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 those

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

back, "Just make sure the red

miss it for the world. Expect the biggest red envelope from me!" Following

saw was

asking... can I crash the

name was last on the

wedding with Mr. Wolf sounded like a

sent in reply,

Griffin both tried to call at the same

Charlotte: "??"

Griffin: "What the heck?"

of peace for an hour, thanks to their

they could start, she signaled Charlotte she was busy and

a brief

she wanted was a simple wedding, not a celebrity spectacle. Did everyone forget she was just a bride-to-be with things to

messages kept flooding in, Vivienne was tempted to just turn off her

moment she considered it,

This time from Draven.

"Young master, Winston's awake."

In the hospital room.

lay in bed, a frail figure that lit up upon seeing Vivienne,

Vivienne, he quietly said, "Sis,

felt the need to explain, "I rushed here, didn't tell

for words, "It hurts

checking his pulse, Vivienne handed him

He obediently swallowed.

brave, aren't you? Not afraid

shook his head, his voice

the natural affinity her own mother had for

tone, "Sis, can you tell me

she heard

then, after Alyssa did something bad to her, grandpa wouldn't let me

lips pursed, and the light in his eyes

want to see a wedding, come to mine in a few

"Really?

Vivienne paused.

he mean by