Filed to story: Sweetheart Do You Still Love Me
“Yep, Ms. Balkan wants us to get engaged early and make sure everything’s secure, so we don’t mess things up.” Basically, Simone didn’t want to risk losing the perfect daughter-in-law. Yelena took out a beautiful red card from her bag, which was simple but stunning with the words ‘Engagement Invitation’ printed in gold.
“I came here today to give you this engagement invitation. You must come this weekend.” Yelena blinked her eyes eagerly, filled with anticipation.
“Okay, I’ll definitely attend.” Elspeth smiled, and then she saw someone coming in at the door.
Hank walked in, looking a bit grubby, and gave a slight nod of courtesy to Elspeth before turning his attention to Yelena. “Why didn’t you tell me you were coming here? I had to ask your assistant to find you,” he said calmly but with a hint of blame in his voice.
Yelena stuck out her tongue at him.
“I came to see Elspeth in a rush because she went through something a few days ago, and I haven’t had the chance to comfort her yet,” she explained. She knew that Elspeth didn’t seem to require any comforting, but it was just her own assumption. However, as a good friend, she felt obligated to alleviate her friend’s emotional pain.
“Okay.” Hank smiled helplessly. “I’m here to take you home for dinner. My mom said she wants to see you.”
Yelena immediately looked distressed. “It’s the weekend today! I’ve already had dinner at your house five times this week.”
“My mom said she must see you, and if she doesn’t, she won’t be able to eat well.” Hank shrugged, looking helpless.
“Come on…” Yelena sighed deeply. “But every time I go to your house for dinner, she always puts heaps of food in my bowl. I’ve gained three pounds already, and even Larissa scolded me today for not knowing how to manage my figure as a celebrity.”
“I’ll ask my mom to prepare some diet meals for you,” Hank replied. While he felt sorry for Yelena’s situation, he also knew that maintaining her figure was crucial for her work. He didn’t want to hinder her dreams, so he had to find a way for her to eat more healthily.
“Great!” Yelena jumped up from the couch. “Elspeth, Hank and I are going home for dinner now. I’ll come and chat with you next time.”
Elspeth nodded with a smile. “Okay.”
“Let’s go. Cecelia is already waiting at home.” Hank picked up Yelena’s coat from the couch.
Yelena gossiped with Elspeth when Cecelia was mentioned. “Elspeth, let me tell you. Hank’s childhood friend has such an interesting love story. It’s as thrilling as a novel. If I have time, I’ll share her story with you,” Yelena gossiped.
Elspeth laughed in response. “Sure.”
Then, Yelena seemed to recall something and stroked her chin. “But I have this feeling that her boyfriend looks familiar. It’s like I’ve seen him somewhere before.”
The engagement party was held on the weekend. Elspeth arrived at the venue early with Callum, while Yelena and Hank greeted guests at the entrance with beaming smiles. When Yelena saw Elspeth approach, she ran over to her while holding up the sides of her wedding gown and exclaimed, “Elspeth, you finally came!”
“You look really beautiful today!” Elspeth smiled and hugged her.
Yelena whispered in her ear, “Do you remember the person I told you about last time? The one who looks a bit familiar. He’s here today, too.”
“What about him?” Elspeth didn’t understand why she kept mentioning this person, but she was curious about why.
“Oh, you’ll see when you go over there.” Yelena had asked Hank to take care of the guests while she led Elspeth away.
They walked to the backyard, and Yelena pointed to a nearby pavilion. With a slightly complicated tone, she said, “Look. Isn’t that person very familiar-looking?”
As Elspeth followed Yelena’s finger with her sight, she spotted Yozan donning a pristine white suit. He exuded sophistication and poise, with captivating eyes and a sparkling diamond stud earring glinting in his right ear.
Yozan was deep in conversation with a companion, who was also a handsome man but who paled in comparison to him.
Suddenly, Yozan appeared to sense someone’s gaze fixed on him and turned to lock eyes with Elspeth, creating an unusual and peculiar atmosphere between the two.
