“Mr. Snearl, please stop eating…”
No one expected Finn to listen to Lily so obediently, kneeling down when told to, picking up trash from the ground to eat.
It seems that every girl has imagined a passionate love story, where the person you love can give up their pride for you, go through fire and water for you, and even risk their life.
This sentiment, born of fantasy, is now right in front of her, but the story’s protagonist is not her.
As it turns out, Finn, like everyone else, possesses the most fervent of emotions. He can cry, kneel down and plead with others, and even pick up trash from the ground to eat, tears mixing with the food as he swallows it down.
Lily had heard some things about the Burns family. When Finn was young, he was abused by his nanny and would eat trash from the bin like this. He suffered from severe gastritis.
In books, it’s simple to ruin someone’s life – just make their childhood unhappy. Some spend their entire lives healing from their childhood, while others are healed by their childhood.
Finn is an unfortunate existence. Even though he now has a good life, admired by all, he still can’t let go of the past. He has a strong obsession with cleanliness, evidenced by him picking up trash from the ground to eat.
Lily’s heart ached: “Finn, now you’re kneeling here begging me, do you regret running away from the wedding?”
In reality, regret is useless now. The only one she pities and blames is herself, and the one she can’t let go of is also herself.
“I’ll have Mr. Dankworth contact you later.”
Finn stopped his actions, remnants still at the corner of his mouth, quite disgusting. This was a side of Finn that no one had ever seen before, the most wretched version of Finn.
Just watching him eat the trash on the ground made Lily feel disgusted, let alone the person still eating.
Out of endurance, Finn’s eyes turned bloodshot. He looked up at Lily dumbfoundedly for two seconds, his throat moving, “Really?”
He was afraid he was hallucinating.
“Finn, sometimes I feel sorry for Aoife and envy her at the same time, being loved by someone like you.” Lily paused, her eyes seeming distant as if recalling the past. She let out a sigh, “If you had shown this much love for Aoife back then, I wouldn’t have spared you a second glance.”
“I’m sorry.”
“It’s useless.”
“But I still have to say, the first time I met you, the thief who stole your bag was my setup.” Their initial meeting was a planned deception.
“I know.”
Finn paused.
Lily said, “I know everything. I have always been fooling myself.” She truly loved Finn back then, even knowing it was a deception.
Tears welled up in the corner of her eyes, Lily forced a bitter smile, “I still feel sorry for Aoife, getting a fraud like you ruined her whole life. It’s a good thing you didn’t like me, a good thing you left me.”
It was from this moment that Lily found peace, “Without you, I can still meet other people who love me. There are billions of men in this world, right?”
Finn remained silent.
For so long, Lily had been challenging herself. She couldn’t understand why Finn loved Aoife or what made her inferior to Aoife.
But from a different perspective – no matter how much Finn loves Aoife, with him, Aoife still faces a lifetime of unhappiness.
She was luckier than her.
Holding the umbrella, Lily turned away, “Finn, someday I will find a better man than you, who will love me just like this.” She told herself that crying wasn’t worth it, but tears still flowed, and her words were tinged with bitterness.
As she watched Lily walk away with the umbrella, Finn tried to stand up. His legs were numb and wouldn’t move, but luckily, the driver nearby had the strength to help him up. His stomach was in severe pain, feeling like he had swallowed shards of glass, threatening to tear through his stomach with every movement.
“Ugh-” He bent over as soon as he stood up, vomiting out everything he had eaten, emitting a sour stench. His stomach spasms were unbearable, hands covering his stomach, almost hanging off the driver.
His face was deathly pale, clearly in agony, but a smile played at the corners of his mouth.
Daniel was called, and now there was hope for Aoife.
There was mineral water in the car. The driver helped him sit in the back seat, quickly grabbing a clean blanket and mineral water for Finn to rinse his mouth.
In excruciating pain, there wasn’t much left now. All he needed to do was go back.
“Take me back, I need to see Aoife.”
“Okay, Mr. Snearl, hold on.”
The car’s heater was turned on, but after being caught in the rain for an hour, the cold had seeped into his bones. Even under the blanket and warm air, he couldn’t stop shivering, feeling like he needed to vomit, even though his stomach was empty. He sat in the car, mouth agape, burping sour bile.
As he looked out at the familiar scenery passing by, getting further from home, they passed by a bubble tea shop. Finn quickly asked the driver to stop.
“Pull over for a moment, I want to buy a cup of bubble tea.”
The driver hit the brakes and stopped by the roadside, “Mr. Snearl, I can go get it for you.”
“No, I want to do it myself, to buy Aoife’s favorite bubble tea.” He was in great discomfort, just standing was a challenge, let alone walking over. But some things had to be done personally to have meaning.
He struggled to stand up, but his legs gave out, the sharp pain in his knees resurfacing, softer this time but still unbearable.
Seeing that there weren’t many people around due to the rain earlier, the driver had to help him over. Luckily, they were the only two in line, and it was soon their turn.
“Sir, what would you like to order? Today’s special includes…”
Finn glanced and said, “A large cup of mango sago, half sugar at room temperature.”
“Okay, please scan the code for payment.”
A cup of mango sago was sold for $35, and the wait was not long. The server quickly handed him the finished bubble tea.
“Sir, would you like it to-go or drink here.”
“To-go.”
“Okay, here’s your mango sago, please take care.”
Finn reached out to receive it, looking down at the bubble tea in his hand. His smile deepened a bit more.
The little fool had just woken up and couldn’t see him now, she might be upset. He had to hurry back; with the bubble tea, she would be happy.
As he walked step by step back to the car, just as the driver opened the door to help him inside, his phone rang.
Who would be calling now? It could be Linda, who was looking after Aoife at home, or Dr. Dankworth.
Finn hoped it was Dr. Dankworth, to arrange the surgery as soon as possible. If possible, the surgery should be done tonight; Aoife’s operation couldn’t be delayed.
Finn only took out his wet phone from his pocket, the screen covered with water stains, uncomfortable to hold. Without looking, he saw it was Linda calling.
Linda was calling, which meant Aoife was asking for him.
He answered the phone, but before he could speak, he heard muffled sobbing from the other end.
“Mr. Snearl, Miss Powell… Miss Powell, she’s dead, drowned…”