Part 1The Silent Echo of Us

Years after I graduated college, a novel I wrote about second chances and a broken romance unexpectedly went viral.

The male lead was based on him.

At my book’s press conference, he sat in the front row as the primary investor.

His girlfriend smiled brightly at the cameras. "We’re getting engaged soon. I hope certain people don't read too much into a fictional story and embarrass themselves."

A reporter stubbornly pressed on, "Mr. Thorne, since you clearly dislike the author, why did you buy the rights to her book?"

Sebastian Thorne didn't even glance in my direction. He answered coolly, "The plot is clumsy and cheap. I bought it so I'd never have to see it again."

* * *

"Did you hear? The male and female leads never actually got back together in real life. She dumped him."

"Why?"

"Because he was broke, obviously."

"Then when Sebastian Thorne became a billionaire heir, she crawled back begging for a second chance, and he shut her down."

"Wow, and she still had the nerve to write a book about it?"

The AC in the press conference hall was blasting, set to a freezing 64 degrees.

The murmurs and insults from the readers echoed through the room.

I kept my head down, meticulously signing my pen name on the title pages.

I wrote this novel the year I graduated.

I never expected it to blow up.

The harder the readers shipped the fictional couple back then, the more viciously they attacked me now that my history with Sebastian had been dug up.

But I couldn't afford to be upset.

Even if I had to smile while being cursed at, I had to finish this event.

Because this was the investor's demand.

Sebastian was currently sitting in the front row.

He looked calm and authoritative, watching the girl beside him field questions from the press.

"We’re getting engaged soon. I hope certain people don't read too much into a fictional story and embarrass themselves."

The girl’s smile was sickeningly sweet.

"If someone ruined a man's life and then expected to just waltz back into it... well, that would just be shameless, wouldn't it?"

I knew this woman.

Valerie Kensington. We were classmates in college.

Her family and the Thorne family were old money, deeply connected.

Back when I was dating Sebastian, she proactively befriended me, acting like my ultimate best friend.

After graduation, she acted like I didn't exist.

The microphone was passed to Sebastian.

"Mr. Thorne, rumor has it that you and the author share a very intense history. How exactly did you two break up back then?"

Sebastian didn't even look at me. "I suggest you ask the author."

His freezing tone only fueled the rumors.

Confirming the narrative that I was a gold-digger who threw him away.

A wave of laughter rippled through the crowd.

"Someone mentioned your first choice wasn't business, but becoming a research scientist."

"Could you tell us why you ultimately chose to return and inherit the family empire?"

Sebastian's gaze finally cut through the crowd, landing squarely on me. He stared at me expressionless for a long moment.

Then, he looked away.

"I was young. I didn't know what I really wanted."

"Facts have proven that people belong in the circles they are familiar with."

"As for the rest... I just rolled with the punches."

After finishing, he asked flatly, "Miss Sterling, wouldn't you agree?"

Facing the cameras, my mind went completely blank.

Just as I opened my mouth to say something, Sebastian lowered his eyes and started chatting with the executive next to him, clearly unbothered by whatever my answer might be.

The massive screen in the hall cut back to a clip of his earlier interview.

"What was your reason for buying the rights to this book?"

Sebastian's voice was ice. "The plot is clumsy and cheap. I bought it so I'd never have to see it again."