Elspeth quickly turned her head and asked, “Who is he?”
“Yozan Harley is his name, and according to Hank, his family has a notable background, tracing back to the royal lineage of Eden for three consecutive generations.”
It was no surprise he looked striking with his mixed-race heritage, but what caught Elspeth off guard wasn’t his appearance. Rather, it was the uncanny resemblance of his eyes to hers. They displayed a tender yet distant expression, but his nose was more elevated than hers, and his facial features were more defined.
“Am I mistaken, or do you bear a striking resemblance to him? Initially, I didn’t pay much thought to it, but I noticed a remarkable similarity between you both upon closer inspection. Not only in appearance but also in personality. Frankly, had I not known about you and the Joneson Family, I would have found it hard to believe.”
Elspeth had kept many things from Yelena, who tended to spread gossip. One of these things was that her biological father was still unknown. Though the townspeople of Damoria knew of her relationship with Callum, they were hesitant to criticize the couple due to the Winthrop Family’s power and her own influence. Nevertheless, there were criticisms of their relationship being incestuous behind closed doors. Elspeth felt powerless to argue against these rumors unless she could find her true father. Even if she were to produce a paternity test proving there was no blood relation between her and Callum, she knew that people would still doubt it.
However, Yelena’s accidental reveal gave her a valuable clue, and Elspeth knew she had to talk to this man.
As Elspeth and Yelena were getting closer, suddenly, there was a splash from the river. Elspeth’s face changed drastically. “Someone fell into the water!”
It seemed like some people were having fun in a small boat on the lake. Someone had lost their balance and fallen into the water.
Although everyone around them gasped in shock, no one made a move to rescue the drowning individual. The men in the pavilion simply looked into the distance and had no intention of saving her. Without hesitation, Elspeth jumped into the water and swam to the center of the lake to retrieve the woman, who was almost out of oxygen from inhaling water. At the same time, Yelena shouted, “Elspeth!”
When Elspeth reached the woman, she wrapped her arm around the drowning woman’s waist and started to swim back to shore. However, as a result of coming into contact with cold water, Elspeth began to feel a chill in her body. Additionally, the physical symptoms from her previous miscarriage had not fully subsided, and now they were resurfacing. Her face became pale, and she experienced a subtle ache in her waist and body. So, she could only watch as the woman in her arm slipped away from her grasp.
When Elspeth grabbed the woman’s waist just now, she noticed the woman’s slightly protruding belly. Having been pregnant before, she recognized that the woman was likely three months along. Ignoring her own potential danger from inhaling the cold water, Elspeth urgently shouted for help, “Please, help!
She’s pregnant!”
As expected, she accidentally swallowed two mouthfuls of cold lake water, causing a sharp pain in her throat.
The man in the pavilion, who had previously ignored the situation, suddenly sprang into action upon hearing that the woman was pregnant. He used his immense strength to swim over and pull both women to safety. When passing by, Yozan noticed Elspeth’s pale face and was surprised. However, he simply reached out to her and pulled her out of the lake.
Yozan had impressive arm strength and managed to rescue both people, despite the effort it took. The staff arrived promptly at that time, with a private doctor standing by with a grave expression to provide emergency medical treatment to the two people. The Sullivan Family’s private doctor knew Elspeth and was about to come over to attend to her, but Elspeth coughed a few times and pointed to the unconscious girl on the ground, saying, “Treat her first. She choked on water, and her condition is more critical.”
The doctor followed her orders and crouched down to examine the girl. Elspeth couldn’t resist reminding him, “She’s pregnant. Please check if the child in her belly is okay.”
At that moment, the assistant also handed two towels to Elspeth, who gave one to Yozan. Yozan turned his head to look at her before taking the towel and softly saying, “Thank you.”
“I should be the one to thank you. If it weren’t for you, I might have died,” Elspeth replied with a smile. She first wrung out the water from her hair. Then, she began to wipe it dry with care. Luckily, she wore a black dress today. Otherwise, she might have embarrassed herself if it had gotten soaked through.
