The Legend of Cinderella's Counterattack

After returning home, Lawrence Lu pulled me into the room without a word and locked the door. He turned around abruptly, his deep eyes burning with anger, and pushed me against the door, gritting his teeth and asking, "Who is he?!"

I was startled by his action, but quickly composed myself and responded coldly, "I don't know. He said those photos were fake and someone was deliberately trying to sow discord between us."

“You believe him so much?!” Lawrence Lu’s voice was filled with suspicion and anger, “Who the hell is he? Why do you think he can make me believe you with just one sentence?!”

I took a deep breath, tried hard to suppress the grievance and anger in my heart, and said as calmly as possible: "I also hope that those photos are fake, but...but..." At the end, my voice couldn't help but choked.

Lawrence Lu looked at me, his eyes gradually becoming complicated. He opened his mouth, as if he wanted to say something, but in the end he said nothing. He just let go of me weakly, turned and walked to the window, and lit a cigarette.

The whole room was suddenly filled with a strong smell of tobacco, just like the past between us that we can never go back to.

Over the next few days, although we lived under the same roof, we had very little communication with each other. I began to try to investigate the identity of that mysterious man, but no matter how hard I tried, I found nothing. He seemed to appear out of thin air and disappear without a trace, which made me even more uneasy.

He seemed to notice something was wrong with me and tried to talk to me several times, but I always found excuses to avoid him. It wasn't that I was intentionally ignoring him, but those photos were like a thorn, deeply embedded in my heart, making it hard to breathe, and even harder to face him. I needed time and space to sort this out.

My state of mind was also very poor when I was working. It was as if my inspiration had been drained away and I couldn't catch it. I revised the design draft over and over again, but I couldn't find a satisfactory solution.

"Lin Luoluo, what's wrong with you lately? Why are your designs getting worse and worse?!" My boss's dissatisfied voice echoed in my ears. He threw my latest design draft on the table and said angrily, "This is the work you handed in? It's completely unremarkable!"

I lowered my head, not daring to argue. I knew I was in a bad state, but I couldn't control myself.

"I'll give you one last chance. If you do the same thing next time, you don't have to come anymore!" The boss said this and turned away from my workstation.

I slumped weakly in my chair, tears blurring my eyes. I used to be the most talented designer in the company, my work always earning recognition and praise from clients. But now, I couldn't even complete the most basic design.

I returned home in a daze, but what greeted me was a room full of warm lights and hot meals on the table. Lawrence Lu was sitting at the dining table. When he saw me come back, he said lightly, "You're back. Let's eat first."

I was stunned for a moment, my nose suddenly sore. The emotions that had been pent up for these days were about to burst. He was still the same as before, silently doing everything for me when I needed him. But, because of those unfounded things, I kept him at a distance.

I walked to the dining table and sat down, lowering my head and eating mechanically, not daring to look at him. He seemed to sense my emotions and said nothing, just sitting quietly opposite me, picking up food for me and adding soup.

"I have already helped you with the design draft." He suddenly spoke, his tone calm, but like a stone, it stirred up thousands of waves in the lake of my heart.

I raised my head suddenly and looked at him in disbelief: "How...how did you solve it?"

"I explained to my boss about your recent poor condition, and he agreed to give you another chance." He said it lightly, as if it was just a trivial matter.

My heart, at this moment, seemed to be gently touched by something, and it felt incredibly soft. It turned out that he had always been silently caring for me and helping me, and he never gave up even when I spoke coldly to him.

"Why... are you so nice to me?" I asked with a sob, my voice trembling slightly.

He put down the dishes in his hands, looked deep into my eyes, and said word by word: "Because I like you, I want to take care of you, and I want you to be happy."

His words, like the warm winter sun, melted the ice and snow that had accumulated in my heart. My nose ached, and I fought back tears, telling myself I couldn't escape any longer. These days, I'd lived in a world of self-made fear, ignoring the people around me who had always protected me.

"Yuxuan, I'm sorry..." I choked and finally said this belated apology.

He gently held me in his arms, patted my back lightly, and said softly, like coaxing a child, "Silly, you didn't do anything wrong to me. It's my fault for not protecting you well."

At that moment, I decided to let go of the past and start anew. I began to respond to his concern and no longer avoided his gaze. We ate and took walks together, just like any other ordinary couple.

At work, I threw myself into revising the design draft, and inspiration seemed to flow like a spring, and I seemed to have regained my former confident self. Lu Yuxuan also silently supported me, helping me find information and even helping me contact a pattern maker.

Everything was going in a good direction. I thought we could finally go back to the past and even be sweeter than before.

Until that night, I received a text message from an unfamiliar number with only one sentence:

"Do you really think you can escape? The game has just begun!"