?Chapter 2760:


    “No, not yet.” His brows lifted, lips curving faintly.


    “I’m proposing. That’s how this works.”


    Proposing?


    Hadley stiffened, lips parted slightly as her heartbeat stumbled out of rhythm.


    Eric took the ring from its velvet box, his fingers warm as they wrapped around her left hand, gently tracing her ring finger.


    “Let me put this on you… From now on, you, me, and Joy—our family of three—will never be apart again,” he murmured.


    Hadley’s vision turned misty as a swell of emotion surged through her.


    His handsome face was half-veiled in shadow, yet the light in his eyes—hopeful, earnest—shone through clearly.


    Suddenly, she shut her eyes and pulled her hand back, curling her fingers into a fist.


    Eric froze, the red diamond ring still in his grasp.


    “Hadley?” Eric’s voice tightened with confusion.


    “What’s wrong?”


    “Eric…” Her chest ached with a deep, helpless weight as the words left her lips.


    “I’m sorry.”


    “Sorry?” he echoed numbly, unable toprehend.


    “Why? You said you believed me… that you didn’t me me anymore.” That meant Linda, the wedge that had torn them apart, no longer stood between them. Then why did she still reject him? “Were you lying? Are you still ming me and you just said you weren’t to pacify me?”


    “No!” Her brows knitted.


    “I meant it. I really do believe you.”


    “Then…” Eric’s lips thinned, his voice taut.


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    “We should be getting back together!”


    “No…” she whispered.


    “No?” The word struck him like a blow.


    “Why not? What else is standing between us?”


    “Eric…” His pain was a mirror to her own, and seeing it made her heart quiver.


    Her face drained of color as she shook her head, voice trembling.


    “We broke up. No matter what’s changed now, that fact remains—we ended things half a year ago.”


    “So what if we did?”


    Eric shot to his feet, his whole body turning cold, as though plunged into icy water.


    “The reason for our breakup was never even valid!” His hand pressed to his chest as his eyes reddened.


    “I love you! That hasn’t changed!”


    The words left him like a cry of desperation, raw and unguarded. Hadley could no longer bear it. Her eyes shut tight as tears slipped free.


    “Hadley?”


    Eric dropped to his knees before her, clutching her hands as if in prayer, looking up with pleading eyes.


    “Our breakup was a mistake! Let’s fix it. We can make it right again.”


    “No, we can’t…” Hershes fluttered, damp with tears, her voice hoarse.


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