Brettley’s hug made her feel safe and warm, so much so that when Brettley let her go, she was blushing “I’ll be leaving now,” said Bethan and quickly left. Hearing her footsteps vanishing in the corridor, Thomas changed into a more comfortable position and looked at Brettley calmly. “Are you two that close?”
“And what of it?”
Brettley smiled and leaned back, looking Thomas in the eye. “We’re an old couple but are still head over heels for each other. Seeing you and Yannie, on the other hand… you two don’t look like a couple that has just gotten together.”
Yannie was indeed always obedient toward Thomas, but something seemed to be missing.
From how Brettley saw it, for the past few days since they arrived at Saigen City, he had always been busy with Thomas. However, he realized that Yannie had not contacted Thomas once throughout the entire duration.
Thomas had even got her to come over, yet she only lowered her gaze, agreeing to whatever Thomas said. Not only did she not profess her love and concern for Thomas, but she also did not have any display of affection for him. Not to mention her being like Bethan, coming to offer him a kiss at the thought of counting her in.
Brettley’s words deflated Thomas. He slumped into the sofa.
Thomas closed his eyes and sighed. “I thought that if I brought her back to Saigen City, it’d be better, but I never expected that…”
Thomas chuckled bitterly. “The environment in Saigen City is worse than
Merchant City.
“Because I’ve reappeared in Saigen City, others could see that my return this time is to fight for the Howard family estate, so many heiresses have been trying to get close to me. “Yannie…can’t take it. She’s always had low self–esteem, and she feels that she’s so far disconnected from my world, that she’s not good enough for me.”
For the past few days, Yannie mentioned breaking up a couple of times.
Every time, he would tell her sternly that he had no plans of breaking up with her. He did not feel that she was not good enough for him. At the thought of that, Thomas frowned.
“That’s because you did not give her enough sense of security.”
As someone who had been in such a situation, Brettley perfectly understood the state Thomas and Yannie were in.
It was just like him and Bethan seven years ago. Because he had trouble communicating, she always believed he disliked her. She did not have much sense of security, which was what Cynthal took advantage of, and this caused a long string of catastrophes…
At that thought, Brettley paused for a while. “Once things are over, Bethan and I will help you.”
“Mmh.”
At The Spring Resort, when Bethan and Yannie arrived, Gwen had been washed by the people serving her for the fifth time.
No matter how drunk she was, she should be sober by then.
She changed her clothes and sat on the ground pitifully. Her eyes were filled with grievances. “Bethan, they lied to me. They said that they found me at the dump station.”
Bethan wanted to laugh, but she did not dare to when she saw how pitiful Gwen looked. She refrained from laughing and walked over to Gwen to hold her hand. “Then tell me–where did you go?”
“How would I know…”
Gwen pursed her lips. “I only remembered having a weird dream. When I woke up, I’m already here.”
She continued as she glared at Bethan to voice out her dissatisfaction, “I was drinking with you, wasn’t I? Why didn’t you take care of me? Why did you let those people do whatever they want with me and say I went into the dumpster?”.
Bethan was amused. “So you’re blaming me because you ran away by yourself?”
Gwen furrowed her brow and wanted to say something before she spotted Yannie standing behind Bethan. Thus, she let go of Bethan and stood up to strode at Yannie and looked at her with a serious face. “Yannie, I know you won’t lie to me. Tell me what happened last night in detail.”
Yannie did not expect Gwen to ask her this. She was caught off–guard for a moment before she lowered her head and told Gwen everything that happened last night. She even looked at Gwen and carefully added, “Gwen, it’s not a big deal going into the dumpster by yourself. It’s snowing and practically freezing in Saigen City. The dumpster was dirty, yes, but I don’t think it smelled…”
She was not good at lying, but she did not think she had to lie about this. Gwen would need to face the fact sooner or later. Many people, including Lucas and his men, those who helped to shower Gwen just now, and those who were at the dump station, had….seen it. Thus, even if she and Bethan comforted and told her a lie, it was better to let Gwen accept the fact and be over with it soon. Bethan did not plan to comfort or lie to Gwen. She just wanted to make fun of Gwen because she found Gwen’s pitiful look quite amusing.
“I…”
Gwen walked back and slept on the bed while staring at the ceiling with a stupefied expression. “Did I really sleep in the dumpster?”
Everything that happened was just a dream?
She could have sworn that she saw Luke in her dream, but he kept on denying that he was Luke. Despite that, she was assured he was Lucas because of the aura he emitted. He was not willing to admit his identity, yet he still cared for her. He did not want to let her freeze out on a day that snowed and let her get out of his car to bring her home.
Gwen could not remember what happened later. When she woke up, she was already in Spring Resort. She looked at the ceiling while her head was a mess. If she snuck out after she was drunk, and if she slept in the dumpster where Lucas and his men found her there… Everything about that person must be a dream. She clearly remembered the man who denied being Luke brought her to his car and made her sit inside.
She felt disappointed knowing that it was a dream. The disappointment was larger than the shame of knowing she slept in the dumpster.
