“It seems like you never come to find me when you’re in a good mood!” Vincent smiled. “Have a seat, I’m going to take a shower first as I’m a bit tired today!”
“Well! I’ll go and get the wine!” Pippa Russell said as she walked straight to the liquor cabinet and grabbed a bottle of brandy. She then took two glasses and brought them over to where the bar was. She sat down, poured a glass, and sipped it first on herself.
The sound of rushing water came from the bathroom and Pippa turned her face to glance at it. Her eyes were thoughtful, and she turned back to drink her own wine.
Ten minutes later, Vincent walked out in his bathrobe. His hair was dripping, and he took a towel to dry his hair. “How is Owen doing?”
“It’s fine with Mum, but I’m just reflecting on whether I was too selfish to leave him in Japan. He should have been around me when he is so young!”
“Then get him back!”
“But now …” Pippa wanted to say something but stopped.
Vincent was slightly stunned, his gaze focused on Pippa face and nodded in great agreement, “The sacrifices you made will be revealed to him one day. Give yourself a chance, give him a chance and give Owen a chance too.”
“Vin, what do you think it would be like now if I did marry you at the beginning?” Pippa handed him a glass of wine and gulped it down herself.
“I have no idea, it’s pretty hard to predict.”
Pippa stared her eyes firmly at Vincent in case she missed his emotions.
“Don’t look at me, I really have no idea. The point is that you never wanted to marry me.” Vincent waved his hand and took a sip of wine instead. “All joking aside, what exactly are you planning to do?”
“If you want to hear the truth, I don’t know, I really have no idea!” Pippa shook her head, the usual pale smile on her clean white face as she continued to drink after spreading her hands.
“Human, the hardest thing is to understand your own mind!” Vincent smiled gently and put down his glass of wine to get his clothes. He went back to his room and changed his clothes before returning. However, Pippa was still drinking.
“If you can’t let go, just go back to Japan!”
“Are you sure you won’t use Leila as a pawn anymore?” Pippa asked.
Vincent was in silence, “It’s getting late now, just go back to your room and rest!”
“Vin, you’re running away from my question.”
“As you said, she’s innocent!” Vincent was silent for a moment and said indifferently.
With a nod, Pippa smiled gently and seemed a bit down, “I’m going back to Japan tomorrow, I might have to stay for a while this time.”
“That’s good, and I hope you will be an excellent fixer and mend your emotional world to perfection.”
“How can you mend something that’s already broken? You know the problem isn’t with me, it’s with him!”
“He needs time too!”
“Well, I’m leaving!” He shook his head. “Good night, darling!”
“What time’s the flight, I’ll drop you off!”
“6 a. m. The luggage is already here!” Pippa smiled again gently.
“I’ll drop you off then!”
“No thanks!” Pippa was already heading out the door.
Vincent looked at her back, always this bland look, always this seemingly emotionless, always this aura of nobility. A faint sadness flooded his brow and his mind turned sour. “Pippa!”
“Hmm?” Pippa stood in the doorway hesitantly and turned her head. “Anything else?”
“Come back if you can’t hold out!”
She looked at him, puffed out a smile and chuckled, “Of course I’ll come back and disturb you. Please don’t forget that you are Owen’s father, who made you have to be his father, both of us will disturb you for the whole life!”
“Welcome!”
“You’re so generous, aren’t you afraid that your beloved woman will be jealous?” Pippa said, winking mischievously as she turned around and walked out of the presidential suite.
Vincent shook his head, my beloved woman?!
He pursed his lips and sat down on the sofa to smoke. He had the phone in his hand and his eyes lit up as he pressed down a few words and sent them to a mobile phone.
A sudden ringing of a text message on Leila’s mobile phone at night in the Pearl Community with just a few simple words, “Are you asleep?”
When Leila received Vincent’s message, she was lying on her bed in a daze. As soon as she saw the message, her heart trembled inexplicably. She wanted to reply immediately, but after pressing a few words, she deleted them again and finally said nothing. She switched the phone off and looked at the ceiling with her eyes open.
It was a long night.
Five o’clock in the morning, Vincent got up early and went to knock on Pippa’s door. There was nothing happened inside, no one opened the door for a long time. Later, he went to the reception desk and got the news, “Ms. Pippa had left at three in the morning!”
She didn’t let him drop her off, Vincent shook his head. He would meet her again anyway so he didn’t really care.
But the entertainment headlines of that day caught Vincent a little off guard. The headline was surprisingly, the president of the White Group and the mother of his illegitimate son had a sex at the HJ Hotel.
The big headline was so eye-catching that Vincent frowned at the newspaper that was delivered to him, a sharp light flashed in his eyes.
The headline was followed by a picture of Pippa when she left at 3 am. There was only a back figure, but he knew that the person was Pippa.
Leila also saw the headline that clearly stated that the woman surnamed Russell had entered the HJ Hotel earlier and the president White returned at 10pm. Both of them stayed in the hotel until 3am before the woman surnamed Russell left…
Leila’s heart was a little confused when she faced with such a news.
