You’re Sharing An Apple? What Are You, Poor?

Since the corridor was covered in a thick carpet, even if Aqua stepped on it with shoes, she practically made no sound while she walked.

She did not pull a luggage bag behind her. After all, she was leaving with nothing but the backpack on her back.

“Where are you going?”

John’s deep voice rose behind her, and Aqua paused for a second. But she soon calmed down.

“I’m going out on a walk.”

John spoke up anxiously, “Let’s go together, then. Will has already gone off to pick Samara up.”

When she heard that name, Aqua simply sneered.

She pulled the baseball cap down so that John could not see her face clearly. So, all he could do was throw an arm over her shoulder.

For some reason, when he talked to Aqua, he felt nervous.

He knew that this pampered rose had finally decided to show her thorns.

“Are you angry? Don’t take what happened yesterday to heart. Samara also defended you…”

Aqua said nothing and just quietly tightened her grip on her backpack.

John’s phone rang by then. Will was asking them to go downstairs. He said that Samara had finally earned her leave from the production team and could go with them to the theme park for fun.

Aqua had forgotten that it was Christmas Eve today.

“Go. I have something to do.”

John was puzzled.

During the Christmas Eves in the past, she would eagerly ask him to take her to a theme park, and they would play there until nightfall. They would watch the fireworks and make a wish.

Why was she suddenly saying that she was not going?

John frowned. He was used to being in control of the situation, and he could sense that he was losing control over Aqua.

Just as he was about to ask, he heard a car honking.

Will was urging them to hurry up.

He sighed. “Alright. Go on, then. I’ll have the driver pick you up at night.”

No matter what, they had to eat together during Christmas Eve.

He was sure that Aqua would not be able to change a habit they had nurtured for years overnight.

John hurried downstairs, and Samara opened the door to give him an affectionate hug.

Meanwhile, Will looked at Aqua. He opened his mouth to speak, but in the end, he just bit his lip and said nothing.

When Aqua arrived at the door, she saw this, and the light in her eyes faded a little.

She automatically ignored Samara’s smug expression, crossed the garden, and left through the back door.

She still had one more person to meet, and she had to personally bid this person farewell before she left the country.

It was Ms. Wilson, her high school teacher.

She was a retired judge, and her high school had hired her to teach politics. After taking her elective class, Aqua had decided to become a lawyer.

Ms. Wilson could be said to be her mentor.

Ms. Wilson was old. She was almost seventy, but she remained charming.

“Aqua, you’ve grown up so much. I heard that you’ve become a saleswoman, isn’t it? It’s a pity.”

Aqua smiled and said bashfully, “Ms. Wilson, I’m here to say goodbye to you. I’m leaving the country to become a lawyer.”

Ms. Wilson nudged her glasses up the bridge of her nose. Even though she had gone gray, it could not hide the wisdom in her eyes. “Go. You’ve always been an eagle. You should be flying in the sky.

“John and Will were both my students, too.

“While you were still a student, they often came to pick you up. I always thought that you would end up… Oh well, this is fine too. It’s better for people who walk different paths to go their separate ways. You won’t ever get along, even if you try.”

After she departed, Aqua stayed in a hotel.

She turned on her phone to book a plane ticket.

Since it was Christmas Eve and Christmas the next day, the plane tickets for those two days were fully booked.

After looking around, she booked a plane ticket three days later and sent Lily a message.

[Boo, I booked my plane ticket. I’ll see you in three days.]

Once done, she started studying.

When the sun almost set, Samara gave her a video call.

She rejected it.

But Samara kept calling.

As it just kept repeating, Aqua had no choice but to answer it.

In the video, Samara, John, and Will were drinking and talking. On the table was a feast. The three of them shared an apple as the people cheered them on.

Samara blushed as she gingerly took a bite. John and Will smiled in understanding and took huge bites beside hers.

Aqua was not in the mood to watch this stupid act and wanted to hang up, but Samara suddenly cried out, “Aqua, why aren’t you here for the gathering with us?

“John and Will said that they sent someone to pick you up, but I thought that they weren’t sincere enough, so I thought about calling you to ask you to come!”

Was she really inviting Aqua along?

Aqua remained smiling. “I’m not so poor that I need to share an apple with three other people.”

Her blatant insult put Samara in a spot. Even John’s and Will’s expressions turned dark.

John wiped away the juices on the corners of his mouth, tossed the tissue on the table, and asked, “Should I have the driver pick you up now?”

Aqua rejected it easily, “No need.”

But Will could no longer maintain his composure. He asked, “Aqua, it’s just a game. Why do you have to insult Samara?”

Had she insulted her?

It was not as if she wanted to go. If Samara had not called her to provoke her, she would be studying!

What a waste of time.

“Forget it. Have fun.”

Just as she was going to hang up, Samara started crying again. “I’m sorry, Aqua. I’m so stupid. I’ve already tried my best to make you like me… Are you going to be happy if I’m not around?”

She suddenly picked up the knife on the table and brought it to her arm.

Aqua’s eyes flew wide open.

