In front of the entire family, Aurora paid the money to the assistant and turned to look them hopeful, but all of them were staring at her with a dazed look.
"Mom? Dad? Sisters? Brothers? Emily?" Aurora called out to them.
But all of them seed to have frozen.
Aurora waved her hand in front of them. "Hello? Anybody ho?"
No one moved. Their eyes were wide, their faces frozen like statues.
Aurora’s heart started pounding. "Hey! Stop ssing around!" She shook Emily’s shoulder, but Emily didn’t react.
The mist swirled around her again, and the voice sighed.
"You see, Aurora, this is what happens when you try to break the rules. The system doesn’t allow it. If people start questioning you too much, it will... freeze them."
Aurora stepped back, her breath shaky. "What do you an, freeze them?"
"They stop thinking. Their minds can’t handle the contradiction. You suddenly have a lot of money, but you have no reasonable way to explain it. Their brains get stuck, and they just... stop."
Aurora looked around the room. Everyone was still frozen. No blinking, no breathing.
A cold chill ran down her spine. "You an... they’ll stay like this forever?"
The mist swirled again.
"No. As long as you don’t actually try to tell them about the system or make them question too much, they’ll be fine. But if you push too hard... they might never wake up."
Aurora gulped. "Okay, okay! I get it! No telling anyone, no making them suspicious!"
The mist seed to relax. "Good. Now... let’s rewind."
Everything blurred again. The frozen people, the living room, even Aurora’s own body—everything dissolved into the mist.
Then—
Aurora’s eyes fluttered open.
She was back.
Lying on the couch, a blanket over her.
"She’s waking up!" a voice said.
Aurora blinked and saw Emily looking down at her, concern on her face. Around the room, everyone else was still celebrating.
It was as if nothing had happened.
"You fainted," Emily said, her brows furrowed. "Are you okay?"
Aurora sat up slowly, her head spinning. She glanced around. No one was frozen. No one was suspicious.
It was like the whole thing had been a bad dream.
"I’m fine," Aurora muttered.
Emily smiled in relief. "Good. You scared us for a second."
Aurora forced a small smile. "Sorry about that."
"Aurora do you want to contact Simon?" Adam asked in a concerned voice.
Aurora shook her head,
"No...I was just so thrilled that...I...beca unsteady...."
Only after Aurora’s repeated assurance did Adam and others let go.
Aurora went to the bathroom and checked her balance.
She had paid the lawyer and was curious if she could get any rebate.
To her surprise she did.
She paid for 5 sessions which cost her $30,000.
And she got a rebate of $60,000.
Her balance reached a whopping $750,100!
"The next step would take ti...and I am getting admitted tomorrow..." She muttered. "Looks like I will have to explain everything to Emily. I also have to hint my family about my coma."
That night Aurora pulled Emily over and explained her plan to Emily.
The more she listened, the more stunned Emily was. Toward the end, she looked at Aurora as if she was so monster,
"You...tell ...are you a rich tycoon or sothing?"
Aurora blinked before nodding her head,
"Yes, I am."
Emily: "..."
"Don’t worry since you are putting in extra effort I will increase your pay to $5000," Aurora reassured.
Emily was silent for a while before asking softly,
"If you don’t mind...can you...can you, let stay here instead? I am thinking of getting a divorce. And I would need at least a month to settle down."
Aurora looked at Emily for a mont before speaking.
"But why are you taking a divorce? I an, you don’t have to tell if you’re not comfortable, but... why?"
Emily sighed and sat on the edge of the bed. She stared at her hands for a mont before looking up at Aurora. "It’s a long story."
Aurora gave her a small smile. "I have ti."
Emily let out a tired laugh.
"Alright. I guess it all started back in college. That’s when I t George. Back then, I was at the peak of my life. I was the top student in my acting major. People said I had a bright future."
Aurora nodded, listening carefully.
"George was studying direction. He was at the top in his field too. We t during a college play. I was the lead actress, and he was the director. I guess we just clicked. We spent a lot of ti together, and before we knew it, we were in love."
Emily’s face softened as she rembered those days.
"It felt like a dream back then. We were young, passionate, and deeply in love. Then... we crossed the line. I got pregnant.
We panicked at first, but George said he would take responsibility. We decided to get married."
Aurora noticed the way Emily’s expression darkened at that part.
"At first, everything was fine. We were happy. But then... his mother, Margaret, got involved. From the very beginning, she made feel like I had struck gold by marrying George.
She would always say things like, ’You’re lucky my son is marrying you,’ or ’You should be grateful George is willing to take care of you.’"
Aurora frowned. "That sounds awful. Didn’t George say anything?"
Emily nodded.
"He told to ignore her. But he never took my side. I should have understood his true nature by then, but...I failed.
Anyway, George got his first project when I was 3 weeks pregnant, but he lost it in just a few days.
Maybe he offended a big director because, for the next 2 months, he did not get any projects. He was so frustrated that he started drinking.
One day during his drunken state he made a mistake...he pushed off the stairs during an argunt and I miscarried."
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