Chapter 5

In a split second, Dylan’s body was covered entirely in piping hot soup. His flawless skin immediately burned bright red as blisters began to appear. The burning sensation felt like needles all over his body. It hurt so much that he could barely breathe.

Valerio hurriedly let go of Archer and looked panicked for the first time. “Does it hurt? I’ll bring you to the hospital at once!”

Dylan looked up at her, pain paralyzing him, still unable to speak despite his efforts to make a sound.

“Oh, my God! Archer! You’re terribly burnt!”

Hearing that, her attention was drawn back to Archer at once. She looked even more panicked and flustered as she rushed back to him. A few drops of soup had splashed onto Archer’s arm, giving him a few small spots on his otherwise flawless skin.

Archer withdrew his arm and shook his head with reddening eyes. “Tuline,” he said, “Mr. Cloud is more seriously injured than me. Send him to the hospital first.”

“What do you mean you’re fine? You’ve been so careful of your skin since you were young because you’d hate it for days even if you had a scratch on your body! What are you saying? Send Archer to the hospital at once!”

Valerio stamped her feet anxiously, then pointed her finger at the people at the next table and yelled, “You fools! Why don’t you just go out and fight instead? You hurt Archer, so Violet will never forgive you!”

At this point, Archer couldn’t stand the pain anymore and started moaning. However, he still put on a brave front and insisted, “It’s fine, Vi, just take a look at Mr. Cloud first. He’s much more seriously injured than me.”

Saying this only made Violet’s heartache. She couldn’t care about Dylan and leave him there. Instead, she bent down, grabbed hold of Archer, and hurriedly led him out of the restaurant.

Just before leaving, she seemed to have thought of something and turned back to look at Dylan with a guilty look. “Archer has had sensitive skin since young and can’t stand pain. It’s not far from the hospital anyway, just take a cab there yourself.”

It wasn’t until Violet, Archer, and Valerio all disappeared that Dylan was finally able to regain his senses. He bore the excruciating pain as he gasped loudly. The waiters felt sorry seeing him getting abandoned despite being the most badly injured of the four. They then helped to clean Dylan up and quickly did their best to clean up the mess.

After taking some painkillers, Dylan finally felt the pain becoming slightly more bearable. At the very least, he could carefully stumble out of the pizzeria, heading toward the hospital. He borrowed a set of clean clothes from the waiter and…

The emergency doctor popped the blisters on Dylan’s skin. He also told Dylan to apply some ointment to the blisters daily so that they wouldn’t scar. Dylan was in too much pain that he just nodded silently as the doctor walked past him. “Gosh, do you see how good Valerio is to Mr. Niall? He just got burned by a few drops of soup, and she went ahead and booked out the entire floor of the hospital. She even got all the best doctors available completely held by her! If only I had someone who cared about me that much!”

“Exactly! I just got a few spots, though. If they’d arrived any later…”

“Haha! Keep dreaming. You won’t meet another woman like her in a million years.”

Dylan couldn’t help but duck his head. Violet was someone who would abandon her family; it was hard to take care of someone’s minute joys and sorrows. Indeed, she was someone he wouldn’t have met in another million years. After Dylan was finally bandaged up, he thanked the doctor and got up to leave.

Just as he walked toward the hospital exit, he received a text message on his phone. Tapping it, Dylan saw that it was a message from the overseas college he’d applied to. The message told him that he had been accepted and reminded him to have his portfolio ready during admission.

The last time Dylan held a paintbrush was…

After buying the materials he needed, Dylan didn’t go home. Instead, he headed over to Moonlight Hill. The scenery at Moonlight Hill was beautiful; it had a pond in the middle of a valley surrounded by lush green hills. The pond was very still and quiet, reflecting the surreal scenery like a mirror, looking like a beautiful picture in itself. It put anyone who looked at it in a very good mood.

Dylan sighed lengthily. The five years of suppression he’d experienced seemed to vanish from this sight; he was free. He just felt a sense of freedom, something he hadn’t felt in a long time. He immediately started to draw. In the blink of an eye, the beautiful scenery before him was captured impeccably on his canvas. The bustling sound, worries, or problems around him faded—only the sound of birds in the trees and a light breeze enveloping him in its embrace. Dylan spent the next three days completely lost in this beautiful scenery.

It wasn’t until he finally got down the hills and had to sadly return to the college that he finally turned his phone back on. As soon as the phone came to life, countless missed calls and messages jumped out at him. They had all come from Violet. Such a thing had never happened before. In the past, he would be the only one calling Violet; Violet would never call him back after his calls. However, just as Dylan was staring blankly at the LED call logs, Valerie suddenly called him. As soon as he answered the call, Valerie’s shrill voice could be heard immediately.

“Dylan! Parking Cloud! Where the hell have you been? Don’t you know that I nearly died trying to find you? Don’t think that using such a dirty tactic will make her pay more attention to you! Keeping your profile low. The only person Violet should ever marry is Archer, and only Archer!”