In The End, She Let Go

The knife was blunt. Even so, John’s and Will’s hearts still hurt for Samara.

They cried out Samara’s name at the same time.

John panicked, even though he was used to not showing his emotions on his face, since he was a leader.

But he had teared up, and his hands started trembling.

Will put a stop to the gathering, sent all of the guests away, and raised his voice. “Aqua, what on earth do you want?! Are you only going to be happy after Samara dies?! Apologize to her!”

Her heart stung.

Through the screen, Aqua felt as if she was right there, and she felt as if the knife had not cut into Samara, but her heart.

Her nose burned, and her eyes turned watery, but she stubbornly refused to let them fall. “I didn’t even do anything…”

John looked up. His gaze was distant and cold. “You’re still defending yourself? If it weren’t for you, Samara wouldn’t have hurt herself!

“We’re just asking you for an apology, and you’re refusing to do it?

“Aqua, I’m disappointed in you.”

Aqua did not even realize when she ended the call.

Aqua sat by the bed and let her mind wander for a while, but she could not recover from John’s last sentence.

Soon, Lily logged in.

[Boo, I’m awake! It’s Christmas Eve over here today! Merry Christmas Eve!”

Aqua wanted to cry, but she held her tears back.

She wanted to complain to Lily but found herself unable to say anything in the end.

“Alright, Boo. Merry Christmas Eve to you, too!”

As they continued exchanging voice messages, their conversation was interrupted by rapid knocking.

It was John and Will.

Aqua’s gaze turned dark.

She had not expected them to find her. Just as she thought, so long as she was in the country, her actions would be controlled.

When they saw Aqua’s swollen eyes, John and Will exchanged a glance, and all the things they wanted to say died on their tongues.

Even so, they still had to warn her.

“Aqua, you’re an adult right now. You have to be mindful of your words and actions.”

“That’s right. Samara is mild-mannered and won’t hold this against you, but we don’t want this to happen again.”

So, they came here to denounce her.

But they did not have to worry. This was not going to happen again.

Aqua’s expression turned colder.

In her rage, she gripped her phone so tightly, and she trembled, but she accidentally touched the play button for the voice message Lily just sent her.

“Boo, I’ll have a hot guy pick you up.”

Aqua never thought that Lily would send her such a voice message.

Even so, she did not panic and just replied calmly, “Got it. Thanks.”

There was no doubt that John and Will heard it too.

John had moved to sit on the sofa and bit down on the cigarette he put in his mouth. The hand he used to hold the lighter started shaking, and he exchanged a glance with Will before he asked, “Where are you going?”

He felt really uneasy.

Since yesterday, Aqua had been acting unusually.

Aqua composed herself and feigned relaxation. “For official business.”

She was not wrong. Settling deals and passing the bar exam were both official business.

In any case, John and Will were treating her worse than a stranger would, so she did not feel the need to reveal too much information about herself.

After all, even if she did say it, their focus would still be on Samara.

Since she had decided to stop working for the company, things would be great for their darling Samara. John and Will might even pop a champagne bottle for it.

John sighed in relief and exhaled slowly. “Don’t be rash. I have a few more projects at hand. After Samara picks one, they’ll all be yours.”

Will scoffed. “Aqua, do you seriously have to compete with Samara for everything?”

Aqua wanted to laugh, but found that she could not.

They had forgotten that they were the ones who had flown abroad to beg her to go back to help them.

Before she chased them away, they cast a glance at their phones and left in a hurry.

While they were walking away, they were still whispering to each other.

“The doctor said that Samara is okay.”

“Thank goodness… She’s really lucky.”

Aqua shut the door coldly.

…

The next morning, the receptionists gave her an exquisitely wrapped package and told her someone had given it to her as a Christmas gift.

It had no name attached to it. After she opened the box, she found chocolates inside.

She looked at the snow outside and suddenly remembered the past.

Since John loved chocolates, she had pestered him into making handmade chocolates with her.

Meanwhile, Will followed them like a shadow.

In the past, when the three of them hung out, no matter what they did, everything had a domestic charm to it.

As she looked at the beautiful box, Aqua sighed.

Honestly, she was allergic to the nuts in the chocolate.

But in order to make John and Will happy, she would only ever go to those gatherings after taking allergy pills.

At that moment, she did not need to enjoy the chocolates anymore.

She called room service, finished her breakfast, and intended to study.

But as time passed, she found herself unable to keep her eyes open. The words on the screen became blurry, and even breathing became a chore.

She rushed into the bathroom to look at the mirror, only to find that her face and neck were swollen, and they itched like crazy.

These were classic signs of an allergic reaction.

But she did not even eat the chocolates!

Since she had left in a hurry, she did not bring loratadine with her. She wanted to ask the receptionist whether they had any, only to find that she could no longer speak.

Aqua put on her cap and pushed it down before hurrying downstairs. But while she was going down, she crashed into someone because she could not see clearly.

“Hiss…”

She fell on the floor.

“Oh God! You’re so ugly!”

The person who ran into her cried out in surprise after seeing her face, leading to the people insulting her.

