Episode 11
583 Words
Melissa had just picked up a piece of sweet and sour pork when Brandon's voice interrupted her. Her hand faltered, and the morsel fell onto the table.
Looking at the wasted food, she quietly muttered, "What a shame," before setting down her chopsticks and taking a silent sip of her juice.
Jessica glanced thoughtfully at Melissa, wrapped the fallen piece in a napkin, and disposed of it in the nearby trash bin.
This small incident went unnoticed by everyone else, their attention fixed on Ethan, but Rachel caught it all.
Though Melissa appeared shocked, that dropped piece of sweet and sour pork betrayed her true feelings.
She must still love Ethan!!
Alarm bells rang in Rachel's mind as her gaze toward Melissa grew increasingly venomous.
"Mr. Stone?" Jordan recovered quickly, rising to his feet and striding over to extend his hand to Ethan. "What a surprise! Brandon mentioned this morning that you were flying out of the country today—I was disappointed you couldn't join us!"
"Change of plans," Ethan replied, his deep voice as impassive as ever, though his eyes were fixed on Melissa.
Though she sat with her back to him and hadn't turned around, Ethan recognized her instantly.
She still had the peach-pink hair color she'd dyed just before leaving two months ago. The wavy ends reached her waist, perhaps a bit longer than when she'd left.
Ethan stared unflinchingly, hearing his own heartbeat quicken.
It was her—Melissa in the flesh.
Before boarding his flight, he'd received a call from Victor who had traced Melissa's entry records. The most recent one was today at 2 PM!
Without hesitation, Ethan had postponed a multi-billion-dollar overseas deal and canceled his flight to return to the office.
With Melissa in Los Angeles, tracking her movements was child's play for someone like Ethan.
In less than an hour, he'd discovered her hotel and her evening plans.
He'd also learned the purpose of her attendance at tonight's dinner.
The revelation stunned him—after two years of marriage, he'd never known that Melissa was the world-renowned sci-fi author "Yi Chong"!
During their three years together, she'd never voluntarily shared anything about herself, and after their divorce, she'd left him with nothing but a terminal gastric cancer diagnosis before vanishing.
For two months, that cancer report had tormented him, robbing him of sleep. And where had she been?
Disappeared without a word for two months, evading his most thorough search efforts, leaving him to wake repeatedly from nightmares of her death. Just when he was on the verge of giving up, of losing his mind, she suddenly reappeared as if descending from the heavens!
And with a completely unfamiliar new identity, no less.
After learning of Melissa's supposed terminal cancer, he'd imagined countless reunion scenarios, but never like this.
She looked well—where was the frailty and vulnerability of someone with late-stage cancer?
So was her illness real or fake?
Ethan's emotions were in turmoil. Part of him hoped her illness was fabricated, yet if it were, she had deceived him again. This game of cat and mouse would only intensify his contempt for her.
One thing seemed increasingly certain: Melissa was hiding many more secrets.
Ethan fixated on her back, watching as she occasionally whispered to Jessica beside her, her demeanor composed, showing no surprise whatsoever at his arrival.
The fury in his chest burned hotter while his dark eyes grew increasingly cold.
Well played, Melissa. She'd fooled him yet again.
- Writer
