At those words, Annie was so shocked that she stood up from the tree stump and looked at him dumbfounded, “How could …”
That teacher, is his real mother, right?
“It was after I took a class from her for two weeks I think, I pushed open the door of her house, there was blood all over the floor, she didn’t have a single piece of good flesh on her body, she was blue and purple, and she was staring up at the top of her head with her eyes open and dead.”
Jeremy was sitting still, he spoke casually, “Her house was turned upside down, I found some pictures, diaries in the ceiling she was looking at, and realized that she had been bewitched by my father back then, and when she got pregnant, she realized what kind of family The Gustin family’s villa was, and that she couldn’t fight it off but had to let me be taken away from her, my When my father’s freshness wore off, she forced my mother off campus and into the alleys to live her life.”
Annie stood there, the wind blowing through her dress and blinding her.
She asked him, “What about the truth?”
“The truth is that my parents found out I was getting close to her and couldn’t let the bastard scandal get out so they sent someone to kill her, simple as that.” Jeremy downplayed the situation.
She looked at him fixedly and he looked away a little uncomfortably, licking his lips, his voice low, “Don’t look at me like that, make it sound like I’m so pathetic.”
“Do you hate them?” Annie asked him.
“Hate? Why would I hate, I’ve only been with that woman for two weeks, do I have to have much affection for her?”
Jeremy couldn’t help but let out a soft chuckle as he listened, the man was overly honest in his confession, “I’m just a little bit upset, my human body has become a pawn to be manipulated by others, and I’m still living a life of self-righteousness.”
“…”
“I want to change, but it’s hard to be a chess player when you’ve been a chess piece for a long time.”
He had never studied seriously in the past, and it was too hard to learn from scratch again, and he, too, didn’t seem to have the talent for it.
He couldn’t fight his mother, or Jeremiah, the child she had carefully raised over the years.
All he could do was look coldly at the gap between them, he knew everything, but he couldn’t compete with anything, and this powerlessness bit him like a bug, biting him all over every night.
Annie stood there looking at him, obviously he was still smiling, but she could see the pain, struggle, and … endless loneliness in the depths of his eyes.
She squatted down in front of him and gazed up at him.
A horn sounded from the road in the distance.
It was Jeremy’s assistant urging him that it was time to go.
Jeremy looked down at her and hooked his lips, “Really not coming with me?”
Annie shook her head, “I told you, I’m sick, I still have a marriage contract set by my family, I’d be betraying THE Davis family if I left.”
What had to be fought for had been fought for.
He’d stayed long enough.
Jeremy gazed down at the quiet, beautiful face in front of him and lifted a hand to her face; her skin was like a fine white jade, warm and flawless.
Before his fingertips could touch it, his long and good-looking hand suddenly curved and grabbed her throat.
“…”
Annie didn’t move, only staring at him in silence.
Her neck was too thin, so thin that it seemed as if he would break it with just a slight grip.
Jeremy stared at her, a hint of ruthlessness swept under his eyes, “These words are my oldest, and if you say them, it will destroy everything I have.”
“…”
Annie still didn’t move, didn’t even struggle a bit, just stared at him silently.
If he really wanted to kill her, he wouldn’t have told her.
He was only saying this as a last-ditch bet on whether or not she would develop a heartache for his story and thus leave with him.
As she watched, Jeremy was defeated, he let go and cupped her chin, his eyes fell on her lips and suddenly lowered his head towards her.
Annie was startled and hastily dodged.
But his lips did not fall, he stopped above her lips, a pair of eyes deep and dark staring at her, murmured, “Annie, your heart is really hard.”
His breath burned as if caught in heartache.
“…”
“No more touching you, Ms. the Davis family with a marriage contract.”
He let go with a low chuckle, “It might be good for you not to come with me, I’ll see you again in a few years if I’m still alive.”
With that, he rose from his chair and turned to leave.
Without looking back.
She got up from the floor and watched his back, and as if he knew she was watching, Jeremy raised his hand and waved it, sparingly as a goodbye.
But for some reason, what Annie remembered was the time he fell into the water, when she went into the water to save him, the way he looked at her underwater, as if … she was the only thing that saved his life.
…
After Jeremy left, Annie’s life didn’t change much.
She will still sit in her room and read books all day long, but also look well at the roses she raised, and occasionally sneak out to take two turns around the neighborhood, just that cabin, she will not often go there, as soon as she goes there, she will think of the man who looks cynical, but hides pain in his eyes.
Gradually, Annie didn’t think much of the man, and then, for some days, she wouldn’t think of him once.
She thought that her whole life would pass by so uneventfully.
Until one day, she saw a news on TV, the news picture, The Gustin family’s villa of several brothers are attending a party, and some of the brothers and his appearance resembles his brothers and the bystanders chatting, patting the shoulders, pushing a glass of wine.
Only he, he leaned against the window to smoke, the corner of his lips like a curve, but also like no, the smoke through his careless face, he looked out the window, as if, all the sadness and happiness has nothing to do with him.
Suddenly, his brother called out to him, he pinched the cigarette, smiled and walked over, picked up the bottle of wine and poured wine on the table, serving them.
The others gladly accepted, as if he was born to serve them as a servant.
The whole scene was on the news for no more than three or four seconds, but it stopped in Annie’s mind for the rest of the night.
The next day, Alonso brought her some newly acquired rosebud seeds.
Alonso had been chosen for her by the Davis family.
The two had grown up together, childhood sweethearts, Alonso didn’t say much but was kind to her, always giving in and spoiling her.
Technically, the two had a great relationship.
When she wanted a cabin by the lake, Alonso would secretly build it for her; when Alonso was punished for doing something wrong, she went to the Singh family to plead for leniency in the name of her future daughter-in-law.
But the two were limited to this, even when they were in their teens when their feelings were the most hazy, the two did not privately hold hands and look at the stars or something, but together they stole grandpa’s wine to drink.
“Alonso, have you ever wondered what you would have done if we hadn’t shunned the world?”
She stood in the house and leaned over the window to watch him.
“Haven’t thought about it.”
Alonso crouched below her window picking out seeds.
Annie ventured a nod to look at him, “And have you not thought about what I would do if you didn’t marry me?”
At that, Alonso’s picking of seeds lurches and wrinkles his eyebrows at her, “You want to marry someone else? That’s fine, but it can’t be someone from the outside.”
He had always known about her acquaintance with Jeremy.
“Why?”
Annie wondered as she watched him hit the nail on the head with his question.
“There are men here who are your age, you can pick, we were raised by THE Davis family, we know how to take care of you, not someone from the outside.”
Alonso stood up and stood outside her window, his brow extra serious as the sunlight swept over it.