A Summer with My Bitter Rival - Chapter 2

Chapter 1.2 – The Engagement Announcement (2)

The damp heat traveled further down. At the same time, his hands gripped her waist and legs, now free from the constraints of his own clothes. Her senses sharpened, and her heart began to race.

“Zenon…”

Stop.

Stop it…

Tears welled up in her eyes. Emeline struggled to force out the words stuck in her throat.

That’s when she saw his disheveled blonde hair through her blurred vision. Her hand was still resting on his golden hair, blazing like the sun.

“Emeline…”

He breathed her name with a sigh. A shiver ran down her spine.

Emeline squeezed her eyes shut and yanked on his hair with all her strength.

“Stop it, you b*stard!”

At that moment, her voice erupted, like a dam finally bursting.

Emeline’s eyes snapped open, and she gasped for air, her lips parting as she panted heavily. Air rushed into her lungs, filling them quickly. The tightness in her chest eased as it rose and fell with each deep breath.

As she continued to pant, Emeline’s brows slowly knitted together.

Her vision focused on the empty space beneath the canopy.

Zenon was gone. Her hands were no longer tangled in his hair.

She let out a sigh that felt hollow and empty, slowly scanning the room. The faint light of dawn began to fill the bedroom, and the silence felt heavier than usual, pressing down on her.

Zenon was nowhere to be seen.

Finally realizing what had happened, Emeline muttered in disbelief.

“This is absurd…”

Who would have thought that sending one letter would cause him to show up in her dreams?

And in such an embarrassing scenario, no less…!

Emeline let out a deep sigh, feeling the disappointment of realizing it had all been an illusion as she yanked the blanket over her head in frustration. She closed her eyes, hoping to fall back asleep, but the image of the face she had seen inside her dream kept flickering in her mind.

That same, smug face. That infuriatingly cocky attitude.

The man who always found a way to unsettle her, no matter how much she wanted to avoid him.

Zenon Trantium.

Once upon a time, Emeline had loved him so much that she had been willing to turn her back on her family, even though their families were sworn enemies. Even when her father had driven them apart, she had been determined to find any possible way to be with him.

She believed that he would fight for them, too.

But before that dream could come true, he left her.

[ Wasn’t it all just a game from the start?
We were never really serious about each other, so why drag this out? It’ll just be a waste of time. In the end, all we did was lose out unnecessarily…
But I’ll admit this: it was fun. ]

With a single, cynical letter, he left her, claiming it had all been a joke.

Her peaceful life completely crumbled because of him.

Zenon Trantium had whispered sweet promises of love to her, but then he left for a foreign country without looking back. Emeline, who had been lost in her foolish dreams, crumbled under the weight of that heartbreak.

She lost everything.

Because she had been involved with someone from a rival family, her father confined her to their home under strict supervision. For the next few years, she seethed with betrayal, desperately trying to erase him from her heart.

That period lasted four long years.

‘And to think that it was nothing but a game to you?’

Zenon Trantium was such a heartless man.

He had filled her life with love, dreams, and hope, only to cruelly snatch it all away.

He was her rude and arrogant first love.

̊ · : * ✧ * : · ̊

At the first light of morning, Emeline checked if any letters had arrived for her.

Perhaps it was because of his appearance in her dream, but she couldn’t shake an uneasy feeling. Maybe he had responded to the letter she had sent recently, informing him of her engagement.

But, as always, there was no letter bearing his name.

A mix of relief and discomfort swirled inside her.

Feeling unsettled, Emeline hesitated before walking over to her desk.

Forgetting her usual poise, she bent down and pulled out a small drawer hidden underneath her desk. Inside was a collection of letters she had written to someone but never sent. They were all addressed to the same person, but not a single one had ever been delivered.

Emeline’s expression darkened as she frowned.

‘I got your letter. The letter where you said you were getting engaged to another man.’

His voice from the dream still echoed in her head.

‘Was it a mistake to send that letter?’

No matter how long she waited, she would never receive a reply from him. Growing tired of waiting for a response that would never arrive, Emeline ran her fingers over the letters she had kept to herself, then shut the drawer with a sigh.

‘Enough. You promised you’d forget him. Zenon Trantium means nothing.’

Her face set with determination.

The reason she’d had such a dream was likely because Zenon had returned to Elvarto at this particular time.

It had already been four years since he left her so coldly.

To avoid being dragged back into the past, Emeline forced herself to stop thinking about her first love. Just a little longer, and she would be able to erase him entirely.

With a perfect marriage that would make her forget her first love for good.