A Second Chance at Forever ( Eleanor Shultz )
Chapter 1504

After lingering by the hospital room for what seemed like an eternity, Peterson mustered the courage to pull up a chair beside the bed and slowly took a seat.

The moment he sat down, their eyes inevitably met. Starry, feeling the weight of the moment, cast her gaze downward, unable to meet his stare. Peterson, however, reached out, gently grasping her wrist. "You're divorced now, do you want to be with me?"

Starry's eyes welled up with tears as she looked down at his slender fingers resting on her wrist. Touched by his offer despite her broken state, she wondered how she, a divorced woman with a child, could possibly deserve a man like Peterson, who'd never even been touched by scandal.

"Peterson." Her voice was light, almost teasing as she pushed his hand away.

"I think it's better if I just stay your little sister."

She didn't put herself down, but her gentle, distant tone was a clear refusal, as if she had never harbored any feelings for him at all, as calm as a passing cloud.

"I've always seen you as a brother, so even if your mother hadn't pressured me into marriage, you and I could never have been together."

Peterson peered into her smiling eyes, searching for a lie, but found them serene, undisturbed.

After a long silence, Peterson nodded slightly, letting go of her wrist. He straightened his suit and rose from the chair, "Forget what I said just now."

As Peterson walked away, Starry covered her face, crying uncontrollably. She knew her decision was right. A man like Peterson deserved someone better.

Upon her discharge from the hospital, Starry returned to her home, raising her daughter alone. Thankfully, she had her own career and, with her sister-in-law Faustina's help, she soon left the heartache behind Starry and Peterson's paths, which had seemed to run parallel, never to cross again, intersected unexpectedly at a cocktail party where someone had laced Peterson's drink with a potent substance. At the party, Starry was also present. Through the crowd, Peterson's eyes found hers. Unable to wait for a doctor, he asked his secretary to call for Starry.

Known for his restraint, Peterson asked for her consent as soon as she entered the room. When she declined, suggesting he wait for medical help, he pulled her back just as she turned to leave, pinning her against the door.

Fighting the effects of the drug, he looked deep into her eyes. "That day, you said you didn't want to be with me, and yet you cried after I left. It's clear you feel unworthy because you've been married and have a child. But, Starry," he said, taking her chin in his hand, drawing her closer, "I don't mind at all. I would even treat your daughter as my own. All you have to do is choose to be with me."

Inhaling the scent of alcohol mixed with the fresh fragrance from his shirt, the love Starry had kept hidden for years surged uncontrollably. "So, you knew everything."

His eyes clouded with desire, he nodded. "I know everything. So, what's on your mind?"

Starry's mind was a whirlwind. Her daughter was already so big, and Peterson had never been married. There was no reason to think she wasn't good enough for him. But as she hesitated, Peterson leaned in and kissed her.

Perhaps spurred by the drug, once Peterson touched Starry, he couldn't stop. In the frenzied rush of tearing at clothes, with eyes red with longing, he made a solemn vow: "I will marry you."

At first, Starry felt unworthy, even thinking her touch would taint Peterson. But as she witnessed the release of his years of restraint and longing, her resistance faded.

After claiming her, Peterson, as if afraid to let her slip away, immediately set a wedding date and sent an invitation to Eleanor, asking her to bring his nephew back to Canada for the wedding...