A tear rolled down her face from the corner of her eye. She stared at the ceiling while her heart started to throb.
She must have missed Luke way too much, so much so that she started to have weird dreams after she got drunk. Perhaps deep in her consciousness, she wished Luke was still alive.
Nonetheless, it was just a beautiful illusion.
Luke’s heart was still beating in her chest. How could she hope for a person without a beating heart to suddenly be alive? “Gwen…”
Originally, Bethan had thought of many things to tease Gwen about her sleeping in the dumpster to cheer her up. Before she could say any of that, however, she noticed Gwen submerged herself in sadness again.
Bethan sighed and laid next to Gwen. She placed her head against Gwen’s and stared at the ceiling with her. “You…still can’t forget Luke, huh?”
Gwen closed her eyes as tears rolled down her face. “Yes.”
She smiled bitterly with her eyes closed. “Actually, I know everything. A long while ago.”
Bethan’s heart skipped a beat when she heard that.
“W… What do you mean?”
“I know Luke is no longer with us.”
Gwen curled up her lips bitterly. Her voice sounded weak and faded as though it came from far away. “You’ve all been lying to me in hopes to protect me from the truth. You want me to believe Luke is still alive and that he doesn’t want to be together with me anymore, but…”
Her voice choked. “I knew he’s long gone for a while now. He gave me his heart and wants me to live a happy life together with him…but he forgot how much I love him. How can I live happily without him?”
Bethan was so shocked by this news that she did not know how to respond. She sat on the bed and looked at Gwen with pity. “Gwen, when…did you find out?” “About the same time as you.”
Gwen sniffled.
All the while, she had been pretending she did not know. It was as if by doing that, Luke would still be alive. She knew everything but pretended to know nothing and acted like she was her jovial self in front of Bethan and Bonnie that she had nearly forgotten Luke.
That was until she was in Saigen City. She realized how pitiful and sad she was. It was just impossible to forget Luke and avoid the sadness she felt. In spite of that, she kept deluding herself that she could pretend to live a normal happy life and not face how she truly felt.
Bethan bit her lip. Her heart was in pain when she saw how sad Gwen was. She bent down and slowly picked up Gwen’s head and placed it on her thigh. “Gwen. I meant to hide it from you because…”
Because she did not know how deep Gwen’s feelings were for Luke.
Gwen had, from the start, planned to leave Luke before the surgery. She thought Gwen would eventually let it go and forgot about him. It never occurred to Bethan that Gwen had known Luke was not with them anymore and had been pretending all the while. “I’m sorry.”
After a short moment of silence, these were the only words Bethan could say.
“I don’t blame you.”
Gwen smiled bitterly and continued to gaze at the ceiling. “I thought about it too. If I were you, maybe I’d also hide it from you and tell you when you’ve moved past it all. Only then, you’ll feel less stressed. I bet you think the same too, so I never blame you
After that, she closed her eyes and kept quiet for a long time. A while later, she opened her eyes. “But Bethan, I dreamt of Luke last night.”
At the same time, in the conference room of Hughes Group.
With an escort from the few managers of the Hughes Group, Brettley and Thomas entered the conference room. The seat labeled with the name ‘Steven Hughes’ was still empty
Brettley glanced at that seat remotely.
One of the managers quickly responded, “I’m sorry, Mr. Morrison. Mr. Steven will be with us verv shortly.”
Just as he finished his sentence, someone opened the door.
Steven’s secretary was the one who opened the door to the conference room. Steven took a deep breath and entered the conference room.
He thought Thomas was attending the meeting on his own. To his surprise, another man was with him, possessing a powerful aura and a cold–looking face – Brettley. The man looked tall and strong, his head lowered as he skimmed through the documents at hand.
“Mr. Morrison, Mr. Hughes is here.”
The man cocked his head at the announcement. When he saw Steven, Brettley, admittedly, was taken aback.
This man…was the spitting image of. Even the unnoticeable scar at the corner of his eye was exactly the same as Luke’s! Perhaps others would not take notice of the scar, but not Brettley. He remembered very vividly how Luke got that scar. It was when Luke teamed up with him during a mission in Sea City to rescue Bethan. Luke accidentally got hurt when he was fighting with the enemy. After that, they became best friends. Luke even joked with Brettley saying that the scar under his brow near the corner of his eye was the proof of their brotherhood.
With this man standing before him, the one called Mr. Hughes had the same body, same face, and even the same scar as Luke.
He was not Mr. Hughes! He was Luke! Steven felt disconcerted with the way Brettley looked at him. He furrowed his brow and sat at the host seat he was led to. He looked at Brettley. “You must be Mr. Morrison. Nice to meet you.”
Even his sound was identical to Luke’s. However, the temperament he encompassed and the way he spoke were different from Luke’s. When Luke spoke, his voice sounded deep and moody. Steven’s voice sounded warm and clear like a spring breeze. The huge difference in the voice finally drew Brettley’s thoughts back to reality. Brettley smiled lightly and retracted his look. “I’ve heard many things about you, Mr. Hughes. I just didn’t expect…”
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.