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.

smirk,

Brooks sent a message too, "Congrats! Don't worry, even if I'm shooting

"Just make sure the red envelope makes

miss it for the world. Expect the biggest red envelope from

last message Vivienne saw was from Aaron, quite

just asking... can I crash the

why his name

wedding with Mr. Wolf sounded like a mission

was sent in reply, and

call at the same time, resulting in a

Charlotte: "??"

Griffin: "What the heck?"

their game. Answering one would rob her of peace for an hour, thanks to

they could start, she signaled Charlotte she was busy and

a brief moment

not a celebrity spectacle. Did everyone forget she was just a bride-to-be

in, Vivienne was tempted

it, another text came

This time from Draven.

"Young master, Winston's awake."

In the hospital room.

figure that lit up upon

Vivienne, he quietly said, "Sis, you came

felt the need to explain, "I rushed here, didn't tell anyone. How are you feeling? Any

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

Vivienne handed him a life-saving

He obediently swallowed.

smiled, "Quite brave, aren't you? Not

his head, his voice full of

natural affinity

a hopeful tone, "Sis,

paused, making sure she

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

lips pursed, and

sighed, "If you want to see a wedding, come to mine in a few days.

"Really? You're getting married

Vivienne paused.

did he mean