Always Sylvie

: I Will Make You Regret It

3

I was hunched over the sink, vomiting my guts out. The intense pain sent my mind into a haze.

My mind drifted back to my younger days.

The osmanthus blossoms on campus were in full bloom. A rebellious delinquent shot me a cold, harsh glare.

"Keep staring, Sylvia Sterling. Don't want those eyes anymore?"

The radiant girl gave him a warm smile and held out her hand.

"Joel Alastair, stop fighting. Finish your homework, and I'll treat you to some candy."

The boy stared at her, stunned, and reached out as if under a spell.

In that instant, the rebellious delinquent transformed into a cool-headed prodigy.

He stood under a cherry blossom tree and confessed his love for me. "Sylvie, I love you."

'What sweet times those were.'

My forehead was beaded with cold sweat from the pain, yet a smile I hadn't worn in ages graced my lips.

But the scene in my memory shifted. Thunder boomed and lightning snaked across the sky as a torrential downpour began.

The now-grown girl's face was ghost-white as she tightly clutched the Stomach Cancer diagnosis in her hand.

She returned to the Sterling family home like a wandering spirit, only to find her parents on their knees, begging her.

The Sterling family business had been mismanaged, and after years of losses, it was on the brink of collapse.

Her parents begged her to use her beauty to find a wealthy patron.

If she would just sleep with someone, perhaps a scion of some powerful family would be willing to help the Sterlings.

She closed her eyes in agony.

Not long before, the company Joel Alastair founded had encountered its greatest crisis ever.

Given their relationship, she knew that after the Sterling family fell, their rivals wouldn't spare Joel.

She wouldn't live much longer, and the great Sterling ship was sinking. At the very least, she couldn't drag Joel Alastair down with it.

Joel Alastair loved her with an obsessive passion. If she wasn't ruthless, he would never agree to break up.

In the pouring rain, the tall, composed man knelt, begging her to stay.

His devilishly handsome face was as pale as paper.

"Sylvie, please, don't leave me!"

The girl fought back tears, forcing out the cruel words.

"You and I are from two different worlds. We can never be together."

With that, she cruelly wrenched her hand from his.

My memory ended with the hatred in Joel Alastair's eyes, seen through the downpour.

He roared, "Sylvia Sterling, I swear I'll make you regret leaving me!"