Fortunate to Have You This Lifetime

She half-closed her eyes in contentment, enjoying the man’s service, and asked lazily, “What’s the matter?”

“After school tomorrow, I’ll pick you up,” Alexander whispered, lightly biting her earlobe. “We need to meet with Lily Howard.”

Purple was momentarily startled, then suddenly became fully alert, sitting up straight and asking him, “You mean, your fiancée Lily Howard?”

At the mention of the word ‘fiancée,’ Alexander looked somewhat uneasy and nodded with a frown.

Purple felt awkward. “Do we have to meet? …But after we meet, what will we talk about?”

No matter the topic, it all reeked of awkwardness and dissonance.

But Alexander said, “We definitely should meet. If you don’t see her, she’ll go to the school to find you. It’s better for everyone to sit down and talk things out clearly, so you stop overthinking.”

Purple pouted and said, “What’s there for me to overthink.”

A fleeting smile played on Alexander’s lips as he watched her.

Purple’s face flushed with a suspicious red, and she turned her head away, ignoring him.

After a while, though, she couldn’t help but ask, “Are you going to marry her?”

Alexander paused, and then his expression darkened. He said with furrowed brows, “I’ve told you, she’s already married abroad.”

Purple bit her lip, wrestling with herself for a while, and then nodded. “Let’s meet then.”

It was quite astonishing.

Had it been her past self, she would have stayed miles away from someone who had a fiancée. How could she be like she was now, enduring his having a nominal fiancée and even having to meet and lay cards on the table with her…

Maybe love was a kind of poison that could dull the senses.

Once it gripped your heart, even if the other person didn’t say a word, you would still look for excuses for them.

He must have his hardships… he holds me in his heart… his relationship with that woman is just for show… he…

Sigh.

Purple sighed in her heart, feeling destined to lose sleep tonight.

…

The next day in class, Purple couldn’t find her rhythm. She was distracted during lectures, and her notes were a mess.

She glanced at the time now and then, and as the end of school approached, her anxiety grew.

There was nothing to be scared of.

She told herself internally.

But she couldn’t help feeling uneasy… Maybe it was because of the awkwardness of their positions. No matter what, the other woman was the legitimate fiancée! If she acted haughty, Purple really wouldn’t know where to put herself!

In her last and current life combined, she’d never been in such an embarrassing situation.

What would today’s meeting be like, a peaceful talk or a fierce confrontation?

Even though she didn’t want to, school ended, and Alexander’s car quietly waited at the school gate, impossible to ignore.

Purple got into the car and noticed that Alexander’s expression was rather grim.

She thought: Could he also be nervous?

The car left the school and slowly made its way through the congested traffic.

Purple’s mind was in a turmoil.

At one moment, she imagined a glamorous woman with fiery red lips arrogantly tilting her head up, looking down on her from above, “I am a lady of a reputable family, graduated from top colleges in France, fluent in several languages; what are you? Daring to fancy Master Xander is simply preposterous! Take this money and get lost!”

After saying that, the woman threw a check at Purple’s face! …

At another moment, she pictured a tender, pitiable woman with red-rimmed eyes looking at Purple, on the verge of tears, “Ms. Summers, I truly love Master Xander, please, let us be together! I can’t live without him… I’m begging you…”

With that, she started to cry, tears streaming down like rain, almost kneeling down to Purple.

Purple reached out to help her, but the woman collateral fell to the ground, appearing for all the world as if she had been pushed by Purple. This scene was witnessed by many; they began to whisper, “My, these mistresses nowadays are so brazen…”

As Purple’s mind wandered through these scenarios, her face alternated between pale and flush.

“What’s wrong?” Alexander, sitting beside her, asked.