Chapter 181 Chapter 181
“Sara...” His voice came out in a hoarse whisper. “I'm going to ask you one last question. I hope you can be honest with me. Please.”
Sara felt a tightness in her chest when she saw how devastated he looked. It was difficult to maintain her cold facade.
“What is it?”
Victor kept his gaze fixed on hers, looking for any sign of hesitation.
“Do you really... think I'm that annoying? Am I just a nuisance to you?”
Sara's expression wavered for a millisecond. Her hands clenched into fists at her sides.
Victor waited silently, holding his breath.
Nicholas and Caroline also turned, watching their younger sister with concern.
About ten seconds passed. Ten seconds that felt like an eternity.
Sara took a deep breath, steeled her heart, and lifted her chin.
“Yes.”
The word fell like a guillotine.
“You're annoying, Victor. So I hope you won't bother me anymore in the future.” Sara's voice was calm, cold, and distant. “Besides... you have a fiancée now. It's not appropriate to go after other women like this. Have some respect for her and yourself.”
Victor's lips trembled violently.
He wanted to scream. He wanted to explain.
He wanted to say that he didn't have a fiancée. That the person Sheila mentioned was just a wish of his parents, an arrangement he never accepted and never would. They weren't even dating!
But... seeing Sara's icy calm, the indifference in her eyes, the words died on his tongue.
She seemed so distant. So untouchable.
He realized there was no need to explain anything.
What was the point? She had just said, in no uncertain terms, that he was a nuisance. She didn't like him. She despised him.
Telling the truth about the fiancée would not change the fact that, to Sara Ford, Victor Turner was nothing more than a rich, annoying boy.
Would the truth change anything?
Victor felt a sharp pain pierce his chest. It hurt too much.
He had liked Sara for years. From the moment he saw her on stage, speaking as the freshman representative, it was love at first sight.
From then on, he orbited around her for three long years.
During that time, Sara rejected him countless times. It wasn't the first time she had called him annoying or a nuisance.
But Victor never believed that she really disliked him.
Because in the past, even when she pushed him away, there was never genuine disgust or impatience in her eyes. There was always a certain tolerance, perhaps even hidden amusement.
But this time was different.
This time, Victor saw something in her eyes that broke him.
Coldness. Distance.
He realized that maybe Sara really didn't like him. And as much as he loved her, he needed to preserve what little dignity he had left.
He had persevered all these years because he believed, with the naivety of a young man in love, that his sincerity would eventually melt the ice.
He truly believed there was hope.
Until today.
She must have been exhausted. Tired of being pursued, tired of having to deal with him. Maybe that was why she finally took off her mask and revealed her true feelings.
She had already made it clear: he was a nuisance. What reason did he have to continue?
It was time to put an end to these three years of one-sided devotion.
Victor's face paled the moment the decision formed in his mind. Giving up on her was like tearing a piece of himself away.
Tears flowed freely, hot and silent, as he dealt with the pain of acceptance.
“Victor, you...” Sara frowned, feeling a tightness in her chest even worse than before.
“Sara, don't worry.” Victor forced a smile through his tears. A broken and painfully sad smile. “I understand. I won't bother you anymore.”
He wiped his face with the back of his hand.
"I'm sorry for disturbing you for these three years. I'm sorry for being a nuisance and causing you so many problems. I know I was annoying, insisting on someone who didn't like me.
“But I promise... in the future, I won't do that anymore. You're free.
”I'm sorry. Really.
With that, he bowed deeply, a formal gesture of apology and farewell.
“And for what happened today... I apologize on behalf of my sister. She shouldn't have spoken to you that way.”
He straightened up, looked at her one last time—as if trying to memorize her face—and turned away.
Victor seemed to have been freed of a burden, but he also seemed to have left his soul behind. Without looking back, he walked in the direction Sheila had left.
Sara stood frozen.
She watched him leave until he disappeared from view.
Victor's gaze... the final resignation in his voice... clearly said it was over. He had really given up.
For some reason, a strange, icy emptiness settled in Sara's chest.
Her heart ached. A dull, constant pain.
The person who had loyally “harassed” her for three years had finally left her alone.
She should have been happy. She should have been relieved.
But she felt no joy.
In fact, she felt as if she had lost something precious that she didn't even know she had.
The confusion and sense of loss in her eyes were evident to anyone who cared to see.
What's wrong with me? Sara thought, stunned.
The person who knew Sara best at that table was none other than Caroline.
Seeing how distracted and lost her sister seemed, Caroline looked at the empty exit and made a bold speculation.
Maybe, just maybe... her silly sister didn't hate him as much as she thought.
During lunch.
The atmosphere at the table was strange, to say the least.
Sara poked at her food, checking her phone every thirty seconds, as if waiting for a message that would never come. She was in another world, immersed in melancholy.
Meanwhile, Tania was having an internal meltdown.
She was itching to grab Caroline by the shoulders and shake her: WHEN DID YOU AND NICHOLAS GET MARRIED?!
When she heard Marcus Drews mention the wedding during the fight, Tania's jaw almost hit the floor.
She was still in shock.
Her baby and Prince Charming... married?! Legally wed?!
How could she, her best friend, her platonic soulmate, not know about this?!
Caroline had said they were just “dating”! Dating and marriage were two different worlds!
Tania felt a little betrayed. They were inseparable. How could Caroline hide such a bombshell?