The next few words out of her mouth nearly shattered his feigned composure, as if someone unveiled the truth he least wanted to face deep within his heart.
Naturally, he was inclined to deny it, even thinking that Hannah Winter was nursing an infatuation, foolishly trying to win him back.
He looked at the person before him and suddenly scoffed, "You? Worthy of my affection?"
She was nothing more than a substitute.
He wanted to mock and ridicule her as he had done before, but the words were stuck in his throat.
That was because she was looking at him with a smile lingering at the corners of her lips. Even her eyes were crinkling with mirth, as if she had seen through his pathetic guise.
The thread of reason in his mind was utterly broken. Enraged, he tightened his grip on her wrist and emphasized, "Hannah Winter, I'll never like you, never ever. Do you understand?"
Pathetic guise.
A mockery of self-deceit.
