While Sadie spoke, Ariana approached Holden. The ringing in her ears from the car accident hadn't subsided, but she heard every word from Sadie loud and clear.

With tears streaming down her face, she gazed up at the man she had yearned for helplessly and hoarsely whispered, "Theodore."

Blood was still slowly trickling down from the cut across her forehead, but she couldn't take her eyes off the guy in front of her.

Seeing her in such a state, Holden felt a wrenching pain in his chest, leaving him breathless.

His hand trembled slightly as he slowly reached out, yearning to touch Ariana.

Just as his fingertips were about to reach her, Ariana recoiled abruptly, pulling back to avoid his touch. With tearful, reddened eyes fixed on Holden, she asked in a strained voice, “Are you truly Theodore?"

Holden fell silent, uncertainty clouding his mind.

Even now, Holden wasn't entirely sure of his own identity. He felt lost, wandering through a dense fog, having forgotten events from the past. Everyone around him skirted around anything from five years ago.

That lingering fog clouded his vision, leaving him without any concrete evidence to definitively prove whether he was Theodore or not.

Holden moved his lips, but no words came out. A sharp pain struck his heart, and his eyes reddened involuntarily, yet he couldn't say anything.

Ariana held his gaze, her expression filled with sorrow. She pressed her lips together and shook her head, retreating two steps backward.

The way she looked at him now was like staring at a total stranger.

"No, you're not him. My Theodore wouldn't have taken this long to find me, and he wouldn't have married or started a family with another woman. You... You're not him," she said in anguish.

Hearing this, Holden grew desperate. "Please, just listen to me for a moment," he pleaded urgently, wishing to rush forward and explain everything, to embrace her.

But Sadie clung to him with all her strength, stopping him. Her eyes blazed with pure hatred as she glared at Ariana, as though she wanted nothing more than to tear the woman apart.

“Why are you still alive, Ariana? Now that your dear husband is gone, you've come to snatch another woman's man?" Sadie sneered venomously, skewering Ariana with her gaze. Then, her expression twisted into a sinister smile.

“Well, isn't this just perfect karma? You deserve to be abandoned, crushed into the dust, and never allowed to rise again! You're cursed, but you relentlessly haunt us. Why didn't that car accident five years ago take your life, too? What gave you the right to keep living?" Sadie said.

"It's your fault that your daughter's gone!" Sadie spat venom, eyes blazing with fury.

Ariana had brushed off Sadie's insults until the mention of her deceased daughter pierced her like a dagger. Her bloodshot eyes turned towards Sadie, pinning Sadie with a gaze that could pierce steel!

Sadie recoiled from Ariana's searing glare but refused to back down.