When Love Fades to Ashes

Unfortunately, Sophie now realized she had failed to warm William's stone-cold heart.

Ultimately, Sophie headed back upstairs without apologizing to Lily.

"Uneducated wench… She should just die in her old poor neighborhood!" Gloria gently patted Lily's shoulder while hurling insults at Sophie.

William squinted, and his brow furrowed as he held Lily in his arms, feeling uneasy about Sophie's abnormal behavior.

After that, Sophie was left alone in her room, the darkness making it impossible to read her expression.

The roar of William's car engine slightly hurt her ears.

That was the first time in four years she had seen William panic.

She brought out her first aid kit and was halfway through tending to the blisters she had gotten from the fiasco when her phone rang.

The call was from an unknown number.

When she answered, Lily's voice sounded. "It hurts so much, William. After we go to the hospital, will you take me out to race in your car like you used to whenever I'm in a bad mood?"

William's voice, full of affection for Lily, echoed. "I'll do whatever you want as long as you listen to what the doctor says."

"In that case, I want you to bake me a cake too. You'll have to feed me since my hand's injured!"

"Sure. Does your hand still hurt?"

At that point, Sophie hung up, with no intention of listening to the rest of their conversation.

In the past, William had sworn never to race or drink any alcohol after that car crash almost cost him his life. Yet now, he was agreeing to Lily's ridiculous request without hesitation!

Sophie had long heard of Lily's bratty behavior, and that William had been pampering her like a princess.

It became even more obvious that his love for her was unrequited when she flew overseas.

Afraid that Lily would be infuriated, William distanced himself from all socialites. He would even go as far as doing anything Lily wanted, no matter how ridiculous or impossible it seemed.

With everything that had happened, Sophie was convinced that everything she had heard was true.

However, there was no need for her to feel anything about the matter since she had already decided to leave.

She blocked Lily's number, packed her belongings, and hid her luggage behind the wardrobe.

While looking for her charging cable, she found the three diaries she had kept next to her bed.

Each of those diaries contained memories from when she was a naive girl, filled with the love she once had for William.

Sophie took off her engagement ring, placed it between the diaries, and threw them all into the bin as if her love for William had turned to ashes.

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door, and William entered with medical patches for burns.

His lips pursed when he saw that Sophie hadn't welcomed him like she used to, unsure of what to say at that moment.

"Does your face—"

"I'm fine," Sophie interrupted him coldly.

She was momentarily stunned when she saw a lipstick stain on William's collar, but it quickly passed as she calmly said, "I'm tired. I'm going to get some rest."

William's expression flickered with concern as he noticed the large blisters on Sophie's face.

He seized her arm. "A woman's face is very important. Come on, I'll take you to the hospital before your blisters turn to scars."

William was startled to discover that Sophie’s arm felt unusually hot.

Placing his hand on her forehead, he tried to suppress his rising panic—but failed. "You're burning up!"

Sophie felt a jolt of sarcasm at William's response.

'You're the one who wanted me to apologize to Lily, and now you're making it seem like you care for me...

'You're the one who injures me, and you're also the one who gives me hope that you do love me somewhat.'

Sophie swatted William's hand away and replied, "The doctors have all gone home by now. I'll go tomorrow."

William sighed in relief. "You're right. I'll take you there with Lily tomorrow since she needs to have her hand checked again. Shall I get you some medicine to help with your fever in the meantime?"

Silence greeted William, and his unease grew as he sensed that something was off.

Just as he was about to speak, Lily suddenly barged in and wrapped her arms around William's.

"Aren't you happy I'm going to be staying with you for a while, William? What are you doing? I want you to read me a story so I can fall asleep!"

Hesitant, William glanced at Sophie before saying, "Why don't we—"

Lily's eyes immediately turned red, and she gave William a pleading look. "But I won't be able to perform in tomorrow's competition if I don't sleep well tonight…”

Reluctantly, William lovingly stroked Lily's head and said gently, "I'll go find a book."

Sophie had already grown used to William's biased attitude toward Lily.

After they left, she picked up her phone to contact Alena Graham, her mentor in the dance troupe.

Alena had always been kind to Sophie, so she wanted to say farewell and handle some final procedures before she left.

Sophie had spent many years with the dance troupe, putting in a lot of effort before gaining success. Now, she had more than a dozen juniors under her guidance.

The reason there were still 29 days before her departure was that she wanted to teach them everything she could.

-

Sophie woke up early the next morning to avoid running into William and Lily.

Alas, their paths still crossed when she was saying goodbye to Alena.

With a huge smile, Alena grabbed Lily's hand and introduced her to Sophie.

"This is Lily Manse, the rising star among pianists. She's a straight shooter and a passionate young woman. I collaborated with her once, and she just finished her performance. I've just received word that she's the champion of this competition!"

Lily clung to Sophie's arm as though they were close friends.

With an embarrassed smile, she said, "I'm nowhere near as good as you make me sound, Alena. Also, Sophie and I are the best of friends."

Surprised, Alena raised an eyebrow. "You two know each other? What a small world! Well, I'll leave you two to it then. I have some things to instruct my troupe about."

Lily nodded, revealing a ring on her finger. "Isn't this a lovely ring? William insisted I take it because I won first place.

“My goodness, why would he give me a ring of all things? People might think he's proposing to me…"

None of their circle knew that William and Sophie were engaged, so it was clear Lily was saying this deliberately.

However, Sophie had no intention of playing along with Lily's games.

As she turned to leave, Lily grabbed her arm and tugged at the ring on her own finger.

Sophie barely had to struggle, and Lily ended up falling to the floor with a loud thud.