From Ariana's question, Theodore knew she saw him stand up during the fire.

He stared at her, and many thoughts rushed through his mind.

He knew that she was angry about the fact that he had hidden a lot of things from her. However, there were some things that he couldn't tell her now. He had long wanted to tell her that he was pretending to be disabled, but he just couldn't find a chance to do so.

In fact, he was pretending to be disabled so that Darian and Jasper would lower their guard around him. He had no intention to deceive Ariana.

If he and Ariana were a couple with no love involved, he would not have to worry about how she would feel after his lie was exposed.

But now that they had feelings for each other, he didn't want to risk losing her. The more he cared about her, the more cautious he became. He delayed confessing to her again and again, and now it snowballed into a big mistake.

“Sorry, I was wrong," Theodore apologized in a hoarse voice. Since he was in the wrong, he was in no position to argue. He had already decided to accept whatever punishment Ariana could think of. He only prayed she would not ignore him.

Ariana looked at him seriously and asked, "What did you do wrong?"

Theodore pressed his lips tightly and thought for a while. When he wanted to push himself up from the wheelchair, Ariana quickly leaned over and pressed on his knees.

With a bang, Theodore was forced to sit back down.

“You were not in the wrong," Ariana said word by word as she stared at him coldly.

Theodore froze and felt at a loss.

“Theodore, was it fun fooling me? Was it interesting to see me being kept in the dark?" Ariana sneered as she withdrew her hand.

“I didn't mean to hide it from you. I have never..." Theodore tried to explain.

However, Ariana interrupted him and erupted, "You saw the books and materials about rehabilitation in my room. You knew that I hoped for you to stand up. I encouraged and treated you with patience for fear of hurting your self-esteem. Even when the doctor said that you couldn't stand up anymore, I didn't give up. I even added your doctor's contact information and consulted him on various treatment methods!"

Ariana thought about how stupid she must have been. The more she said, the angrier she was. Did Theodore really care about her? If he cared, why did he hide his recovery from her?

“The doctor is one of your people, right? He must think I'm annoying and is tired of acting in front of me. I'm really easily fooled and stupid, aren't I? I even massaged your legs, tolerated your demands, and listened to you. But you lied to me from the very beginning! Theodore, what do you take me for?" Ariana scolded as tears welled up in her eyes.

‘Theodore's face changed. Panic and fear flashed across his eyes as he wiped her tears with his uninjured hand. He didn't know what else to say except apologizing.

He promised to protect her and give her happiness, but instead, he hurt her.

His hands were trembling. He hated himself for keeping the truth from her.