The Ex-Wife's Burning Elegance

Joshua's dark eyes narrowed as he watched the woman's profile, her face intent and determined. For a brief, inexplicable moment, he felt strangely distant, as if reality had slipped sideways.

All around them, the flames leapt higher, crackling hungrily. Stella choked, coughing hard as the smoke thickened.

Suddenly Joshua broke the silence.

"Just give up. If you don't leave now, you'll die too."

Firelight danced across his features, sharpening every angle of his striking face. Despite the wreck, he looked nothing like a man who'd just survived a crash-if anything, the chaos only made him seem more composed.

Stella paused for half a second before snapping, "Stop wasting breath and distracting me. I need to focus."

Yet in the end, it wasn't her focus that slipped-it was his.

The blaze surged, eating away at the twisted metal. Stella's movements grew frantic, her eyes reddening with anxiety. Blood streamed down her hand, the gash widening as she wrestled with the seatbelt, but her determination never faltered. It was as if she'd already decided: if she couldn't pull Joshua out, she was staying here to die with him.

All at once, the seatbelt snapped.

For a second, Stella froze, caught off guard.

"The seatbelt's loose," Joshua said, pushing against the warped door. "What are you waiting for? Move! The car's going to blow!"

They'd barely made it five yards before a deafening explosion split the night. The burning car behind them erupted, a fiery blast lighting up the darkness.

Stella went pale. Only now, safe but shaking, did the terror crash in. Her heart thundered in her chest; her breath came in ragged gasps.

Thirty seconds slower, and both of them would've been dead.

After dragging Joshua to a safe distance, Stella doubled over, gulping for air. She stayed that way for a while, letting the panic drain away until she could finally breathe. When she looked over, Joshua's white shirt was soaked through with blood, deep crimson spreading across the fabric. She couldn't tell how badly he was hurt.

Both their phones had been lost in the wreck-no way to call for help. The road here was deserted; not a single car had passed in all this time. Finding help would be nearly impossible.

Stella turned to Joshua. "Wait here. I'll go find someone."

He nodded silently.

Time crawled by as Joshua waited, long enough for doubt to creep in. Maybe Stella had gone to the music competition after all, sending Abby to deal with him instead.

She'd risked her life to save him, but maybe, in the end, music meant more to her than anything-even his life.noveldrama

Joshua didn't feel disappointed. In fact, he found it hard to care. That's just human nature, after all.

And it wasn't as if he was a good person himself. He'd helped Rachel countless times, but that was only to stir up trouble and entertain himself, to add a little excitement to his otherwise dull life.

He'd even tried to trip Stella up before, coaxing her into rigging the voting online,

but she'd refused him without a moment's hesitation.

She and Rachel were nothing alike. Stella could have taken shortcuts, but she

insisted on earning everything by her own efforts.

Joshua thought that was

foolish-just like tonight, when ske could have saved herself but chose to drag him out instead. What if she hadn't succeeded? What if they'd both died here?

He couldn't admire that kind of stubbornness.

And yet, he couldn't shake the memory of her as she'd fought to save him, the

image shimmering behind his eyes.

After the crash, he hadn't lost

consciousness-he'd only

pretended. Even the seatbelt hadn't really trapped him; the whole thing was an act, a bit of theater for his own amusement.

He still didn't know why he'd done it. It had just seemed...fun, in the moment.

He'd never cared much about his own safety. He'd played countless games with his life and never once lost.

Maybe people were right when they said he was born under a lucky star- impossible to kill.

Last time, he'd intentionally crashed into Stella's car. This time, he'd shrugged off the threat of an explosion.

No matter what, nothing seemed to touch him.