The Million-Dollar Heart

Vivienne's phone buzzed with an incoming message from Draven.

"Hunter belongs to an ancient line of warriors!"

Raising an eyebrow, Vivienne typed back, "Keep digging. Miss nothing."

"Ding!"

The alert for a new message went off, and as Vivienne marveled at Draven's efficiency, her screen was flooded with nearly a hundred messages.

WhatsApp was a sea of red notifications.

Texts were popping up one after another.

Logan Wood, Oberon Harper, Faye Churchill...

Just seeing those names gave Vivienne a throwback to her days as a homeroom teacher at Cloudcrest High School.

She rubbed her forehead in exasperation. Those kids were relentless.

The digits on the blackboard from back then, memorized to this day.

Thinking about it, time really did fly; they must be sophomores in college by now.

Setting aside what she was doing, Vivienne began replying to each message.

She let the WhatsApp notifications bounce as she prioritized responding to the heartfelt wishes sent to her and Mr. Wolf by her students.

After addressing her students' messages, Vivienne finally opened WhatsApp.

At the top was Griffin, with a long string of congratulatory emojis, ending with a somewhat sarcastic wish.

"This invitation is making me green with envy," Griffin's message read. "When will my goofball catch on? Will I ever get to wear a wedding dress, sob?!"

"But you bet, I'll be giving you the biggest red envelope. Not just for Leopold, but for our bond forged in fire."

Something came to Vivienne's mind, and she fished out a recorded video from the top of her WhatsApp, forwarding it to Griffin as a generous return gesture. Griffin instantly replied with a "?"

Vivienne left it at that, letting her discover the joy on her own.

Then came the laments from various juniors about preparing wedding gifts only now receiving the invitation.

help but smirk, skipping over those

a message too, "Congrats! Don't worry, even if I'm shooting abroad, I'll make it to

back, "Just make sure the red envelope

Of course, I wouldn't miss it for the world. Expect the biggest red envelope from me!" Following Kala, Carl

message Vivienne saw was

can I crash the

she understood why his name was last on

Mr. Wolf sounded like a mission

"No" was sent in reply, and Vivienne moved on

Charlotte Redwood and Griffin both tried to call at

Charlotte: "??"

Griffin: "What the heck?"

rob her of peace

they could start, she signaled Charlotte she

brief moment of

not a celebrity spectacle. Did everyone forget she was just

kept flooding in, Vivienne was tempted to just

she considered it, another text

This time from Draven.

"Young master, Winston's awake."

In the hospital room.

lit up upon seeing Vivienne, yet couldn't help

said,

beside him, Vivienne rarely felt the need to explain, "I

for words, "It hurts everywhere...

Vivienne handed him a

He obediently swallowed.

you? Not afraid

shook his head, his voice full of conviction,

the natural affinity

hopeful tone, "Sis, can

sure she heard right,

auntie mentioned inviting me to her wedding once. But then, after Alyssa did something bad to her, grandpa wouldn't

lips pursed, and the light

want to see a wedding, come to mine in a few days. My

"Really?

Vivienne paused.

did he