“It’s been two years.”
“Do you know how long the headmaster has been here?” Louis asked.
The old man replied, “A long time, at least twenty years, I suppose.” He had given his youthful years to these children.
Why did Hamish want him to come here to see the headmaster? Could it be related to the orphans here?
Louis thought for a while but couldn’t figure it out. After filling out the forms, he handed them to the old man.
“I haven’t asked yet, what are you here for?”
“Just coming to ask the headmaster some questions and talk about sponsorship funds.”
At that moment, the headmaster received a message, and she looked at Louis, momentarily stunned.
She knew this was Louis, the hottest movie star in the entertainment industry. But looking at his face, she couldn’t help but think of that big fool, Autumn.
Her eyes suddenly reddened. Thinking of Autumn, who fell into the sea and was never found, her heart ached, knowing full well that he wasn’t right in the head. How could she have let him wander freely from the orphanage? If only she had kept a closer eye on him, perhaps Autumn wouldn’t have been abducted and met with such misfortune.
With the headmaster were other staff and volunteers. Recognizing Louis, these people couldn’t contain their excitement, shouting out of turn, “It’s Louis, the movie star, it’s Louis, the movie star! Why would he come here alone? Can we get his autograph, please, please?”
One or two people asking for autographs would have been fine, but their shouting brought all the children over.
Louis was too popular. From five-year-old kids to seventy or eighty-year-old grandmothers, even if they didn’t know him, just looking at his face would make them feel kindly towards him.
The headmaster promptly reprimanded them and instructed the staff to take the children inside and maintain quiet.
The headmaster was usually very gentle, but when she needed to show her temper, the children would listen.
After the crowd left, the headmaster led Louis to her office.
Louis glanced around. It was his first time here, yet it all felt so familiar, as if he had dreamt of it before. The orphanage seemed like a spacious kindergarten, with a play area for the children, cute graffiti on the walls, and surprisingly, a well-decorated exterior with a large wisteria pergola. It wasn’t in bloom at the moment, but in April or May, the wisteria flowers would hang down, resembling a purple waterfall when seen from a distance.
The headmaster didn’t know how to broach the subject, partly because of who Louis was, and partly because he looked so much like Autumn.
She silently brought a cup of hot water and placed it in front of him. After a moment of silence, she spoke, “You…”
“Headmaster, I came here to ask you a question. Is there someone in the orphanage who looks a lot like me?” Louis didn’t like beating around the bush. He had been thinking about this question while driving, and upon meeting the headmaster, he asked it straight away.
The headmaster was taken aback, wondering why Louis would know.
Seeing the headmaster’s expression, Louis’s heart sank. Could it be that what Hamish said is true?
“There used to be someone who looked a lot like you, but he passed away five years ago.”
“What was his name?”
“Autumn.”
Upon hearing those two words, Louis’s heart suddenly clenched. He forcibly restrained the urge to cover his heart with his hand, instead lifting it and turning to the cup of water in front of him.
The water had just been boiled, and the surface of the cup was scalding, but he felt no pain when he pressed his palm against it. His job was acting, and he had won numerous awards. He was a box office king. His acting was so good that even if he felt unwell, he wouldn’t show it on his face.
The headmaster didn’t notice Louis’s strangeness. Whatever he wanted to know, she would tell him. Finally, she took out an album and pointed to a tall, thin man in an old t-shirt, saying, “This is the Autumn I mentioned…”
Louis looked over and was momentarily stunned. He had guessed that the person named Autumn would somewhat resemble him, but he hadn’t expected it to be to such an extent, almost like identical twins.
Similar as they were, they were not the same person. In terms of appearance, of course, Louis was more outstanding, and their styles were different. Autumn was just a simple fool.
There were many photos in the orphanage album, hundreds of pages thick. Louis flipped through them one by one, casually asking the headmaster, “Do you know Elisa?”
After waiting for a while and not receivinga response from the headmaster, Louis stared at her.
The headmaster said, “I don’t know if the Elisa I know is the same one you’re talking about. The Elisa I knew passed away three years ago. She was the eldest daughter of the Powell family, the envy of all women in Bankshire.”
Before the Powell family went bankrupt, Elisa was stunning, not inferior to men, single-handedly holding up half of Bankshire’s sky. There are too many people with the same name in the world, and besides, the Elisa the headmaster knew had already passed away three years ago… She had no connection to the Elisa Louis was referring to.
Just as Louis was about to breathe a sigh of relief, he turned a page in the album and casually came across a picture of Autumn with a woman. Autumn, a simpleton, had a foolish smile, displaying eight large, white teeth, with two prominent, sharp canines that were particularly striking.
A surge of emotions welled up in Louis’s dark eyes, and alarm bells rang in his mind.