Chapter 1205:

🍙 🍙 🍙 🍙 🍙

The cheerful voices drifted beyond the villa’s walls, carrying warmth and joy into the air around them.

Unfortunately, that happiness could never reach a certain place in Gridron.

Inside the Yates family estate in Gridron, Victoria stopped in her tracks when she saw Colton come through the front door.

Concern surfaced in her eyes at once. Ever since Kristine’s wedding, Colton had thrown himself entirely into his work. Every day was exactly the same. Work filled his mornings, consumed his afternoons, and stole his nights. If he kept pushing himself like this, it was only a matter of time before his health gave out.

After standing there for several moments, Victoria finally made up her mind. She couldn’t keep watching this happen. No matter what, she had to go upstairs and talk some sense into him.

When Victoria reached the study, she noticed the door hadn’t been fully closed. Curiosity got the better of her, and she peeked through the narrow gap. What she saw stopped her in her tracks.

Colton was lying on the sofa. After pushing himself for days without proper sleep, he had finally given in to exhaustion. His eyes were closed, and for the first time in what felt like forever, he seemed to be resting.

𝘙𝗼ma𝘯𝘤𝗲 a𝗻𝗱 pаsѕ𝗂𝘰𝗻 оո 𝘨𝖺𝗹𝗻оv𝗲𝗅𝘴.𝖼o𝗺

Relief quietly washed over Victoria.

What she couldn’t possibly know was that his mind was anything but peaceful. In his dream, he had traveled back to his university days, to the day he first met Kristine.

“Kristine, come meet him! This is Colton. Pretty much everyone on campus knows who he is.”

Colton’s eyes locked onto the young woman standing a few steps away, her cheeks flushed pink. Without warning, his heart lurched.

Slowly, she walked up to him. “Hi, Colton. I’m Kristine Green.”

The words he had said back then surfaced in his mind at once. He had originally brushed her off with a cold, “I don’t care who you are.”

But the moment the thought appeared, he pushed it back down. Looking straight at her, he said instead, “Kristine. I’ll remember your name.”

Shock spread across Kristine’s face. She couldn’t believe what she had just heard. The people around them were just as stunned.

Colton understood their reaction perfectly. After all, the first time they had met, he had deliberately greeted her with “I don’t care who you are,” simply because he wanted to make himself unforgettable.

He took a step closer and bent his head slightly, his voice brushing softly against Kristine’s ear. “Why are you looking at me like that? Did I say something wrong?”

The heat in Kristine’s face deepened instantly. “N-no…”

She stepped back almost at once, putting some distance between them.

Amusement flickered in Colton’s eyes. But before he could say anything more, the dream shifted again and carried him to another memory: the day Kristine confessed to him.

“Colton, I like you. Would you go out with me?”

That had been the very first time Kristine confessed her feelings. She had stopped him outside a lecture hall the moment class let out.

.

.

.