I am a princess of the Manhattan elite. After being married to the city's newest tech billionaire for barely a year, he went bankrupt. Following our divorce, I experienced a horrifying vision of my ultimate, tragic fate. Desperate, I went to find him to demand we get back together. He just frowned, his thin lips forming a cruel, icy line: "I'm sorry, Miss Sinclair." "The Sterling family has fallen. We are no longer worthy of a deity like you." Standing right beside him was his childhood best friend, her smile blindingly smug. I touched my flat stomach and let out an awkward laugh: "Alright, then should I just find a new dad for the baby?" His pupils violently contracted, a massive storm surging in the depths of his eyes: "What. Did. You. Just. Say?" 01 I was wheeled into the operating room for an abortion. The freezing cold of the surgical table stimulated every single one of my senses. Suddenly— Strange, unfamiliar images flashed through my mind. In these visions, following my parents' arrangements, I entered into a second marriage with a man who basically married into our wealth. Less than six months later, my parents died in a tragic car accident, and this new husband immediately threw me out onto the streets. Penniless and homeless, I was starving to the point where I had to dig through dumpsters for food. The stench of rot and sour decay, the sticky, filthy textures—it was a suffocating, absolute despair. Finally, a passing vagrant snatched the spoiled food right out of my hands and shoved me to the ground. Under a sky full of swirling snow, my body withered and frail, I lay completely motionless. Until I was entirely buried by the snow. The vision permanently froze on that image. Right at that moment, the harsh, surgical spotlight snapped on above me. "Hello, please relax your legs." The nurse's voice seemed to echo from far away. I shot up from the table like a coiled spring, my throat choking with sobs. "I'm... I'm sorry. I don't want to do this anymore." Walking out of the operating room, my mom immediately grabbed my arm. "Mia? Are you finished already?" "No..." I shook my head, lingering terror gripping my heart as tears rolled uncontrollably down my face. "Mom, I don't want to go through with it." If I got rid of this baby, I was going to die a miserable, horrific death. I needed to find Elias Sterling! I needed to remarry him! 02 I headed straight for the rundown, walk-up apartment complex the Sterling family had just moved into. The rusted, peeling metal of the main entrance door reflected my panicked, unsettled face. It seemed to overlap with that dark purple, frostbitten, shriveled face from my vision. I shuddered in sheer terror. Just then, the sound of voices and laughter drifted from nearby. I panicked and ducked into the dark space beneath the stairwell. Peeking out, I saw Elias walking in from outside with another woman. He was carrying a bag of groceries. He looked completely focused as he listened to her speak. "I'll keep an eye on that project for you. I won't let you treat me to this meal for nothing." "How are your parents adjusting since the move?" "If you need anything, I can come over whenever. I actually got really good at cooking while I was living abroad these past few years. You can try my food today." ... The woman's clear, elegant voice was laced with a light, natural laugh. And Elias, who was usually so cold and aloof, actually responded to her. I bit my lip, feeling an uncontrollable surge of suffocating frustration. The ink on our divorce papers wasn't even dry yet, and he already had a new woman in his life. But if we didn't remarry... I was going to lose everything and die a miserable death on the streets! Those horrific images flashed through my mind again, "swish, swish," like a computer virus spamming pop-up windows. A string of rainbow-colored text wiggled across my vision like a caterpillar: [Uh-oh~ This is what happens when you get a divorce~] My entire body violently trembled. The fear was like a massive, suffocating black shroud pressing down on my head, making it impossible to breathe. Ugh! It was too terrifying! The instinct to survive overpowered everything else. I gritted my teeth and bolted out of the shadows. I had just opened my mouth to shout: "Eli—" CLICK! The apartment door shut. I stared at the closed door in absolute defeat. Suddenly, the door opened again!! A pair of long, straight legs stepped out. I froze in complete shock. 