"I'll be very busy once I'm back home. If you're going to tell me, you should do it tonight. I might not have time later," Eleanor added suddenly.

lan was taken aback for a few seconds.

Right. He was looking at a major figure in the medical world. Her time was going to be incredibly valuable from now on.

He nodded. "Alright. We can talk back in your room."

Eleanor's eyes flickered. "Let's take a walk on the beach first."

lan let out a low laugh. "Is that all the trust you have in me?"

Eleanor smiled, too, looking out the window at the sea. "You're the one who thinks that. I certainly don't."

lan's smile deepened, and he dropped the subject. "Fine, whatever you say. A walk on the beach first."

After dinner, it was only around seven-thirty. The private beach was even more quiet and serene. They walked along the long shoreline.

"Where do you want to start?" Eleanor turned to look at him. Since he was going to talk, she would listen properly.

"Let's start from when I first met you," lan began slowly. "Did you know? That summer, because of our meetings in the hospital library, my studies were a complete mess."

Eleanor couldn't help but feel a little flustered. That summer, she hadn't absorbed a single thing from the books her father had assigned her either. Her face grew warm. "If you weren't reading, what were you looking at?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"At you, and the pleasant time I spent just sitting there with you."

"But we never said a word to each other," Eleanor recalled.

"I wanted to, but I was afraid of scaring you off," lan admitted.

Eleanor had wanted to speak too, but lan's status as the scion of a wealthy family had made her extremely shy and timid.

lan suddenly remembered something. He looked up, his eyes filled with a meaningful smile. "But I know you had a crush on me that summer, too."

Eleanor's face grew even warmer. In the video her father had given him, the one from when he was in a coma, she had told him everything.

She hadn't known her father would do that, so she had foolishly poured out all her thoughts to him in a one-sided conversation.

Eleanor turned her face away. "Is it that funny?"

lan's smile vanished, and he quickly shook his head. "No, it made me very happy." Then he sighed softly. "That summer was one of the few times back then that I felt genuinely relaxed and happy."

"I didn't have to think about family responsibilities, I could briefly forget about my parents' illnesses, I didn't have to calculate profits and losses. I could just sit there quietly, watching you, and I found it interesting."

Back then, Eleanor was like a summer stream, flowing gently into his heart, nourishing his young and weary soul.

Eleanor's heart stirred. She had been young then completely unaware of the pressure lan carried on his shoulders. All she knew was that he was always impeccably dressed and exuded an air of superiority that made him feel impossibly out of reach.

lan's gaze returned to the present, his expression growing more serious. "That year, my mother's blood disorder flared up. I found Dr.

over

Smith who was an expert in hematology at a hospital in

Drexford. He told me they couldn't find a stem cell match for my

mother. Later, after searching all the blood banks in Drexford, he finally found Vanessa. She was the only compatible donor who could save my mother."

"I signed a contract with her. I sponsored her education and supported her financially. I thought that was all she wanted. However..." lan seemed reluctant to recall that period.

It wasn't surprising that Vanessa had fallen madly in love with him.

Eleanor knew very well how attractive lan must have been to an eighteen-year-old

girl.

He was young, handsome, wealthy, and possessed a mature charm beyond his years, forged by the adversity he faced.

For someone in Vanessa's situation, lan's appearance fulfilled all her romantic fantasies.

"She began to be dissatisfied with a purely financial arrangement," lan's voice sounded cold in the sea breeze. "She tried to insert herself into my life. Because she was my mother's savior, I tolerated it as much as I could. She would fréquently visit my mother and sister, quickly earning my mother's trust and affection. I warned her in private, but I couldn't stop her from using various excuses and methods to get close."