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!

her palm,

a 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

she would have been

she was driven-Vivienne was all about

true love, Mr. Wolf merely

not only less appealing than a strawberry

reach out to her. Since that was

stumbled to her feet,

was wrong about everything before. Please forgive me. Gillian and Grandma misled me, and I never meant for things to go so far. I was awful, please don't be angry with me

did nothing and Isolde was too young to understand, at least Cecilia would rush to stop her. After all, if you're going to perform, you

her dismay, no one came to

out loud but

until Mara lifted her head, her eyes

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

mirth. He smiled, affectionately ruffling her hair. "Yeah,

heart. She doesn't hold grudges easily. Mara, don't pull this act again. Admitting your mistake is one

snorted from

out of elementary school was

sighed. "Mara, Isolde is right. Get up, what's with this kneeling

Reluctantly, she climbed back onto her feet, and whether by design or

then did Cecilia move to her side, helping Mara back into bed. "You need to