Regret Came Too Late (Grace and Ethan)

Grace sat in

the

car and carefully cleaned the wound on her knee with a portable disinfectant spray. It would take two hours to get to Northcock. She didn't have time to

wait for it to heal Mandy handed her a bottle of mineral water, her voice filled with grievance. "Grace, don't be sad. 11 I hear anyone talking bad about you. I'll set the record straight when I get back to the

office.

Grace pre he wound another spritz and chuckled. "It doem't matter. People have mouths, and they'll say whatever they want. Let them."

Mandy hesitated, then finally spoke up. "Actually, I have a friend in your department. No one there really likes you. But back then, you and Yancey got along pretty well. That was a few Tears ago, though. After t A few years ago? That must have been betone Alice returned to the Lambert family

from the moment she came back, everything changed.

"Grace, you and Yancey are engaged. It's not like he didn't like you before. How did things get to this point? Are

you really never going back? Prople in your department told me that you're willing to endure anything just to win him back."

Grace rubbed her temples. Warthere ever a time when she and Vancey were close?

She didn't remember anything from before her memory loss, but the bitterness that surfaced whenever she saw Yancey on the Lambert family that couldn't be fake. Maybe she really had cated once. But now, n Seving her stay ment, Mandy quickly shut up as well

Two hours later, the cat pulled up at the entrance to Northbrook

Even though it was late, the local farmers were still busy tending to their apple orchards. A few high school students who were home for the holidays were helping out by livestreaming the

Most of the farmers were over 30 and had no clue about the livestreaming industry, Only a handful of young people were uying to figure it out.

But the young ones didn't understand the platform's after-

sales policies either. It was easy for them to get scammed and end up losing everything

Grace glanced at

the makeshift tents around her and immediately knew they'd been streaming for a long time. But their live broadcast room was completely empty.

She quick walled over, but the

students streaming caught sight of her and instantly became wary.

Lately, Grace's live stream has been featured on the platform's homepage. Anyone using this app for streaming had heard of her. Besides, Northbrook and Southbrook were just two ends of the sume county, th but their tone was far from friendly. "What are you doing here? Get lost!"

It was already late. Grace could see apples hanging from the under the glow of the orchard lights scattered across the bilde

Last night's heavy rain had affected many areas. These apples would start falling to the ground in just a few days, and once that happened, they wouldn't be fresh anymore. Southbrook had project leaders over Grace turned to the student. "How many apples are piled up here?"

The student's face flushed red angrily, and he shot up from his chair. "What do you mean by that? Did you seriously drive two hours jest to humiliate us? You Southbrook people have no

even smeared

Back then, we all agreed that Southbrook apples would be promoted first, then we'd sell them ingether. But the moment Southbrook apples got famous, you neglected us! You ev

Grace had known that the relationship between the two regions" farmers was strained, but she hadn't realized just how bad it had gotten. Before she could say anything, the nearby farmers, who had been busy Gare only had two people with her. Mandy and the driver, both terrified, instinctively moved to shield her.

But when Grace saw a rake swinging toward Mandy, the instinctively pulleder hind her.noveldrama

The take struck her back with a dull thad Pain shot through her, and the let out a muffled groun

More and inter people gathered, their anger palpabile.

"Get out of out nachard, Southbrook scum! We'd rather let our apples tot on the ground than accept your fake kindness!"

The person who shouted this had a tremor in his walce

The resentment between Noida ook and Southbook had been brewing for decades. Ever since Southbrook apples became famoa, Southbrook had prospered. while, horflbrook

had been deliberately pushed aside. The authorities turned a bindeye to thurm Alter all, whoever brought in the profits muttered most

Lan awkward, marginalfond position. They were even mocked on the interriet for trying to "broch oft" soutlibrook's reputation

Grace's face had pone pale from the pain, and another middle-

aged man was about to swing his take again when a low younger men hurtled to stop him. "Uncle, stop! You'll kill someone!*

of the crowd, strikingly out of place with her delicate features and lune face. Despite her pablon, she remained rasposed, her pasture unwavering

there to help you sell your apples. I've heard about the history beteren foutlock and Northbrook, and understand

your anger. Just give me three days. If I can't sell 400 tharsand pounds of apples in that time, jorandome after te tijen

Over the years, many comparti

But because Southbrook's brand wanton ul public sympathy to boost les

in sights on Northlanck's teille land

these companies hadonly met wanted to rebrand Northbrook apples as Southbrook'a, forcing the farmers to play the victions and exploit