Chapter 1500
Chapter 1500:
“Yeah, yeah, | know,” Victor muttered, pulling a cigarette pack from his pocket. “I'm just venting. Go on, head
back to the room. | need a minute to brood with this cigarette before | rejoin you guys.”
With a lighthearted smile, Elyse nodded. “Alright, don’t take too long.” She turned and disappeared into the
corridor. Moments later, Pearce strolled over, a cigarette dangling from his lips.
“Victor,” Pearce said as he lit up, “did you mean what you said back there?”
Victor glanced at him sideways, his expression unreadable, but stayed silent.
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Pearce didn’t press further. Instead, he lit his cigarette and smoked quietly beside him.
After a while, Victor finally broke the silence. “You know, | kept thinking just now... if only | were younger. Twenty-
five, maybe twenty-six. That'd be something.”
Pearce raised an eyebrow. “Why the sudden wish for a tmachine?”
“If | were younger,” Victor began, a wistful smile tugging at the corner of his lips, “hearing what Elyse said
would've sparked a fire in me. | would've stood my ground, argued back with confidence, and found a way to
make her see things my way. The younger | were, the more relentless | would have been—doing whatever it
took, pulling out all the stops, and using every trick in the book to make her mine.”
Pearce shot Victor an exasperated look, disbelief coloring his words. “Have you lost your mind? Listen to what
you're saying!”
Victor nodded. “You're right. | must have lost my mind.”
Pearce studied his face, unused to such candor from him. “Do you actually have feelings for Elyse?”
Victor's fingers found another cigarette, the lighter’s flilluminating his contemplative expression. He took a
long drag before responding, “I wouldn't call it that. Just had this passing thought that maybe... settling down
with her wouldn't be the worst thing in the world.”
The smoke drifted lazily between them as he continued, “It’s not love. More like... an appreciation of
possibilities.”
“In all the years I've known you,” Pearce chuckled, “that’s the closest you've ever cto admitting interest in
anyone.”
Victor quipped, “If you'd introducedto Elyse sooner, | might be married already.”
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“Just stop it. You just said it wasn’t love!” Pearce gave him a playful kick before crushing out his cigarette and
heading back inside, leaving Victor alone with his thoughts and the dying ember of his smoke.
What he kept to himself was how turning thirty loomed over him like a shadow, making him analyze every life
choice with mathematical precision.
The moment he caught himself trying to calculate love like sequation, he knew he’d already lost to Jayden.
A bitter smile crossed his face. Growing up, it seemed, meant trading gut instincts for careful consideration.
The cigarette burned to the filter, jolting him back to reality. He ground it out and stepped back into the room,
where conversation died instantly.
The thick silence broke as Elyse’s teasing voice cut through it. “Victor! We all thought you were too heartbroken
and scared to speak up!”
Message from Noah: New today dear reader, hope you like them! God loves you and Noah wishes you all
the best. (=u=) /