The Million-Dollar Heart (Percival and Vivienne)

Vivienne and Percival were in the office discussing when to start PE classes.

Class Eighteen was smashing through the coursework much quicker than Vivienne had estimated. In just a week, they'd already started on sophomore year material. Charlotte's learning progress was faster. Because of her poor foundation, Vivienne had one-on-one individual tutoring. And now she was tackling junior year material. Still, Vivienne decided to keep her with the rest of the class in sophomore year material, saving herself the extra tutoring.

Class Eighteen had a good student base. They loved goofing off, but when push came to shove, they buckled down and worked even harder than the honors classes.

Vivienne decided to add Physical education lessons to the daily curriculum, but the students volunteered not to take Physical education lessons. There reasons were the same. They felt they'd missed too much school in the past, and with only three months until entrance exams, they wanted to pour everything they had into getting into college.

They didn't have high hopes of getting into a top-tier university, just a regular one would do.

They figured PE would eat into their study time, so they unanimously requested to skip it. Vivienne, however, shot them down.

She argued that while academics were important, so was physical health. You needed a healthy body to sit through entrance exams. If you faint on the day of the exam, all that hard work goes down the drain. Seeing her stand firm, the students backed off.

"We'll have Physical education class first period Wednesday and last period Friday. We'll stick with that for now and I'll adjust later," Vivienne told Percival after setting the schedule. Percival nodded in agreement.

Vivienne nodded back then looked at his legs and asked, "Are you sure you don't need the wheelchair anymore?"

When Percival first arrived, he'd planned on teaching as a disabled person. But now he'd publicly announced his legs were healed and he didn't need the wheelchair anymore.

Vivienne wasn't sure who exactly Percival was, but anyone who could keep up a disability charade for so long must have some serious backing. Whether his decision to reveal his healed legs was a good or bad move was unclear.

Percival had a sister, Isolde, who'd been poisoned because of him. Although the poison was neutralized, it was uncertain if Percival's enemies would target Isolde again.

Vivienne was fond of the little girl and sincerely hoped nothing would happen to Isolde.

Seeing her concern, Percival assured her softly, "Don't worry, I've got everything under control."

Vivienne nodded, not pressing further.

Percival paused, then said quietly, "Vivienne, my legs shouldn't have 'healed' this soon."

Vivienne waited for him to continue.

"The Hawthorn family is in chaos, so is the Ellington family. If my legs didn't get better, the Ellington name might have been lost," Percival said in a calm tone, but Vivienne saw a glint of coldness in his eyes.

"I see."

After a pause, Vivienne looked up and said seriously, "Whatever you do, don't involve my family. Mr. Ellington, I hope you understand that our engagement isn't based on feelings, and we won't be marrying in the future."

Percival's lips tightened, and after a moment he spoke in a hoarse voice, "I understand."

He'd known from the start that Vivienne didn't genuinely agree to their engagement.

She wanted something from him.

And he wanted something from her.

Because she reminded him of someone, maybe her mother was Evelyn, the last one to handle the potion. Both of them weren't being sincere with each other.

"But we're engaged now, and if you need help, I'll lend a hand as long as it's within my power. Of course, you'll have to do the same if I need help," Vivienne added.

Percival gave a small smile, "Okay."

After that, they fell silent.

Then, Vivienne's phone rang. She glanced at the caller ID and picked up, "Clara."

It was Charlotte's grandmother, Clara, who'd given her number to Vivienne when they'd met at the hospital.

"Vivienne, are you busy?" Clara's voice was gentle.

She'd invited Vivienne over for dinner several times, but Vivienne was always too busy. Charlotte had to stay at school during the week, so she'd only be home on weekends. Sometimes Clara would call Vivienne for a chat when she was bored.

Vivienne didn't mind at all and always chatted with her patiently, which brought them closer.

"I'm not too busy right now. What's up, Clara?" Vivienne asked.

"I wanted to ask if you could see a female patient, but I wasn't sure if you were available," Clara said.

"Do you feel unwell?" Vivienne was surprised. The pills she'd given Clara were her own concoction. While they couldn't make her as energetic as a young person, they'd significantly improve her health compared to her peers.

"It's not me," Clara explained, "Here's the deal, I've got a friend I've known for over fifty years, whose granddaughter got her face messed up too. You treated her a while back, but after taking the medicine you prescribed, she's been running a high fever, vomiting and having diarrhea. Things are not looking good. My friend called you numerous times but you never picked up, so she asked me to give you a ring, hoping you could check on her."

Vivienne frowned, "Are they sure they got the right person? The only patient I've treated recently is you."

Clara was taken aback, then turned to Bertha, "Are you sure it's Ms. Hawthorn?"

Bertha felt a pang of unease at her question, "I'm sure. I've met Ms. Hawthorn, I wouldn't mistake her for someone else. What's going on?"

Clara didn't answer her, just shook her head and continued on the phone, "Vivienne, there might be a mix-up here, could you swing by and check it out? The girl's situation is really bad." "Alright! I'll wrap up what I'm doing and head over."

Just as Vivienne was about to hang up, there was a sudden cry from the other end of the line, "Mom! Mom! Get the driver ready to take us to the hospital, Faye's started convulsing, hurry!" The voice was filled with anxiety and a crying tone.

Just as Clara was about to hang up, she said urgently to Vivienne, "Vivienne, can you come now? This is really urgent, I'm begging you."

Though Vivienne hadn't seen the girl, she could tell from the voice that things were not good.

She nodded and said, "First, loosen the girl's clothing, then get her to lay on her side to keep her airway clear, I'll be right over... and, send me the address."

After hanging up, Vivienne received the address Clara sent over, and she got up and turned to Percival, "Mr. Ellington, could you give me a ride to this address?" She sent Percival the address on her phone, since she wasn't familiar with the roads in Havenwood.

Percival often went out on business, so he should know the way.

"Sure, I'll take you there." Percival was close to Vivienne and overheard her conversation. Without hesitation, he immediately grabbed Vivienne and headed out.

Vivienne was taken aback as Percival suddenly grabbed her hand. She paused for a moment, but considering that Percival was also in a rush to get there, she didn't say anything.