Filed to story: Sweetheart Do You Still Love Me
Arthur was trying to keep her guessing and did not plan to tell her the truth yet. “I told you. If you want to know about her, you have to make time to meet me.”
Of course, she would not believe him as she knew he was full of lies. “If that’s the case, I’ll take it as if you’re lying to me.”
After saying that, she hung up without hesitation and silently counted. Three, two, one.
The unmistakable sound of the ringtone came again. She slowly picked up the call and heard a frustrated voice from the speaker. “Alright. I admit defeat.”
Smiling, Elspeth said, “Go ahead.”
However, Arthur was not in a hurry to speak but asked instead, “I don’t remember doing anything wrong. Why do you have to give me the cold shoulder?”
It was all fine while we were abroad. We were on good terms, and our relationship was showing signs of improving. Why did she suddenly change her attitude after we returned and treat me like an enemy? Could her attitude back then be all an act?
She answered in a carefree tone, “When we were abroad, you used my mom to threaten me, so I naturally would submit to your threats. Now that my mom has disappeared, what do you have against me to make me nice to you?”
It would not be right for her to say that she was pretending during their stay abroad, but she could not face Arthur now because there was a huge possibility that Helena had run away when she discovered his threats. That alone was enough for Elspeth not to forgive him.
When he heard that, he froze but then smiled. “Fine. If that’s how it is, I understand now.”
Puzzled, Elspeth asked, “What do you understand?”
“Since Miss Joneson is the key to improving our relationship, I will find her.” There was a trace of determination in his voice.
Shrugging resignedly, she taunted, “If you put it that way, I’ll be looking forward to seeing what you do.”
Since their conversation had reached this point, she quickly understood something. “So, you were lying when you said you know something about my mom.” It seemed like she had almost fallen for his trick again.
On the other hand, Arthur was secretly taken aback because Elspeth had seen through his deception. This woman is not easy to fool.
“Okay. If there’s nothing else, I’ll hang up.”
The worry she was feeling earlier immediately faded. She hated being lied to the most and did not intend to continue this conversation with him. After hanging up, she sat on the couch and began to think of something.
…
In the meantime, the news about Jethro and Aldea did not die down but seemed to have escalated to a higher level.
Although Elspeth had asked the public relations department to suppress the news, the drama could not be buried; perhaps someone was adding fuel to the fire.
The story of them dating each other during high school was also exposed. When she read the emotional memoir written on the Internet, she was surprised. This is such a realistic memoir. Don’t tell me it’s written by one of them.
Then, she naturally began suspecting Aldea. However, Elspeth tried to phone her, but the call did not go through.
As she could not get a hold of Aldea, she sat back down and perused the entire memoir. The story was written from the third point of view, depicting a short but beautiful love story between two high school students.
It was a hot afternoon when the sixteen-year-old Aldea met Jethro for the first time. Since it was summer, that particular afternoon was scorching, during which the school organized physical tests for the students. Once it was over, many were lying on the ground, including Aldea, who had been sickly since young.
Due to her frail body, she was extremely skinny and weak, but she was pretty, so her fellow students gave her the nickname, the Sickly Princess.
Of course, there would also be some who disliked her. A few female students were jealous of her looks, so they pretended like they were not up to anything and came to her side after the physical test. Then, one of them stepped on her wrist.
When the 180-pound student stepped on Aldea’s wrist, she screamed in pain. Yet, the student pretended to have noticed something and let out a shady ‘oh’.
“Why did you suddenly scream? I was just walking past you and did nothing. Don’t you try to frame me for anything!” After saying that, she began laughing.
Another female student came and patted her shoulder before sighing. “The Sickly Princess is putting on an act again. I saw you walking past her, but she’s acting as if you stepped on her.”
“Okay. If there’s nothing else, I’ll hang up.”
The worry she was feeling earlier immediately faded. She hated being lied to the most and did not intend to continue this conversation with him. After hanging up, she sat on the couch and began to think of something.
Meanwhile, Aldea was holding her painful wrist with a twisted expression.
“Hey, look. Her acting is pretty realistic.”
The other female students in Aldea’s class did not have a good relationship with her. After all, her looks were attractive and outshined the others. Therefore, all of them were watching on the sideline, considering it as an outlet to vent their stress from the physical test.
While shaking her hand, Aldea stood up and looked at the student who stepped on her with a grim face. “You stepped on me, so you have to apologize.”
The smile on the girl’s face disappeared and was replaced by a fierce countenance. “What do you mean I stepped on you? When did I do that? Do you have any proof?” Subsequently, she looked at the others beside her and taunted, “Come on. Did any of you see me step on her?”
