They both were expecting in excitement. However, when the search was started, the result was –
“The user does not exist.”
Florence was startled.
Tammy was surprised as well. Immediately, she said, “Have you entered a wrong phone number, Little Miss?”
Florence checked the phone number she had entered carefully. It was indeed Ernest’s number. She didn’t make any mistakes.
She wondered what happened. Didn’t Ernest register the WeChat ID using his phone number?
“Little Miss, do you remember Mr. Hawkins’ WeChat ID?” Tammy asked in hesitation.
Florence shook her head stiffly. She always thought that Ernest’s phone number and WeChat ID were the same. Much to her surprise, they were different.
In this case, how could he get in touch with him?
Looking at Florence’s pale and disappointed face, Tammy comforted her with a frown, “Little Miss, please don’t worry. Let’s figure out some other ways.”
After a pause, she continued, “Collin had a lot of high-tech things. I’ll go check if he had any phone signal decoders. Then you can make phone calls with it.”
Tammy had already stolen a WIFI decoder from him, so Collin must be on alert. He wouldn’t let her succeed in stealing a phone signal decoder again.
Florence felt so depressed.
Although she couldn’t get in touch with Ernest, at least Florence could use the Internet with this WIFI decoder. At least, she could do something to kill time.
She browsed the websites, reading things at random, and tried to find a way to get in touch with Ernest.
Several days passed by again.
One day, an unexpected visitor came to Florence’s bedroom.
When she heard the knocks on the door, Florence thought it was Tammy. Without raising her head, she said, “Tammy, you can come in. Please don’t knock on the door in the future.”
After finishing her words, she heard the door behind her was opened.
The footsteps from leather shoes approached her from afar.
Upon hearing the footsteps, Florence frowned in confusion. She sensed something wrong – usually, Tammy was wearing the soft slippers and she didn’t make any footsteps when walking.
She wondered who had entered her room.
Florence immediately put away her phone and looked back on alert.
When recognizing the man’s face, Florence frowned unhappily.
“It’s you, Benjamin Turner. Why are you here?”
If she had known that it was Benjamin, she wouldn’t ask him to come in.
Looking at Florence’s instantly changed expression that showed how much she didn’t want to see him, Benjamin had darkness flashing in his eyes. However, he still maintained a graceful smile on his handsome face.
He said half-jokingly, “I came to visit you. Don’t you welcome me?”
He looked as if they were quite familiar with each other, which sickened Florence.
She answered directly, “Nope, I don’t want to see you at all.”
Benjamin was speechless.
The smile on his face almost went cracked. He never expected that Florence would refuse him so bluntly without considering his dignity.
Trying his best effort to suppress the wave of anger surged in his chest, Benjamin said with a smile, “Flory, are you still waiting for Ernest Hawkins?”
“None of your business,” Florence snapped with a cold look.
She stood up and walked towards the door. Directly, she sent him away.
“I’m quite sleepy. I’m going to take a nap. Mr. Turner, please suit yourself.”
Florence knew quite clearly how much effort Benjamin had put to make the situation of Florence and Ernest so difficult.
She disliked Benjamin extremely much.
The latter couldn’t help but frown. Although he was good at hiding his emotion on the face, he couldn’t bear Florence’s coldness and refusals continuously.
He said in a deep voice, “I know all your family has been hiding it from you. They haven’t told you what happened to Ernest Hawkins. But I don’t have the heart to see you being deceived. I came here to inform you something about Ernest Hawkins.”
Upon hearing Ernest’s name, Florence couldn’t help but tighten her breath.
However, thinking that Benjamin and Ernest were enemies and rivals in love, she didn’t believe that the former would be so kind to inform her of the latter’s news.
Florence didn’t believe Benjamin at all.
Benjamin looked at her without expecting any response from her.
He continued, “In the recent few weeks, Stanford arranged his forces from legal and illegal means to suppress Ernest Hawkins, making him a lot of trouble and maul heavily. Ernest Hawkins could hang on for such a long time. I had to admit that he was quite capable. However, no matter how hard he struggled, he couldn’t defeat Stanford.
“Last night, Ernest had escaped back to City N with his tail between his legs.”
“What did you say?”
Florence was surprised, her mind blank. Subconsciously, she retorted, “Impossible.”
Ernest hadn’t seen her again and gained approval from her parents. He wouldn’t have left here so easily.
“Nothing is impossible. Flory, Ernest Hawkins isn’t that powerful as you have imagined. He was not that stupid either to risk his life for staying here,” Benjamin said in an ironical and mocking tone, stressing each syllable.
His schadenfreude gesture sickened Florence but also made Florence flustered and panicked.
The more gloating Benjamin was, the more it proved that his words were not fake. Florence realized that Ernest had gone for real…
Benjamin sneered, “Florence, Ernest has given up on you.”
“No way! I don’t believe it!” Florence retorted, raising her voice.
She didn’t believe that Ernest would give up on her. He had said that it was the one and the only time when he had given up on her in City N.
He was the same as her – they wouldn’t give up on each other for their love. They would insist on fighting for their love.
With a pale face, Florence continuously shook her head, “I don’t believe it. You must be lying to me.”
“Your brother is coming back soon. You can ask him if my words are fake.” Benjamin had a complacent smile on his mouth corners.
Nobody was happier than he was when seeing Ernest be defeated and run away.
Since Ernest had left the Fraser family’s territory, he wouldn’t have any chance to come back. However, Benjamin believed that he was still waiting in the Fraser family, so he was the only one who had the chance to marry Florence.
Stanford hadn’t come back home for several days. Upon hearing Benjamin’s words, Florence wondered if her brother was heading home today.
Her heart skipped a beat. She felt so flustered as if her heart was about to pop out of her chest.
Gritting her teeth, she trotted outside of her room.
When she reached the entrance, Florence saw Stanford getting off from the car.
His eyes were bloodshot. He looked quite exhausted and extremely pale. Obviously, he had stayed up several times for fighting.
Florence could hardly imagine what he had done in the past days.
She wondered why her dearest brother and her beloved man would have tortured each other so violently.
“Stanford.”
Florence trotted in front of her brother and looked at him anxiously. She asked, “Has Benjamin Turner told me the truth? He said Ernest has left.”
Stanford frowned slightly, a touch of darkness flashing through his eyes.
He had to admit that Benjamin had got the news so quickly and even told Florence about it so actively.
However, Stanford hadn’t planned to hide this matter from Florence.
He pressed his thin lips and answered calmly, “Yes. He has gone. He won’t come back again.”
Florence stiffed, looking quite pale.
Stanford wouldn’t lie to her about this matter. That meant Ernest had indeed gone, hadn’t he?
Florence couldn’t believe that he had gone in this way.
Looking at Florence, Stanford felt quite sorry for her. However, he always knew that it would be better to slice through a knot with a sharp knife so that his sister would suffer less.
“Flory, it was a war between men. Since he has failed and gone, that means he has given up. From now on, you should forget him.”
Had Ernest truly given up on her?
Florence gaped in disbelief, her face extremely pale.