The Million-Dollar Heart by Rebecca Ryan

Vivienne's phone buzzed with an incoming message from Draven.

"Hunter belongs to an ancient line of warriors!"

Raising an eyebrow, Vivienne typed back, "Keep digging. Miss nothing."

"Ding!"

The alert for a new message went off, and as Vivienne marveled at Draven's efficiency, her screen was flooded with nearly a hundred messages.

WhatsApp was a sea of red notifications.

Texts were popping up one after another.

Logan Wood, Oberon Harper, Faye Churchill...

Just seeing those names gave Vivienne a throwback to her days as a homeroom teacher at Cloudcrest High School.

She rubbed her forehead in exasperation. Those kids were relentless.

The digits on the blackboard from back then, memorized to this day.

Thinking about it, time really did fly; they must be sophomores in college by now.

Setting aside what she was doing, Vivienne began replying to each message.

She let the WhatsApp notifications bounce as she prioritized responding to the heartfelt wishes sent to her and Mr. Wolf by her students.

After addressing her students' messages, Vivienne finally opened WhatsApp.

At the top was Griffin, with a long string of congratulatory emojis, ending with a somewhat sarcastic wish.

"This invitation is making me green with envy," Griffin's message read. "When will my goofball catch on? Will I ever get to wear a wedding dress, sob?!"

"But you bet, I'll be giving you the biggest red envelope. Not just for Leopold, but for our bond forged in fire."

Something came to Vivienne's mind, and she fished out a recorded video from the top of her WhatsApp, forwarding it to Griffin as a generous return gesture. Griffin instantly replied with a "?"

Vivienne left it at that, letting her discover the joy on her own.

Then came the laments from various juniors about preparing wedding gifts only now receiving the invitation.

Vivienne couldn't help but smirk, skipping over those messages.

message too, "Congrats! Don't worry, even

sure the red envelope makes

message, "You're all about the cash, huh? But it's your big day! Of course, I wouldn't miss it for the world. Expect

last message Vivienne saw was from Aaron,

can

she understood why his name was last on

sounded like a

in reply, and Vivienne moved

Griffin both tried to call

Charlotte: "??"

Griffin: "What the heck?"

their game. Answering one would rob her of peace for an hour,

could start, she signaled Charlotte she was

brief

a simple wedding, not a celebrity spectacle. Did everyone forget she was

kept flooding in, Vivienne was tempted to just turn

moment she considered it, another text came

This time from Draven.

"Young master, Winston's awake."

In the hospital room.

that lit up upon seeing Vivienne, yet couldn't help but

quietly said, "Sis, you came to

need to explain, "I rushed here, didn't tell anyone.

words, "It hurts everywhere... but I can't tell

handed him a life-saving pill,

He obediently swallowed.

you? Not afraid

his head, his voice full of

natural affinity her own mother

asked in a hopeful tone, "Sis, can you tell me about

she heard right,

mentioned inviting me to her wedding once. But then, after Alyssa did something bad to

pursed, and the

come to mine in a few

face brightened, "Really? You're getting

Vivienne paused.

he mean by

"Winston, do

his small hands twisting, "I remember everything. I really wanted to see auntie, so I followed Alyssa