When taking Zoe home, he purposely kept his distance, and Zoe had anticipated this kind of coldness.
Shawn losing interest in her could only mean one thing: he had completely dismissed her as a suspect. But Zoe wasn’t about to let him off the hook so easily.
“Mr. Ludwig, have you been testing me this whole time? Did you think I was someone else?” Zoe suddenly spoke up, breaking the silence in the car. Shawn hadn’t expected Zoe to be so perceptive. Realizing the damage his assumptions had caused, he felt guilty.
Now that she brought it up herself, Shawn figured he owed her an explanation.
“Yeah,” he answered, blunt and to the point, not bothering to hide it.
But after hearing his answer, Zoe pretended to be heartbroken and started crying.
“I thought you actually cared about me, but now, it’s all just a lie. I guess you think I’m nothing, huh? Just some girl from nowhere?” she asked.
As she spoke, Zoe’s eyes filled with sadness. “I’ve been abandoned since I was a kid, and I had to go through a lot. When I finally found my roots, I thought people would treat me better, but it’s like they don’t even care.”
“I thought you were different, Mr. Ludwig. But I guess I was wrong,” she added.
Tears began to roll down Zoe’s cheeks, one after another. Her quiet sobbing made her look even more fragile and helpless.
Shawn felt like the worst person in the world. His earlier doubts had led him to treat her unfairly.
Zoe suddenly threw herself into his arms, clutching his shirt and wiping her tears and nose on his clothes. It was a small act of revenge that hit him harder than he expected.
Normally, Shawn would have pushed her away, but this time, he didn’t. He simply let her hold on to him.
Perhaps because Zoe’s pain was partly his doing, Shawn couldn’t bring himself to push her away. He looked down at her for a moment while she cried.
After a while, Zoe sniffled and sat up straight, speaking to him. “I’m sorry, Mr. Ludwig. I just couldn’t help it.”
“I know my problems aren’t your fault, but I just…” Zoe’s voice trembled, and her face revealed the weight of the struggles she’d been through. Even Shawn, who usually hated it when women cried, felt his heart soften. At that moment, he couldn’t feel any anger toward her.
Instead, he calmed himself and asked, “Is it bad at home?”
Zoe forced a bitter smile, but there was a truth in her eyes. Her gaze grew distant as if she was lost in her own thoughts.
She said, “Mr. Ludwig, didn’t you see it? My sister doesn’t want me back. Maybe it’s because I grew up in a small town that they find embarrassing. “My family doesn’t really want me around. Maybe for them, the best thing would’ve been if I never came back, or if I’d just stayed lost out there as if I had never been born. That way, they wouldn’t have to feel ashamed.”
Shawn felt a tug in his chest at her words.
Her situation reminded him of his own. People saw him as the future leader of the Ludwig family, thinking he was born into privilege.
But the truth was that ever since his parents died, he’d been just another orphan. Aside from his grandparents, everyone in his family wouldn’t have minded if he disappeared. They didn’t say it, but he knew it.
He also grew up in an environment like Zoe did. In a way, he and Zoe weren’t so different.
Unaware that Zoe was Firefox, Shawn reached out, closing the distance between them for the first time. “If they ever give you trouble again, just tell them I’m your friend. With my name, they’ll think twice before messing with you.
Hearing Shawn’s words, Zor was taken aback, thinking. What’s going on? Shawn actually wants to be friends with me? I’ve never heard of Shawn, the legendary warrior of Clusia, having any female friends!
Seeing her confusion, Shawn just smiled. Maybe this was his way of making it up to Zoe, an innocent and vulnerable girl.
But in the next moment, Zoe couldn’t help but grin, teasingly twisting his words. “Oh really? Mr. Ludwig, are you pretending to be my fiance now?* Shawn instinctively opened his mouth to explain, but when he met Zoe’s innocent eyes, he fell silent.
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12:09 PM M
Chapter 44
Taking her phone, Shawn added his number to her contacts and saved it as “Future Husband.”
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