Chapter 29
When Nina came to see me again, she brought the complete design drawings.
I looked at the 3D design she sent on my laptop and couldn't help but praise her: "Your design is really amazing. I'll send it to them right away and have them follow this exactly."
Seeing that I was satisfied, Nina also smiled happily.
"I've transferred the money to you, check it," I said to her with a smile after operating on my phone.
The smile disappeared from Nina's face: "When did I ever say I wanted money from you? Didn't I tell you? If you ask me to design something, just buy me a meal. I made this casually. Are you trying to insult me by paying?"
I quickly smiled to calm her temper: "No, your design is worth this money. I have money now, a lot of it."
Nina still returned the money to me: "Whether you have money or not, you shouldn't be so formal with me. Emma, I'm really, really happy that you're back."
Her eyes gradually reddened. With no outsiders around, she didn't need to hold back: "You've changed into a different person; you must have suffered a lot. I'm sorry, I didn't look after you. If I had been with you then, maybe you wouldn't have gone through all this."
I took a tissue and reached out to wipe away her tears: "Why are you saying sorry? You've never wronged me. I'm back now. Why are you still crying? This way... isn't it better looking than before?"
She sobbed, biting her lip, trying to suppress her sadness, but her trembling voice still couldn't be controlled: "When a person changes from one appearance to another, no one does it willingly."
She reached out her hand, wanting to touch my face, but seemed afraid of hurting me, not daring to touch, her eyes full of heartache and sorrow, mixed with a trace of guilt: "Did it hurt a lot? When you had the plastic surgery, did it hurt a lot?"
My eyes heated up too, almost tearing up. She was truly the first person to ask me if it hurt.
Of course, it hurt. Peeling skin, shaving bones, five surgeries in one year, each time hurting for over a month. When it hurt the most, even swallowing water was difficult. I could only survive on glucose for basic needs. No one would willingly endure such pain, but without the pain, how could there be rebirth?
Compared to the despair I felt when Sophia cut my face knife by knife, this pain really wasn't much at all.
Nina took my hand, turned it over, and the ugly scar about three-quarters of an inch long was still clearly visible on my palm, echoing the tattoo on the back of my hand. Her slender fingers gently traced the scar that had already faded: "Your hand... can you still play piano?"
I smiled at her, trying to dispel her sadness: "At least it doesn't stop me from typing on a keyboard. It's all in the past, don't be sad. You'll look ugly if you cry."
Nina smiled through her tears, then suddenly asked the question she'd wanted to ask from the start: "Gregory treated you like that, why are you still entangled with the Lopez family? Are you dead set on marrying your way into the Lopez family?"
No wonder she'd been hostile from the moment she heard Oscar's last name.
I looked at her, somewhat amused: "If my plan goes well, Gregory will have to call me auntie in the future. It's not Oscar, and I'm not that easily accepted by the Lopez family either."
Nina was still puzzled: "Just for that? That's letting them off too easy. You're so great, what kind of person couldn't you find? Did the Lopez family save your life or something?"
I patted the back of her hand, afraid her anger would burn me too: "My thing with Oscar is fake, so don't worry. I only need the connection to get inside the Lopez family, not to actually become one of them. And Oscar? He hardly sees himself as a Lopez to begin with."
"Oscar knows your identity? I didn't even dare speak in front of him at first," Nina looked at me puzzled.
I nodded at her: "He knows."
"Then how did you end up in Solstice? What happened after you left on the wedding day?" Nina got to the point.
I briefly told her what happened, downplaying my suffering and just stating the facts.
Nina still listened as if she wanted to grind her teeth: "That bitch Sophia, I used to just think she was fake, but I didn't expect her to be so vicious. If you'd made one wrong move, you probably wouldn't have made it back. No, I can't let this go."
I nodded with a smile to comfort her: "Right, this won't just end like this. I'm definitely going to get revenge, but I have to take it slow. I'll let her see clearly that she's not that important to others either. However proud she once was, I'll make her that disappointed. Isn't that more interesting?"
Nina took a deep breath: "You're right, but I'm a bit impatient. She's attending a concert next month. She asked me to custom-design a dress before, and I ignored her. If you put it that way, should I reconsider?"
I quickly reminded her: "Vent your anger, but don't ruin your own reputation. It wasn't easy for you to go from being a small designer to where you are now. Your reputation is much more important than hers."
Nina came over and hugged me: "Emma, I knew it, you're still the best. You always think of me."
I quickly pushed her away. She'd matured and become more stable, so why was she still so clingy?
"Stop it, even though this is a private room, it wouldn't look good if someone saw. Be more proper."
Nina cried and laughed: "I can't be proper. You finally came back, can't I even hug you? You don't know, when I called you and couldn't get through, I wanted to report you missing, but they insisted you were just being willful and said I was wasting police resources."
I could imagine the disdainful look on their faces when they said that.
Nina looked angry: "I wondered why they were so obstructive. Turns out Sophia personally sent you into trouble. Later, Sophia said she received a message from you saying you wanted to go out and cool down. Then later, she suddenly said you were living with someone abroad. That bitch, how can her heart be so evil?"
"So you're saying that in the three years I was missing, no one even filed a police report?" I felt like laughing, but I felt sad more. I knew they didn't love me, but I didn't expect that even if a pet went missing from home, they'd at least look for it, right? They never even looked for me.
Nina shook her head: "Well, not exactly. A year later, I heard they reported you to the police for stealing thirty million dollars from the company. It even made the news. I went to confront them, but they insisted you had that kind of hacking software and you stole the money. After I scolded them, the police couldn't find any solid evidence, and it was finally classified as online fraud. The case still hasn't been closed."
"Yeah, I did transfer it. I even manipulated their stocks later, buying when the price was low after I found vulnerabilities, then selling at the original price after I fixed the loopholes and made another thirty million dollars." I looked at her proudly, smiling.
Nina's eyes were sparkling: "I guessed as much. I was relieved then, at least I knew you were still alive and well, and that money could help you live better. Emma, you've always been this amazing."
I couldn't help but laugh: "Wasn't that when you confronted and scolded them? How do you have two faces?"
"You're different. Whatever you do is always right. I'm unconditionally on your side." She hugged my neck again and kissed my cheek.