Neither of the two spoke, and the silence inside the room was oppressive.
Time passed by, and it was about ten minutes before Gwen Fox slightly loosened her grip, “I’ll have someone bring over some food.”
She got up from his confinement and walked towards the bathroom without saying yes or no.
Gwen Fox watched her back until she was in the bathroom before he pulled the floor-to-ceiling windows open and exited the balcony.
The wind on this night was like a knife to the throat, blowing over and making you feel pain.
He lowered his head and lit a cigarette, turning to look at the fireworks in the distance, and only after a long time did he take his cell phone out and make a call to have food sent over.
Four years ago, Yolanda Taylor “died” on the day just before her twenty-third birthday.
As soon as zero hour passed, Yolanda Taylor’s birthday came and went.
Gwen Fox got out of bed next to Yolanda Taylor, who was already asleep.
He carefully turned on the nightlight, and the dim light shone on her face; she was resting with her hands folded under her face, her legs scrunched together, her whole body almost curled up.
She’d been nineteen the year he’d met Yolanda Taylor, and in the blink of an eye, she’d been twenty-seven.
Eight years.
He hadn’t even realized that he’d known her for eight years.
More than three years together, more than four years apart, and in between they’d had a child, and like she’d said, if that child had been able to stay in the first place, it wouldn’t just be calling him Dad now, it would be in kindergarten too.
But there were no ifs.
Separation is he mentioned, Xenia Davis did those he is not all aware of, but also guessed, late at night when also feel that he is too cruel, but every time he heard her begging for their own, his heart is like a piece of iron, hard very much.
He’d always felt like he’d done nothing wrong, that it was something they THE Taylor family owed him, and she deserved it.
But the day of Xenia Davis’s birthday, when he saw the blood running down her leg full of blood, that was the first time he doubted what he had done.
But that doubt didn’t last long, he hated Kipling Taylor for the death of his parents, and he hated her for the death of that child, all of it seemed like a written plot development, and he was horribly paranoid at that point.
If it hadn’t been for the fire, he thought he probably would have never admitted in his life that he was wrong.
But Yolanda Taylor was right, what could he do even if he admitted he was wrong? Her mom wouldn’t survive, that child of theirs wouldn’t survive, and there was no way to erase the damage he’d done to her.
He knew it, he knew it all.
But what could he do?
If even she didn’t want him anymore, then he would really become a loner in this world.
Hate it as you will, at least it proves that she once loved him.
“Happy birthday, Dear.”
He didn’t dare to touch her, but could only trace the contours of her features with his fingers from centimeters apart. He’d always known she was beautiful to look at, from the first time he’d seen her at eighteen.
In fact, he’d seen her when she was fifteen, and for years afterward he’d visited her every so often, with hate as well as resentment.
He didn’t know when he had developed that absurd idea, trying to fulfill his so-called revenge by cheating a girl’s love.
But no one told him that love can’t be utilized.
The fireworks outside the window have stopped, the new year has come again, but he does not know, he and Yolanda Taylor, how long can go.
On the first day of the new year, other people’s homes are all festive, but their villa is very quiet.
Yolanda Taylor had already woken up, but she didn’t want to get up, not because she was lazy, but because she didn’t want to fight with Gwen Fox anymore.
There was no point in bringing up old issues, it would hurt him a lot and hurt herself a lot.
Gwen Fox woke up early in the morning, on the first day of the new year, he had a lot of New Year’s blessing calls, his cell phone kept ringing, Yolanda Taylor was woken up by his cell phone ringing.
Then when he saw that she was awake, he took his cell phone and went out, he didn’t know where he went, anyway, he wasn’t inside the master bedroom at the moment.
It was the first day of the new year and the streets were cold, most of the stores were closed.
Yolanda Taylor and her girls’ store was closed as well, and the earliest wedding was on the fourth day of the new year, so everyone was kind of idle for a few days.
All the employees whose homes were in nearby cities had gone home, CoCo’s home was too far away for her, she didn’t go home, her friends and boyfriend went home, so she got together with her coworkers to play mahjong.
When the unfamiliar caller called in, CoCo thought it was a customer call, and she didn’t dare to delay, after making a motion to prohibit the sound she hurriedly pressed the answer button, “Hello, hello, may I ask who you are?”
“Miss CoCo, this is Gwen Fox, Yolanda Taylor’s husband.”
As soon as CoCo heard it was Gwen Fox calling, she subconsciously wanted to hang up the phone.
But Gwen Fox had already guessed that she was ready to hang up the phone, “I have business, please Miss CoCo hear me out first, it’s related to Yolanda Taylor.”
CoCo knew that Yolanda Taylor didn’t like Gwen Fox, to be more precise, the whole store knew that Yolanda Taylor didn’t like Gwen Fox.
That’s why they usually didn’t have much enthusiasm for Gwen Fox, and CoCo, as Yolanda Taylor’s assistant, was even more like Yolanda Taylor, even hated Gwen Fox a little bit.
She didn’t know what happened between Yolanda Taylor and Gwen Fox before, but Yolanda Taylor was supposed to marry Primo Jones, but in just two months’ time, she was suddenly taken away and coerced by Gwen Fox, and she always felt that it was Gwen Fox who forced Yolanda Taylor to marry him.
In her opinion, Gwen Fox is a scumbag, or a scumbag who is ashamed of Yolanda Taylor, so when she heard it was his caller, her first thought was to hang up the phone.
But now the person on the other end was telling her she had business, business about Yolanda Taylor.
She had to grudgingly listen, “Go ahead then, we’re busy.”
“Uh-huh.”
Gwen Fox answered and got straight to the point, “It’s her birthday today, I’d like you guys to have a little time for her, I’ve got the cake venue for you guys, just ask her out.”
Speaking here, “By the way, don’t let her know that I arranged all these things.”
After saying that, he gave an address and then hung up the phone.
Today’s weather seemed to be good, the snow that fell a few days ago had finished melting, and the sun was shining brightly today.
He put his cell phone back inside his pocket and turned to go out of the study.
Yolanda Taylor was already up and was sitting on the dining table drinking hot milk.
When she saw him coming downstairs, she gave him a look, “Aren’t you going out?”
When they used to be together, every year on the first day of the month Gwen Fox would party with Jerome Perot, Ham Rodriguez and the others.
“I’m meeting Ham Rodriguez tonight, do you want to join me?”
“No.”
Answering as he thought he would, Gwen Fox nodded a little and stood looking at her from the stairway.