Chapter 2

Chapter 2

When I opened my eyes again, I found myself lying in a private hospital room.

A young man with brown hair was sitting by my bed, playing a mobile game. The sunlight hit his face, making his fine features glow.

I moved my fingers slightly.

The boy sharply caught my movement and looked up.

Seeing me awake, he looked pleasantly surprised. "You're awake! Are you feeling uncomfortable anywhere?"

I just stared at him blankly.

He scratched his head and said, "I... I'm Jesse Cole. I was walking past your hotel room and noticed the door wasn't closed. I smelled something metallic, so I…"

Although my body was very weak, my heart was still beating strongly.

It reminded me that I hadn't returned to my original world.

I was still Vivian Shaw.

The Vivian who loved Landon so much she was willing to give up her life.

I sighed and closed my eyes.

Jesse nervously touched my forehead. "What's wrong? Are you hurting? I'll go get a doctor."

I opened my eyes helplessly and stopped him. "I'm just a little tired. I want to rest."

Jesse let out a sigh of relief. "That's good! You've been unconscious for a week. That hotel belongs to my family, and if something happened to you, my parents would have chewed me out!"

I was slightly stunned.

"Sorry. I should have gone somewhere further away."

Jesse interrupted me, his handsome eyebrows twisting in a frown. "The person you should be apologizing to isn't me! It's yourself! Did someone wrong you? Oh, never mind, I'm not blaming you at all!"

Seeing his frustrated look, I gave him a weak, forced smile.

He held my hand and said he'd take me to play games so I wouldn't think about all these troubles.

I turned on my phone, only to find it was practically blown up with notifications.

They were all missed calls from Landon.

Looking at the endless list, I zoned out for a moment.

There were also a few messages from him.

―"Vivian, pick up the phone."

―"Vivian, what kind of hard-to-get game are you playing? Let me tell you, Willow is back, so you better know your place!"

―"Vivian, Willow cares about her family the most. Get your ass over here, and don't you dare leak anything about our past."

Landon sent a lot more, but I didn't finish reading them.

I figured all his messages were just about Willow.

I didn't want to read anymore. I didn't want to be sad anymore.

I blocked Landon's number. Looking at the IV drip in my hand, I thought for a moment, then reached out and pulled the needle out.

Jesse gasped and quickly pressed my hand down.

His face was full of worry. "Stop messing around!"

Stop messing around.

I had heard those words from Landon countless times over the past seven years, and every single time, he sounded impatient.

This was the first time I heard genuine care in those words.

And it came from a total stranger.

How ridiculous.

Jesse held me down, called the nurse, and had the needle put back in.

He said, "I ordered some oatmeal for you. Just eat a little to coat your stomach, okay?"

For some reason, my eyes grew hot, and my nose stung.

I wiped the tears from the corners of my eyes and shook my head weakly. "I don't have an appetite."

Jesse frowned. He looked at me seriously and said, "You have to eat even if you don't want to. You're expecting a baby, did you know that?"