One Man Band System

At the hospital, "click," Vivian entered Melissa’s room, looking visibly annoyed with her arms folded across her chest. She then walked over and sat down beside Melissa’s bed. The two of them remained completely quiet without saying a word for a long moment, making the room feel tense, awkward, and uncomfortable. Then Vivian lowered her head.

"I’m sorry," she said softly.

Melissa turned to look at Vivian, who was still looking down with a face full of guilt and utter shame. Melissa offered a sarcastic smile before looking away, keeping her arms folded across her chest.

"Sorry for what?" Melissa asked curtly.

"Everything," Vivian answered.

"Explain what you mean by everything," Melissa countered.

Vivian fell silent again, biting her lip as her hands wrung together on top of her thighs. Then she lifted her head slowly and gasped—Melissa was staring straight at her, her expression calm yet her eyes icy cold, like she was looking at a total stranger, clearly having no desire to engage in a long conversation with her.

"I know I hurt you because I played behind your back with Jason... but I was manipulated by Jason’s sweet words back then... I thought he could make me happy... turned out I was wrong, so wrong," Vivian said with a trembling voice.

"Hmph... so you really don’t get it, do you? Still throwing the blame on Jason... ’manipulated’... hah... cliché," Melissa said sharply.

Hearing Melissa’s reaction, Vivian looked confused, staring at Melissa with a furrowed brow, while Melissa merely smirked sardonically.

"You don’t actually think you and I are both victims of Jason, do you?" Melissa asked, grinning with a contemptuous, mocking look at Vivian.

Vivian froze for a moment, unable to answer Melissa’s question and naturally, her silence served as her answer. Melissa then snorted, staring straight at the door.

"I was genuine and truly loved Jason back then... he acted mature in front of me, and I could see his life was well put together. But turns out all of that was just the exterior, and I was fooled by his casing. But the absolute worst of it was you, know why?" Melissa asked.

Vivian didn’t answer. She simply shook her head slowly and raised her gaze to meet Melissa, who was now staring right back at her.

"You know how many times I fought with Jason over other girls, right? Even before you started sneaking around behind my back with him. Don’t act like you didn’t know, whenever we fought, we weren’t quiet about it," Melissa asked.

"Yeah... I know," Vivian said softly.

"Right... so why did you still sneak around with him and throw away someone who actually loved you? Doesn’t that make you way worse and dumber than me?" Melissa asked with a sarcastic smirk.

"Back then... I thought Eric didn’t care about me at all... Plus, he never took me out. He just wanted to stay home watching movies, playing games, or having me watch him mess around with code... With Jason, I went out, met tons of people, went to places I’d never been... and I liked it because he was wild... a bad boy," Vivian said, lowering her head.

"Sigh... there’s really no curing stupid to the core. The moment I saw Jason’s true colors, I planned on leaving him, but he tried to rush the wedding and plotted to get Eric thrown out of the house instead, so I just blew the whole thing up at the end," Melissa said.

"By framing Eric?" Vivian asked.

"Yeah, that was actually Jason’s plan... because by then I already knew you were seeing Jason. Besides, Eric was the real victim in all this. His own family treated him like a nobody, and so did you. It was better for him to get kicked out of that house, even if he ended up hating my guts for it. I was fine with that, as long as he got away from toxic people like you," Melissa answered curtly, holding nothing back.

Vivian went quiet again, tears starting to pool in her eyes as she lowered her head once more, wringing her hands together.

"Using the excuse that I was pregnant with Eric’s baby wasn’t some random idea. I already knew at the time that you were carrying Jason’s kid, and I wanted you to know how it feels when the person you actually love gets someone else pregnant," Melissa said sharply.

"I... know," Vivian replied with a trembling voice.

"So now that you know Jason is a total scumbag bastard, you want to crawl back to Eric, is that it?" Melissa asked point-blank.

Vivian paused, weighing the heavy question and searching her own heart. She pictured how Eric had treated her, how he held hands with Emma and proudly declared Emma was his fiancée. But what cut deepest into her chest was seeing how happy Eric looked without her and how he might actually be far happier without her in his life. Tears trickled down her cheeks as she shook her head in response to the question.

"Good. Because if you ever try to get back with Eric, I’ll stop you myself, even if it means both of us going down," Melissa said.

