Julian pulled her back, wanting to return the bank card to her, but he was rejected.

Watching Seraphina's hurried, departing back, Julian felt the card in his hand grow heavier and heavier. Perhaps Seraphina had melted all of his affection for her into this card, returning it to him entirely.

He let out a bitter smile, shoved the bank card—which had already lost Seraphina's lingering warmth—into his pocket, and got into his car.

On the other side of town, Seraphina kept dialing Ethan's number continuously, but he either wouldn't answer or simply hung up. Even Leo had no idea where he had gone.

Was he intentionally fleeing from her?

Seraphina felt rather anxious. Although Ethan wasn't the type to do something reckless, there was no guarantee he wouldn't do something to harm himself in a sudden fit of madness.

She panted slightly, wiping the sweat from her forehead, her gaze drifting everywhere, yet she simply couldn't find the person she was looking for.

Suddenly, Seraphina seemed to recall something. Grandfather had once mentioned that whenever Ethan threw a tantrum, he would go to the beach. But ever since he nearly drowned after falling into the sea last time, he had never gone back there again.

Carrying her suspended heart, Seraphina rushed toward the very beach where she had once rescued Ethan.

It was already evening, and the remaining sunlight of the afternoon was completely blocked out by heavy, gloomy clouds. The entire ocean looked like a sheet of blue-gray silk tossing with the wind.

The sea breeze cut across her face like a knife. Seraphina wrapped her scarf around her neck one more time, squinting her eyes as she searched the deserted beach for Ethan's silhouette.

The moment she spotted a figure sitting by a reef a hundred meters away, her eyes lit up. Keeping her lips tightly pressed together to block out the freezing wind, she broke into a light run against the gale.

The roaring sound of the wind and waves completely drowned out Seraphina's footsteps, and Ethan remained entirely unaware that someone was already standing right behind him.

Seraphina stared at his dark hair disheveled by the sea breeze, and at his red, cold hands propped against his knees, her heart filling with an inescapable wave of pity.

She pulled off her scarf, kneeling down to wrap it securely around Ethan's neck.

A sudden warmth spread from his neck, and a trace of pure shock flitted across Ethan's eyes. Turning around to see Seraphina, whose face was flushed bright red from the freezing cold, his heart violently constricted. With a dark face, he barked, "What on earth are you doing here? Just got out of the hospital and already trying to go back in?"

With that, he violently ripped the scarf off, ignoring Seraphina's struggles as he wrapped it tightly around her neck and half of her face.

Seraphina wanted to pull it off again, but her movements were fiercely pinned down by two freezing, large hands.

She stared at Ethan, noting that within those star-like eyes, he was deliberately concealing his care, reluctance, and a faint, subtle hint of love.

A sudden flutter rippled through Seraphina's heart, and she unexpectedly felt that the sea breeze wasn't all that freezing anymore.

Because a tiny gesture from someone she had once deeply loved—or perhaps, had always deeply loved—was more than enough to warm a person's soul.

Her gaze grew increasingly gentle, and her fingers, cold as fresh ginger, slowly brushed against the hands resting on her shoulders.

Yet, the moment she touched them, his hands slipped away like a startled fish.

"Just leave."

Chapter 42: He Remembered

Ethan's flat voice was scraped into Seraphina's ears by the sea breeze, sounding rather harsh.

But Seraphina felt a small sense of relief; at least he hadn't uttered those aggressive accusations, nor had he used his previous cruel attitude toward her.

She couldn't stop a bitter smile from rising inside her chest. At the very beginning, she had yearned for Ethan to love her, but later, she merely wanted him to stop using those venomous words to hurt her, even if he simply viewed her as a friend.

Seraphina blinked her eyes, which had grown dry from the wind, pulled out her notepad and pen to write for a moment, and handed the note to Ethan.

You must work hard. You will still be the heir of Vance Enterprises.

