The Million-Dollar Heart

An hour had passed before Mara finally stirred, a ghostly pallor on her face. Her voice was a weak whisper, barely there.

She had never felt so terrible in her life-it was like being on death's doorstep!

That Gillian had actually given her a bottle of sleeping pills, and here she had thought they were vitamins.

If only she had known, she would not have taken a single one!

"Mara, you're awake." Cecilia's voice carried a mixture of relief and worry, as if a great weight had been lifted from her heart upon seeing Mara's eyes open.

To underscore her feebleness, Mara coughed deliberately, a decision she instantly regretted as her stomach convulsed painfully.

"Auntie, what happened to me?" Mara's eyes brimmed with tears, but her pain was genuine.

Cecilia sat by the hospital bed, wiping away the tears streaking Mara's face. "Oh, you silly girl. Do you have any idea how close you came to never seeing me again?" Mara feigned shock, glancing down at her wrist as if seeing it anew, a look of realization crossing her face. "I... I'm sorry, Auntie. I just wasn't thinking straight."

"You really..." Cecilia held Mara's hand, her heart full of unsaid words.

Across the room, Percival sat brooding on the couch, his eyes stormy as the horizon's edge.

Vivienne, on the other hand, watched the scene with a certain amusement.

Such a promising talent, indeed.

Mara seemed to be cut from the same cloth as Gillian had been.

If she were to be signed and groomed properly, she might even outshine Kala!

Kala: Impossible, utterly impossible!

propped her chin in her

few words with Mara were enough before she turned to Percival. "Percival, why don't you take Isolde back home? Everything's under control here. I'll stay with her." Slowly sitting up,

looping her arm through Percival's, her smile beaming at Mara. "It's

even she would have been surprised

was all about making

Mr. Wolf merely a supporting

less appealing than a strawberry

reach out to her. Since that was the case, she was not about to miss this opportunity to

her feet, only to

before. Please forgive me. Gillian and Grandma misled me, and I never meant for things to go so far. I was awful, please

hard, she had assumed that even if Percival did nothing and Isolde was too young to understand, at least Cecilia would rush to stop her. After all,

no one came to her

out loud but managed to

awkward silence until Mara lifted her head, her eyes filled

mimicking Mara's tone. "What are you doing? I never blamed you in

at Vivienne, noting her barely suppressed mirth. He smiled, affectionately ruffling

biggest heart. She doesn't hold grudges easily. Mara, don't pull this act again. Admitting your mistake is one thing, but forgiveness comes from genuine remorse, not from such theatrics. Why make

snorted from the

out of elementary school was

"Mara, Isolde is right. Get

onto her feet, and whether by design or not, she winced at a sudden pain in her face. Propping herself against the bed, she clutched

her side, helping Mara back into bed. "You