Olivia had begun to talk herself out of it when she messaged Liam to [50].
If, in the end, she really had to give up, she must leave with her head held high and proud; she must not cry; she must be dashing.
She had advised herself for most of the year.
She was doing well at the old mansion tonight, not crying, and about to make it, and now, a hug from Amelia has undone her.
She was impervious to all malice but could not touch kindness or care.
A warm hug is all it takes for her to drop the pretense.
Olivia hugged Amelia and cried her eyes out, her ripped voice and violently shaking body like she'd been tortured.
What kind of torture? Probably cutting flesh and bone and heart.
The three words, Liam, had permeated her entire youth, occupying her heart and carved into the marrow of her bones. Now, it was removed by one of the sharpest knives, tearing even her heart apart.
The warmth Liam has given her over the years traps her, trapping her in memories of the past that she can't extricate herself from.
He was like a light that illuminated the dim path of her youth.
Unfortunately, now, the light pierced through her and shone on someone else.
Amelia carefully cradled Olivia in her arms, afraid to break her with the force.
In the beginning, she even advised a couple of sentences, but then she became more and more distressed and sad, so she cried along with her and finally cried even more fiercely than she did.
The crying broke off and continued until 2:00 am, when it stopped completely, and Amelia asked her if she was drinking and needed a big drink.
Olivia declined, "No need."
Fresh out of the hospital, her stomach couldn't quite let loose with a big drunk, and it was she herself who would suffer if she got hurt from the drink.
After a brief wash, the two lay under one comforter, and Amelia nearly had a heart attack after hearing the whole story of the birthday party.
"Is Ava ever going to be done with this? She's gotten everything she wanted; why don't she leave you alone!"
Ava joining forces with Sophia to make such a mess is a triple whammy.
The first is to intensify the conflict between Olivia and the Smith Family people, which she has been doing since she was a child, and Olivia's poor relationship with her family is all her doing.
Secondly, she shows everyone that she's more favored than Olivia, more golden than Olivia and that she's the Ava of the Smith Family.
Third, forcing Olivia to mess with Liam and not wanting Olivia to marry into the Johnson Family.
"Ava grew up jealous of you, fighting you for everything, and there's no better family in all of Cedarburg than the Johnsons.
"She couldn't marry anyone better than you, so she went to great lengths to break you up, and she doesn't know how pleased she is that you've broken up with Liam."
Amelia asks Olivia, "I've tried to persuade you before, and you wouldn't listen. Are you really giving up this time? You really won't regret it again?"
Olivia stared at the ceiling, her weepy, swollen eyes sore.
"How am I supposed to lie to myself when the diary is full, a hundred points have been deducted, and he just isn't in love anymore?"
It's the wrong path, and the more you go down it, the more wrong you get.
It's time to give up.
If she didn't come to her senses, if she insisted on forcing herself, sooner or later, she would become what even she hated.
So, end it, she spared Liam and made him whole, the teenager she had loved.
And spare yourself.
Amelia hugged her and sighed heavily.
How so, there was a time when Liam was protective of Olivia as well, a time when even Amelia was moved by the fact that they were in love.
But it was inevitable that the two would separate.
Because from the moment Olivia saved Noah, a bomb was planted in their love.
The Johnson Family is complicated; there is a lot of infighting. Liam's father is the most liked by his grandfather, Grayson, and if it weren't for Noah, his father would be the one in charge of the Johnson Family.
Liam's mother hates Olivia, mostly because Olivia saved Noah, and she often badmouths Olivia in front of Liam.
Liam was young at the time and identified with Olivia and wouldn't be influenced.
But with a family as powerful as the Johnsons and a mother who's no slouch, there will come a time when he'll be touched by power, and he'll be fueled by it.
One day, he'll think that if Olivia hadn't saved Noah, he'd be the successor to the group, and then, he'll resent Olivia, too.
It was inevitable that they would separate.
It's just disgusting that Liam fell in love with someone else when they were still a couple and hadn't broken up.
Amelia didn't mention Liam's obscure scumbag again; she remembered something else.
"You're saying Ava likes Noah?"
Olivia: "Mason said it should be."
She can't figure out what's going on with Ava right now. She's obviously in an underground incestuous relationship with Elijah, so why is she thinking about Noah?
Mason has absolutely no need to lie, though; the biggest possibility is that Ava covets Noah, knowing that she and Elijah are fruitless.
After all, Ava has always been ambitious.
Amelia: "You said Noah gave you three chances, you used two, he still owes you one, and he said he'd promise you anything on the last one, right?"
Olivia could barely keep up with her brain circuits, "Yes."
"Ha!"
Amelia sat straight up from the bed and slapped her arm excitedly.
"You go to Noah tomorrow and tell him you want him to marry you!"
Olivia: "?"
Amelia was lost in her own thoughts, a smile growing on her face.
"Listen to me analyze it for you, haha."
"..."
A half-hour-long analysis that sums up the central idea exactly as Mason's did.
She comes to the conclusion that Noah is the best way back for her and that she should marry Noah while she has the chance so that she can get back at everyone and get herself a big backer.
Olivia: "..."
Olivia yanked Amelia back, "Sleep, dreams are everything."
She would like to, but she wouldn't dare ask for such a bold request!
