“Well, roses, especially these eleven roses, symbolize eternal love.” Then, Tobey glanced at the closed door behind me and asked, “May I come in?”

“I’m afraid it’s a bit inconvenient. After all, I don’t want to make your girlfriend jealous.” After I blinked my eyes and declined his request, Tobey’s expression turned grim.

“You’re right. Despite being together for many years, we didn’t get married or have a wedding. Because of that, Flora always cries and goes berserk whenever I’m with another woman. Anyway, I’m so sorry for what happened yesterday,” Tobey apologized.

“It’s okay. If we still have to meet up next time, I’d suggest that you communicate with Flora. If you can’t promise me this, I won’t show up next time. When that happens, please don’t accuse me of disrespecting you. I’ll refuse to show up no matter how many times you ask me. After all, I don’t want to be seen as a homewrecker,” I responded half-jokingly.

“Well, I still hope that you can agree to my win-win proposal. We will be married on paper only and you can decide when you want to get a divorce. In that case, getting married won’t stop you from doing anything. Isn’t it a good plan—”

“Enough! If you dwell on that, I’m afraid we can’t even be friends,” I interrupted.

After seeing Tobey off, I decided to go to Lane Corporation to find out what Christopher had been working on lately. Since I was the company’s major shareholder, I wished to assist Christopher and lessen his burden.

When I was at the junction, a white car sped toward me. I couldn’t help but frown while taking a few steps back. How can they drive that fast? I mean, they’ll be in deep trouble if they crash into a kid!

As I was pondering about it, the car suddenly stopped next to me. Then, two strong men in black shirts hopped out and rushed toward me. When I wanted to escape, one of them suddenly pulled my hair to drag me back.

“Who are you? Let go of me—” I tried to wriggle free from the man and bit his hand. In response, he punched me on my back. I staggered and nearly fell to the ground. At that moment, one of them grabbed my hand and covered my nose and mouth with a handkerchief.

The strong chemical smell wafted into my nose and I soon lost consciousness.