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 if

"Just make sure

cash, huh? But it's your big day! Of course, I wouldn't miss it for the world. Expect the biggest red envelope from me!" Following Kala, Carl Brooks and

Vivienne saw was

can

understood why his name was

sounded like a mission with

"No" was sent in reply,

tried to call at the same time,

Charlotte: "??"

Griffin: "What the heck?"

Answering one would rob her of peace for an

they could start, she signaled Charlotte she was busy and promised Griffin his

a brief moment of

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

in, Vivienne was tempted to just

considered it, another text came

This time from Draven.

"Young master, Winston's awake."

In the hospital room.

in bed, a frail figure that lit up upon seeing Vivienne, yet couldn't help but sneak peeks

said, "Sis, you came to

Vivienne rarely felt the need to explain, "I rushed here, didn't tell

face struggled for words, "It hurts everywhere... but

pulse, Vivienne handed him a life-saving pill, "Take

He obediently swallowed.

aren't you? Not afraid I might poison

his voice

affinity her

hopeful tone, "Sis, can you tell me about auntie's

paused, making sure she heard right,

to her wedding once. But then, after Alyssa did

lips pursed, and the light in

you want to see a wedding, come to mine in a few days. My mom will be

"Really?

Vivienne paused.

did he

she asked, "Winston, do you remember anything

everything. I really wanted to see auntie, so