Amelia laid down next to her and spoke to Olivia very patiently.
"I'm serious; you go to Noah tomorrow; he said himself that he could grant any last request. Ah, he doesn't have a wife anyway; try it."
The topic was pointless, and Olivia closed her eyes to brew sleep and opened her mouth perfunctorily.
"Tomorrow, Noah is supposed to approach Liam to get him to cancel the wedding. Wait until the wedding is canceled."
...
At 7:30 the next morning, Liam's car pulled into the underground parking lot of the Kangaroo Group.
Sophia sat in the passenger seat, apprehensive the whole way.
Since last night when Noah informed Liam that they were meeting this morning, her entire body had been in a state of happiness and fear.
Happy and scared.
Happy because, it seems, her and Ava's plan worked.
Olivia had sent Liam numbers, she knew; Liam had drunkenly spilled the beans to her as a joke, something that men didn't believe and many women would.
Like her, like Ava.
Olivia sends to [98] when Ava says to make a big scene.
At the birthday party, she intentionally bumped into Olivia, intentionally let her see the earrings, and intentionally "forced her to undress" in full view of everyone.
The earrings are a relic from Olivia's grandmother.
Before her grandmother passed away, her favorite person was Olivia. Olivia lived with her grandmother for a few years when she was a child, and the grandchildren were extremely close.
Ava knows Olivia, and provoking her with her grandmother's relics and then Emma's eccentricity is sure to drive her crazy.
Sophia knows Liam and knows that if she strips off her clothes in public to prove her innocence, Liam will come rushing out to defend her.
Ava says, "Olivia looks tough, but she's actually as brittle as glass, and it's a wonder she doesn't go crazy when she's attacked in turn with the people she cares about most."
As it turns out, Ava does know Olivia.
Her plan, which worked surprisingly well, even beyond their expectations, no one expected that Olivia would be crazy enough to kick them all down the road.
Woman's intuition that would have been the last time Olivia tried Liam.
Luckily, her family and her fiancé didn't choose her to make a public spectacle of herself.
Noah asks Liam to come over today and talk about breaking off the engagement with Olivia, and Sophia goes crazy with excitement when she hears about it.
After all these years of waiting, she finally had hope.
Ava said that she had a way for Olivia to get Liam to marry her as soon as she broke up with him for good.
She believes in Ava; after all, it was all because of Ava that Liam fell in love with her in the first place.
But why did Noah ask her to come, too?
Sophia thought about it all night and all the way through, speculating on a million messed-up possibilities. In the end, she is sure that Olivia has spoken ill of her to Noah.
"Liam, can I not go up? Why don't you tell your uncle that I fell in the water last night and have a fever?"
Sophia is Liam's secretary, and she met Noah when she followed Liam to the headquarters for business.
That man, she was terrified to see from afar.
Liam found a parking space, turned off the engine, and held her hand soothingly.
"Don't worry, Olivia won't really want to break off the engagement; she's just asking her uncle to teach me a lesson.
"It should just be a couple of warnings: nothing will be done to you; I'll protect you."
Until now, Liam couldn't believe that Olivia really gave up on him.
...
At eight o'clock sharp, the two stepped into Noah's office.
"Uncle." Liam gave a formal shout.
"President Noah." Sophia was more formal than Liam and a touch more timid.
Noah was reading a file and didn't look up like he didn't see them.
He didn't speak, and neither Liam dared to speak again, and the large office was quiet for half an hour.
Standing like corporal punishment, coupled with nervousness, Sophia's feet were going numb, and she regretted wearing ten-centimeter high heels today.
Liam was tired of standing as well, and when he saw Noah finally close the file, he immediately spoke up.
"Uncle, if you're trying to intercede on Olivia's behalf, there's no need; I won't go back on my word since I promised to marry Olivia."
Clank!
The papers were thrown on the table, and Noah looked up, his sunken eyes looking toward him, his thin lips slightly sideways.
"Can't understand human language?"
The indifferent tone was inaudible, but it sent a jolt through Liam's heart.
"Uncle, what do you mean?"
Noah twirled his pen around his fingertips, his tone sullen and cold, "2% of the shares; I only gave them to you when you agreed to get engaged.
"Now, it's Olivia's initiative to break off her engagement with you, and the shares I won't take back, they're still yours, so you don't have to worry."
"As for the outward reasons for breaking off the engagement," he glanced sideways at Sophia, "you'll have to take the flak."
Sophia was already apprehensive, but when Noah looked at her like that, she felt like pins and needles all over her body.
However, even more terrifying than the gaze were the icy words wrapped in mocking contempt.
Take the blame. ...
What do you mean?
Liam broke off his engagement to Olivia and let her take the blame. How? Why should she? Why should she?
Sophia was still wondering if she could have misunderstood when she suddenly heard Noah again:
"You're a big fan of being in the limelight after all the fuss at the birthday party?"
Sophia stiffened and subconsciously retorted, "President Noah, did you hear Olivia say something that I ..."
"Early next month, it's Lucas' birthday; you go over there."
Noah interrupts her and points a pen at her.
"Lucas's birthday party, you have half an hour to apologize to Olivia in public.
"Also, you admitted in public that it was you who interfered with her and Liam, so she broke off the engagement to make you two whole."