“How will we bet, Nia?” Confident, he asked impatiently.
After all, he was certain that they were destined to be.
He became elated when he heard Niamh speak. “We’ll return by ourselves, each taking a separate path. If we manage to meet by the hotel entrance in less than five minutes of each other, I’ll take it that we’re still destined.”
“Alright.” Kendrick agreed quickly.
Leaving the dessert shop, he stared at her reluctantly. “Can I hug you again, Nia?”
“What’s this? Are you afraid that we’ll never see each other again?” Niamh teased.
“Of course not.” Kendrick denied it. The only reason he felt the desire to hug her was because of the conversation she had with Ava.
He had spent every moment over the past years loving this person who mattered the world to him.
“Then we’ll each take our own paths. Fate will guide us.” Niamh then turned around coolly without giving Kendrick another glance.
Watching her walk away, Kendrick’s eyes were filled with warmth. “We’ll definitely meet again, Nia.”
Walking to the corner of the street, Niamh hailed a cab. She glanced at the spot they had parted from before she got into the car, realizing that Kendrick was no longer standing there.
‘Whether we still have the chance to start over will depend on this, Kendrick,’ she thought to herself before getting into the car decisively.
Niamh was nervous the entire way back to the hotel.
She had no idea if she wanted to meet Kendrick or if she wanted things to end there.
In a daze, the taxi arrived at the hotel.
Niamh alighted the car and took a look around, but Kendrick was still nowhere to be found.
If Kendrick did not appear in five minutes, then whatever between them would end.
Niamh felt her heart pick up anxiously at the thought as she took a look at her surroundings in search of Kendrick. What she found instead was a car that was stopped at the opposite end of the road. It looked like the one that fetched Felicity earlier today.
Niamh crossed the zebra-crossing to the other side to take a look at the number plate. Indeed, it was the same car.
She stepped closer for a better look only for its windows to suddenly roll down, revealing a woman’s face.
Felicity looked at her with a knowing smile.
“We’ve been waiting for you, Miss Montgomery.”
It was too late when Niamh realized that something was wrong for someone had approached her from behind.
“Please get in the car, Miss Quinn.”
The man behind her was the very person who shooed her and Kendrick away this morning.
They had found the both of them out already.
Niamh was not frantic, nor did she compromise. “What if I refuse to get in?”
“You must. Unless you don’t want to know the truth behind your daughter’s tragic death.” Felicity quirked her red lips pridefully.
While the appearance before her eyes was a replica of her own, Niamh found herself unfamiliar and disgusted by the other’s eyes and wicked smile.
She had never worn such an expression herself, so to see Felicity show such expression with her face, Niamh felt a gust of abhorrence surge up within her.
“If you may, Miss Quinn.” The bodyguard opened the door. It seemed that regardless of her willingness, they were not going to let her leave.
Just as she was forced into the car, Niamh found Kendrick waiting by the hotel gates with a warm smile and a bouquet of baby’s breath.
He arrived three minutes after her.
They would have met had she not been forced into the car.
Felicity’s gaze fell on Kendrick as well. “What a shame. Looks like you aren’t destined, after all.”
Niamh grew cold.
Felicity knew about the bet she made with Kendrick moments ago.
Felicity smiled at Niamh’s shocked expression. “Looks like you don’t know anything about Felipe at all, Eveline.”
“What do you mean?”
“Hmph.” Felicity scoffed, her gaze hardening. “You’ll know soon enough.”
Then, the car drove away.
Staring at Kendrick who stood by the hotel gates, Niamh felt a heavy weight of loss fall over her heart.
She wanted to roll down the window to call after him, but the windows were locked. She wanted to call him, but the bodyguard had taken her phone.
She stared in the direction Kendrick stood as the distance between them grew until he vanished from her sight.
With the bouquet of baby’s breath in his hands, Kendrick waited patiently as seconds and minutes passed until it gradually exceeded the agreed time.
Joy slowly vanished from his eyes as his heart grew cold.
“Is this truly the end for us, Nia?” He refused to accept such an end, for there was no way he had no destiny with the woman who he experienced so many life-and-death experiences with.
Yet the time told him they were not meant for each other anymore.
Kendrick returned to the hotel, only to realize that Niamh had not returned at all.
He went back to wait at the hotel entrance, but there was no sign of Niamh no matter how long he waited.
Time passed and Kendrick found himself worried.
‘Why has she not returned yet? Has she gotten into an accident?’
Worried, he called Niamh’s phone but his call was declined. He was about to call again when he received a message from Niamh: [The truth has shown that we’re no longer destined for each other, Kendrick. Let’s end things here. I no longer wish to see you again. I’ve returned to Glendale already, so please don’t come looking for me.]
She had returned to Glendale?
Just like that?
Kendrick could not and would not accept such an ending.
He returned to the room to take his passport and realized that Niamh’s passport was no longer there anymore.
Without another thought, Kendrick booked a flight back to Glendale to chase after Niamh.
At Baby’s Breath Manor.
Taking Niamh’s phone, Felicity sent the message to Kendrick in its owner’s name and turned the phone off.
Felicity sneered frivolously as she stared at Niamh who sat bravely on the couch. “He still loves you a lot, I see. All I said is that you’ve returned to Glendale and he immediately rushed to the airport to look for you. It won’t be long before he gets on a flight to Glendale.”
Niamh raised a cold and unamused eyebrow at Felicity, replying curtly, “You went so far just to drag me here and to con Kendrick back to Glendale. So tell me, what do you want?”
“Do you really want to know?” Felicity gave a mystifying look. “I’m afraid that you won’t be able to take it.”
“I’ve already died once. What do I have to be afraid of?”
“What if the person who dies is Kendrick, then? Would you still be unafraid?”
A frantic look flashed through Niamh’s eyes. “What are you implying, Felicity Walker?”
“Oh? Are you scared? Or worried that he’ll die?” Felicity’s tone seeped with disdain. “Didn’t you pray night and day for this man’s suffering? Well, you should be ecstatic then, since he’s going to hell any minute now.”
Niamh was now certain that they were monitoring her and Kendrick’s every move.
Felipe was the only one who could do such a thing.
He definitely had more power in F Country than she understood.
“However much I hate Kendrick is an issue between me and him. It is not up to you to determine and act on my behalf.” Niamh’s tone was cold and her gaze was sharp. “I’m not stupid enough to be oblivious of the fact that Felipe is using my hatred for Kendrick to get rid of him.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Felicity said innocently before her eyes grew cold. She said in a knowing tone, “All I know is that accidents happen all the time in the world. You never know which farewell you bid would be the last.”
Niamh’s heart stuttered as she jumped, her gaze piercing. “I want to see Felipe!”
“Master Waldburg isn’t here,” replied a bodyguard from the side.
“If he’s not here and you’re not going to let me use the phone, then would you please kindly relay to him that should he dare to kill Kendrick in such an illegal way, I will never respect him even if he wins!”
Niamh’s every word echoed in Felipe’s ear clearly.
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.