A tiny but biting pain welled up in her heart at some point and it was a pain she could not neglect. Her watery eyes lowered, and a sullen look came over her exquisitely beautiful face.
What had happened last night? There was something behind this or was it really happening?
Her heart suddenly strained, her mind was chaotic at the moment and she just wanted to stay alone.
Leila threw the newspaper into the rubbish bin and stood in the campus lonely.
There was someone in one of the upstairs windows clenching his fists tightly. It was far away, but he seemed to feel a combination of pity, pain, reluctance, and entanglement in her eyes.
She was not in the mood to go to class. It didn’t really matter if she went or not, because she would be graduating soon. She had a few days to defend her dissertation and then she would really graduate and leave this campus.
She walked slowly out of the campus. The sun shone on her body, but she couldn’t seem to bear the coldness of her body.
Leila walked out of the school gate and walked aimlessly down the street. She encountered a familiar face when she turned around. She frowned slightly, froze, and was a little confused. She finally recognized it. “Julian Gordon?”
“It’s me!” Julian smiled gently, “What a coincidence, running into each other here at school.”
“I almost couldn’t recognize you without your glasses.” Leila then realized that something was wrong. It was the absence of flat glasses on his face. However, this kind of Julian gave off an increasingly refreshing impression, like a demonic woman.
His skin was just too tender and fair!
Leila couldn’t stop laughing.
Julian raised his eyebrows. “What are you laughing for?”
“I’m so jealous of your skin, it’s so fair!” Leila couldn’t stop exclaiming.
Julian paled and had some unnatural expressions, “It’s been a long time, go have a seat!”
Leila thought about she was also bored as she was just waiting for her dissertation defence. She nodded her head. “Sure!”
Both of them walked into the beverage shop in front of the school. Leila asked for a watermelon milkshake and Julian asked for a coffee. They both sat there facing each other. The small shop was very unique and had been opened in front of the school for a few years.
“Leila, I’ve been seeing you and Vincent showed affection recently, you look really affectionate!” Julian stirred the coffee in his cup and spoke unhurriedly. It was as if he had an ulterior motive, but also as if he wasn’t knowing what else to say.
Leila suddenly said with a slight smile, “Well yeah, love is all about showing off!”
Her words meant something, but his body stiffened as he listened. “You both look very well matched!”
“Thank you!” She smiled gently and didn’t say much. The taste of milk combined with the chilled watermelon juice made her mouth feel refreshingly cold. It was just like her heart at the moment, but she had a smile on her face even though she was a little sad. She thought that after a long time, she had learnt not to show something on her face when she was around Vincent, or maybe she had learnt it a long time ago.
Julian’s grip on his coffee cup tightened sharply, and he smiled along with it at the same time. “I’m so happy for you to see that you’re doing well.”
“You’re not doing well?” Leila looked at him.
“Not too bad!”
“Don’t you work as a taxi driver recently?”
“No, the newspaper report has been written and will be published this week, so maybe you’ll see it!”
“I’ll have to take a good look at it then!”
Both of them sat in the beverage shop for a while. Julian said he had something to do and had to leave first.
Leila walked out after him.
“Alright. Goodbye.”
Leila watched Julian walk across the street and waved her hand. She stood at this end of the road, turned her back and walked slowly towards the bus stop. There were many ornament shops along the way, with cute toys, mobile phone pendants, a pair of cute bears. Leila went into the shop and bought one pair. She thought that she could only hang one, but the other had to put it away, she felt lonely in the corner.
Leila hung the white polar bear pendant on her phone and stood in the queue behind the crowd waiting for the bus. Her heart was a little sour. Did she promise Vincent that she would go home with him last night?
He said that she wasn’t a pawn, but one of his beloved women, or the only one?
Why did she want to be the only one? Was she too greedy?
She felt bored after wandering around the streets and being recognized by many people as Vincent’s wife. She bought ingredients alone and came back to her apartment in the Pearl Community.
When the night came, a thunderstorm suddenly fell from the sky, looked like it was getting heavier and heavier.
Her heart became down and depressed because of this thunderstorm.
The rain outside was getting heavier and heavier. She looked at the time on her phone and it was already 7pm. She cooked some noodles and ate it. She recalled the dinner scene with someone not long ago and felt a slight pain in her heart.
It was getting darker and darker and the rain was not going to stop at all. Instead, it was getting heavier and heavier and seemed to be preparing for the next night. She put on a clean pajama, simply cleaned the bed, and lay down on it.
It was early in the morning and it was completely black in front of her eyes. All she could hear was the sound of the rain, which had not stopped.
It was as if she was isolated in another world through the rain, the sounds outside seemed inaudible. Leila was shocked when the phone suddenly rang. She thought it was Vincent’s phone, but when she saw the flashing number, she was disappointed to see that it was an unknown number. She was hesitant to answer but pressed the connect button after a while.
There was a downpour on the other end of the phone. Leila answered, but no one responded. A while later, a strange male voice suddenly sounded, “When are you going to divorce Vincent?”
A feeling of panic and eeriness rushed to Leila’s heart.