Since the others surrounding her were her lackeys, they naturally would not say anything.
“Don’t you dare frame me without any evidence.” The girl crossed her arms before her chest, looking victorious.
Secretly, Aldea was balling her fists. She did not have any evidence to prove she had been harmed, leaving the scarlet mark on her wrist the only evidence.
I should get some topical medication from the school nurse.
Thinking of that, she turned around to leave.
“Hey, where are you going? This isn’t the end yet.” That question did not come from the bully but from another direction.
In reality, the protagonist of the story, Jethro, had long noticed the situation from the side. He shook his head and decided to help Aldea when she saw how this helpless girl was unable to stand up for herself.
The arrogant bully immediately paled when she saw that he was going to interfere with the matter. She was not afraid of anyone else, but the person before her was the renowned school bully at Wolverthorn High. This guy has never meddled in such matters before. Why is he suddenly interested in being the hero today?
The female bully smiled and apologized. “You’re right. I was wrong. I’ll apologize to Aldea.”
Now that this guy is trying to help Aldea out, it won’t end well for me if I don’t admit defeat now.
Aldea was surprised but did not say anything. She recognized Jethro’s face as she had seen him before. His unruly hair and arrogant smile glued on his face were still the same as in her memory. However, she never imagined that two strangers with no connection would encounter each other over such a trivial matter.
“Don’t be in such a hurry to apologize. Weren’t you pretty upright when you said you didn’t step on her?”
At that point, the female bully’s forehead had a trace of cold sweat. “I wasn’t sure if I stepped on her because I didn’t feel it. After all, she’s so skinny, and her wrist is as thin as a stick. It’s normal for me not to feel it when stepping on her.”
“Really?” Jethro fell into deep thought while looking at Aldea’s wrist. Later, he seemed to think it was not enough and went over to Aldea before grabbing her wrist to take a closer look.
It was rare for her to interact with boys because she looked pretty and had a quiet temperament. Hence, the guys in her class seldom made fun of her, but it was not the same for Jethro because he was unafraid of anything.
Meanwhile, Aldea thought the hand holding her wrist was burning hot and did not know what to do.
“What’s the matter? Are you afraid of me?” He could feel the thin wrist in his hand trembling.
Of course, not. I’m just shy.
Naturally, Aldea would not dare say those aloud, rendering the atmosphere between them even more ambiguous.
The rest of the story was clear-cut. The female bully noticed their relationship and was terrified. As such, she frantically apologized to Aldea before running away with her tail between her legs.
Since that incident, everyone assumed Jethro had feelings for Aldea and that they were probably together. Although he behaved like a playboy, this was the first rumored girlfriend he had. That rumor circulated at the school for several days, but no one came to clarify it. Therefore, she secretly placed a card on his desk one day, asking him if he wanted to be her boyfriend.
Jethro did not reject her and even went to pick her up after class. The two made their first kiss amidst the warm evening breeze and admitted their relationship.
On the other hand, Elspeth could not continue reading the post at that point. It was not because she was shy but because she was older now and felt uneasy reading such young but muddleheaded love stories.
The person behind this memoir was great at writing, for this story was fascinating enough to evoke the readers’ emotions. In just one day, that article had surpassed five million views and produced a mysterious group of shippers, Jealda fans.
However, some negative voices surfaced on the Internet-Kylathro fans, who shipped Jethro and Skylar together. From their perspective, he was with Skylar, so why did he suddenly have to be tied to Aldea? Therefore, there were all kinds of hate comments under the post, saying that Aldea was the third party who ruined the couple’s relationship.
Before the ones involved could make a statement, their fans were already arguing with each other. The matter had taken up the top three headlines in the entertainment news section, so it was reasonable to say that everyone knew about this.
Elspeth watched the unfolding drama on the web and felt a headache coming. In the meantime, Skylar seemed to have lost her mind and wanted to visit Jethro in the hospital at such a critical moment.
“Miss Lynwood, everyone knows Jethro is my partner. It’ll look bad if I don’t visit him when he’s in the hospital.” Skylar was blushing, and her pinkish face was filled with gentleness as she reasoned, “Moreover, he’s helped me a lot, so I wanna visit him.”
With just a look at Skylar’s face, Elspeth immediately knew what she was up to.
Recently, Skylar’s popularity had decreased a little, and this incident hyped her popularity right back to its prime. On one hand, she did not want to let go of a chance to be with Jethro as she might improve his impression of her by taking care of him. On the other hand, she was thinking of creating some new topics with him that might bring her popularity to a new height.