Jeremy endured the pain coursing through his body and spoke in a slightly hoarse voice. However, he maintained a
relaxed tone as he said to Corinne, “Yes, I’m awake.”
The relief on Corinne’s end was evident. Though she had noticed the hoarseness in his voice, she attributed it to the
typical morning hoarseness and did not immediately think that something was wrong. She asked, “Where are you
now? Have you arrived at Sophia’s house yet?”
Jeremy replied truthfully, “Yes.”
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtTommy knew it would be inconvenient for Jeremy to hold the phone because of his injury, so he placed it near
Jeremy’s pillow and left the room to stand guard outside.
Corinne then continued to ask, “How did it go? Have you met Adam? Did he give you a hard time?”
Her concern left Jeremy feeling a sense of warmth in his heart. A faint smile graced his lips, but his voice still held a
hint of seriousness. “He did.”
Corinne raised her voice when she heard that. “What happened? How did he cause trouble for you?”
Jeremy replied in a somewhat dejected tone, “He hit me.”
Corinne nearly blurted out an expletive. “I’ll have Aaron buy me a plane ticket right now!”
Her anxious reaction elicited a chuckle from Jeremy. His laughter gradually became more audible, and he said
teasingly, “I didn’t think you’d grow so worried about me that you’d fly over to stand up for me after hearing that I
got beat up.”
Corinne was annoyed after realizing she was being teased. The mood lightened, and she retorted indignantly, “Are
you pulling my leg?”
Jeremy’s statement was intended to reassure Corinne by eliminating her worries and suspicions. If he simply told
her everything was fine, she might be skeptical as to whether he was telling the truth. By making her believe he
was still in the mood to joke with her, she would believe that everything was fine—thus easing her concerns.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmJeremy chuckled and said, “I just wanted to hear how much you care for me. You used to treat me as dispensable
and leave whenever you wanted, right?”
Corinne, still somewhat irritated, responded, “Is this the time for jokes? Don’t you have anything better to do?”
Jeremy adopted a more serious tone. “Okay, okay. I’ll stop joking. Everything has been resolved. Sophia and I will go
through with the annulment process tomorrow, and I’ll return to you immediately.”
Corinne was surprised that everything was resolved so smoothly. She asked, “How did you reach an agreement so
easily? Didn’t Sophia’s father demand any unreasonable conditions from you?”
Jeremy did not want her to worry too much, but he also did not want to deceive her a second time. He decided to
gloss over the details and reply nonchalantly, “I did have to make some necessary concessions, but everything went
without a hitch. I’ll be back soon. Is there anything you’d like as a gift? I can ask Tommy to get it for you.”