CHAPTER 28

Damon has never shown me the slightest bit of friendliness, let alone respect. After going through the agony of my past life, I finally accepted the fact that I was not his true love. But Joshua was different from me. He hadn't experienced a rebirth and couldn't understand or accept Ariel's Impulsive decision to break up with him. He kept drinking, trying to drown his sorrows in alcohol. I sat beside him, watching him sympathetically. I wanted to advise him to accept the breakup from a bystander's perspective so that he wouldn't suffer more under Damon's antagonism. But deep inside, I felt a sense of injustice. Why was Damon able to break them up so easily? "Eliana, I really love her. I know my family background isn't good enough for her, but I'll work hard…" Joshua started babbling after drinking too much. I nodded, "I know" "So many people pursued her, but she chose me. That made me incredibly happy. I swore I wouldn't let her regret it. But why did she change her mind in the end? My heart is in so much pain…" Joshua said, his eyes red. I quickly stopped Joshua from pouring more alcohol, "Don't be too upset. Maybe she hasn't changed her mind? Think about it, the message only showed that someone is pursuing her, but hasn't succeeded. Otherwise, why would he still be begging her for a chance to meet?" Joshua shook his head and gave a desolate smile. "This time it's different. In the past, she would always tell me when she was in such a situation, so I wouldn't overthink." "There must be some reason she couldn't tell you. I'll try to meet her and talk to her when I have time." I tried to comfort Joshua. "Eliana, thank you." Joshua managed a weak smile. "It's okay, we're friends!" I patted his shoulder gently.

After a while, Joshua was completely drunk and passed out. I tried to help him up, but almost tripped. Fortunately, Cielo Nocturno gave a little help. I called a waiter to help me take Joshua to the room I had booked. As I was about to leave, his phone rang. It was Ariel calling. I had no choice but to answer. "Joshua, where are you?" Ariel sounded anxious. "Ariel, it's me. Joshua is at Cielo Nocturno, you can come find him here." I replied. "Eliana? How come you…" Ariel sounded puzzled. I explained in detail how Joshua and I met. After a brief silence, she spoke again, "It's all my fault. I've blocked that man's contact and I'll change my number tomorrow!" I thought to myself, even if you change your number, or even your identity, Damon has plenty of ways to find you. I asked tentatively, "Ariel, who is this man? What's his name? Can you tell me?" Ariel hesitated, "Eliana, wait for me. I'll tell you when I get there." I wasn't anxious. I quietly waited for Ariel's arrival and sent a message to Damon, reminding him that my father's birthday was in two days and he needed to accompany me home as per tradition. Soon, Ariel arrived. She looked pained seeing Joshua in such a drunken state. With my consolation and advice, she managed to calm down, then told me, "Eliana, I can't tell you who that man is. All I can tell you is that he's married and I don't want to have anything to do with him." Ariel's eyes were red and swollen. She must have cried a lot over the past few days. I asked, "How do you know he's married? Have you looked into his situation?" In my past life, I was always puzzled. Did Ariel know who Damon's wife was, what her name was, what she looked like? With her status and resources, it wouldn't be difficult to find out this information. But there were hardly any photos of Damon and me together, and I always kept a low profile, rarely appearing in public. There weren't many photos of me online. Ariel wiped her tears and shook her head, "No, I haven't checked. I knew I couldn't be with him, so why should I look into it? Plus…" Plus what? I got a bit impatient. "I didn't dare to look. Even though I didn't agree to be with him, being pursued by a married man made me feel disgusted. I knew he had a wife, and if I found out who she was, I would feel even more guilty and wouldn't be able to face it." Ariel burst into tears again after finishing her sentence. This reason took me by surprise. So she didn't dare to face it because she felt ashamed? in my past life, did she also choose to deceive herself for the same reason? I kept silent for a while, then sighed, "Alright, whatever decision you make in the future, just don't regret it." With that, I left. Having Ariel there to look after Joshua was enough. When I got home, I was surprised to find that Damon was already back, and Cherry was pouring him a cup of coffee. "Cherry, why are you back so early? I asked while changing my shoes, "You could have taken the rest of the day off and come back tomorrow morning' Cherry shook her head, "Madam, I don't need that much time. Everything at home has been taken care of." No wonder Ariel called Joshua. It turned out that Cherry had a hand in this After Cherry got me a cup of coffee and left, only Damon and were left in the living room. We sat facing each other, each sipping our coffee, with neither of us saying a word "Don't forget to prepare a gift for my dad's birthday the day after tomorrow I reminded him My mom said you gave her a purple crystal bracelet? Damon asked back "Yeah, doesn't she like collecting these things? I happened to have a pair of purple crystal bracelets which I don't wear often, so I gave them to her" I replied nonchalantly. He stared at me as if trying to figure something out. He leaned back on the sofa and asked "What are you up to? Trying to please my mom?" I met his gaze, and i realized that we had never held such a prolonged gaze in my memory Gifting a bracelet to Lisa was just my way of buttering her up, hoping she'd get more picky towards Ariel, lending a hand to Joshua multiple times was my way-la-fest balanced trying to get close to Jones was just to tick off Damon. These are just my inner thoughts, whether they work or not isn't the point, because I never planned on flipping the script. "Isn't it quite normal for a woman to try and please her mother-in-law?" I said, all innocent-like, "Damon, you don't have to suspect me of playing some game, you just need to know that if you want a divorce now, I'll sign the papers straight away." "2% of the shares in return?" Damon responded, his gaze icy. "Still thinking it's not worth it?" I asked, implying deeper meanings. Damon squinted his eyes for a bit. I couldn't make sense of the message in his eyes. After a moment of silence, his response was still chilly, "Stop dreaming." This man, did he really take a moment to think and concluded that Ariel wasn't worth the price? After chasing her for over half a month, he nearly broke up Ariel and Joshua, and he's still unsure. "What if I give up all my property?" I asked Damon, my voice barely above a whisper.