It was impossible that Vivian didn’t blame Noah at all. But she knew that it was not entirely the latter’s fault. He was just following Finnick’s order, after all.
“It’s okay. I know that incident has nothing to do with you. You are just following the order,” said Vivian.
Seeing as Vivian being so forgiving, Noah felt even more apologetic. “Mrs. Norton, it’s not like that. I-I…”
Noah wanted to muster up his courage and reveal the truth, but he failed to do so.
“Okay, stop it. I don’t want to continue dwelling on this topic anymore. Keep your eyes on the road.” Vivian could feel a tinge of remorse in Noah’s tone, but she didn’t want to recall the incident that occurred back then ever again.
Hearing that, Noah didn’t say anything else. But, he couldn’t focus on driving either. At that time, he contemplated whether to tell Vivian the truth.
Without knowing it, the car had reached the Morrison residence. Vivian opened the door and got out of the car. After waving her hand at Noah, she turned and headed in the direction of the door.
Staring at Vivian’s back, Noah had a mental bout of tug-of-war. But in the end, he decided to keep mum about the truth. To him, it was too difficult to make a confession and explain everything to the former.
After reaching home, Vivian found that Benedict was sitting on the sofa with an anxious expression on his face.
Hence, she walked toward the latter and asked, “Ben, what’s wrong?”
“Vivian!” When Benedict saw her, he sprang up, and his face gleamed with delight. But soon, he said with a serious tone, “Where have you been? Why didn’t you pick up my call? I’m worried sick about you, do you know that?”
“What?” Hearing that, Vivian immediately grabbed her phone from her bag. Then, she noticed that she had several missed calls. “Sorry, Ben. I set my phone on silent mode, so I didn’t hear it ringing.”
Upon seeing guilt on Vivian’s face, Benedict softened his tone and signaled for the former to sit down. “Don’t forget to turn on the ringtone next time. I thought something happened to you just now. Where did you go?”
“I-I went to see Finnick,” Vivian answered truthfully.
“Why do you want to meet him?” asked Benedict while frowning. Then, he scrutinized Vivian and queried, “Did he do anything to you?”
“No. He just asked me out and told me something,” answered Vivian. She didn’t want to let Benedict know how Finnick asked her out.
“What did he say?”
“He said he wants to pursue me again.”
“No way. I can’t let this happen!” When Benedict heard that, molten anger rolled through him. “Vivian, he doesn’t deserve you anymore since he did such things to you back then. If you agree to get back together with him, I’m afraid that he’ll treat you that way again. Listen to me, Vivian. You can’t say yes. If you fall for him again, you’ll be hurt once again.”
Seeing that Benedict was a little agitated, Vivian immediately consoled him, “Don’t worry, Ben. I didn’t plan to get back together with him. I’m no longer the silly girl, Vivian William. I won’t do anything that will subject myself to misery anymore.”
“It’s good that you know it.” A sense of relief washed over Benedict upon hearing Vivian’s response.
He had witnessed the hellish suffering that Vivian had experienced five years ago with his own eyes. Even until now, the latter still hadn’t recovered from it. Therefore, he was afraid that Vivian wouldn’t be able to bear it if the same thing happened again.
On the other hand, Larry, who was eavesdropping on their conversation, let out a grin when he heard that. Get mommy back? Wow! Daddy is so cool. It seems like I’m going to live with dad and mom soon.
It was a sleepless night for Vivian that night as she tossed and turned in bed. Finnick’s words occupied her mind and were impossible to erase.
She couldn’t explain why she felt delighted when she knew that Finnick had the intention of getting her back. She didn’t even dare to think further about that because she was afraid that she couldn’t accept it.
That night, she didn’t sleep a wink. She finally fell asleep when it was nearly dawn. After sleeping for two hours, she was awakened by the shrill sound of her alarm.
Then, she went to work with dark circles around her eyes in a daze. Just as she stepped foot into the magazine company, she saw Sarah dashed toward her.