03 Elias stood in the hallway. His gaze, entirely devoid of warmth, landed on my face, carrying the distant annoyance of someone whose peace had been disturbed. "What are you doing here?" His tone was absolute ice. He had always possessed a cold, aloof personality and kept people at a distance. But during the nearly twelve months we were married, whenever it was just the two of us, his demeanor was always warm and gentle. This was the very first time he had ever used such a freezing, hostile tone with me. My heart involuntarily tightened, and my voice trembled: "I... I came to see you." "I want... to rem..." "What? I can't hear you." "I said I want to remarry! I want to remarry you!" I gathered every ounce of courage I had, squeezed my eyes shut, and shouted it out. The lighting in the stairwell was dim. The flash of pure shock in Elias's eyes disappeared as quickly as it came, so fast it felt like a hallucination. He didn't say a word. The air stagnated, leaving only the drafty, suffocating silence of the hallway and the thunderous pounding of my own heart. He glanced at the half-open door behind him, then raised a hand and pulled it shut. His long legs stepped forward, descending the stairs one by one. His movements were deliberate and unhurried, carrying a silent, crushing pressure. Like a low-pressure system rapidly building before a massive hurricane. I held my breath, my fingernails digging deeply into the soft flesh of my palms. The flashing images of my tragic death were still actively stimulating my nerves. Elias stopped right in front of me, barely an arm's length away. His gaze locked onto me again, his eyes as dark and cold as a deep abyss. "I'm sorry, Miss Sinclair." His tone was perfectly flat, every syllable razor-sharp. He paused, devoid of any emotion, offering only a freezing, objective statement: "The Sterling family has fallen. We are no longer worthy of a deity like you." 04 He said, no longer worthy... Those three words hit my heart like massive blocks of ice. Humiliation instantly swallowed me whole. My face burned with a searing heat. When the Sterling family filed for bankruptcy, right when Elias needed me the absolute most, I listened to my parents' arrangements and demanded a divorce. And now, barely a week after receiving the official divorce decree, I was shamelessly showing up to beg for a "remarriage." It was incredibly abrupt, and deeply offensive. It was entirely natural for him to assume I was just playing some sick game with him. But... "I'm sorry, that's not what I meant. I'm here because..." I frantically tried to explain, but the words died on my lips. What was I supposed to say? Say that I foresaw the future? Say that if I left him, I would die a gruesome death? He wouldn't just think I was playing with him; he'd think I belonged in a psychiatric ward! I was so anxious that tears welled up in my eyes. One blink, and they spilled over without warning. "Why are you crying?" His brow furrowed slightly, a hint of impatience leaking into his voice. "Isn't a divorce exactly what you wanted?" His Adam's apple bobbed. He seemed like he wanted to say something else, but ultimately just pressed his lips into a tight line. "We are finished." "Go home. The princess of the Manhattan elite shouldn't be in a place like this." He gave a slight nod, assuming the posture of a formal farewell. Just as he turned to leave, I practically threw myself at him, wrapping my arms tightly around his waist, crying out with a trembling voice: "Don't go!" "I... I really need you!" "Ever since we got the divorce papers, I've actually been thinking about you every single day. I think about what it was like when we were together. I... I realized I can't live without you. Can we please get back together? I can't do this without you!" Through the thin fabric of his shirt, the muscles in his waist instantly went rigid, radiating an aura of intense, suppressed power. He lowered his eyes, his gaze falling onto my hands wrapped around him. His eyes held scrutiny, probing curiosity, and a sliver of dark, turbulent emotion buried deep beneath the ice. After a moment, he raised his hands and, inch by inch, pried my fingers apart. My heart jumped into my throat. He turned his head to look back at me, his dark eyes bottomless. "On what grounds?" His thin lips barely moved. His voice was as cold as a knife plunged into freezing water, piercing with agonizing precision into the deepest, most vulnerable part of my heart. He paused, and every word was devastatingly clear as he delivered his cold-blooded interrogation: "What does marriage mean to you?" "A tool you can summon and discard at your convenience?" He didn't speak quickly, but every word was a blade. "Or do you think that just because I, Elias Sterling, am down on my luck, I have to allow Miss Sinclair to manipulate me however she pleases?" "..." Dead silence surrounded us. I opened my mouth several times, but I couldn't force a single sound out. He was right... On what grounds? Seeing me completely speechless, the last microscopic trace of emotion in Elias's eyes completely vanished, leaving only a profound, abyss-like stillness and... utter exhaustion. "Nothing to say?" He curled his lip in a mocking sneer. "Then, regarding remarriage—" "Ab. So. Lutely. Not." Four words. Ironclad. Leaving absolutely zero room for negotiation. 