After she was done screaming at Dylan, Valerie hung up at once.

Dylan frowned. Had he heard her incorrectly? Had Violet really been looking for him? What for? He wanted to ask Valerie what she meant and if she had been mistaken. However, the 108 missed calls from Violet seemed to prove that she had indeed been frantically trying to reach him.

Chapter 6

Dylan went home with his drawing tools, feeling puzzled. As soon as he got out of the cab, the servants from the villa greeted him happily and eagerly as if they’d just found their savior. A few of them burst out crying.

“Mr. Cloud! Mr. Cloud, you’re finally back! The villa has been in a huge mess during the days you were gone! Ms. Violet has been picking at everything we did as if she was thoroughly dissatisfied with it. She’s been furious for days now!”

Hearing this, Dylan understood at once. He smiled; she would have to get used to it very soon. He was going to love her for good anyway. From then onward, she would have to live the rest of her life without him.

Dylan comforted the servants before entering the villa. He noticed that most of the lights were even turned off. Violet was sitting alone on the couch. The moonlight streaming through the windows illuminated just one side of her face. When she heard footsteps, she finally lifted her head and stared at Dylan for a long time. She sounded unhappy as she asked him sternly, “Where have you been for the past few days?”

Dylan took off his coat and answered calmly, “I was painting in the hills.”

Violet frowned. “So suddenly? Since when have you ever been interested in painting?”

It wasn’t a sudden interest; Dylan had been an art major all along. If he had agreed to help Mandy with her exhibition as a gesture of gratitude, he would have already left the country long ago to be a successful artist. However, Dylan told Violet none of these things. He just poured himself a glass of water and casually answered, “I just felt like it.”

Upon seeing his response, Violet massaged her temples and said, “I didn’t purposely abandon you during the pizzeria incident. It’s just that Archer has always had sensitive skin and could have had a severe reaction if he got a cut or a burn. I grew up with him and got used to caring for him. That’s the only reason why I took him to the hospital first. Also, you never protested back then. So why did you have to run away from home? Archer’s house has already been renovated, and he’s moved back out. You’re not allowed to kick up a fuss over small issues like this anymore, understand?”

In the end, Violet still pinned the blame on Dylan. Dylan didn’t know if Violet was blaming Archer’s departure on him for running away from home or for being petty, but either way, he didn’t care anymore. Dylan just hummed in response, sat down in his chair, and headed upstairs.

“Dylan Cloud!”

Dylan turned around and saw that Violet had stood up from the couch. “I’m hungry. Make dinner.”

Dylan held up his thickly bandaged left arm and said, “Have you perhaps forgotten that my arm is also badly hurt?”

Violet seemed stunned. However, Dylan didn’t bother waiting to see her reaction before turning back and heading upstairs once more.

The next day, Dylan had just come out from his room when a set of expensive jewelry was thrust right under his nose. He looked up at Violet in confusion. Violet coughed slightly and said, “About the pizzeria incident. I had been busy taking care of Archer and didn’t have time for you. This is compensation for that.”

Dylan stared at the emerald ring in the box, his eyes filled with dilemma. It had been whole years, and this was the first time Violet had ever given him anything. Yet, this gift felt like a forced compensation—an apology to him for taking care of her first love and forgetting about him. Dylan suddenly thought of the pile of gifts in the study he’d prepared for Violet and felt a rush of self-ridicule rising in him. However, he quickly suppressed the thought. He’d never had a gift from Violet, but now, he didn’t need them anymore.

Seeing that Dylan still hadn’t taken the ring from her, Violet thought that he simply didn’t like it. “I was busy with Archer lately, and I got my assistant to buy the most expensive thing from the auction. If you don’t like it, then—”

Before Violet was done speaking, Valerie suddenly flopped in from outside the door. “I’ve told you many times before, sis, that my sister loves you! You should see, he moved back out, but since you’ve moved out, you should still come over often!” While speaking, Valerie pulled her into the villa. She caught sight of the ring Violet was holding and let out a loud gasp. “My God! Archer was just telling me that he really liked this emerald ring! I don’t believe you actually bought it for him!” Then, she turned to look at Dylan with envy and adoration in her eyes. Archer turned red and lowered his head when he heard what Valerie said.

Seeing the hesitation in Violet’s eyes, Dylan didn’t think before taking the ring box from Violet and handing it over to Archer. “Since she bought it for you, please take it.” In saying so, he decided for Violet, helping her solve her inner dilemma. This was the first time Violet was looking at Dylan instead of Archer. She just couldn’t help it. For some reason, seeing Dylan acting so generously today made Violet feel uncomfortable for the first time. He wasn’t the old Dylan she used to know anymore. However, she just couldn’t pinpoint what had changed about him.