"This isn’t just pride talking!"

Leona Grant’s voice suddenly rose as he spoke with agitation. "I don’t want us to be apart! I don’t want you to marry another man. We can be together, so why do we have to separate?"

The rims of his eyes grew even redder. "It doesn’t matter if you don’t love me. This time, let it be my turn to love you. The odds of meeting the right person in a lifetime are already so low, and the odds of falling in love in this vast sea of people are even lower. Are we really going to let each other go so easily? Annabelle Linton, I can’t do it."

"I don’t believe you can do it either. Can you really throw away over twenty years of history just like that? I know you’re angry with me. I’ll do everything I can to make it up to you. Will that be enough?"

A sarcastic smile touched Annabelle Linton’s lips as she stared at him unblinkingly. "You’re right, twenty years of history isn’t something you can just let go of. But the pain you put me through, over and over, finally made me disappointed enough to find the courage to start anew. So, I should thank you. It feels so good to have my heart be my own again."

"Then what about me?" Leona Grant released her, planting his hands firmly on her shoulders and staring at her, demanding, "Your heart is your own now, so what am I supposed to do? Am I supposed to live the rest of my life like a walking corpse?"

"And how is that my problem?"

Annabelle Linton regarded him with a cool gaze. "It took me twenty years to get my heart back, and I did it on my own. It shouldn’t take you nearly as long. It’s not too late for you to pull back, starting now."

Agitated, Leona Grant’s movements aggravated his wound, and blood began to seep through his white shirt. He paid it no mind. "It’s too late. It was too late a long time ago!

"Once I gave you my heart, it was no longer mine to control. Since we’re already divorced, let’s start over from the beginning, as a couple. Just give me twenty days. If you still can’t forgive me after twenty days, then I’ll disappear. How about it?"

He watched her with an air of dominance, force, and self-assured composure.

Annabelle Linton suddenly laughed. "My time is very valuable. Do you know why I’m even bothering to talk to you right now? It’s to make sure you won’t come and bother me in the future."

’What a joke. We finally managed to get divorced, and now I’m supposed to get involved with him again? Hilarious.’

She folded her arms, glanced at the time, and her lips curled into a smirk. "Alright, I’ve said my piece and made my attitude clear. If you’re still going to be so stubborn, then there’s nothing I can do. I have somewhere to be, so I’m not going to play games with you anymore. You can go do whatever it is you do."

With that, her expression turned icy. She yanked her hand free from his grip and started to walk away.

"Annabelle Linton, do I have to literally rip my heart out and show it to you before you’ll believe that I love you?!" Leona Grant’s voice, full of anguish and desperation, called out from behind her.

Annabelle Linton paused in her tracks. "That’s your business."

Heartbroken, Leona Grant watched her unfeeling retreat.

For days, his waking thoughts and his dreams had been filled with her image—a presence that lingered constantly but remained forever out of reach.

The sweetness and joy that came from falling in love had been tainted by her repeated coldness, turning sour.

He was walking on the edge of despair, with no dawn of hope in sight. He was adrift in a boundless darkness, searching aimlessly for a single glimmer of light, filled with a sense of loss that was beyond words.

The longing that had been building for so long finally erupted, like a caged beast breaking free from its prison.

Leona Grant strode forward, pinned her against the wall, and crushed his mouth to hers—

Her words were swallowed by the sudden loss of control.

All reason vanished without a trace.

’She was right here, so close. How could he just stand by and watch her leave?’

He would not listen to another rejection.