Chapter 4

I turned towards the voice, meeting a gentle gaze.

It was Olivia.

She knelt before me, carefully cradling my hand, her voice trembling.

"Lucas, I'm so sorry I'm late."

Looking at this face, both familiar and strange, my tears finally broke free.

She was my best childhood playmate.

Years ago, when Olivia's family fell on hard times and had to move abroad, she had woven a ring from a blade of grass and put it on my finger, solemnly vowing, "Lucas, I'll come back to marry you when I grow up."

After my rebirth, the first thing I did upon leaving the hospital was to send that ring overseas.

I was betting that she still remembered that promise.

It seems I won that bet.

Olivia slipped that grass ring back onto my finger, then lifted me into her arms.

Her sharp gaze swept across the room, finally landing on Sophia.

"You're Sophia Song, right?" Olivia's voice was cold as ice.

"What did you do to my man?"

She took my hand, leading me forward.

As we passed by Sophia, the dried grass ring on my finger, now clearly visible, flashed before Sophia's eyes.

Her pupils contracted sharply!

She suddenly remembered, years ago, a little boy with a dirty face but the brightest eyes she had ever seen.

He wore an identical grass ring on his finger.

She had teased him then, "Who gave you this? It's so ugly!"

"When I grow up, I'll give you one covered in diamonds!" she had promised.

But the little boy had hidden his hand behind his back protectively, saying in his childish voice:

"Big sister Olivia made this for me. It's not ugly at all!"

Later, Sophia had gone to great lengths to investigate, and all clues had pointed to the younger son of the Lu family.

From that moment on, she had mistaken Ethan for that boy from her memories, her childhood's only pure love.

But now...

That grass ring had appeared on Lucas's finger, and his "Big sister Olivia" turned out to be Olivia herself!

She had been wrong about everything from the very beginning!

"No..." A desperate cry escaped Sophia's throat.

"Lucas!" She let go of Ethan and walked towards me.

I looked back at her one last time and smiled gently.

"Sophia Song, it's too late for you to realize now!"