Chapter 212 - 211: Madeline Quinn and Zeke Shaw Ended Before They Began

Chapter 212: Chapter 211: Madeline Quinn and Zeke Shaw Ended Before They Began

"I don’t buy it." Madeline Quinn shook her head. "There’s no way Cecilia Caldwell would be reborn into Erin Whittaker’s body. That’s just disgusting... She’d rather die."

Her words broke through the gloom I’d been feeling for days, and I couldn’t help but laugh.

I lowered my head, a helpless laugh escaping me that was close to a sob. "Yeah... If you really woke up as the person you hate most, you’d rather just die."

Seeing me laugh, Madeline reached out and took my wrist. "Don’t let your mind run wild. She thinks she can fool everyone, but the people who truly care about Cecilia won’t fall for it. The little details, the feeling someone gives off... those are impossible to fake. Who does she think she is?"

I agreed. Erin Whittaker was wasting her time.

Then again, her goal wasn’t to convince people like Madeline. It was to make Julian Fletcher and Asher believe her.

Victor Quinn had been manipulating and scheming against Julian Fletcher for a long time, so I wasn’t surprised he fell for Erin’s act.

But Asher...

I called Asher.

For the first time ever, Asher rejected my call.

He’d never done that before.

"Asher won’t be fooled by her," Madeline sighed. "Cece... sometimes, you have to try to trust people. It’s exhausting to always be suspicious of someone."

’Madeline always knew what I was thinking.’

"But what if... there really are suspicious things?" I still felt there were too many red flags when it came to Asher.

’Hiding a murderer, secretly sheltering Ash...’

"Try trusting someone unconditionally. Life itself is a huge gamble. What if you bet right?" Madeline met my gaze and added, "I’ll tell you a secret."

I nodded.

"The truth is... I like Zeke Shaw..." Madeline looked down, the tips of her ears flushing red.

I opened my mouth to speak, though I wasn’t really surprised. I’d had my suspicions.

"And what about Zeke?" I whispered, feeling a little giddy.

’Sure enough, a woman’s love for gossip is innate.’

"He..." Madeline took a deep breath, then slowly sighed. "He doesn’t like me."

"That’s impossible! I think he treats you really well," I said, shocked.

"Cece, sometimes liking each other isn’t enough. He said he doesn’t like me. Even if he *does* like me, it just means he doesn’t want to be with me." Madeline’s analysis was spot on.

’Zeke’s sense of duty is too strong. It was inevitable he’d go back to the criminal investigation team. His job is dangerous.’

’It was like he didn’t want to hold Madeline back.’

"The other day, my mom showed up out of the blue. I have no idea how she found my apartment, but she knocked on the door and Zeke answered. I told her we were just roommates, but she didn’t believe me at all. She insisted on discussing marriage between our families, demanding that Zeke marry me..." Madeline sounded completely exasperated.

’I knew about Madeline’s family.’

Her father was a piece of work, and her mother was conservative, paranoid, and had an iron grip.

"Zeke was afraid of causing trouble for me, so he moved out and went back to his dorm." Madeline lay down beside me, just like old times, and stared listlessly at the ceiling. "Oh, Cece... life is so exhausting."

"So what are you going to do?" I reached over and patted her on the head.

"I want to get married. Once I’m married, I can escape my mom’s control," Madeline said in a small voice.

’I knew Madeline so well... She’d said it back in school—if she wanted to start a new life, she’d get married right after graduation. And if neither of us could find a husband, we’d just live together.’

’But now, I was married...’

’Married to Asher, of all people.’

’Madeline probably felt like she was all alone now.’

I looked at her with some guilt but didn’t know how to comfort her.

"I asked him if he would marry me, and he moved out." Madeline laughed, but I knew she wanted to cry.

’Zeke moving out of the apartment was his answer to Madeline.’

’They weren’t going to get married.’

’And Zeke couldn’t give Madeline the kind of life she wanted.’

"Were you guys... official? How far did things go?" I asked quietly.

Madeline rolled her eyes at me. "What are you thinking? We weren’t even flirting. We were seriously just roommates. There was nothing... else."

’She wanted Zeke to marry her when they hadn’t even dated. It was no wonder he got scared off.’

’But Madeline knew she had fallen for him.’

"Does getting married make you happy?" I whispered to Madeline.

Madeline sat up and looked at me. "Hello? You’re the one who got married first."

Her stare made me feel a little guilty.

"Are you happy?" she asked me again.

I thought for a moment. "Getting used to something is a terrifying thing."

’I looked at my phone screen. When Asher hung up on me, I panicked.’

’Am I happy, now that I’m married?’

’How can I explain it...’

’It’s like the word ’happiness’ has nothing to do with me.’

’I was murdered out of the blue. I came back to life out of the blue... reborn into the body of a complete stranger.’

’And out of the blue, the man lying next to me was Asher, the very person I’d mistaken for a murderer.’

’It felt like all of life’s most dramatic moments were happening to me, and me alone.’

’I wanted to ask everyone: if this happened to you, what would you do? Could you really have done any better than me?’

’In an environment filled with pressure, suspicion, and danger...’

’I didn’t know how to be happy, or even how to survive.’

"I’ve given up on love," Madeline shrugged. "I promised my mom I’d go on a blind date. It’s at seven tonight, I have to head over in a bit."

Madeline had agreed to the blind date, but I could see she wasn’t happy about it.

"Are you really going?" I wanted to talk her out of it, but I didn’t know what to say.

"If I don’t get married soon, my mom will drive me insane," Madeline sighed.

Her family was suffocating her.

"I have to get married soon, if only for Zeke’s sake. Otherwise, my mom will never stop pestering him. You know how she is..."

Madeline’s mother was the kind of woman who had been hurt by love and turned neurotic. She was paranoid and incredibly controlling.

Back in school, her mother had chewed out a boy from Madeline’s project group, making it a campus-wide spectacle.

She didn’t care one bit about Madeline’s feelings. She just did what she thought was best for her, which included publicly humiliating her when Madeline most needed to save face.

A family like that is truly suffocating.

"I want to take a gamble, too," Madeline said, taking a deep breath. "What if marriage is like being reborn? You know?"

Madeline smiled at me.

I didn’t say anything.

’I remembered what she’d said earlier. *Try trusting someone unconditionally. Life itself is a huge gamble. What if you bet right?*’

’And if you lose the bet, so what?’

’What else did she have to lose?’

I nodded firmly, picked up my phone, and called Asher again.

’I was ready to take a gamble... To trust him unconditionally, just this once.’

’I’d treat it as a bet.’

But Asher hung up on me again.

This time, I really panicked.

’He hasn’t... fallen for Erin Whittaker’s lies, has he?’

Madeline went to her blind date.

A gloomy rain was falling.

I watched Madeline leave. Then I saw a car in the distance and recognized it at once... It was Zeke’s.

I could tell Zeke had feelings for Madeline, too. It was just that they were like two porcupines.

They would only get hurt if they got too close, and they were both afraid of hurting each other, so they chose to keep their distance.

I stood in the rain, smelling the damp earth.

For some reason, I felt like I could smell death in the air.

"Ngh... uh," the deaf-mute man gestured at me, telling me to go back inside and get out of the rain.

I went back to my room and sat down in the empty bathtub, calling Asher again.

He hung up, so I called again.

After I did this several times, he just turned his phone off.

I buried my face in my knees.

’Completely trusting someone... it’s so easy to say, but so, so hard to do.’