Rising from the Ashes (Andrew) novel Chapter 2843

Valerie wrinkled her cute, upturned nose and huffed, "You call that a little lesson? You stripped me down and even hit me. Tell me, what woman could tolerate that kind of humiliation?"

Andrew hurried to give a guilty smile and said, "Alright, alright, I'm sorry. I was in the wrong back then."

Valerie smiled, her face full of sweetness. "No, you did the right thing at the time. If you hadn't been so rough with me and done something so outrageous, I wouldn't have spent days and nights afterward thinking about killing you! But the more I thought about it, the more my attempts failed.

"After all that back and forth, I ended up falling for you. It's true what they said about love coming unexpectedly and running deep. I can't remember exactly when I started liking you. At first, I just wanted revenge on Luna, to ruin your relationship and watch her suffer."

She continued, "But gradually, I played with fire and got burned myself. That time at the foot of the Advanced Medical Institute, I became even more certain I'd fallen for you. In that moment, how desperately I wished I could have you all to myself. Watching you and Luna with that intimacy so different from ours, exchanging those meaningful glances… It felt like my heart was being carved out."

As she spoke, her lips trembled, and she looked ready to cry again.

Andrew quickly comforted her. "Why are you crying again? I'll spend today with you and leave tomorrow. Valerie, you and Luna are both wonderful women. From now on, stop competing with each other. If either of you gets hurt, it'll break my heart."

Valerie sniffed and asked, "Then if you had to choose between Luna and me… who do you like more? Who would you pick?"

Andrew obviously was not going to walk into that trap. "Wow, look at the sunset today," he said quickly. "It's so beautiful, just like your face when you blush!"

The sudden change of topic worked on the innocent Valerie, and she immediately stopped pressing the issue.

"Yeah, it's so beautiful," she murmured. "Andrew, I think… I finally know what being in love feels like."

The two of them lingered in that little town at the foot of the mountain, holding onto every moment until night fell.

When everything was over, she curled into Andrew's arms like a sleepy kitten and drifted off, refusing to let go.

Outside the window, dawn slowly brightened the sky.

A new day had arrived.

Andrew barely slept at all. He held the beautiful woman in his arms, her skin soft and warm against him, and he could not help smiling gently.

He lightly tapped her cheek and whispered, "Valerie."

Valerie did not respond. She only turned over and continued sleeping.