"I... understand. I don’t want to mess with Eric anymore. He... already has a fiancée, and... he looks happy. That girl can actually make him happy," Vivian replied softly.

"You mean Emma? Don’t even compare yourself to Emma or the other five girls. You’re nowhere near their level. Besides, they’re all rich kids, but they aren’t ostentatious about it. At least they aren’t shallow like you," Melissa countered curtly, laying on the sarcasm.

"Can’t you just talk to me nicely? I already apologized. Do you really hate me that much?" Vivian asked, her voice starting to edge up a bit.

"Sigh... you still haven’t answered my question. Why are you apologizing to me? What’s your reason? What exactly am I supposed to forgive you for? Can you answer that?" Melissa asked.

Vivian opened her mouth and closed it again, having no answer to offer. Seeing Vivian fall silent, Melissa snorted, then folded her arms across her chest once more.

"Can’t answer, can you? Think long and hard about what you actually need to apologize to me and Eric for. It’s not because you cheated with Jason, not because you took my fiancé-to-be, and not just because of your actions. Think carefully while you’re in this city, and only then apologize to me and Eric," Melissa said sharply.

"Does... Eric know that I cheated on him with Jason?" Vivian asked softly.

"Of course he knows. Even before anyone told him, he mentioned to Blake that he’d already seen red flags in your behavior and his gut had already called it out. Did you really think you and Jason were being discreet? You were doing it right out in the open. You only thought you were hiding it because you treated both Eric and me like we were invisible," Melissa answered.

Vivian fell dead silent, but this time she buried her face in both hands, her skin flushing bright red behind them. Tears trickled down her cheeks, though she made no sound. Watching her, Melissa offered zero comfort and had no intention of softening her words. She knew that if she helped Vivian by comforting her, it would be no different from wiping away the consequences Vivian rightfully had to bear. So she chose silence, letting Vivian weep in the quiet room.

***

Meanwhile, at a cafe not far from the penthouse, Eric sat with his head down, staring blankly at the table and the cup in front of him. Sitting across from him was Katie, whom he had called over, seriously reading through the letters.

Six envelopes lay scattered across the table. Eric, feeling completely drained, glared at Katie, who was clearly struggling to hold back her laughter as she read.

"Why do you look like you’re actually enjoying this?" Eric asked, annoyed.

"Hmm... this is genuinely fascinating," Katie answered casually, holding back a smile as she slid the letters back into their respective envelopes.

"So what’s the solution? Come on, help me out here, I’ve got a massive headache," Eric said.

"Do you want the legal answer or the personal one?" Katie asked.

"Ugh, stop beating around the bush," Eric replied.

"Alright... legally speaking, pick one of them and properly handle the cancellation of the notarized agreements for the rest. But personally speaking? Marry one, get five extra, live under one roof, and raise a bunch of kids," Katie said, holding up five fingers on one hand and pointing her index finger at them with the other.

"Can they even be canceled?" Eric asked.

"Hmm... judging by these documents, your dad was smart. He wrote them when he knew he was facing a terminal illness, so... there’s a binding clause keeping you from canceling even though he passed away, unless your future in-laws agree to cancel with your consent... But according to the letters... your future in-laws also included a clause stating that even if they pass away, they refuse to cancel... Case in point: Chloe. Her dad passed away, and your dad passed away... so you have to marry her no matter what because neither of you can back out, hehehe," Katie teased.

"Are you actually serious about that, or are you just messing with me... you’re joking, right?" Eric asked, his head spinning and feeling completely trapped.

"Hehehe... what else can I say? Your dad and all your in-laws were sharp... they tied everything up so neither you nor their daughters could say a word against it. So yeah... if you want to cancel, the process will be long and expensive... What do you think? The easiest and cheapest way is just to marry all of them, right?" Katie asked.

"What’s so easy and cheap about that? Bigamy can get you slapped with charges, don’t play around," Eric said.

"Ah, that part’s easy enough. Just move to a country with loose marriage laws that allows bigamy. You’ve got plenty of money, and nowadays you can work remotely from anywhere, hahaha," Katie joked with a laugh.

"I called you here asking for help, and now I’m just twice as stressed out. Unbelievable," Eric replied, utterly frustrated.

"Oh, one more thing, what if I threw my hat in the ring too? I could write up an agreement just like these," Katie said, striking a seductive pose.

"Please... don’t make this mess any worse than it already is," Eric replied, his head already pounding.

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