CHAPTER 83: CHAPTER 83: DO YOU REALLY THINK I’M STUPID?

"If you’re here to stand up for Lyra Grant, then I don’t have time to mess around with you," Mabel Quinn said, about to leave.

Soren grabbed Mabel Quinn’s arm, preventing her departure. "Mabel Quinn, we both know it well. Why do you keep targeting Lyra over and over again?"

"Know it well? Ridiculous. What’s so well-known between you and me?" she said.

"You’re upset because I chose Lyra, which is why you’re making things difficult for her everywhere. I know you like me, but there’s no possibility between us, so you’d better not have any unrealistic ideas," Soren said, his handsome face filled with arrogance and disdain.

Even though Mabel Quinn had long since lost her feelings for Soren, the disdain on his face still made her feel blocked in her heart. Why didn’t she realize back then, after her father’s death, that the interactions between the two families had reduced significantly? When she called Soren, they barely talked a few words before he said he was busy. Why, when she found out they got into the same high school and were classmates, his face showed no sign of a smile but rather impatience?

Look, how naïve she was before. So many obvious things, and she noticed none, even writing "Sound of the Wind" based on him. Remembering when he said to her as a child, "Mabel, when I grow up, I will protect you," she felt like it belonged to an entirely different lifetime.

Childish words are just that—childish. They bear no responsibility, and in the end, are merely brushed aside with a laugh.

But back then, she never thought that way, until after the plagiarism incident with her novel, he, like everyone else, accused her without reason, not listening to her explanations. In that moment, her feelings were utterly destroyed.

She hadn’t realized before how he truly saw her!

And now, his gaze was still full of disgust and disdain for her.

Mabel Quinn took a deep breath, looking seriously at the man she once loved and felt heartbroken for. "Soren, I don’t have those feelings for you now. Some feelings may never change, but some can go from nothing to something, and from something to nothing. I don’t like you now, and in the future, the person I like won’t be you either."

Mysteriously, at that moment, Kyle Kinston’s face flashed through her mind. That man had once told her that if she could see him as the only one and never betray him, then he could do the same.

Even if those words were mostly a joke, when she heard them, her heart couldn’t help but race.

How many "only ones" are there in this world?

Soren was somewhat incredulous. Meanwhile, an indescribable sense of loss rose within him, even he couldn’t quite explain it. "If you don’t like me, then why at your mother’s celebration did you insist on my coat?"

"Surely, you don’t expect me to leave the restaurant wearing clothes soaked in drinks," Mabel Quinn said calmly.

He suddenly leaned closer, staring intently at her. "You’re saying this on purpose, aren’t you?"

Mabel Quinn was speechless, but she didn’t shy away from Soren’s gaze. "You’re a bit too confident in yourself. Do you think I’d fall for someone who looks down on me, doesn’t trust me, tells me not to dream, and already has a girlfriend? Do you really think I’m a fool?"