HIS DEATH 2

When I woke up, the sunlight had just slipped past the window frame, and there was a dull ache at my temple. 

“Who brought me back?” My voice was hoarse, dazed. 

Amy, my assistant, walked in carrying some medicine. At my question, she couldn’t help but smile. 

“It was Young Master Blake Hawthorne. He ran back from the garden carrying you in his arms. Scared the medical team half to death–they thought something serious had happened.” 

I froze. “Blake?” 

She nodded, still grinning. “Yes.” 

The image of those frantic eyes from before I lost consciousness surfaced in my mind. My heart skipped. 

“Did he… say anything?” I asked, trying to sound casual. “Did he seem worried?” 

Amy tilted her head, thinking, then mimicked his usual drawl: 

“It’s not like she’s gonna choose me as her fiancé anyway. Might as well hit the beach and drink. I’ll swing by for the engagement party though–got a hell of a wedding gift planned.” 

My worry nearly turned into laughter. 

Fiance? He was the fiancé. 

What kind of “wedding gift” was he planning? 

But just days later, all of high society was buzzing with a scandalous new romance: 

“Word is, every morning, Adrian Whitmore sends a handpicked bouquet of roses to his lover Lilian’s private penthouse on the Upper East Side.” 

“At the MoMA charity gala the other night, he bid seven figures on a painting she liked–paid on the spot without blinking.” 

“And this morning, a paparazzi shot caught him carrying Lilian–sprained ankle and all–across the entire Central Park promenade. Said he didn’t let her take a single step.” 

Amy was red with anger. “Miss, listen to this nonsense! Adrian was the one the old chairman personally chose to marry you! And now he’s flaunting his love for another woman? Isn’t this just a public slap in the face?!” 

I stared out the window, watching white pear blossoms drift down in the breeze. 

And then I laughed. 

Yes, it was a slap in the face. 

“Bring me the box from my bedroom.” 

The one filled with everything I had ever kept about Adrian. 

A handwritten card he had written that I still clip to the pages of my books. 

The cufflinks he left in my apartment that have been lying in the bottom drawer. 

A photo he took with an old camera and never sent me, which I secretly washed and pasted on the back cover of my journal. 

An entire box full of love–quiet, desperate, one–sided. 

“Have the car ready. I’m going to the Whitmore estate.” 

But when I arrived, the butler greeted me with a bow. 

12:18 

Faked His Death. Married His Enemy. Now He’s Begging 

0.7% 

Chapter 2 

Young 

Master is but viewing 

flowers in the countryside. with 

Miss Lilian.” 

I had the 

hox brought into his 

study. I WAS About to leave 

When I heard 

footsteps outside the door. 

“Adrian.” came Lilian’s soft, sticky voice, “You’ve been SU sweet lately, 

IEN 

f Miss Evelyn 

Finds out, 

won’t she be upset?” 

Adrian’s s low voice followed, gentle and cold. 

“I made sure those stories got 

out. I w 

want her to 

give up.” 

“But 

she 

likes you 

so much. She won’t let go 

that easily.” 

she “Even if insists choosing 

red 

on 

me, I’ll 

find a 

I felt 

like I’d been struck 

by 

lightning. 

arrangement. way to cancel dress, I fell for you. You’re the only one I’ll ever marry.” 

the 

Lilian… the 

night of t 

I that 

gala, 

when 

you 

played 

Liszt’s 

Liebestraum 

in that 

Red dress… piano… Liebestraum? 

That 

night–it wasn’t 

Lilian. 

It 

was me. 

Iv 

I had 

just 

was 

I wore that red dress for 

learned that piece and 

already walking 

my father’s 

Birthday 

Charity Dinner. 

off. He 

only 

it on performed saw the 

edge of 

my 

stage. Adrian dress 

late–he must‘ arrived as I disappeared. 

‘ve heard 

the music 

from outside, 

, but by 

the time 

he came 

in, I 

He… mistook 

me for 

her? 

I stumbled back 

and knocked 

over a glass 

vase. It shattered on the 

floor. 

“Who’s 

there?“. 

Adrian pushed 

the door 

open. 

When he 

saw me, his 

face 

shifted, emotions. 

flickering. “Why are 

you here?” 

A 

Chapter 3 

Chapter 3