Chapter 1183



Hearing Lucas’ question, Belinda was momentarily stunned. Then, a soft smile curved her lips.

With a serious expression, Belinda gazed at Lucas, her crimson lips trembling faintly as she spoke, deliberately choosing each word. “Lucas… Do you really not remember me?”

The question caught Lucas off guard, and a wave of shock rippled across his features. “What are you talking about?” he asked, his voice tinged with confusion.

“It appears you’ve genuinely forgotten,” Belinda replied, her tone laced with resignation. After a brief silence, she looked at Lucas, her voice carrying a hint of melancholy. “Back in Ironwyn, eleven years ago, you stepped in to rescue a plump young girl from a group of cruel men bullying her. She was overweight then, marked by a distinct dark blemish on her left cheek. Those men had cornered her, mocking her relentlessly, and were on the verge of stripping her clothes…”

Belinda paused, inhaling deeply to steady herself. “Then, out of nowhere, a young boy emerged. He drove those men away, showed her kindness instead of judgment, and even draped his jacket over her shoulders.”

Her eyes dropped as her voice grew tender. “To that boy, it might’ve been a fleeting act of kindness. But to that girl, he was a hero, someone who altered the course of her life…”

Even now, the memory haunted Belinda. Had Lucas not intervened that day, had no one come to her aid, leaving her at the mercy of those men, would she have survived the ordeal?

Lucas was frozen after hearing that.

He stared at Belinda, wide-eyed, struggling to process her words for what felt like an eternity.

At first, her account had stirred no recognition in him.

But as she went on, fragments of that distant day in Ironwyn began to sharpen in his mind.

The girl he had once helped… Could she really have been Belinda? Had their paths crossed so long ago?

And…

Lucas’ eyes widened further, a mix of delight and astonishment washing over him as he looked at her. “Wait—so the man you’ve held in your heart all these years, the one you’ve never let go of… It’s me?”

Belinda locked eyes with him, her nod subtle…

Yet resolute, her voice soft, Belinda whispered, “Yes, it’s you. From that moment onward, you’ve been the only one I’ve ever loved—there has never been anyone else.”

Lucas found himself at a loss for words, emotions swirling within him too complex to name.

He had once envied this mysterious figure from her past, convinced some extraordinary man had etched himself into Belinda’s heart before. He had known her efforts to transform herself—shedding weight and working hard—were for that man.

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