“You have your reasons!” Winnie’s eyes were fixated, and she said sharply, “Please, sign!”
“I won’t sign this, Winnie!” Hudson persistently refused.
“What do you want?” Her tears looked as though they were about to fall again, “Hudson, if you won’t sign this, I will jump out of this window. Do you think I won’t do it?”
“No-” Hudson could see the determination in her eyes, “Winnie, can I sign this later? How about you take some time to think it over some more?”
He wanted to discuss with her, but in her current state, she was in no mood for discussions.
“Are you going to sign or not?” She said in an even sharper voice.
Looking at her twisted face, Hudson was afraid of upsetting her to the point of her doing something silly, “Fine, fine, I’ll sign!”
With his hand shaking, he signed his name.
After he was done signing, she suddenly calmed down and shut her eyes. She gave it her all to finally proclaim her freedom; she should feel happy, but why did she feel so sad instead?
On the other hand, Hudson’s heart ached immeasurably.
“Winnie…” Hudson tried to say something after he was done signing, but Winnie interrupted him.
“Please, get out!”
“You’d better leave!” Ethel walked in and patted Hudson on the shoulder, “Don’t worry, I’ll take care of her!”
Hudson walked out the door, but he remained there and didn’t go further.
At the sound of the door closing, Winnie’s heart felt like it was about to fall apart.
Where was her so-called “husband” while she was struggling through life and death?
He was off running around with his lover while she laid on the operating table by herself, full of blood. She didn’t need this kind of marriage. No matter how deeply she loved him, it didn’t matter anymore!
Ethel said nothing but sat on a stool next to the bed and accompanied her silently. He was well aware of how depressed Winnie must feel.
Winnie turned her face away, just as tears began to stream down her face.
Hudson did not leave; he lied against the wall next to the door and listened.
This time, he knew that he had hurt Winnie far too deeply.
He knew that if he did not let go of Esther, then he couldn’t be together with Winnie anymore. But how was he supposed to let Winnie go in her current state? Now, he realized that he couldn’t let go of Winnie either!
When Esther awoke, quite some time had already passed. The room was slightly filled with light from the setting sun and was incredibly quiet. When she opened her eyes, there was no trace of Elijah anywhere around already.
She got up slowly; her body felt tired all over but quite refreshed. Elijah had showered her and tidied up the room all while she slept. She must have been so tired that she didn’t recall any of it.
When the sun’s final rays disappeared, she opened the door and headed out. The room to the study was half open, and she could see the one she longed for hard at work.
“Are you crazy? Don’t you want to get some rest?” He didn’t sleep one wink last night, and they were tired up all morning. Looking at Elijah’s face right now, Esther suddenly felt perplexed. Hadn’t he need to sleep at all?
“Oh, so you’re awake?” Looking at her scrunched up the tiny face by the door, he got up from his computer, pulled her over to him, and made her sit on his lap as he sat on the sofa. “Are you hungry?”
“I’m hungry and want to eat something! How come you won’t take a rest?” She asked concernedly.
“I’m not tired!” Elijah placed his head on Esther’s shoulder. In his deep dark eyes, there was a hint of nostalgia. Three years; will three years be enough to whitewash the past? Was it enough time to make the criminal organization into a legal entity? He would surely miss her dearly in three years. Will she wait for him?
“Is Hudson here yet?”
“He went back to America again!” Elijah said as he handed her his phone. “Not sure why, but you can call and ask!”
Esther didn’t make the call, but asked Elijah, “What happens to Christ? You seem to know something about my mother’s death, don’t you?”
Esther thought to ask now that she had calmed down.
“The results from the investigation were that Christ had something to do with it. He wouldn’t let your mother bring you back to America, so your mom resorted to extreme methods at the time. You were incredibly terrified to the point that you lost your memories!” Elijah explained the matter in simple terms, but there was a mixture of complicated feelings in his eyes. Esther didn’t manage to catch on to this.
This was the reason he had always kept quiet about this. Whatever happened must have been quite traumatic to cause her to lose her memories. And he didn’t want to invoke those memories from deep in her mind, since he was afraid she might not be able to handle them.
“Oh! How come I can’t remember anything? Not one bit!” Esther wrinkled her forehead; she tried hard, but she couldn’t recall anything.
“Don’t think about it anymore. Come on, let’s go eat!”
She was far too thin and had just gone through a miscarriage. It was time she ate well to recover.
At the mere mention of food, Esther’s mouth began to water. “I’m starving, hurry, let’s go find something to eat. I want to eat a ton of things. Are we going to eat at home or head out?”
“Head out!”
The two of them got changed, and he took her to a restaurant.
Esther’s eyes shimmered at the sight of all the scrumptious food that was served on their table.
