The Miracle of You

[Present Time]

–

When he was young, Michael tended to joke around most of the time. His humor was a little different, but that was probably because he expressed it in a strange, somewhat dark way.

Camille had thought he was just joking back then, since it was so dramatic and all…

And Michael even agreed with her afterwards. “Just kidding” was what he said after saying those words. He didn’t say anything more and just let her chuckle it away.

But even then, Camille had sharp eyes. She hadn’t missed the way the dark look had never left his eyes that day.

She knew that he had been serious.

But she forced herself to forget. To think it was just her own wild imagination.

But as the days passed, she couldn’t help but notice the signs. It was as if this small incident had opened the door to a startling revelation.

He had been subtle about it. But he was indeed protective of her and especially observant. Whenever he heard people gossiping about her and murmuring complaints during class, he would snap at them and tell them to stop slandering her for fun.

He would also always notice whenever she was in a low mood. Once, when she got into a fight with her brother Ben over his choice of girlfriend – who turned out to be a gold-digger a few weeks later – Michael was the one who comforted her, telling her that everything would be okay. That Ben would understand why she was worried.

He never shared much about himself, being a private person, but he told her bits and pieces, like how he wanted to be a chef someday.All content © N/.ôvel/Dr/ama.Org.

He hated being pitied for his old leg injury, and he didn’t like that his family treated him like someone who couldn’t do anything substantial. He could still do normal things, just not strenuous sports.

He was also the one who proposed bringing her his homemade lunch boxes everyday.

“You don’t have to do that,” she had told him back then with wide, surprised eyes.

“But I want to” was his only response, and he brought her one the next thing tomorrow.

Camille felt a sudden throbbing in her head as the music stopped. It was as if thinking about it again brought back all those conflicting emotions in her heart and she was too helpless to stop it.

Great. Now she couldn’t stop herself from thinking about Michael McGregor again.

‘You knew,’ a voice in her head reminded her.

‘Isn’t that why you entrusted your necklace to him in the first place? Because you knew that you could give your trust and possibly your heart to him?’

Christian looked at her expression and smiled. He gently took her hand and led her away from the dance floor. That was enough dancing for now. He had finished planting the seed and now all he had to do was wait for the branches to sprout.

He glanced toward the open balcony of the hall and saw Michael McGregor staring after them with an unreadable look in his eyes.

The smirk on Christian’s face grew.

Another mission accomplished.

***

To be honest, Christian had known about it for a long time.

How could he not? He and his father had been at the forefront of the investigation into Hailey van Gowen’s background in the past.

Michael McGregor’s family did a good job of covering up their son’s past mistakes and rebellious actions, but in the end, money and power prevailed. It was easy enough to bribe a lot of people. It was also easy to gather evidence that could be very useful in the future.

Christian hadn’t been very interested in Hailey in the past, especially back when she hadn’t changed her identity yet. He had been intrigued by the way she saved his little sister, but he figured that she probably knew Patricia Callahan at first glance and was only doing it for the money and fame.

But no. Hailey did not know who Patricia was, and she did not want anyone to know what she did. She never expected to meet Gregory Callahan of all people.

She protected Patricia because she wanted to. Because she had a strong sense of justice. Because she was capable and had skills.

And those self-defense skills weren’t the only thing she had going for her.

She was also highly intelligent and had good grades in all of her subjects. She was diligent and worked hard at everything she did, from small tasks to jobs that required a high sense of responsibility.

Christian had watched her for years, but he never really got close to her. He would tease and taunt her at times, sure, but he wasn’t around most of the time. He was very busy training to become the next heir.

He had his own goals to accomplish, and time was wasted worrying about a woman who would probably turn out to be another one of those shallow, greedy women anyway. So what was the point?

But needless to say, Hailey kept on surprising him.

It had always fascinated him that there was a woman who excelled as much as he did. Even though she was far below his status – especially considering the fact that she had thrown away the van Gowen family name and basically her entire reputation and fame along with it – she was still quite impressive in her own way.

Like him, she was intelligent and good at fighting. However, he had a different way of doing business and liked to use people to solve problems. She, on the other hand, preferred to handle things on her own.

She was more proficient in self-defense tactics while he was skilled in offensive attacks and intimidation, taking the aggressive approach most of the time. But he was also smart enough to read his opponent’s move and act accordingly.

Life was a game of chess. Pawns were everywhere.

He was the king. It might seem like he was taking things one step at a time and going about things in a roundabout way, but in reality he was in complete control.

In time, Hailey – rather, Camille – proved to be a capable Queen who was qualified enough to be by his side.

It had always been interesting to him that she decided to change her identity. He knew her as Camille much longer than when she was Hailey, so the transition wasn’t as jarring for him.

So he finally came to a decision out of personal interest.

He would find out everything there was to know about Camille Parker.

Or rather, Hailey van Gowen.