05 The atmosphere was frozen solid. The words hanging on the edge of my lips were completely shattered by the sheer exhaustion and disgust in his eyes. Right at that moment, a faint noise came from upstairs. That tightly closed door was pushed open a crack once again. The voices inside were a bit distant, but they filtered clearly into my eardrums: "...You're cooking tonight yourself. What is that boy doing running out into the hallway? Let me go find him." "It's fine, Mrs. Sterling. I'll go." A clear, elegant, and gentle female voice drifted closer. I went completely rigid. It felt like all the blood had instantly drained from my body. My fingertips turned to ice. For some inexplicable reason, my heart violently clenched. I stared intently at that crack in the door, where a sliver of light spilled out. In my peripheral vision, Elias remained turned sideways, perfectly still. His cold, almost clinical, scrutinizing gaze remained heavily fixed on my face, as if he were trying to dissect something from my expression. But what was he looking at? Looking at the humiliation of my rejection? Or... something else? I subconsciously bit my dry lips, my gaze uncontrollably drifting back upstairs. The door was pushed open a bit wider, and a slender, pale hand rested on the doorframe. That female voice sounded again, carrying a hint of intimacy and inquiry: "Elias? Are you out here?" Elias finally stopped looking at me. He turned his body fully away, his jawline tight, his tone absolute: "Go back. And from now on, don't ever come looking for me again." Before he even finished the sentence, he had already lifted his foot to leave. But the moment his foot hit the first step, I couldn't stop a sharp, pathetic sniffle from escaping my nose. His footsteps faltered. His tall, broad back stiffened for a fraction of a second. Then, with a look that seemed like a mix of exasperation and impatience, he turned back around. I looked up at him with pathetic, pleading eyes, meeting his gaze, and whispered timidly: "I... I don't know how to get back..." "Where is your driver?" His brow furrowed deeply. I shook my head, my voice getting quieter and quieter: "I took the bus here by myself..." Elias turned completely around to face me. He stared at me intently, his Adam's apple bobbing. "...Why?" His voice was dry, carrying its usual coldness, but it also seemed layered with another, entirely different emotion. I kept my head down, wringing my hands, feeling an inexplicable sense of guilt, answering like a child who had been caught doing something wrong: "I wanted to try it." "Try what?" "Try... if we get remarried, and I don't have a driver or a car anymore, and I can only take the bus or the subway... try to see if I can actually handle it." I explained honestly, shooting him a quick, nervous glance. "I just... wanted to adapt ahead of time!" The air went dead silent for a second. Elias stared at me, his eyes as deep as a dark pool. Something seemed to flash rapidly across the depths of his eyes, like a pebble tossed into a deep well, sending out microscopic ripples. But in the blink of an eye, it was covered by ice again. I couldn't read his expression. I only felt that his jaw was clenched as tight as a drawn bowstring. Tight, but still incredibly handsome. That thought made even me pause in shock. Upstairs, the light in the crack of the door shifted. That clear female voice drifted down again, tinged with confusion: "Elias? Are you not done yet?" That voice was like a kill switch. Whatever microscopic emotion I couldn't understand in Elias's eyes instantly froze over, leaving nothing but pure, unadulterated coldness. He pulled at the corner of his mouth, the icy curve laced with an indescribable, mocking bitterness: "You probably couldn't even recognize half the bus routes if you tried. What are you talking about 'adapting'?" "Stop being naive. We are no longer people who walk the same path." "Go back. Go live the life you're supposed to live." With that, he didn't spare me another glance. He turned and took long, purposeful strides up the stairs. His back was resolute. He didn't hesitate for a single second. 06 I stood frozen in place. The door upstairs had already clicked shut. The soundproofing in this walk-up building was terrible. In the stairwell, I could still hear the muffled, indistinct sounds of their conversation from inside. The July wind was supposed to be sweltering. So why did I feel so incredibly cold? My chest felt tight and suffocating, and my nose stung painfully. He seemed... even angrier now? But I was just telling the truth... Amidst the suffocating feeling, those pop-up-like visions flashed through my mind again. But what was different this time was that I wasn't entering a second marriage. Instead, I was heavily pregnant, being shoved down a flight of stairs by the man who was supposed to be my second husband. Bright red blood rapidly pooled beneath me. I died with my eyes wide open, as my devastated parents came running from a distance... This scene was infinitely more terrifying than freezing to death on the streets! I instinctively clutched my lower abdomen. Go back and live the life I'm "supposed" to live? No, no, no! I don't have a life I'm supposed to live! If we don't remarry, I'm just going to die in a variety of gruesome ways. His refusal to remarry must just mean he thinks I'm not showing enough sincerity. I have to prove it to him! If he rejects me once, I'll go back twice. If he rejects me twice, I'll go back four times! I'll overwhelm him with sheer volume until it causes a qualitative change! 