Bound Hearts: My Vows to My Disabled Spouse

Consider This My Repayment

Elyse and her new friends settled into the private room and placed their orders, eagerly awaiting their meals.

Bart ordered a bottle of wine and, after pouring himself a glass, looked around the table. "Don't you want to try it? Am I drinking alone?"

Elyse responded, "We don't drink. Go ahead by yourself."

As Bart nibbled on an appetizer, he muttered, "I can't really speak my mind without a drink. I've hardly ever lost in a competition."

Grace snorted. "That's true for all of us. Otherwise, why would we be here tonight?" Her remark cast a strange silence over the group.

Elyse chewed thoughtfully on some fruit, her mind wandering back to the few formal competitions she had participated in. Glenda had always instructed her to lose to Mabel, not wanting her to

outshine publicly.

Consequently, her experience was limited, which explained why she was so tense and made a mistake in her match against Vicky.

Reflecting on this, she sighed deeply, and soon, the others followed suit.

Elyse looked around, noticing the exchanged glances. Despite their talent and pride, they bore the weight of recent defeats collectively. A somber atmosphere enveloped them as they reflected on their setbacks.

Feeling the need to lift the spirits, Elyse encouraged, "Cheer up, guys. We'll win in the future." Darren had a resilient attitude. Due to his past experiences with mistakes during competitions, he understood the disappointment and reluctance others felt.

Standing up, he raised a glass of soft drink. "We can learn from our < failures. Cheer up. We will win next time."

Elyse nodded, raising her glass in agreement. They were about to toast when Vicky and Rebekah interrupted them.

"Elyse Lloyd, we need to talk privately," Vicky stated bluntly, her focus clearly on Elyse.Còntens bel0ngs to Nô(v)elDr/a/ma.Org

Elyse looked puzzled. "What do we need to talk about?"

Equally perplexed, Darren inquired, "Why are you here? Who tipped you off about our presence here?".

All eyes turned to Rebekah.

With a smug smile, Rebekah raised her eyebrows at Elyse, seemingly indifferent to the accusatory stares. "This is what you get for rejecting me."

Feeling Rebekah's hostile gaze, Elyse furrowed her brow. "I don't need to talk to you in private. Whatever you have to say, you can say here."

Vicky crossed her arms, her tone arrogant. "Fine. I was trying to be considerate of your feelings. "Don't hold me responsible if you feel publicly humiliated."

She slammed her hand on the table. "Why have you teamed up with them to isolate me? Is it just because I've won against you?"

Elyse responded, "When have I ever isolated you?"

"You called for this dinner and excluded me," Vicky said aggressively. "You hate me because I've won against you, so you invited everyone else to plot against me."

Elyse was taken aback. After catching Rebekah's gloating smile, she quickly understood the situation. "I don't mind you joining us as long as you're willing to share your experiences with failure," she replied, stressing "experiences with failure" pointedly. She then turned to Rebekah. "I refused to let you join our dinner, so you decided to sow discord among us. Are you stupid, Rebekah Bentley? You might offend me, but can you afford to offend everyone else here?" Rebekah, anticipating a retort from Elyse, rolled her eyes. "Don't try to pin this on me. I overheard you plotting to turn everyone against Vicky and sabotage her future performances." Elyse scoffed. "You truly are malicious. You even want to sabotage her future performances." Darren, having grasped the situation, addressed Vicky, "If you're looking for the organizer of this dinner, talk to me. I arranged for it, and Bart reserved this table. Elyse was merely invited by us. You're welcome to want to join our dinner if you'd like."

He then turned to Rebekah. "But we won't include you."

Under his firm gaze, Rebekah tensed. Knowing Darren was backed by Merlin, she didn't want to escalate the conflict.

Vicky scoffed. "Dine with a bunch of losers? Don't make me laugh. You're not even worthy of sharing a table with me."

Elyse responded calmly, "If that's how you feel, why are you here? To pick a fight?"

"You ask me why I'm here?" Without warning, Vicky approached Elyse and slapped her across the face.

Under the astonished gazes of everyone around, she snapped, "I don't care if you really want to rally them against me. I'm here to make it clear that someone like you, a piece of garbage, will never surpass me." Then, she shook her stinging hand and turned to leave.

The next moment, Elyse grabbed Vicky and pulled her back, slapping her twice as others watched in shock.

Glaring icily at Vicky, Elyse bit out, "Thank you for coming to me. Consider this my repayment."