In the evening, when Essie came back from the business center, she was very happy.
She was finally relieved.
Mandy didn't blame her anymore, and their friendship was as strong as ever.
After having a comfortable shower, she leaned her back against the bedhead and began to watch the
TV program. She couldn't help but sing along when the theme song of the show played.
Noticing that she was in a good mood, Zac asked her with a smile, "How was your day with two besties
today?"
"Excellent." Essie nodded her head crazily. "Ice guy, I am so happy. When Mandy found out about our
marriage, she didn't get angry at all. Instead, she even wished me happiness. I don't need to worry that
our friendship will be destroyed by my relationship with you anymore."
Zac raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Was she really so generous?"
Essie glared at him and said, "Well, are you a little disappointed that she has forgotten all about you?"
Holding the back of his head with both hands, Zac leaned against the bedhead and said in a joking
tone, "When it comes to women, the more, the better."
He was probably telling the truth.
No wonder he was so experienced with women.
Essie gave him a dark look and turned to the TV.
Zac flashed her a gentle smile and said in a soft voice, "But very few women are my type."
And? Was she supposed to feel honored?
"What's wrong with Mandy? She's beautiful, and she's the anchorwoman of a TV show. A lot of men
are chasing after her." She pouted.
Zac flicked her forehead and said, "A woman is cuter when she is always silly and confused."
She glanced at him.
Was he talking about her? She really was a little brainless. She would often trip while walking, cut
herself while peeling fruit, scald her legs after making coffee, and forget her wallet when she went out.
However, there were a lot of good things about her. She could eat and sleep well, and she could feed
Zac well.
While she was thinking, a pair of big hands started crawling beneath her nightgown.
Upon feeling this, she took out the anti-wolf weapon she had prepared in advance from the drawer of
the bedside table.
"Ice guy! You can only have me warm up the bed if you win."
A cold light swept across the man's eyes. He hated this weapon very much!
With one swift motion, he snatched the cup and tossed it away, and the ugly thing went flying out of the
window. "Honey, from now on, you are obligated to obey me and you have no right to refuse."
The woman felt scared. Was he going to force her again?
"No..." she started to say, but Zac stopped her from crying out.
The next day,
Jim came to the house to have some tea with Zac in the garden.
Essie guessed that he was going to discussing the selection of the heroine for War Emperor with Zac,
so she secretly hid behind the rockery to eavesdrop.
"You're expecting me to act badly the entire time when I play the part with that unknown actress, am I
right?" Jim squinted his eyes which were glimmering in the sunlight.
"You were so absorbed in the fight scene with her." A humored smile appeared on Zac's face.
"I don't know what you're talking about." Jim raised his eyebrows and changed the subject. "But there's
something I'm interested in."
"What is it?" said Zac in an indifferent tone.
"What are you doing with Essie? Are you acting or is it all real?" He leaned forward slightly with a look
of great interest on his face. He saw the love marks on her neck when he came in, and it really piqued
his curiosity. Zac wanted to escape his wedding, but then he took another woman as his wife. It made
Jim doubt his motivation behind getting married.
"Do you really want to know?" asked Zac.
Jim nodded.
"Where are the poker chips?" Zac said deliberately to tantalize him.
Jim touched his chin and said, "I will let you cast Eva as the second heroine. As for the role of the
heroine, I will still have to see her performance in the audition. What do you think?"
Zac nodded his head in agreement.
Taking a sip of his tea, Jim asked, "Then tell me now, have you fallen in love with that little beauty?"
"That silly and muddled woman always gives me a headache. How could I fall in love with her?" Zac
said with a smile. When he spoke about her, his eyes were full of tenderness.
However, as she hid behind the rockery, Essie heard everything without seeing the look on Zac's face.
Her heart twitched as if a basin of cold water had fallen from the sky and drenched her from head to
toe.
She already knew that he loved someone else, but since she had never heard him say it, she still had a
bit of a fantasy in her heart. She thought that he might have some feelings for her even if he didn't love
her.
But now that she had heard the cruel truth, she felt desperate.
It turned out that he had no feelings for her, but he also hated her. Apparently, spending time with her
actually gave him a headache.
Essie tightened her fingers, and the sharp edges of the rocks cut her palm. However, she didn't feel the
pain at all because the pain in her heart was much worse.
But why was her heart hurting?
She didn't love him at all. The person she loved was Hanson!
She shook her head and ran into the bamboo forest.
The two men didn't even notice her presence.
Jim seemed to have gotten the answer he wanted. He smiled knowingly and stopped talking.
In the afternoon, Essie and Zac were supposed to go to K City together, but Valery suddenly said that
she had a stomachache.