07 And so, I went back time and time again. Everyone in the building, and even half the neighborhood, knew that Elias Sterling's ex-wife was begging for a remarriage. But when Elias faced me, he continued to reject me with a cold, stony expression. It was only occasionally, when I clumsily tried to help out, that his deeply furrowed brow would ease, and his gaze would linger on me for a moment. Carrying a complex, scrutinizing weight. As if I was the one who bankrupted his family, rather than the business partner who had embezzled the funds and was currently on the run. Elias's parents still treated me with the same warmth and affection as always, but even they tried to dissuade me: "You grew up in the lap of luxury. Your parents couldn't bear to see you suffer, and we equally can't bear to see you come back and suffer with us!" "Look at your hands. You just peeled some garlic, and your manicured nails are already chipping." "Mia, be a good girl. Don't come back starting tomorrow." I completely disagreed, smiling as I said: "But I don't feel like I'm suffering at all! Everyone has to experience a lot of 'firsts' in life." "I'm going to work hard and get better at this!" That's what I said out loud. But the reality was, the person navigating the kitchen with expert ease was Audrey Jenkins. While I could only stand outside the kitchen, watching helplessly. There was no helping it. Lately, if I smelled even the slightest hint of cooking odors, my stomach would violently churn. Watching Elias's mom and Audrey interact like family, a thick, indescribable wave of envy and bitterness washed over me. When no one was looking, I quietly slipped out the door. Just as I pulled the door shut, I looked up and ran right into Elias, who was just returning home. His eyes were cold, and his tone was even colder. "What's wrong?" I shook my head in utter defeat. I couldn't exactly tell him that I was feeling incredibly frustrated and useless, could I? He stepped up the last two stairs, stopping just inches away from me. "If you can't handle it, just go back," his low, raspy voice seemed to carry a hint of a sigh. I was stunned. I looked up at him, defiant. "I am not unable to handle the hardship! This doesn't even count as hardship, okay?! I'm just..." "Just... feeling like I can't really help with anything..." My voice trailed off, laced with a subtle, hard-to-hide despair. I couldn't accept the fact that, compared to Audrey Jenkins, I was so incredibly useless. Audrey's family used to be neighbors with the Sterlings. She and Elias had practically grown up together as childhood sweethearts. After high school graduation, the Jenkins family immigrated to Europe. She must have heard about the Sterling family's bankruptcy and specifically flown back. That kind of deep, supportive loyalty in a time of crisis was infinitely better than me, the ex-wife who demanded a divorce the second he went bankrupt. "Anyway!" I paused, biting out the words with emphasis. "I'm not leaving! Unless you agree to remarry me!" Having delivered my ultimatum, I immediately looked away. Tears were pooling in my eyes, and I bit down hard on my jaw to keep them from falling. His gaze swept over my eyes, and he remained silent. After a long time, he finally spoke. "Understood." Understood? What did he understand? The reason I couldn't go into the kitchen wasn't because I lacked the ability; it was because I was carrying a tiny human life in my belly, okay?! You don't understand anything at all! 08 My morning sickness was getting progressively worse. Seeing my misery, my mom couldn't stand it anymore and suggested I just use the pregnancy to force Elias into remarrying me. I refused. What if he was truly ruthless and didn't even want the baby? I couldn't risk the baby's life. 09 Elias had been working like a maniac lately. The only time I ever saw him was when I brought him food. In his sparse, rundown office, his profile as he bent over his desk under the harsh fluorescent lights looked incredibly focused and lonely. The interplay of light and shadow highlighted his sharp, deep features, his straight nose, and his tightly pressed, thin lips. I suddenly remembered that in the