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.

but smirk, skipping over

"Congrats! Don't worry, even if

back, "Just make sure the

"You're all about the cash, huh? But it's your big day! Of course, I wouldn't miss it for the world.

saw was from Aaron, quite explosive

asking... can

his name was last on

sounded like

"No" was sent in reply,

Charlotte Redwood and Griffin both tried to call at the same time, resulting in a call

Charlotte: "??"

Griffin: "What the heck?"

rob her of peace for an hour, thanks

she

brief moment of

she wanted was a simple wedding, not a celebrity spectacle. Did everyone forget she

flooding in, Vivienne was tempted to just turn off her

it, another text

This time from Draven.

"Young master, Winston's awake."

In the hospital room.

bed, a frail figure that lit up upon seeing Vivienne, yet

Vivienne, he quietly said,

him, Vivienne rarely felt the need to explain, "I rushed here, didn't tell anyone.

face struggled for words, "It hurts everywhere... but

his pulse, Vivienne handed him a

He obediently swallowed.

"Quite brave, aren't you? Not afraid I might poison

his voice full of conviction, "You

affinity her own mother had for

asked in a hopeful tone, "Sis, can you tell me about auntie's

paused, making sure she heard

her wedding once. But then, after Alyssa did something

pursed, and

wedding, come to mine in a few days.

"Really? You're

Vivienne paused.

did he