He raised his eyebrows without speaking, obviously waiting for my next word.
“Folly Lewis is a lot like Diana. She had Diana’s naivete, her cheerfulness, and her warmth. When I was with her, I sometimes had the illusion that Diana was still there, that we were still the same.”
I looked up at him and saw that he was listening to me carefully, so I continued, “Karina was more like me, humble and stubborn. Maybe because we are the same kind of person, I can feel her situation and condition, so I always can’t help wanting to take care of her.”
Technically, Karina was more like the old me. I knew the pain of waiting. I knew what it felt like to hold on to a love that hurt so much.
After a while, Dennis did not say anything. I looked up at him and saw his dark eyes staring at me.
His dark eyes shone with a faint spark, and I paused, “Dennis…”
“I’m sorry!” He reached out and pulled me close to him. His voice was low and strong, “There are things that I won’t let them happen again.”
Lying in his arms, listening to the beat of his heart, I belatedly realized that he was blaming himself.
I couldn’t help but sigh, “Dennis, I didn’t mean to blame you for what I just said, so don’t take it personally.”
He replied in a low voice, “I know.”
I sighed. The meaning of memory was probably to remind us to cherish and live in the present.
Yara looked in our direction. The corners of her mouth turned up in an unmistakable smile.
Her move caught Luna and Samuel Lewis’s attention, who had been chatting, so all three of them looked over for a moment.
Embarrassed, I shifted my seat to distance myself from Dennis.
I lowered my voice and said, “You keep it down.”
Dennis said, “You and I are married. How can we keep a low profile?”
I got up and went into the living room. It was always embarrassing to be looked at like that.
I walked around the kitchen, thinking about what I should send to Karina.
Since we didn’t keep in touch with each other much, I didn’t know what she liked to eat.
Thinking of this, I took out my cell phone and called her.
It wasn’t long before she was connected, her voice cracking, “Clara, happy New Year!”
I froze for a moment and said, “It’s only afternoon, not even early morning! What do you like to eat?”
She answered with a little surprise, “Why are you asking me that all of a sudden?”
I looked at the things in the kitchen and said, “We bought a lot of good things for our health. You just had a baby, and you’re still nursing. I can’t eat all that. Since it is New Year’s Eve, I’ll have Dennis bring it over.”
There was silence on the other end of the line. It was a moment before she said, “Clara, thank you, you are the first person to call and ask about me.”
I pressed my lips together and felt a little sad, “Has Leo been with you today? Has the baby’s fever gone?”
“Yes.” She did not answer the question and said in a low voice, “Link just dropped off some nourishment. I’ll have Dennis bring some back when he gets here.”
I smiled, “No, I have plenty too. You save it for your health.”
Afraid that she might say more, I said, “By the way, you still haven’t told me what you like to eat. I’ll bring you more later.”
“Anything! I’m not picky!” she said, “But don’t bring too much. I can’t eat it all.”
I smiled and said Ok.
After I hung up, I looked around the kitchen and didn’t seem to have a box to pack.
So I called out, “Dennis, I need you here.”
Before long, I heard footsteps coming in, but I didn’t look back because I was concentrating on looking out for my lunch box, “Dennis, do we have a to-go box at home? I’ll get everything ready and you can take it to Karina.”
When he didn’t answer, I frowned, looked up and found it wasn’t him, it was Luna. She was squatting down to pick out a box from under the cupboard.
Her face lit up with surprise, then she turned back and said, “Got it. Here it is.”
When she saw that I was looking at her suspiciously, she froze and smiled awkwardly, “Dennis took your… dad for a walk around the neighborhood.”
I nodded, stood up and took the box from her hand. “Thank you,” I said lightly.
Then I started putting together meals.
“Can I help you?” she asked, standing by.
I shook my head and said coolly, “No, thank you.”
My unfamiliar tone silenced her.
When I packed the food, she was still standing behind me. I was stunned, but without talking to her, I went straight out of the kitchen.
She took me by the wrist.
I frowned and said with some displeasure. “What?”
“Clara, can we talk, please?” Luna was on the verge of tears. Despite her age, her beauty was still clear and striking.
I looked back at her, my eyes on her old, aching face. My heart suddenly began to hurt, like being strangled by the heart, even breathing let me feel pain.
Why was that?
I had no idea.
I finally found my voice, and then looked at her and said coldly, “Better not.”
I didn’t want to feel what it was like to open a wound and start analyzing why it hurt.
I heard her choking voice in my ear. She said, “Clara, I know you hate me!”
I looked down and saw the cut on my hand that I had accidentally cut with a kitchen knife because I was naughty when I was a child. I had had this wound for years. If you didn’t look carefully, you wouldn’t see it. But I knew it was always there.
Instead of looking at her, I looked out the door. The sun was fine and vaguely warm, and there was Clariana’s laughter outside.
I took a slight breath and said, “I have a very bad memory. Now that I think about it, my memory before I was ten years old is a little hazy. But there are moments I remember. But there are moments I remembered well. I didn’t go to school until I was seven years old. At that time, there was no kindergarten in HL Area, only pre-school. When grandma sent me in, the teacher said that at my age, I could follow the first grade directly instead of going to preschool. My grandmother said that if I study hard and go to college, I will be able to see my parents. I thought at that time, I must study hard. Once I got into college and met my mom and dad, the kids in the HL Area alley would stop chasing me and calling me a wild kid…”
These memories were very young and painful. I suppressed my emotion slightly, then said with a smile, “In fact, it’s not that my grandmother didn’t gave me enough love, it’s just I didn’t want to be a wild child again. The night I applied for college, Diana and I were in the yard, clutching our phones and analyzing which schools we could apply to. I wanted to go to H Town, but Grandma said I could go to Newton town because maybe I could find Mom and Dad there.”