Ethan cast a brief glance at it, breaking his usual silence to mock and belittle himself before her for the first time. "Work hard? Do you think my hard work will yield any result? The old man already handed Vance Enterprises over to him. I am undeniably inferior to him."

Particularly when it came to Seraphina, Julian Vance far surpassed him.

Thinking back on what he had said and done to Seraphina in the past, the fact that she didn't hate him was already his greatest fortune. How could he possibly harbor any desperate hope for her to change her mind?

Hearing this, Seraphina's chest felt increasingly stifled. How could the current Ethan possibly realize that this was a deliberate test arranged by the patriarch?

Right now, he had firmly determined that he was an absolute failure, someone who had been utterly fooled by Grandfather and Julian.

The waves drew closer by the second. Seraphina cast a glance at the ocean, noting that the horizon seemed to be slowly reclaiming the remaining light of day, and the water was gradually swallowing the sandy beach.

The tide was rising!

Seraphina's heart seized, yet Ethan beside her didn't seem to have any intention of leaving.

She grabbed him by the arm, wanting to pull him away, but with her strength, there was absolutely no way she could budge him; just like that day at the hospital, he sat completely motionless.

Seraphina knit her brows tightly, a sudden chill running down her spine. She parted her lips, but the sea breeze flew wildly inside her mouth like sharp blades, causing her teeth to chatter from the cold.

She tried once more to force out a sound, but it was completely futile.

Ethan's brows knit into a knot, and he pulled his arm back with a small surge of strength. "I told you, just leave! I want to be left alone for a bit!"

Staring at the rapidly approaching waves before his eyes, his heart violently sank. The suffocating terror and absolute desperation of drowning in the past seemed to explode in a single flash, and an invisible hand named dread clamped fiercely around his throat, nearly cutting off his breathing entirely.

His legs simply refused to obey his commands, leaving him sitting there like a paralyzed man.

Seraphina's heart leaped into her throat once more, a low, muffled whimper escaping her chest.

She assumed Ethan was merely throwing a fit of pique, but the ocean was completely ruthless; it wouldn't care whether a person was filled with joy or sorrow.

The tide rose at an exceptional speed, swallowing them from their ankles to their knees in a mere twenty seconds.

Seraphina clutched Ethan's arm with a death grip, her mind shouting "leave" countless times over!

Finally, those disobedient legs trembled slightly as if touching scalding lava. A flash of pure panic filled Ethan's eyes as his memories from eight years ago rushed back along with the tide.

By the time he managed to stand up, the seawater had already reached his chest.

He instinctively turned his head to look at Seraphina, who was still clutching his arm tightly.

She was small, and the seawater had already swallowed her chin. She tilted her head back, struggling desperately to breathe.

"Seraphina!"

Ethan let out a sharp gasp of panic, but as the very next wave slammed over them, he suddenly felt his feet leave the sandy floor, his entire body drifting weakly with the churning currents.

His memories of near-death were instantly saturated. His pupils contracted violently, yet a final shred of absolute clarity remained within his frantic eyes.

Seraphina choked on several mouthfuls of seawater, and as she turned her head to look, the shore had already drifted incredibly far away.

No, I must swim back right now!

But just as she was preparing to drag Ethan back with her, she realized the hand clutching his wrist was being forcefully pried open.

Chapter 43: Residual Warmth

Ethan used his final shred of sobriety to forcefully counteract the resistance of the water, prying Seraphina's hand open.

Her body hadn't fully recovered yet, and swimming back alone was already deeply exhausting; there was absolutely no way she could carry him along with her.

He couldn't let her die a second time!

Seraphina stared at Ethan in pure terror. What on earth was he doing? Did he have any idea that he would drown like this!

She endured the biting chill of the seawater, gritting her teeth and refusing to let go no matter what. She clutched Ethan's wrist tightly, using her free hand to frantically paddle through the currents, desperately trying to swim toward the shore.