"Layla, you are stressingout, pushinglike this," he said. "I didn't save you simply because it was you. | would have done
the sthing even if it was Ivy, Robert, or Hayden in that situation—"
"I know. You are going to say that you savedto repay my mom," she interrupted him. "lI don't want to marry you because you
saved me. | have been wanting to marry you for a while now. Don't think that I'm doing this because | feel guilty. I'm not a fool. If |
don't like you, you can save my life ten times more and | still wouldn't marry you."
He spotted the determination in her eyes and lowered his head shamefully at her words.
"If you really think that you don't have much longer to live, spend that twith me!" Layla said. "Just think of it as your last
chance to spoil me."
In the living room, Ivy and Robert had gone through all the photos and handed the album back to Mr. Santos.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇt
"Do you want to see more? We have other albums of him as well," Mr. Santos offered enthusiastically.
Mrs. Santos was cooking in the kitchen while Mr. Santon kept Ivy and Robertpany. He found the two to be just as sweet as
Layla was.
"Sure!" lvy said.
Mr. Santos brought over a few more photo albums that were filled with Eric's photos.
Eric was born handsome, so his parents had been obsessed with taking photos of him.
"Mr. Santos, have you always been rich?" Ivy asked.
"Not really. We only becrich after Eric entered show business. He got famous right away," Mr. Santos said proudly. "His
monthly ie equaled what we earn for a year, so we stopped working pretty soon after."
Ivy nodded. "He got famous before graduating from university, right?"
"Yeah. There were scouts for stars back then, but that's not somon lately. They all have open auditions nowadays... Eric got
scouted as he was taking a stroll, and we even thought that the scout was a scammer at the time!" Mr. Santos said while
chuckling. "Eric enjoyed performing and wanted to be a star, so we let him try it, and everything just took off from there."
Ivy and Robert listened attentively.
"Eric gave us all the money he earned at first. He was young back then and listened to pretty much everything we say..."
"And he doesn't listen now?" Ivy asked.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏm
"Haha! He does. | consider myself lucky to have such a brilliant son," Mr. Santos said and stopped when he noticed the door to
Eric's room swing open.
Layla walked out alone and Mr. Santos asked, "Has Eric gone to rest?"
"Yeah. | told him to lie down," she said.
"That's great. His mom would get hysterical whenever he got out of bed. Haha!" Mr. Santos smiled and walked over to the kitchen.
"I will help out in the kitchen. Layla, just stay with your siblings."
"Sure." She walked over and sat down next to her siblings.
Once Mr. Santos disappeared into the kitchen, Robert teased, "It's like you live here now, Layla."
"lI don't live here. This is Mr. and Mrs. Santos’ house." Layla poured herself a glass of water. "lI saw the gifts you bought him. Why
didn't you tellabout it? You were acting so sneaky that | thought it was skind of prank!"