After Reborn, I Become a Billionaire
Chapter 338 The Past

Manuel started recollecting his first meet with Susan.

At that time, Susan hadn't grown any hostility against him because she didn't know that her father would marry Manuel's mother. From her perspective, the first meet with Manuel was like a simple one between friends. However, her energetic and adorable look sowed a seed of love within his heart, which kept growing as time went by.

When Susan started to argue with others to defend him, he found himself in love. Ever since Edward married Justine, Manuel always got despised because he wasn't a highborn originally. Most of those kids from the upper class insulted him for being humbly born, while mocking that his mom used to be a mistress of his stepfather and thus he should be called as a bastard. Actually, Manuel had been used to it. Back into the old days when he lived with his mother alone, he got insulted in the same way. There was always someone else calling him bastard, to which Manuel never talked back.

His mom had raised him to be a gentleman never quarreling with rude people. Nor would he bring himself troubles. His mom had imparted the rule of tolerance to him ever since he was young. Indeed, bearing great future, both Justine and Manuel had been of great tolerance. That was why Manuel never talked back even if others started insulting him at a very young age. Of course, he also bore great tolerance to the fact that the one he loved never loved him.

Once upon a time, some kids from the upper class was mocking him again. Susan happened to hear that. Then she started to defend him, "Manuel is my brother. Whoever insulting him means to offend me! And I will tell my dad about it. Once my dad tells your dads about it, you all will be punished!" As a girl from the Phillips, one of the top four families, Susan was still awed by people regardless of her mischief. Ever since that happened, fewer people dared to insult Manuel.

After that, Manuel grew clearer feelings for Susan. Though Susan had ever helped him, she never loved him.

When in high school, he thought Susan might start growing affection for him. However, it was at that time that Susan got into a relationship with Henry. He still remembered after being kissed by her for the first time, he spent a whole night writing a love letter for her. It took him a month to muster up courage to hand it over to Susan. However, before he could do so, he saw Susan walking past him while hand in hand with Henry. She even didn't cast a glance at him when walking past. If she did, she might have noticed the tears within his eyes. And she might have noticed the pink love letter he was clenching. At that moment, she simply walked past him with Henry in happiness. She missed him. After that day, Manuel tore the love letter into pieces.

He lived his own life peacefully while watching the affection between Susan and Henry growing day after day. He noticed Susan smiled more often when staying with Henry. After he graduated from high school, he went abroad to study. After three years of torment, he decided to spend his time somewhere else far away. During the four years of study, he didn't miss Susan that much. But of course, sometimes he did miss her. Every time he talked to his mother on the phone, he would be told that Susan was in a nice relationship with Henry. Of course, he knew his mom didn't mean to disappoint him. She just wanted to let him know there was no way he could build a relationship with Susan. He simply listened and responded with silence every single time.

After he graduated from college, Justine told him to come back. After all, it would be ridiculous to leave his own mother alone just because of another girl. Actually, in his fourth year of study, he seldom missed Susan. He spent much less time looking at her photos. At that time, he had set up a game office with his classmates. The busy work took away his time and reminiscence of Susan. When he set off to return home, Susan's photos had been locked into his drawer. He might have totally forgotten about his crush on Susan, he thought to himself. That was why he chose to return.

Even after four years, Susan still remained hostile when seeing him. She probably hoped that he could spend the rest of his life in another country. Manuel simply ignored her hostility while bearing the best wishes to the relationship between Susan and Henry.

When hearing that Susan was eager to marry Henry but Henry still hesitated about it, he deliberately talked to Henry that he would strive for her love once again. Of course, he didn't mean to break them apart. Instead, he wanted to facilitate their marriage. However, it was during that period of time that he noticed Henry's plot.

Staring at her, Manuel wanted to ask why she didn't take action since she also noticed herself that she had the same crush on him. If he had confessed his love to her a bit earlier, he wondered perhaps she would have accepted it. She would have never fallen in love with Henry later.

Manuel got closer to her face. Insatiable, he wanted to approach to kiss her.

"Henry..." Susan suddenly murmured.

Manuel felt like being frozen.

"Henry, don't leave me..." though she was murmuring, her voice was clear enough for Manuel to capture.

Manuel stepped back to flinch away from her bed. Perhaps even if he had confessed his love to her earlier at that time, she would still have fallen in love with Henry. Nothing would change, he believed. Her feelings for him were not a kind of affection but a simple youth crush. She had never truly fallen for him. She only fell for Henry.

Manuel closed the door to leave. Though he remembered Hannah told him to be brave, it still took struggling efforts.

The following day, Susan opened her eyes, with a bang of headache haunting her. Staring at the ceiling, she felt dizzy, having no idea where she was. She struggled to stand up herself, feeling deadly thirsty because of hangover. But it felt much better than last night. She remembered she didn't drink too much. Thus, she had no idea why the hangover felt so strong. Nor could she remember how she returned home and got onto the bed on her own.

She looked down at herself, suddenly noticing that she was wearing pajamas.

Shit! Who helped to get her changed?

Tia? Or Manuel?

But as soon as she noticed that Manuel would never have the courage to do so, she felt free from worry.