Chapter 3
Over the next week, Maria started testing him.
And her way of testing was very Maria.
She started showing up less often.
Before, she'd visited Elias three times a day, in the morning at his apartment for breakfast, at noon at his office for lunch, and at night sleeping at his place.
But now, she only showed up every two days, sometimes even every three.
She wanted to see if the pop-up comments would react.
And sure enough, they did.
[Hey, why hasn't the villainess been popping up lately?]
[Bet she's sulking. In the original, she's always stirring up trouble.]
[Just wait, she'll go totally off the rails when Isabelle comes back.]
[It won't do her any good, though. Elias never cares about her.]
Maria sat on her own sofa, staring at the floating words, chewing on an apple with an expressionless face.
Then she went for her second move.
She had someone look into Elias' phone records and social media accounts.
But the results showed nothing.
No contact with Isabelle, nothing suspicious at all.
But Maria did notice one small detail.
Elias' profile picture was solid pure black.
And his profile header photo?
She zoomed in. It was a landscape photo, with snow-capped mountains, a lake, and a flawless reflection. Stunning composition, like it was professionally shot.
She had her men trace the source of it.
Turns out, Isabelle took it and posted it on her photography account three years ago.
Maria stared at that photo for a long time.
Then she turned off her phone.
The third move Maria took was to drop Isabelle's name right in front of Elias.
That night, while they were having dinner, Maria cut her steak and said casually, "I heard Isabelle from the Linwood family studied art management abroad? That's impressive."
His knife and fork paused for a moment.
Just for a second.
Very brief, almost unnoticeable.
Then he just said "Mm," and kept cutting his steak, his expression unchanged.
But Maria didn't miss it.
She smiled and didn't say anything else.
As she looked down, the pop-up comments exploded: [Aaaah! Does she know?]
[No, no, Maria still has no clue. She was just making small talk.]
[But Elias is already freaking out inside.]
[He knows ages ago that his first love is coming back. In the original, his hands are literally shaking when he gets Isabelle's email.]
[Oh my god, I can't take it anymore. Just skip straight to when Isabelle comes back, please!]
Maria finished her last bite of steak and wiped her mouth with a napkin.
Then she looked up at Elias and gave him a polite smile.
"I've had enough," she said. "Take your time."
Elias watched her, that familiar furrow appearing between his brows again.
"Is there..." He set down his knife and fork, hesitating a moment. "Something bothering you lately?"
"Nothing, really," Maria said, grabbing her bag and getting to her feet. "What could possibly be bothering me?"
When she walked past him, Maria leaned down and dropped a gentle kiss on his forehead.
It was soft, like a feather brushing across water.
"Goodnight."
Then she straightened up and walked out without a backward glance.
Elias sat frozen, still in the spot where she'd kissed him.
The warmth of her lips still lingered on his forehead.
His fingers clenched around the dinner knife, knuckles going pale.
Maria finally knew for sure those pop-up comments were real on the eleventh night.
That night, she didn't show up for Elias.
She'd stayed away for five days straight. No replies to his messages, no answers to his calls, and she'd even changed the password on her apartment door.
She wasn't sulking.
She was just waiting for the final proof.