A Vengeful Ex-Wife novel Chapter 497

When Cooper was only sixteen, he took part in the Olympic Mathematics competition abroad.

One evening, on his way back to his hotel room, something unexpected happened. Several foreign men barred his path, mugged him in a secluded alley and beat the living daylights out of him.

Just when a fist was about to land on his face, a girl shouted, "The police are coming! Police! They're over here!" The sound of her voice was loud and clear enough for the gangsters to hear.

Since their position had been compromised, the gangsters ran away with their tails tucked between their legs.

The girl quickly ran towards Cooper, grabbed his wrist, and dragged him away without hesitation. "Run!"

He couldn't see her face clearly, but he decided that he needed to prioritize his safety and ran with her.

Moments later, the gangsters realized that something was amiss. When they turned around, they found that there were no policemen after them.

By the time they returned, the girl and the boy were already gone.

The gangsters cursed their own luck and foolishness, and decided to give up.

Cooper followed the girl along, and they didn't stop until their legs had no more strength to move forward.

She then put her hands on her knees, gasping for breath.

Only then did Cooper see her face clearly. She was neat, good-looking, and easy on the eyes. "Thank you for saving my life," he said.

"You're welcome. Now, hurry up. You need to go!"

"What's your name?"

"It's Maria Song. I'm from H City," she answered.

Cooper smiled at her. "What a coincidence! I'm also from H City. Nice to meet you, Maria. My name is Cooper Xi."

Back then, he was only sixteen, and Maria was nineteen years old.

Neither of them had imagined that they would soon meet once more. They met each other once more in the Xi family's manor, right when Maria was about to be his sister-in-law.

They were both amazed that they saw each other again.

At the time, Cooper was really into Maria. But of course, he only like her in the simplest sense of it.

He was really happy for his elder brother, knowing that she was going to be his brother's wife.

To Cooper, Maria was like a sister. He always spoke to her whenever he was free. And under pressure from Judy, he would always do his best to help Maria.

However, unbeknownst to them, as time went by, rumors about the two of them were spreading.

Some people were saying that Maria was seducing Cooper whenever her husband wasn't at home.

Most of the rumors were harsh, and Cooper felt really guilty about them. He was afraid that his presence would stain his brother and sister-in-law's relationship, so he decided to stay abroad and study for a long time.

When he found out that his nephew had died in an accident, he didn't even dare to call Maria to comfort her. He was wary that rumors about them would spread again.

He thought that it was best to not contact her at all. And as a result, in Maria's most trying moment, he knew nothing about her hardships.

This was the biggest regret in his life. Had he known that something bad would happen to Maria, he would've contacted her instead of standing idly by.

After she departed the Xi family, Cooper wanted to look for her, but he didn't have enough power or resources at the time. He tried his best, but he never found her whereabouts, so he had no choice but to give up.

Fortunately, she reappeared years later. Cooper tried to set her up with his brother regardless of everything that had happened in the past.

Unexpectedly, through Maria, Sandra broke into his life.

When he first saved Sandra, he had no idea that he would one day fall in love with her.

But compared to Sandra, Cooper was far too scared of falling in love.

She had always been the one who had the courage to move their relationship forward. From the very beginning, he had been too cowardly to face the fact that she had feelings for him.

Initially, he was just accepting her help because of Maria.

And in order to save Sandra from further heartache, Cooper told her that he just didn't want to be in a relationship right now.

To his surprise, it didn't faze her. She just became much more enthusiastic ever since he returned to H City.

And perhaps it was due to this persistence and enthusiasm that he gradually developed feelings for her.