“You look like a pig, and you have the gall to stay in such a high-class hotel?”

“The hotel really just admits anyone, huh…”

She reached out to grope around for her cap. Once she got it, she wore it. Her actions screamed of panic and urgency.

Without bothering about anything else, she ran to the pharmacy across the road. The wind howled past her ears. Only one thought remained in her mind—get help.

The pharmacist got her the medication and water. Aqua practically had to use all of her strength to swallow it.

While waiting for the ambulance, she grabbed onto the pharmacist’s arm so tightly that her knuckles turned white.

At the moment she opened her eyes in the hospital, she saw a piercing white light and the medical staff moving about.

She knew what it meant. She had survived.

Right then, her tears finally rolled down.

When her attending physician saw her wake up, he finally sighed in relief.

“After you fainted, we looked for your emergency contact on your phone. They’re waiting to see you outside.”

Two men stood at the door, and Will was the first to walk in.

In his hands, he held a box of chocolates. When he saw Aqua lying in bed, he was displeased. “Do you really hate Samara that much? How could you throw the Christmas gift she gave you into the trash bin?!”

Aqua turned to John, who remained quiet and expressionless.

He sat on the sofa with his legs crossed, and he said faintly, “Aqua, you crossed the line this time.”

Faint disdain flashed in his eyes when he looked at her. “Pretending to be sick isn’t a good habit.”

A nurse knocked on the door to change Aqua’s IV drip right then. When she heard what they said, she was surprised, “Don’t you know that the patient has a nut allergy?”

Don’t Go

The ward fell silent in an instant.

If Aqua had loved John with her whole heart before, at that very moment, she would much rather not meet with him ever again.

And she would much rather Will pester Samara forever instead of showing his face in front of her.

Will immediately said without even thinking, “You’re lying! Aqua made tons of chocolates for John before, and she tried plenty of them too! She was never hospitalized from an allergic reaction!”

A flicker of emotion appeared briefly in John’s calm eyes, but he soon returned to normal. “Aqua, you’re still young. Don’t try to fight over my affection anymore.”

Aqua lay on the cold bed and felt a chill spread through her entire body.

Her tears fell uncontrollably. She wanted to say something, but lost the will to speak.

In the end, all those words turned into one single word.

“Leave!”

She shut her eyes and did not want to look at their faces again.

Ignoring the drip connected to her hand, she covered her ears and yelled at them to go.

The door opened, and Samara rushed in. “Aqua, it’s my fault! I shouldn’t have given you that Christmas present, but I just wanted to make you happy!”

Aqua did not eat the chocolates, but she still got an allergic reaction.

The only thing she touched was the box, which meant that Samara had tampered with it.

“Samara!”

Aqua hated herself for ever treating this evil person as her friend.

“John, Will, take her with you and get out of my sight! I don’t want any of you showing your faces in front of me ever again!”

Aqua had a good upbringing and had never lost her composure in such a way in front of John and Will before.

John was surprised. He stood up and wanted to cover Aqua with a blanket, but the hateful glare Aqua leveled at him made him stop.

At that moment, she was acting like a hissing kitten. She bared her teeth and would not allow any stranger near her.

But he was no stranger to her!

Finding himself not having the courage to face Aqua, he turned around, shut the door behind him, and went to the nurse’s station.

He had to be sure whether Aqua really had a nut allergy.

If that was true, then he… truly deserved punishment.

Will held the box of chocolates tightly, and his face turned red, then pale.

Aqua did not seem to be faking that look of anguish, and he wanted to hug her, but before he could even take a step forward, someone held onto his sleeve.

“Will, I’m scared. Why has Aqua turned out like this? Did she experience some sort of shock and lose her mind?”

What a joke.

Aqua turned around and ignored them.

A nurse came in to chase them away by saying that she was emotional at the moment and should not have her rest affected.

“Visitation hours are over.”

“Okay. I’ll visit you some other day.”

Will cast aside his arrogant behavior and tentatively bade farewell to Aqua.

No one visited her the next day.

So, Aqua enjoyed her moment of peace.

But she still needed to change her flight. After some hesitation, she decided to tell Lily about it.

Lily only told her to rest well and would send someone to pick her up.

Aqua did not think too much about it. After putting her phone down, she fell asleep.

When she woke up, she found a man in her room.

The man was peeling an apple. His eyelashes hid his emotions while he slowly moved the knife along the apple.

It seemed like he was worried that he would make too much noise and wake her up.

Aqua thought that the person was John, since their figures were similar. She turned around and shut her eyes again.

“You’re awake? The doctor said that you can eat some apples.”

Aqua opened her eyes.

That voice was not as deep as John’s, nor was it as arrogant as Will’s.

She turned around again and met a pair of blue-gray eyes.

“Mike Phillips. I’m a friend of Lily’s.”

Was he the hot guy Lily mentioned?

She shook his hand with a limp grip.

“Hello, I’m Aqua Chronos. Thanks for coming all the way here. Are we leaving tomorrow?”

John saw this just as he walked into the ward with a flower basket.

“Where are you going with him?”