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          Maria woke up with a yawn, stretching her arms above her head and letting her hair slide over her face as she rolled to the other side of the bed. It felt like she had just gone to sleep, but when she looked at the clock beside the bed, it showed that it was already the beginning of another day. She had been tossing and turning restlessly for what seemed like an eternity, the incident of the previous night playing vividly in her mind and keeping her up half the night.

The whole night she was trying hard to not replay the kiss in her mind. Even when she did close her eyes for some brief periods, she would always find herself staring at Jayden's face before knocking him into the pool. That stupid, random kiss that should never have happened. She still had a lot of questions for him concerning why he did that, but whatever it was, it definitely wasn't out of affection.

She wished a fairy could appear from the blues and wipe that memory from existence because she wasn't sure she could bring herself to face him and question him about his actions. Or maybe she should really pretend some mystic creature had actually tinkered with her memory switch.

"Ugh," she groaned silently.

Her head felt too heavy from lack of sleep, and the sun's rays weren't helping as they shone right onto her closed eyelids. When she finally decided to drag herself out of the warm bed, her eyes immediately found the full-length grand mirror revealing her messiness.

She looked like a total wreck right now, a combination of bedhead and sleep-deprived eyes as the bags under her eyes made them look even more swollen. Someone like her didn't fit in such a luxurious place. Speaking of luxury, that adjective was popularly associated with the Stanleys, and she had currently passed the night in one of the guest rooms at Stanleys' residence.

After the accident last night, she was driven to the estate on Delia's insistence after they met at the hospital when the mother had rushed over because of her son's condition. She had been offered the doctor to come along the manor and allowed her to stay there until the following morning, insisting it was rather too late and dangerous to return home, not with all the rumors and reporters swarming around the facility, in search of the lady that had been involved in Jayden's drowning incident.

So that was the story behind how Maria found herself waking on a king-sized bed in the middle of a room that looked like it was prepared for royalties, but she didn't feel particularly special being here. In fact, she felt very out of place.

She didn't even deserve the amount of kindness the madame had shown to her, considering the trouble she caused them by getting their precious heir apparent harm. Her actions were enough to bring a lawsuit against her if the family wished it.

Her cell phone lit up from the nightstand, indicating another message or missed call pilling up with the countless ones she was sure had been coming in from last night, sent by Ted, Grandma, and reporters looking for exclusive interviews.

She remembered forcing her phone into silence mode once she had assured her loved ones she was doing fine, wanting to avoid the persistent notifications that came flooding in. But now, she has woken back to reality and the sight of her phone had never been this daunting before.

Nonetheless, she found her hand stretching to take hold of the gadget in a bid to check whatever notifications had accumulated during the wee hours of the morning.

Scrolling down the phone's screen, she wasn't really surprised to see all the messages from Ted and her grandma, both asking them wanting to know if she was okay, and she couldn't help but feel guilty for causing them to worry.

Her moving thumb froze on the message that appeared next, making her lifeless blue eyes widen, followed by a soundless gasp that vibrated through her chest.

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