This was a habit of his when he was deep in thought.

"What’s wrong? Does President Julian have something on his mind?" she asked softly.

Julian suddenly looked at her: "Do you remember the bet we made when we were ten?"

Zoe didn't hesitate: "You lost and agreed to wear a dress to school, only to be beaten by Uncle Julian for three days," she added with a smile, "the silver ring I gave you was the wager back then."

A slight shift appeared in Julian’s eyes, but then he immediately asked: "Then do you know why I went abroad?"

"Because a year ago I told you I didn't want to see you, but in reality, you were because..." Zoe’s words cut off abruptly. She saw Julian’s gaze turn as sharp as a knife.

The air froze instantly.

"Zoe," Julian set down his wine glass, his voice so low that only she could hear him, "I have never told anyone the real reason I left the country." He stepped closer, "Who exactly are you?"

On the balcony, the night wind blew past, carrying the fragrance of flowers.

Zoe gripped the railing tight, feeling panicked for the first time since her rebirth.

Julian stood in the shadows; the moonlight only illuminated half of his side profile, making him appear exceptionally cold.

"If I said..." she took a deep breath, "that I died once, would you believe me?"

Over the next twenty minutes, Zoe laid out the betrayal, pain, and death of her past life. When speaking of the night of the car accident, her voice started to tremble uncontrollably: "The four of them stood on the other side of the road... watching me bleed to death..."

Julian’s expression shifted from shock to complexity.

When Zoe mentioned that it was he who had collected her remains, his knuckles turned white from excessive force.

Silence spread between them.

"So," Julian suddenly spoke, his voice as cold as ice, "you chose me just out of guilt? Because you saw me collect my remains for you? And decided to compensate me?"

Zoe looked up abruptly: "No! I truly..."

"Enough." Julian interrupted her, "I need to think carefully about the relationship between the two of us."

He turned and walked toward the door, his back stiff: "For the time being... don't see each other either."

Zoe stood alone on the balcony, her fingertips digging deep into her palms.

She should have expected this outcome.

A person as proud as Julian, how could he accept a relationship that began with guilt?

The sound of guests laughing drifted from inside, mingled with Jasper’s triumphant voice: "It seems President Julian and Miss Wen have had a falling out..."

Zoe wiped the moisture from the corners of her eyes and straightened her back again.

Just as she was about to leave, her phone vibrated.

[Swiss bank account activated.]

[Equity of the three mineral deposits under your name has been transferred back.]

Followed immediately by a text from a strange number: [We are even.]

Zoe stopped in her tracks.

What did this mean?

Money is even, does the next step mean the people should be even too?

In Julian’s private wine cellar, the crystal glass refracted amber light.

He had already drunk half a bottle of Macallan, yet still felt a bitter taste in his throat. Memories that alcohol couldn't numb became clearer.

"Idiot." Julian cursed at the air, not knowing if he was talking about the Zoe of the past life, or himself who was repeating the same mistakes in this one.

When the glass emptied again, he suddenly chuckled softly.

How ironic. In this life, he had originally intended to continue guarding her silently, waiting for the day she would look back at him.

As fate would have it, she did look back.

Yet it was with the guilt of her past life.

"Julian, you really haven't improved at all."

He tilted his head back and downed the final glass, the base of the glass clattering heavily against the marble countertop.

A cool hand suddenly gripped his wrist.

Julian turned his head; Zoe was standing behind him at some point.

She wore no shoes, her bare feet pressing against the cold floor, just staring at him quietly.

The moment their eyes met, Zoe’s pupils constricted violently.

She had never seen this Julian. His shirt collar was wide open, his hair, usually combed meticulously, hung messily over his forehead, and his eyes were bloodshot.

"You..." Her voice choked.

"How did you get in?" His voice was hoarse beyond recognition.

Zoe shook the key in her hand: "Won it in a bet."

Only then did Julian remember that the spare key had been kept by her all along.

Julian turned his face away: "Here to see me make a fool of myself?"

Zoe snatched the wine glass from his hand and drained the remaining liquid in one gulp.

The stinging pain of alcohol burning her throat made her frown, yet she still insisted on speaking: "I came to tell you..."

"I didn't choose Jasper because he betrayed me."

"I chose you, not because of guilt."

Her fingertips touched the old scar on his brow bone, left from when they fought at fifteen: "It’s because in this life, I finally saw clearly who was worth it."

The wine cellar fell into a deathly silence, with only the shallow breathing of two people rising and falling.

Julian’s Adam’s apple bobbed.

He wanted to push her away, but his fingers disobeyed, curling to trap her slender wrist in his palm.

"Zoe," he said in a low voice, "do you know why I never attend your birthday banquets?"

She shook her head.

"Because at twenty-two," his thumb rubbed the pulsing vein at her wrist, "I watched you walk toward Jasper and told myself—if this is what you want, if you can be happy, I am willing to let go."

Zoe’s tears suddenly tumbled down, landing on the back of his hand.

Julian seemed scorched, standing up abruptly, but he was pulled back by Zoe tugging at his hem.

"Julian," she asked through tears, "if I had chosen Jasper again in this life, what would you have done?"

His jawline was pulled tight, and it took a long time before a sentence was squeezed through his teeth: "...Continue watching."

"Until I died in front of you again?"

The sentence pierced the final barrier between them like a sword.

Julian suddenly bent down and swept her up horizontally, striding toward the stairs. Zoe struggled in his arms: "Put me down!"

"Shut up." He kicked the bedroom door open violently, but the action of throwing her onto the bed was gentle. "Your soles are covered in blood."

Only then did Zoe realize she had indeed stepped on glass shards in the cellar.

Julian returned, knelt on one knee, and picked the shards out of her soles bit by bit with tweezers. When the alcohol cotton swab brushed across the wounds, she flinched in pain.

"Serves you right." He cursed, but his touch was even lighter.

After wrapping the bandage, Julian started to stand, but was hugged from behind by Zoe.

"On the first day of my rebirth," her face pressed against his back, her voice muffled, "I went to buy a plane ticket to Switzerland."

Julian froze in place.

"I waited in the airport for a whole day, but due to the weather, it went from delayed to canceled." She tightened her arms: "That’s when I thought, then I’ll wait for you to come back. No matter what, in this life, I must catch you."

Moonlight seeped through the gauze, casting interlaced shadows on the floor.

Julian turned slowly and cradled her face. His thumb brushed past her moist eyes, his gaze complex.

"Zoe," he asked softly, "aren't you afraid... that in this life, we will still repeat the same mistakes?"

She stood on tiptoes and kissed the corner of his lips: "Then we’ll meet in the next life."

The kiss was light, yet it completely broke Julian’s defenses.

He gripped the back of her head to deepen the kiss, the scent of ambergris mixed with the aroma of whiskey taking over Zoe’s senses.

When the two finally separated, Zoe discovered her hand was interwoven with his, fingers locked.

And Julian’s palm was searingly hot.

When the morning light emerged, Zoe woke up in Julian’s arms.

He slept soundly, and the furrow between his brows finally smoothed out.

She quietly traced his silhouette with her fingers, from the sharp brow bone to the straight bridge of his nose.

The phone suddenly vibrated; a news push notification popped up on the screen.

《Breaking! Jasper Group Suspected of Financial Fraud, Share Price Plummets 50%》

Chapter 16

Zoe snatched the wine glass from his hand and drained the remaining liquid in one gulp.

The stinging pain of alcohol burning her throat made her frown, yet she still insisted on speaking: "I came to tell you..."

"I didn't choose Jasper because he betrayed me."