2
Teaching always engrossed me, and I quickly pushed the unexpected encounter from my mind. Back in my office, the heating was stifling. I removed my coat but left my scarf on. A new faculty member opposite me kindly pointed it out. “Professor Martin, you forgot to take off your scarf.” I smiled, offering no explanation.
Lesson planning, grading papers, lunch, a short nap. Liam’s appearance didn’t seem to affect me. My life continued as it always had. At least, on the surface. I reclined my chair, pulled a thin blanket over me, confirmed my alarm for my nap was set, and closed my eyes. Soon, I was drifting off.
But I had clearly underestimated the psychological impact of Liam’s sudden presence. For the first time in years, I dreamt of Julian Vance and Liam.
Julian and I had an arranged marriage, a business alliance. My father, in his youth, had been kind to Julian’s father. He hadn’t asked for anything in return. But then, my father’s business ran into trouble, forcing him to seek help from the Vance family. Julian’s father agreed to help but proposed a union through marriage.
At the time, I had a secret crush on Julian. But I also knew he had a girl he loved, Ashley Hayes. So, I never dared to express my feelings. Yet, in the gilded cage of aristocratic marriage, one’s own desires were often irrelevant. When I learned I was to marry him, I was so overjoyed I couldn’t sleep all night. I believed I could, with time and effort, slowly win his heart.
But halfway through the wedding, news broke that the plane Ashley was on had crashed. She had left heartbroken, and that flight had plunged into the deep sea, leaving no trace. Julian calmly let the wedding proceed. But I knew his heart was now fortified by high walls. The eternally youthful Ashley Hayes had truly taken up residence there.
So, I suggested Julian and I remain married in name only. But he descended upon me, his eyes dark with fury, devoid of any tende rness. He whispered savagely in my ear, “Does it hurt? Endure it. Ashley died because of the Martin family. This is all your family’s fault.”
After that night, the Martin family went bankrupt, completely vanishing from Capital City’s elite circles. My father, in despair, jump- ed from a building. My mother suffered a mental breakdown and was confined to a sanatorium. I still remember the night my fath er died. Julian was dead drunk. He stumbled into my bedroom, raging, a wild beast unleashed. “Cassidy Martin, I want you to feel a hundred, a thousand times more pain than I do.”
I wanted to die. But Julian saw through me. “If you don’t want your mother to suffer, then you will live. You know I have my ways. couldn’t die even if I wanted to, and living brought only torment,
