Unveiled: The Survivor's Triumph

Chapter 152 I'm Not Afraid of Rumors

"What?" I stared at him, eyes wide in shock.

Benjamin would never say something like that without a reason.

He turned to look at me and sighed softly.

"Trust me. I would never harm you. I just think you should find an ordinary person and live a stable life."

I always knew there was a huge gap between Ethan and me. So, I tried to bridge the discrepancy.

But my gut told me Benjamin's words meant more than just Ethan not being an ordinary person. It felt like there was another reason, something Benjamin was hesitant to say, maybe because it was inconvenient or had serious consequences. When I got back to the classroom, there were a bunch more Christmas cards on the desk.

Ethan was clearly more comfortable with the task now, jotting down his holiday wishes at lightning speed.

The kids laminated all the wish cards, but I was a bit distracted, replaying Benjamin's words in my head.

I had asked him in the hallway, "Are you still alone?"

Benjamin nodded with a smile. "Yeah, I am. But I don't think it's a bad thing. I'm not lonely; I have so many kids with me."

At that moment, I watched the kids calling him "Mr. Thomas" one after another, surrounded by a group of them. It was a really heartwarming scene.

When Ethan and I left, the kids were still making noise.

Walking through the familiar campus, I slowed down and stopped under a snow-covered fig tree.

It was Christmas Eve. Except for Benjamin's classroom, all the lights around were off, leaving everything in darkness.

I turned to look at Ethan. He was very close to me, but through the falling snowflakes, he seemed very distant.

"Ethan, who are you really? Why does it feel like you're miles away even though you're right in front of me? Why do I always feel like being with you is against some higher power, like God disapproves? Why?" Ethan lifted the hand that was on my shoulder and gently tapped my forehead.

"You're overthinking."

He wrapped his arm around my waist and slowly lowered his head.

At that moment, we were very close. I could only see his eyes, a pair of deep eyes that could easily make someone fall deeply.

"Look, the handsome guy in front of you is your husband, not someone else. We're together, and God can't do anything about it. If it's unhappy, it can make the snowfall harder to show its protest."

I was easily moved by Ethan's slightly domineering yet somewhat childish demeanor.

for a while, and when he let go, he reached

from Ethan's ruffling, and the sweetness that quietly invaded

to leave, the snow indeed started

opened my mouth in surprise and pointed to the sky. "Look, God

snorted. "This isn't heavy. If God has the guts, let

covered his mouth. "Don't

stood still, letting me cover his mouth. His eyes were smiling, and a muffled

can actually hear

a sign. Others said they heard crying the night before, and some agreed, saying they heard it too, making it sound so real. Although these things sounded absurd, I still felt regretful at the time,

and I

suddenly pulled me into his arms, holding me

haunting you and take away

heavily, so much that it seemed like the world was filled only with the sound of wind and

on Christmas Day,

salon was private; it focused on training talent. Many of the makeup artists who came out of

learn there with medical skills would be a

I was

team was vibrant and infectious, with each

to them, I felt a

and said, "A beautician's good image

blushed and mumbled, "I get

your poise will show. There's nothing wrong with you; in fact, you're

every day, and as my understanding of beauty grew, so did my confidence

ran into an old classmate at Aurora's beauty center; she was

so many years, I didn't recognize her at first. She recognized me and pulled me aside

but seeing an old classmate still made me

days weren't as carefree and beautiful as others', they were

came to pick me up and suggested going out to eat, I

the same. He remembered me. The owner was very kind; back when I was in school, he knew about my family's situation and let me work there

at mealtime, and many students came into

noticed the female students around us whispering and occasionally sneaking glances at Ethan. Their

Ethan's looks, it was hard

but with so many people watching, I felt uncomfortable. Ethan, however, remained calm, as if those gazes had nothing

been observing us for a while suddenly

are you Ethan, the lead singer of The Thorn Birds Band? I

a pen and a

remembered The Thorn Birds Band