From Ashes of Scandal to His Embrace (Laurinda) novel Chapter 183

He’d spent his whole life trying to be better, always pushing himself, but it never seemed to matter. No matter how hard he tried, he could never beat Adolphus. And to make things worse, his mom never let him forget it, always telling him to learn from Adolphus, as if he wasn’t enough on his own.

Then, one day, he found out Adolphus didn’t care about psychology at all. That was when he decided to drop surgery and switch to studying psychology and psychiatry. His family thought he was wasting his potential, throwing away his future for something that made no sense to them. But none of them really knew the truth. If he hadn’t made that change, he probably would have lost his mind. He couldn’t take the endless comparisons, everyone acting like Adolphus was the standard and he was just trying to keep up.

That was why he let go of everything he had lined up in Cabinda and stayed in Apex. He was done living in Adolphus’s shadow. Or at least, that’s what he thought.

But Adolphus still showed up. Worse than that, he ended up with Laurinda.

Earl just stood there, silent, not trusting himself to speak. Adolphus was the first to break the silence.

“My dad sent me to Apex. I told you before I came, remember? You said you didn’t mind.”

He could tell what Earl was upset about, but he really hadn’t meant to take anything from him. When he realized his presence was messing with Earl, he had tried to step back. It didn’t matter. Somehow, they still ended up here.

“I didn’t know you’d get with Laurinda,” Earl said, his voice rough. “Do you have any idea how hard I worked just to get her to be my friend? The second you showed up, it was like… like none of it mattered.”

He trailed off, not willing to say it out loud. He didn’t want to admit what was happening between Adolphus and Laurinda. He’d planned everything out, waiting for Laurinda’s exams to finish before telling her how he felt. But as soon as Adolphus appeared, it was over before it even began.

“So you told her I was engaged to Adah on purpose? Just to make her think I was taken and keep her away from me?”

Adolphus let out a low laugh and grabbed a cigarette from the table. He lit it, then took a slow drag, looking way too relaxed for Earl’s liking.

Watching him act so calm made Earl feel like the universe was mocking him. No matter how hard he worked, Adolphus always seemed to win without even trying.

“You don’t have to keep seeing me as your rival. I’ve told you a thousand times, I didn’t go into medicine because of you, and I never wanted to compete. If I did, I wouldn’t have skipped the entrance exams and just left.”

He stubbed out his cigarette and finally looked straight at Earl.

“We used to be best friends, you know? I don’t even remember when things changed. Maybe just having me around really does make things harder for you, but that’s not something I can fix. I’m not going anywhere.”

“I didn’t come here to rehash the past or fix whatever’s going on between us. I came to talk to you about Fidelia. If your personal feelings are going to get in the way of her treatment, then I’ll have to consider transferring her somewhere else.”

“Psychiatric cases are delicate. It’s too easy for mistakes to happen. I don’t want to see you mess this up.”