Chapter 9
Claim 50 Coins By Check in
Mertu
Vaughn Sterling replayed the recording over and over like a masochist. It felt as if his soul had been ripped from his body. He sat here, frozen, for a long time.
Pretended to faint… intentionally burned… oil paintings… rigged matches…”
Corliss Mercer’s voice echoed in Vaughn’s mind like a demonic curse.
He suddenly grabbed his laptop and slammed it onto the floor with a deafening crash. The audio finally cut out.
The room fell into a terrifying silence.
Corliss had been lying to him this entire time!
Her paintings had been destroyed on purpose.
Corliss actually had the nerve to act innocent, even going so far as to fake a heart episode when Elara was having a heart episode…
And he had believed every single word.
He had thought that Corliss was at least honest when it came to Go, but she was even having rigged matches.
Rigged match was the one thing Vaughn loathed more than anything.
A player like that didn’t even deserve to compete in a match!
Heh…” A low, bitter chuckle escaped Vaughn’s throat.
He had been kept in the dark by a malicious girl for three years, played like a total fool.
And for the sake of someone like Corliss, he had committed a series of atrocities against innocent people.
Vaughn closed his eyes in agony and slammed his fist onto the desk.
ust then, his phone began to ring.
Vaughn picked it up and saw the caller ID: Corliss.
A terrifying sneer curled his lips as he answered. “Hello.”
Vaughn! What am I going to do? The police said they’re coming to take me into custody tomorrow.” Corliss’s voice was shaking incontrollably. “I’m so scared. Will I really be sentenced? I don’t want to go to jail… Vaughn, please, you have to think of ¡omething!”
Vaughn? Are you there?” Corliss sniffled. “The police said the Vance family won’t drop the lawsuit. They’re going to hold me accountable for everything. But I really didn’t know! I didn’t think things would end up like this. Vaughn, you said you’d help me. Have you found a way yet?”
‘A way? What kind of way could I possibly have?” Vaughn sneered. “You did something wrong, and now you have to face the legal consequences. Is that basic logic too difficult for you to understand?”
‘Vaughn, you…” Corliss choked up. “You said you’d help me. Why…”
“Why? You actually have the balls to ask me why!” Vaughn grit his teeth, his voice laced with venom. “Corliss Mercer, did you have fun playing me like a dog on a leash? Intentionally burning Elara’s paintings, faking a heart condition, rigged matches-which one of those wasn’t your doing? Prison? A person as evil as you belongs behind bars for the rest of your damn life!”
There was a long silence on the other end of the line.
Soon, the sound of her sobbing came through. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, Vaughn. I know I was wrong. I shouldn’t have exploited your
10 16:26
9 19
< Chapter 9
Claim 50 Coins By Check in
MARCU
trust to lie to you. I just loved you too much! During those three years when I was sick, we were apart so much… I was afraid that Elara Vance would slowly take over your heart…”
Enough.” Vaughn had no patience left to listen to her. “No amount of explanations can hide the fact that you’re ugly on the inside. You don’t deserve to even speak her name. She is a hundred times more kind and honest than you could ever be.”
With that, he ended the call.
Corliss tried calling back immediately, but Vaughn simply blocked her number.
In the next second, he couldn’t help but think of Elara.
Was she disappointed in him when she blocked him?
After all, he was her boyfriend, yet he had been so obsessed and biased, constantly favoring Corliss.
in her eyes, he must have looked like the biggest idiot on the planet. He realized that was why she had left that recording on his
computer.
it was a silent mockery of his stupidity.
Vaughn ran his hands through his hair in frustration.
But soon, he realized he was trapped in a strange mental loop.
Why should he care what she thought?
From the very beginning, she was nothing more than a tool for his revenge.
Now that the truth was out, there was no future for him and Corliss. As for him and her, there was even less of a reason for us to tay together.
f she wanted to break up, then they were broken up. It saved him the trouble of finding an excuse.
Vaughn felt a sudden sense of clarity.
He got up to take a shower and lay down to try and get some sleep, but he tossed and turned, unable to close his eyes.
The next day, Vaughn’s eyes were bloodshot. He climbed out of bed, feeling exhausted, and took his dirty underwear to the bathroom to wash them.
As he thought back to his dream from the night before, his throat tightened.
n the dream, Elara was wearing that bunny girl costume, sitting on his lap with her legs spread shyly…
Vaughn tried to force the thoughts out of his head, but the images were burnt into his mind.
He booked a flight back to Metropolis. For the next week, he buried himself in training at the Go Institute for an upcoming ournament. Yet, Elara still crossed his mind constantly.
A rational voice in his head kept telling him: This is just a normal withdrawal symptom. You spent three years together. Time will Fade everything.
A light rain began to fall. As Vaughn left the Go Institute, he reached for his umbrella just as his phone buzzed.
It was a notification from a dating app.
It was an app Elara had forced him to download a long time ago, though neither of them had used it much since.
[Hello to my handsome and wise boyfriend! This is a scheduled message!]
[That’s right, today is our 1215th day together! It also happens to be your birthday, December 15th. What should I get you this year? You can give me a hint~]
[By the time you see this, we’ll be university students, but right now I’m still organizing my study notes… Waaah, you were so mean
16.26
< Chapter 9
Claim 50 Coins By Check in
Menu
when you explained the problems to me today. Not everyone is as smart as you! But I’ll still work hard to get into the Aria Institute of Art so I can be closer to you!]
[I can’t believe we’ve been together for three years already. There will be many more three-year milestones in the future, and I want to stay by your side for all of them.]
[By: Elara, who is being driven crazy by her practice exams. Written on May 21st.]
Vaughn stared blankly at those few lines of text. His throat felt inexplicably tight, and his heart felt as if it had been dipped into a jar of sweet honey.
He could almost picture the way her lips must have been curved into a slight smile when she typed those words.
For the past few days, he had been running away from the realization bubbling up inside him. But seeing this scheduled message, Vaughn could no longer lie to himself.
He had fallen in love with her.
Vaughn gripped his phone tightly and made a silent decision: he was going to find her and win her back.
