Avery Jane, pale-faced, gripped the phone, feeling as if she had fallen into an ice cellar.

Demolished?

Dozens of people worked through the night?

That little building was the vessel for all her beautiful memories; how could it be demolished?

Her hands trembled as she no longer wanted to hear Evelyn speak those heart-wrenching words over the phone. Hastily dressing herself in pants, with her hair down, she dashed downstairs.

She had to return to see for herself. It was all her fault. If she hadn’t crossed paths with Joshua Hughes, Wenyard Cooper’s small building wouldn’t have been demolished, wouldn’t have been.

Stumbling and staggering down the stairs, her eyes blurred with tears, she could barely see the road ahead. She felt she was about to die. The sacred place she had always guarded in her heart had collapsed with a crash, and inside were many things: Wenyard’s favorite ceramic cup for drinking, his broken glasses, his white shirt, everything of his was there.

She had to go back to see, even if she had to dig through the rubble to find them.

Through tear-blurred eyes, she couldn’t see the road ahead and suddenly crashed into a solid chest: "Where are you going?"

Joshua Hughes grabbed her hand. With her clothes disheveled and not even wearing shoes, she dashed down and tried to rush out in a daze.

What was she doing?

"Let go of me, I need to go back, I need to go back..." Like a madwoman, she struggled with all her might, Avery cried hysterically; she had to go back to see.

"Avery Jane, calm down. What exactly are you trying to do?"

Joshua was holding her wildly flailing hands; she seemed to have been provoked, like she was crazy.

"You’re happy now, you devil. It’s because of you that Wenyard’s house was demolished. I hate you, I hate you, I’ll never forgive you in this life. I’m definitely going to leave you, you home-wrecking devil..."

Avery struggled, fixing Joshua with a furious stare.

She wished that her gaze could turn into a knife, stabbing into his chest, cutting open his heart to see.

He was rich beyond compare, so why demolish her little building to make a playroom?

If he wanted to build an amusement park for his children, it would be okay; why then?

Joshua’s chest burned like fire as he gripped her hand, his face terrifyingly savage: "Say it again? Say it again?"

He couldn’t bear it when she talked about hate or about leaving him. Her words, saying she’d never forgive him, were like the sharpest blades, flashing with silver cold light, slicing through his strong heart, leaving it pouring with blood.

"Yes, I hate you, I’ve always hated you, don’t you know? Every time you touch me, I’m so disgusted I want to vomit. I despise you, I despise you. I don’t want to see you anymore. Let go of me, I have to go back, to see my small building..."

Avery couldn’t break free from his grip, her tears falling in large drops, accusing and condemning him loudly.

"I won’t allow you to go back, I won’t allow you to think about that dead man anymore, do you hear me?"

Joshua felt as if he was having a heart attack; she loved someone else, she loved someone else so much.

There wasn’t even a sliver of space for him in her eyes. Her willingness to yield and her forced coping were all to protect everything related to that dead man.

And him? What did he count for in her heart?

"Let me tell you, Avery Jane, every man who sees you wants to sleep with you. Your so-called Lucas Yates is just the same; he only hid his desires. If you weren’t so beautiful, do you think he would have helped you? So many people became Medicine Men; why did he help only you? Compassion? That was all to deceive you, all to cover up his desires." Joshua tightly gripped her arm, speaking each word coldly, like ice shards.

"You’re wrong. What do you know? Mutual love, something you’ll never understand. It’s not that he wanted to be with me, it’s that we both wanted to be together. It was mutual; he wanted me, and I wanted him. Do you know that? You will never know how wonderful this feeling is, you will never know..."

Avery fearlessly met his gaze, seeing the terrifying emotion rising like a storm in his eyes.

In an instant, the air pressure in the room was so low it was almost suffocating.