\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 22\u00a0<\/p>\n
1\/2\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 22\u00a0<\/p>\n
William reached into his pocket and took out an emerald lucky charm. Then, he carefully put it around Scarlet\u2019s neck and said, \u201cHappy birthday.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
She was genuinely surprised. She once had a lucky charm that she had worn since birth. Her mother had prayed for it while pregnant with her at a church and had it blessed. Her mother said it would protect her and keep her safe for life.\u00a0<\/p>\n
However, when she was at the orphanage, a bully snatched it away and smashed it into pieces. Back then, she, who was usually quiet and withdrawn, suddenly broke down into tears without warning. She cried so hard she could barely breathe, completely unable to stop.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In the end, all the headmaster did was scold the bully a few times and brush the incident off lightly.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Scarlet had always believed that it was because her parents were gone and that no one was there to protect her anymore that the charm they had given her had shattered.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Once, when she went to a friend\u2019s house with William, she saw a child wearing the same kind of lucky charm and couldn\u2019t help but stare at it for a few extra seconds.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He noticed her gaze and shamelessly asked, \u201cDo you like it? If you do, I\u2019ll snatch it over.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The child overheard him and was frightened. He immediately covered it with his hands and burst into tears, running off to\u00a0<\/p>\n
find his father.\u00a0<\/p>\n
At that time, Scarlet was so embarrassed that she wanted to bury herself. Furious, she kicked William.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He didn\u2019t dodge and just let her vent. Then, he laughed and pinched her ear. \u201cYou\u2019re so easily embarrassed. You aren\u2019t worthy of me.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Back then, Scarlet had only thought that William was unbearably shameless. Later, on the way home, she told him about her broken lucky charm. Nevertheless, she never expected that he would remember it all this time.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The lucky charm William gave Scarlet wasn\u2019t a common design one would see on the market. It was delicate and exquisitely crafted. It was adorable. The emerald was crystal clear and still carried the warmth of his pocket, resting gently against her\u00a0<\/p>\n
skin.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In that moment, she suddenly started crying, tears streaming down her cheeks. With a smile, he asked, \u201cWhy are you crying?\u00a0<\/p>\n
He wiped her tears with his fingertips. Nonetheless, she couldn\u2019t stop crying. No matter how much he wiped, the tears kept coming. She cried until his palm was soaked. Finally, he cupped her face and kissed her.\u00a0<\/p>\n
That passionate kiss etched itself deep into Scarlet\u2019s memory. Over the next two years, on countless sleepless nights and whenever she woke up from a dream at midnight, it felt as though she had been pulled back into that heavy snowfall.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She would recall being held in a warm embrace while listening to William\u2019s gentle voice as he soothed her, saying, \u201cDon\u2019t cry. From now on, I\u2019ll keep you safe.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
After that, they were sweet for some time. William loved teasing Scarlet while she slept. He pinched her nose so that she couldn\u2019t breathe. When she woke up groggily, he would laugh and tease, \u201cYou sleep like a piglet.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
At times, he would call her name affectionately, and sometimes, he would call her his darling In a clingy voice.\u00a0<\/p>\n
William had many friends. Wherever he went, people naturally gathered around him. Scarlet, on the other hand, was socially\u00a0<\/p>\n
anxious.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Aside from meeting Lucy, Scarlet preferred spending her free time curled up at home. So, he would turn down his friends\u2019 invitations and stay home with her instead.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 22\u00a0<\/p>\n
2\/2\u00a0<\/p>\n
When William was away on a business trip once, Scarlet came down with a fever. After taking medicine, she passed out at home, and her entire body ached. Half-conscious, she thought she heard him talking to Ruth and assumed she was\u00a0<\/p>\n
hallucinating.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It wasn\u2019t until she felt herself being pulled into someone\u2019s arms that she sensed his familiar warmth and scent, then the discomfort truly began to ease.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Later, she learned that he had called her several times but was unable to reach her. In the middle of work, he had dropped everything and rushed back.\u00a0<\/p>\n
During that time, Scarlet felt like she was floating on clouds. She was cherished and loved. Slowly, she let down her walls and became gentler.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sometimes, when she got upset, she would sulk and wait for William to coax her. When he teased her, she even dared to hit or kick him. Every time he was struck, he never got angry. He just said, \u201cWith that little strength, I\u2019ll start thinking you\u2019re flirting with me.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Scarlet was someone who warmed up slowly, but the love from William was too intense. She couldn\u2019t help falling for him completely.\u00a0<\/p>\n
When spring arrived and the weather warmed, Willian suddenly had a whim one day. He said he wanted to make up for their honeymoon.\u00a0<\/p>\n
At first, Scarlet thought he was joking. Soon, she realized he was serious. He worked overtime every day, pushing through. company matters as fast as possible. He did all that so that he could carve out time for a vacation.\u00a0<\/p>\n
X CLOSE\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0 Chapter 22\u00a0 1\/2\u00a0 Chapter 22\u00a0 William reached into his pocket and took out an emerald lucky charm. Then, he […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-130","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-end-of-the-contractstart-of-his-obsession"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=130"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":156,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130\/revisions\/156"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=130"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=130"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=130"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}