Chapter 16
“I was too late back then and didn’t get the chance to confess to Celeste. This time I absolutely won’t be late again.”
Damien heard Chase’s determined voice clearly, and it hit him like a punch. Damien was near/?
driven mad with
rage.
could take his place!
All this time, they had been manipulating him, leading him to do things that wronged Celeste, so that Cha His eyes turned red with fury as he snatched Kevin’s phone, his face dark and menacing as he said, “Chase, Celeste will only ever love me! I’ll apologize to her, and we’ll get back together!
“She didn’t fall for you before, so do you really think you have a chance now? Dream on!“*
Chase remained utterly calm, saying indifferently, “It doesn’t matter if she won’t love me or be with me right away. At least I’m better than you. After how you’ve hurt her, even if she doesn’t choose me, she’ll never go back to you.”
Damien’s breath caught, a deep pain stabbing through his heart. Yet he still forced himself to appear composed, grinding his teeth as he spat out, weren’t for you and Kevin being so despicable and manipulative, deliberately leading me to neglect Celeste, how would we have reached this point?”
Upon hearing this, Chase let out a cold, mocking laugh. “Damien, don’t be ridiculous. If you had truly been devoted to Celeste, how could a few words from Kevin and his crowd have swayed your feelings?
“If it
“Kevin and his crowd haven’t changed. They’ve always been like this, constantly cycling through women, playing with one and discarding her. Haven’t you known them long enough to figure that out?
“There are plenty of players in our circle, and while faithful men are rare, they do exist. Why didn’t you listen to them and treat Celeste well? If you had treated her properly, I wouldn’t have had any chance to approach her today! You’re the one who wronged her!”
His words hit the nail on the head. Damien’s face turned pale, completely drained of color, and his lips trembled uncontrollably.
“It’s not like that… It’s not…” He kept shaking his head, muttering in a daze as the phone slipped from his grasp and fell to the floor.
The entire private room fell into deathly silence. Kevin and the others felt extremely awkward, unsure of what to say.
Kevin and several others had indeed intended to lead Damien astray, constantly telling him that everyone in their circle was like this–keeping a current favorite on the side was no big deal.
But for all those years before, Damien hadn’t listened. Only when he met Ophelia did he gradually start taking their words to heart.
However, Kevin and the others had heard bits and pieces about the situation between Ophelia and Celeste. Celeste wasn’t the type to bully others. Over all these years, everyone had heard about her character and conduct, and many had actually interacted with her.
As for Ophelia… well, there was no need to elaborate. Perhaps only Damien, the person directly involved, was blind to her hypocritical true nature. Still, Kevin and the others knew they were at fault and honestly apologized.
ཟ དོ F ཕའོ ཆེ ཚའྀ ༄༴ ཤ བྷསྟྲ རྗ ཇ ཅ རྗན ཇ ཐ
“Sorry, Damien. This whole thing is our fault.
“But maybe Celeste and you really aren’t meant to be. She’s suffered so much with you and has been tormented so many times. It’s remarkable she hasn’t gone crazy. Letting her go is the best thing you can do for her.”
Damien remained silent, feeling like a massive boulder weighed on his chest, making it hard to breathe.
What could he do now that things had come to this?
Could he even blame them? It seemed like they hadn’t actually done anything.
He could only blame himself. His momentary lapse in judgment, dissatisfaction with the status quo, and desire for more exciting love led him to this point.
It was all his fault.
Damien got himself a private room, ordered dozens of bottles of alcohol, and drank morosely. The harsh, burning liquor went down his throat, but he felt nothing.
He didn’t know how many glasses he’d consumed, but his mind became increasingly clear while his heart felt like it was being pierced with needles.
