Mia Grant was the living embodint of the saying—if you can’t beat them, join them.
After that barrage, Yates Donovan was completely dumbfounded. She was using all his old lines on him!
"You’re going to drag all your little flings into this to help ?"
Mia Grant nodded emphatically. "Yes, without a doubt."
"For you, sacrificing them is nothing!"
"Forget them, I’d even sacrifice myself!"
"That’s right, I’ll take matters into my own hands!"
"Who in your family is targeting you the most?"
Yates was speechless.
"Send his profile, and I’ll go after him myself! I’ll just..."
"Stop, stop, stop."
But Mia Grant wouldn’t listen. "Let tell you..."
"Shh!" Yates stepped forward and covered her mouth, cutting her off mid-spell.
"Alright, alright. I appreciate the thought, but there’s no need to trouble you."
’He never thought he’d hear himself say sothing like that.’
"I’m serious!"
Her muffled voice seeped out, giving Yates a headache. "I know, but I don’t need the help right now."
Mia Grant looked at him, blinking, her eyes silently asking why.
After a long mont, Yates let her go. He was still smiling, but it lacked its usual carefree quality. His expression was a complex mixture of emotions, and Mia couldn’t tell which one was strongest.
"It’s not as dramatic as you think. You’ve been watching too many dramas."
"Aren’t you fighting for the family inheritance?"
"Maybe I am." ’He didn’t know, either.’
"What do you an, ’maybe’? You’re not after the inheritance?"
"I could be, but I also might not be."
Mia Grant frowned.
’She really couldn’t figure Yates out.’
’On the one hand, he seed to act without any logic. Yet he knew how to sche, how to use people. He was ambitious. His public image was that of a lazy, cynical playboy, but it turned out he was just hiding his true strength and biding his ti.’
’But on the other hand, if you called him logical, he didn’t even seem to know his own objective. It was as if he did things simply because he felt like it, for his own amusent, with no real reason behind it.’
’He was such a contradiction.’
Yates smiled at her. As she watched him with that complicated look in her eyes, he ruffled her hair. "I was just kidding about the marriage thing," he said.
"It was a joke, so don’t be scared."
"..."
After a long mont, Mia Grant swatted his hand off her head. Her tone was a mixture of disdain and contemplation as she said, "You’re not what I imagined."
Yates’s smile froze on his face.
"Forget it. I’m tired. Have fun by yourself. I’m going back to school."
Mia left.
Yates watched out the window as she walked to the curb, hailed a taxi, and vanished at the end of the street.
He relaxed, leaning back until his spine pressed against the cool chair, his posture one of lazy comfort.
’But... why couldn’t he smile anymore?’
’He replayed their conversation in his head. It didn’t seem like he’d said anything out of line.’
’The whole marriage thing really was a joke.’
’He could be serious about it, of course, but not now.’
’At least, not until he’d cleaned out the scum in his family. He couldn’t let Mia get dragged into it.’
---
Yates Donovan rembered it clearly. He had seen the Grant family’s younger daughter many tis as a child.
Then, the Grant family’s younger daughter was a different person.
An elder pointed at a dark-skinned, plain-looking little girl and told him, "See her? From now on, that’s your new fiancée. Go on, say hello to Mia."
After that, he and Mia would see each other a few tis a year, but they were always just brief, formal encounters.
She was so prim and proper; they just couldn’t get along.
His perception of her first began to change when Serena Grant returned.
He was at a banquet with his elders. Not fond of such occasions, he slipped out for so fresh air and found himself wandering into the backyard.
The line between heaven and earth had vanished; a vast, unbroken expanse of white stretched out as far as the eye could see. It was the kind of purity that made you want to ruin it.
Just then, his eyes caught a stark black shape against the white.
Soone was lying there, head pillowed on their arm, doing the very thing he’d been itching to do.
He drew closer involuntarily. It was only when he was near that he realized it was Mia.
’He was a bit confused.’
’The Mia he rembered didn’t seem like the type to do sothing like this.’
So he lay down, too.
She noticed him quickly and made no secret of her disdain, both in her words and her actions.
’She’d never looked at him like that before.’
They had last seen each other six months ago, but she seed like a completely different person. In that instant, his interest was piqued.
’He wanted to have so fun with her.’
That was why he’d given the tiara to Mia. His Donovan family elders had won it at an auction and shoved it at him, telling him to give it to Serena Grant as a welco gift. But in the end, he gave it to Mia.
’From that day on, he started to think that having Mia as his fiancée might not be so bad after all.’
’Even if he wasn’t particularly in love with her, she was interesting, wasn’t she?’
’He liked being around people like her.’
’Maybe it wouldn’t be love, but in the future, they could ignore what anyone else thought and do whatever they damn well pleased.’
’Rolling around in the snow, sleeping, ditating.’
’Or running away together from a banquet packed with high-society guests. It wouldn’t matter where they went; anywhere would be good.’
But then, his fiancée was about to be switched.
Just like before, an elder pointed to Serena Grant at the banquet and said to him, "That’s Serena. Your *real* fiancée."
"What about Mia, then? What century are we in? Are you planning to have both sisters marry ? Two wives for one husband? I don’t have a problem with it, but I’m not sure the Grant family will agree. You’re welco to go ask them. Just rember to be diplomatic, so you don’t get your ass kicked."
He was being his usual flippant, devil-may-care self, and the elder was so furious he looked ready to strike him. "Mia? What does Mia have to do with anything! Your fiancée has always, from the very beginning, been Serena!"
"We’ll go to the Grant family another day and call off your engagent to Mia!"
"What? Unless... you like Mia?"
He shrugged, his tone nonchalant. "Sure, I like her. I like all the pretty ones."
The elder chuckled, chiding him, "Serena is pretty, too. You little rascal, you’d better rein it in a bit. Serena isn’t like Mia. She’s the real heiress of the Grant family. You can have your fun, but don’t take it too far."
On the day the engagent was broken, he didn’t pay it much mind. He was just going along to get it over with.
’He knew Mia seed to have had a crush on him as a kid, but based on their recent interactions, she probably had no feelings for him now. Calling off the engagent should be easy.’
He sat on the sofa and told her he was there to break off their engagent, his tone as casual as if he were comnting on the weather.
What he hadn’t expected in the slightest was for the girl to freeze in place, staring at him with a dazed expression.
One second, two seconds—
Then, her eyes slowly started to brim with tears.
The smile on his face faltered.
’How could this be happening?’
He watched Mrs. Grant pull her over. He watched as Mia fought back tears, forced a smile, and nodded, saying it was fine, that she had no objections, that the engagent was ant for her sister all along.
The elders were still chattering away in his ear, spouting empty pleasantries.
He wasn’t sure how long had passed. He watched her shoulder her schoolbag, stand up, and leave without a single glance back.
Just as she turned, a single, glistening tear escaped the corner of her eye.
He started to get up, but a sharp look from one of the elders stopped him.
After that day, she never gave him so much as a second glance.
[Author’s Note: Yates before: Whoever wants the family fortune can have it. Who cares who I marry.]
[Yates later: She’s so interesting. She likes . I’m going to marry her. I’m going to seize power!]
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