“Eat up, you need to supplement yourself!” Elijah said as he took a small silver spoon and brought a spoonful of soup before Esther’s face.
“You should too! You’ve been working so hard for so long, aren’t you even a bit tired?” Her tone was filled with a hint of provocation; she didn’t mean anything in particular, but after she said this, she thought about how many times they had sex these past two days. It was quite a tiring ordeal.
“I will; you eat first, I got to use the restroom! I’ll be back right away!” Elijah patted her on her back and left the room.
He didn’t actually need to use the restroom; it was that his eyes were beginning to tear up, and he didn’t want Esther to see him cry. Inside the restroom, he splashed some cold water onto his face.
He was regretting having ever met Evan Gray; why did he ever join LN Bar? If he hadn’t met Evan Gray, then he wouldn’t be raised as one of the successors. Sometimes, he wondered, why did he have to be the one that excelled out of the group of candidates? Why couldn’t Philip be the successor instead or anyone else for that matter? Anyone! Why him?
To him, nothing mattered more than Esther. He just wanted to live a peaceful, normal life with the one he loved until they grew old. That was it.
He repeated splashing face with cold water until the redness of his eyes ceased. He wiped his face dry, took a deep breath, and then headed back out.
Elijah had never felt this out of control before. He violently shook his head before he headed back into the VIP room.
“What took you so long?!” Esther gave him a queer look as he finally returned. But she couldn’t tell what was wrong from the look on his face.
“What?! Afraid I’ll run away and leave you here to wash the dishes?” Elijah sat back down. Quite a lot of the food on the table was already gone, which made him quite satisfied.
“Hm… well, that I hadn’t thought of before. But why would I possibly wash dishes? I’ll just call my brother to come to pay. Besides, I’m not some little orphaned girl like before. Hm! Actually, I never really was an orphan, my brother Hudson always managed to care for me, at least financially. Oh, about his father, what will Hudson do? How about letting him return home?”
From the bottom of her heart, she didn’t want anything to happen to Christ. Because even if something did happen to him, her parents wouldn’t return anyway. It wasn’t that she didn’t feel anything for her parents anymore, but for the past 10 years, she and Hudson have made it through thick and thin on their own. She didn’t want to pursue any more responsibilities, or else she’d feel like she owed Hudson even more.
“Sigh, do you have to be so kind-hearted?” Elijah lightly tapped her forehead, then handed her a napkin.
By now, she suddenly realized that her mouth was full of stains. She took the napkin in embarrassment and began to wipe her mouth. Then, she began to stuff more food in her mouth. But then she noted that Elijah hadn’t moved his chopsticks at all. How come he doesn’t eat?! Was he in a bad mood?!
“How come you haven’t eaten anything?” She finally asked him.
“I will!” He picked up his chopsticks and began to eat a little. But he didn’t have much of an appetite. Esther, on the other hand, ate a lot.
In the end, Elijah barely ate anything. Esther seemed to have taken notice, but she kept quiet.
On the drive back home, he nonchalantly asked as he drove, “Esther, if we break up, what will you do?”
She felt a chill deep inside her and was taken aback for a second. Then, she suddenly began to laugh, “Start a new life from scratch. Someone once told me that, the best way to forget a past love is to begin a new one. If we break up, then I’ll be sure to find someone even better than you. That way, you’ll regret it forever! That’ll teach you for breaking up with me!”
“…” Elijah didn’t say anything; his eyebrows squeezed tightly together until his forehead hurt.
“Are you planning to break up with me?” Esther suddenly cut through the silence and asked.
This caught Elijah off guard, who suddenly stepped on the break.
“Hah, why are you so nervous. This isn’t like how you normally act!” In the end, Esther was still quite sensitive; she had a gut feeling that something was amiss.
Elijah began to drive again but said nothing. The veins on his hands popped out as he tightly gripped the steering wheel, trying to conceal his emotions. He still drove in the direction toward his home.
How could she so accurately guess what he was thinking?
Esther felt more certain about her worries, and laughed, “I always thought that you were invincible, that nothing in this world could beat you. You were always able to overcome any situation. You’re like a god, whatever you put your mind to do, you’ll get it done, and without any hesitation. But this time, you’re hesitating. Elijah, we’re husband and wife, and we went through life and death together. Is there anything you can’t just straightforwardly tell me?”
“I’m not sure what’s the situation, but you’re acting really weird. Even if you want to break up with me, I can tell you have your unspeakable reasons. It’s just that, Elijah, am I that superficial? Even if we break up, I can tough it out and somehow make it through. No matter what it is, just tell me, I need to know! But before that, I just want you to know that I can wait for you forever! Life is short, and we only live once, so I only have one lifetime to wait for you! Are you sure you won’t let me know what’s wrong?”