past, late at night, he used to sit in his home office, focused on his documents just like this. And I would curl up in a rocking chair nearby, hugging a throw pillow, just watching him. I would watch him until I fell asleep, and when I woke up, I was always in his arms. Thinking about that, my heart gave an inexplicable, phantom flutter. The past and the present overlapped, creating the illusion that we had never actually gotten divorced. He was always so cold and distant with the outside world. I was the only one who had ever seen him lose all control. Those indescribable days and nights were seared into my bones, making me blush and my heart race just thinking about them. "What are you standing there for?" He looked up, noticing me, and stood up to walk over. As he took the insulated lunch box from me, his fingertips casually brushed against mine. He frowned. "Are you feeling sick?" "Huh? No, I'm fine..." I shook my head, totally oblivious. His cool hand rested on my burning cheek. He looked suspicious, his eyes searching. "Your face is really red." "Uh... I'm really fine..." I looked away in embarrassment, but the heat spread from my cheeks all the way to the tips of my ears. He stared at me, his gaze growing darker and deeper, like a predator gathering its strength. That kind of surging, highly aggressive gaze was incredibly familiar. So familiar that my heart almost beat out of my chest. After a moment, his Adam's apple bobbed, and his voice was slightly hoarse. "It's late. You should head back." "What about you? Are you still working?" "Yeah." He turned to walk back to his desk, and I followed right behind him. I clasped my hands behind my back, shaking my head back and forth, and said, "Then I'm not leaving either." "It's too dark outside. I'm scared. I need you to walk me home." Under the harsh spotlight, our two shadows, one tall and one short, intersected and overlapped. After a long pause, I finally heard his response: "...Suit yourself." 10 With his tacit approval, delivering food became my excuse to linger and refuse to leave. After eating, he went back to burying himself in his work. I rested my face in my hands, staring at him for hours, inevitably becoming completely mesmerized. Beneath his thick, long eyelashes, his eyes held a glimmer of starlight. I loved seeing my own reflection in his eyes, as if I were the only person in his entire world. And those thin, warm lips. Whenever he kissed me, he always liked to start with a tentative, gentle taste. Sometimes, unable to withstand my pleading, this seemingly cold man would actually whisper a few incredibly romantic, dirty things to me. My thoughts drifted from those memories back to the present, and as if possessed, I called out his name: "Elias..." "Hmm?" "Elias," I called again. "Yeah." "E...li...as?" He looked up from his documents, looking at me with helpless exasperation. "What is it?" I leaned closer, asking with absolute, profound sincerity: "The way things are between us right now... isn't it nice?" "Why won't you just remarry me?" "If you remarry me, my family will help you. Everything will become so much easier, and..." "Mia." He cut me off, his gaze as heavy and impenetrable as fog. "Have you ever thought about what would happen if... your family fell, too?" My heart plummeted instantly. The horrific images that had flashed before my eyes surged into my mind. "There is no such thing as a permanent safety net," his voice was cold and hard. "Relying on yourself is the only reliable thing." After saying that, his expression softened slightly, his tone becoming gentler, laced with a hint of apology. "I'm sorry, I can't." "Your safety net will always be there," he added, his eyes carrying a heavy, unspoken weight. Looking at the absolute sincerity in his eyes, a warm current seemed to flood my heart. See? This is the Elias Sterling I married. He had always treated me with such tender warmth. His coldness was nothing but a shell he presented to the outside world. I shook my head, pretending not to care, and smiled encouragingly. "Then I'll cheer you on! I'll wait for you to make your comeback, and I'll wait for you to become someone else's safety net!" He let out a sudden, faint laugh. It was very subtle, but blindingly beautiful. "I have no intention of being anyone else's safety net." "You have the Sinclair family now, and in the future, you'll have..." The rest of the sentence was incredibly soft, as light as a sigh. I didn't catch it. When I looked up again, he was already focused back on his documents. As if the tenderness and the unfinished sentence from a moment ago were entirely a figment of my imagination. I stared at his handsome profile, entirely unable to tear my eyes away. It felt as if a voice was secretly whispering in my ear: Just looking at him like this... is actually pretty wonderful...
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