Afraid that she would get a miscarriage, Zac quickly sent her to the hospital. The doctor couldn't find
anything wrong, but he asked her to stay in hospital for further observation in case he missed
something.
"Zac, I'm so scared. Don't leave. Stay here with me, okay?" pleaded Valery, her eyes full of tears.
The truth was, she wasn't in pain at all. She just pretended to be hurting because she didn't want Zac
and Essie to go to K City together. This way, Essie could meet her first love alone.
Worried about the baby, Zac called Essie and asked her to go to the airport first.
There was no expression on Essie's face at all. Whether he was there or not made no difference to her.
She had decided to get rid of her dependence on him. She was not going to let him hit her with sugar-
coated bullets again.
As soon as she arrived in K City, she received a call from Hanson, who had arrived there the day
before yesterday.
"Essie. Have you arrived?"
"I'm in the taxi. I'll be there soon." She took a deep breath and buried all the negative emotions she had
because of Zac, leaving only her excitement to meet with her old classmates.
After all, this was the first reunion they'd had since they graduated.
The venue of the gathering was the Sichuan restaurant outside the campus. They spent a lot of time
there when they were still studying, and they all missed the classic dishes there the most.
As soon as Essie entered, the boys began to tease her. "Our school belle has finally arrived."
"She is not yours. She belongs to our counselor." The monitor smiled and waved her over. "Come here,
Miss University Belle. The seat beside the counselor has been reserved for you."
"Don't tease me and our counselor anymore, okay?" Essie smiled in embarrassment and sat beside
Hanson.
Hanson smiled as he looked at her. The affection and love in his eyes were as intense as the twilight
outside the window.
"You two should show off your love on TV every Saturday. We all watch your show." The one who
spoke was Daly, Essie's old roommate.
The girl next to her, Queeny, smiled and said, "You're so lucky for being able to be together now. After
our counselor went abroad, she was always so sad. She told me every day from her dormitory that she
wanted to fly to Milan like a dragonfly."
"I did not!" Hearing her story made Essie feel very embarrassed. She was so anxious that she wanted
to teleport to another place. She wanted to attend a class reunion, not a gossip party.
"Miss University Belle, you were always so addicted to our counselor, and it was such a terrible blow to
us boys. We were all eager to pursue you, but we all gave up later," one of the boys said.
"Our counselor is handsome and graceful, and even the girls outside our school were fascinated by
him. How could you expect to defeat him?" Daly said with a laugh.
Queeny cleared her throat and said, "Do you know what Essie's saying is?"
"What is it?" they asked.
Daly cupped her hands around her mouth and announced, "Our counselor is for everybody, and
Hanson is mine."
"Ooh!" everyone screamed at once.
Essie wanted to go under the table and hide herself.
Meanwhile, Hanson had mixed feelings now. It was mostly bitter and sour.
Happiness was waiting for him not far from the right, but he decided to turn left.
"Counselor, our miss belle has been obsessed with you for so many years. Shouldn't you give it a shot
now?"
As soon as the guy finished speaking, everyone began to chant, "Kiss, kiss, kiss!"
Embarrassed, Essie said, "It's not a show, everybody..." Before she could even finish her words,
Hanson's soft lips fell on her cheek. Then, he took her hand and said, "I love her too. I will never leave
her again," he said in a firm and affectionate tone. However, when she heard his words, a sharp pain
pierced through Essie's heart like a bolt of lightning.
If only he had been that decisive from the beginning, she wouldn't have married someone else and
gotten involved in all of that mess.
She put her hand up and said, "Well, the show is over. Shall we drink to our first ever reunion after
graduation?"
"Okay!" everyone responded. They stood up and raised their glasses, and with a clear clink, they all
took a sip from their drinks.
After dinner, they went their separate ways. They had to get some rest for they still had some activities
planned for tomorrow.
Essie ended up drinking too much, not knowing whether she was happy or sad.
She didn't want to go back to the hotel, so Hanson took her to the bridge to help her sober up.
"Hanson, do you remember the first time you took me out? This was where you brought me." She
narrowed her eyes slightly and looked at him drunkenly.
"Of course I remember. It was our first date." Hanson's handsome face was full of tenderness.
"A date?" Slightly taken aback, Essie shook her head like a rattle drum. "No, how could it be a date?
You never asked me out when you were in college!"
Hanson sighed in a low voice. "Then why did we have dinner, watch a movie, and go to the amusement
park together? Don't you consider those as dates?"
She was dazed. Didn't they have dinner together because he thought it was boring to eat dinner alone?
And didn't he invite her to watch a movie because he simply had an extra ticket? As for the amusement
park, she clearly remembered him asking her to come to the rescue after he got stood up by another
girl.
When did those suddenly become dates?
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