“Thank you for saving Elspeth. Don’t worry. My private doctor is very capable and will ensure Cecelia’s safety. However, both of your clothes are wet and cannot be worn. I have prepared spare clothes for you in the villa. Elspeth, you can wear mine, and as for Yozan, if you don’t mind, Hank has a new suit that you can wear.” Yelena sincerely thanked Yozan upon seeing that Elspeth was safe.
Elspeth suddenly realized that the girl who fell into the water was Hank’s childhood friend, Cecelia. Therefore, Yozan must be the male lead in that love story Yelena had mentioned. However, Elspeth didn’t have time to gossip at the moment. If this girl had fallen into the water due to her own mistake, it was still just an accident. However, if not…
Daring to cause trouble at Yelena’s engagement party, huh? The perpetrator must have a death wish.
Elspeth’s eyes turned cold, and she turned to the assistant, ordering, “Go and check who was on the boat in the middle of the lake today.”
Yozan was slightly stunned. He didn’t expect her to have such meticulous thoughts in her mind. They really seemed to think alike.
Yozan had noticed the slight resemblance between their features in the lake earlier, and now that he had a closer look at her, he realized they were indeed extremely similar. She was like a female version of him. He wondered, Could it be that all of this was not just a coincidence?
Yozan politely asked, “May I know how to address you, Miss?”
Despite being aware of Elspeth’s identity from the widespread news coverage, Yozan politely asked for her name. “Elspeth Lynwood,” Elspeth responded with a smile, revealing her sparkling eyes and pearly white teeth.
“I’m Yozan Harley.” After they both exchanged pleasantries, Yelena was worried about Elspeth’s health and quickly had someone take them to change clothes. Their rooms happened to be located opposite each other, and as Elspeth was about to enter her room, she gave Yozan a quick look with an indescribable chill in her eyes.
After changing clothes and coming out, Yozan was waiting for her by the door. He stood with one hand in his pocket while smoothly pulling out a cigarette with the other. The long and evenly shaped cigarette looked even more elegant between his slender fingers. “May I smoke?” he asked.
“I think you’re not just here for that, Mr. Harley.”
Yozan looked at her and put the cigarette back in his pocket, saying seriously, “I believe you’re a smart person and should know the purpose of me waiting here, Miss Lynwood.”
“I don’t know, Mr. Harley. You’ll have to tell me.” She didn’t like playing guessing games with people, but this man seemed to want to lead her on, and it was getting on her nerves.
“Miss Lynwood, you’re good at scheming. How could you not understand my intentions?” Yozan brought up the matter of Arthur. However, Elspeth didn’t want to talk too much about it with him.
With a slight frown, her face immediately turned frosty. “Mr. Harley, if you can’t speak properly, there’s nothing more for us to talk about.” She smiled and was about to turn around, but he stopped her.
“Miss Lynwood, in that case, I won’t beat around the bush any longer.”
Yozan took a few steps forward and stood in front of her. His gaze was fixed on her face as he said, “Haven’t you ever doubted your identity, Miss Lynwood?”
Although he had never heard that he had any sisters or half-sisters, nor had he heard of any illegitimate children outside of his father’s marriage, he had a sense of familiarity when he first saw Elspeth. His intuition had never been wrong.
Elspeth shrugged, sounding casual as she said, “Of course, I’ve doubted it before. But so far, I don’t have any evidence.”
She was going to meet him anyway, so it was fine to say something.
“If you have the time, let’s do a DNA test together,” Yozan said lightly. “There may be a surprise.”
Elspeth hadn’t had a chance to respond when she suddenly heard hurried footsteps coming from the corridor. Then, she was suddenly embraced in a tight hug. The familiar smell rushed into her nose, and Callum spoke quickly, “Why were you so reckless? How can you save anyone you see drowning, seeing as your body isn’t good, to begin with? What if something happens?”
