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Chapter 7
Chapter 7
Lily stiffened, her carefully constructed tears freezing in place,
His voice was devoid of warmth,
“If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t have lost Laura. From now on, don’t ever contact me again.”
Then, right in front of her, he blocked her on every platform.
Lily opened her mouth, as if wanting to say something. But when she looked up, she realized he was already walking away.
“James!”
This time, he didn’t stop for her.
Lily wiped away her tears, her expression darkening.
“James, if you dare do this to me… you’ll regret it.”
By the time I found out about all this, it was long, long after the fact.
I had once thought that after leaving, James would be nothing more than a distant memory.
Before I left, I had signed a confidentiality agreement with my school and research team.
Logically speaking, no matter how capable James was, he would never be able to find me.
And that was exactly what happened.
After breaking free from him and diving into my research, I realized–there were far more beautiful and fulfilling things in this world than love.
Everything about him, everything he once tried to teach me about “pleasing a man” in bed…
I had erased it all from my mind.
Including him.
One day, my professor came to an international conference and brought up James in passing.
“After you left, James turned the entire school upside down looking for you. Didn’t you tell him you were leaving?”
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Chapter 7
I smiled and shook my head.
“I make my own decisions.”
My professor sighed.
“He was a mess for a long time after you left. Seems like losing you really hit him hard.”
I was silent for a few seconds before finally replying.
“A man playing the role of a devoted lover to gain sympathy… not exactly a rare trick.”
I knew better than anyone how selfish and cruel James truly was.
“There’s no need. We’re done.”
I had already made up my mind–this life, my only devotion would be to my country.
There would never be a day when I turned back.
The professor hesitated before admitting,
“He said he’d wait for you. No matter how long it takes.”
I chuckled and said, “Don’t worry, Professor. In five years, by the time I return, James’s exes will probably outnumber my research team.”
The professor paused, seemingly catching on, then let out a knowing smile and said nothing more.
James’s name was like a drop of water falling into the ocean–fading into nothing, without so much as a ripple in my heart.
These past five years, my research had progressed tremendously.
The moment my confidentiality agreement expired, countless media outlets–both domestic and international–scrambled to interview me.
The professor and my team helped turn down most of them, but some were simply unavoidable.
It had been so long since I last thought about the past.
Immersed in my work, even Emily rarely contacted me anymore.
So, when James suddenly appeared before me, my first reaction was to freeze.
The second? To run.
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It wasn’t fear.
It was disgust–so deep it was almost visceral.
The wounds he left behind had long since healed, but my body still remembered. The mere sight of him made my stomach churn.
But before I could slip away unnoticed, his gaze locked onto me, and he rushed toward me without
hesitation.
Fortunately, the organizers had anticipated potential security risks and had arranged for guards to protect me.
James barely made it five meters before he was stopped by a wall of security personnel.
I turned on my heel, unwilling to waste even a second more on him.
“Laura!”
His voice, raw with desperation, cut through the air.
The entire room fell silent.
Then, his voice came again, hoarse and trembling-
“I waited for you for five years… how could you… how could you abandon me again?”
He sounded so aggrieved, as if I were the one who had been heartless–as if I had traded our so–called love for fame and fortune.
He started bringing up the past, recalling our time together, piece by piece.
I tensed.
I knew exactly what kind of man he was.
If I didn’t stop him, he might blurt out things best left buried–things I had no intention of exposing before an audience of eager journalists, all with their cameras rolling.
Suppressing my frustration, I let out a slow breath and forced myself to walk toward the one person I least wanted to see.
