He asked himself in a low voice. Then, a bitter smile appeared on his lips.
“It’s just a month and you still refuse to help a dying man accomplish his last wish. Heh.”
Ryan mocked himself and looked at the time to see that the game was ending. Then, he faced the house in front of him.
“Eveline, you can come out now. I’m admitting defeat. I can’t find you,” he increased his volume and yelled at the house.
More than ten seconds passed and Ryan still did not see Niamh walking out from the house. As such, he took a step forward.
“Eveline, the game has ended. You can come out now.”
Ryan looked at the house and said once more. As he waited for Niamh to come out, he suddenly heard the sound of water from behind him.
He paused as the look in his eyes changed.
He thought about another possibility and turned around in disbelief. Then, he really saw Niamh slowly walking over to him from the beach with her entire body soaking wet.
‘She was hiding in the water?
‘How is that possible?’
Ryan was shocked. He recalled how Niamh almost drowned from retrieving the bag in the river because she did not know how to swim. However, she could hide in the water with ease now?
‘No, impossible!’
Ryan denied strongly in his heart, but he could not deny what he was seeing in front of him.
Niamh pushed her short wet hair away and walked calmly in front of Ryan.
“Ryan, you’re a man of your words. You’ve lost.”
“Were you really hiding in the water this entire time?” Ryan was still refusing to believe such a result.
“Your rules didn’t say that I can’t hide in the water. I didn’t break the rules, right?” Niamh asked calmly.
Ryan’s eyes were filled with the color of admiration. “Eveline, you’re so full of surprises.”
“Then, do you know that the surprise you’re seeing was taught to me by my husband again and again with utmost patience?”
Ryan was stunned when he heard that. Then, he smiled when he suddenly realized it. “So he’s the one who taught you to swim. No wonder.”
“Stop spewing nonsense. You’ve lost. Take me away from here now,” Niamh requested. She did not want to stay another second more in this place.
Ryan looked at the impatient look on Niamh’s face as an ominous smirk appeared on his lips.
“Okay, I’ll take you away from here now,” he said and turned around to walk to the yacht.
Niamh quickly went back to the house to grab a bathrobe to put on her body. Then, she hurriedly followed Ryan onto the yacht.
After a while, Ryan started the yacht.
The weight on Niamh’s chest was slowly lifted. ‘Kendrick, I’ll be back by your side soon.’
She thought internally while missing her three children a lot.
She could not imagine what would happen if the woman who was impersonating her did something out of line to Kendrick and the children.
However, when she thought about it, she still believed that Kendrick would not be fooled so easily and that the woman would not brazenly hurt the children.
If she wanted to impersonate her and replace her, she would need to play the part of a good wife and a loving mother.
When she thought about this, Niamh felt more at ease.
Niamh walked to the deck and faced the sea breeze. The cold wind was permeating her skin.
She wrapped the bathrobe tighter around her body and sneezed involuntarily.
It was the middle of autumn and she had just gotten out of the sea, so Niamh felt a bit cold.
She wanted to go back into the cabin of the yacht when she saw Ryan walking toward her.
Ryan had turned on the autopilot on the yacht. When he saw Niamh’s short hair that was messed up by the wind, he saw a kind of elegant beauty that was birthed from the mess.
“Say, why do you think that God let two people meet when he knows that they’ll never fall in love? Also, why do you think he makes the other party fall in love and experience a one-sided affair?” Ryan asked Niamh this question from out of nowhere.
Niamh had also asked herself this question before.
“If all feelings are to be reciprocated in this world, then there will not be terms like broken-hearted and inconsolable,” Niamh said calmly. Her voice seemed to be amplified by the sea breeze as it fell into Ryan’s heart. It was causing his heart to grow colder and colder.
“Ryan, I don’t love you and I’ve never had any feelings for you. I hope you can understand that you can never force feelings because it’s impossible. That’s why a relationship where the couple can be each other’s sunshine is the most precious.”
Niamh went back to the cabin after she said that. When she walked past Ryan, she heard him sigh.
“Eveline, can I hug you for a while?” he asked, looking so humble. “My life will end in 29 days.”
Niamh stopped in her tracks. “You chose this path, so you can’t blame anyone.”
Ryan curled the corners of his lips into a smile. “You’re right. I did choose this path. I wanted to make more money to further develop the Jones family’s business. However, I realized too late that the power and wealth I obtained illegally would turn into dust eventually. Not only that, I’d have to risk my life for it too.”
He lowered his head, his eyes landing on Niamh’s side profile. “Since I’m going to die, why don’t I just indulge myself, am I right?”
“…”
Niamh sensed that something was amiss when she heard this.
She lifted her head to look at Ryan and saw a smile with hidden meaning on his lips.
Niamh felt that Ryan’s smile was problematic, but she did not probe into what Ryan was thinking about right now. When she was about to walk away, she realized that the yacht was heading in another direction.
Ryan’s direction was here, but the yacht was heading in a completely different direction.
Niamh suddenly understood the meaning behind Ryan’s smile. She turned around abruptly. “Ryan, I think you’re really crazy! You’re the one who wanted to play the game and you lost! I shouldn’t have believed you!”
“I didn’t lose. You’re the one who appeared in front of me within the set time of the game.”
“You’re despicable.” Niamh looked down on him.
Ryan scoffed indifferently. “I just want to spend the last moments of my life with you.”
“Just give up! I’ll never spend romantic time alone with a man who’s not Kendrick!” Niamh smiled in determination. Suddenly, she removed the bathrobe on her body and sped to the deck.
Ryan felt that something was wrong as his expression changed. “Eveline, what are you doing?”
Niamh peered coldly at Ryan who was about to chase up to her. “Freedom.”
She said decisively and suddenly, she reached her long legs over the railing of the deck.
Ryan felt his heart sink. “Eveline!” He reached out his arm to grab her, but Niamh had made up her mind. She did not hesitate before jumping into the vast ocean.
“Eveline!”
Ryan had turned pale from fright. He did not expect Niamh to do this.
However, this was not strange if he really thought about it.
She was always unyielding and tenacious.
Her body quickly sank into the ocean as a layer of white ripples appeared over the area where she jumped down.
Ryan widened his eyes in horror before he saw Niamh’s head bobbing out from the ripples. The worry and terror in his heart were slightly alleviated.
Niamh continued swimming without turning back.
She knew it would be impossible for her to swim back to Glendale. However, she could still swim back to the island and think of another plan. It would be better than being forcefully taken to another unknown place.
“Eveline, why are you so stubborn?” Ryan yelled at Niamh who was swimming back. “I told you I won’t hurt you again. Why are you still refusing to give me some time? You can forgive a man who hurt you until you had nothing left but you won’t give a chance to someone who wants to give you warmth?
“Eveline, you’re so heartless!”
Ryan chuckled lightly. His complaints sounded like they came from an infatuated person who had become obsessed because they could not get the love they craved.
Niamh did not turn back. She knew Ryan was being paranoid. Perhaps the love he had in his head was just because he could not accept the reality of things.
Ryan clenched his fists and slammed them down on the railing as he watched Niamh swimming back without hesitation. She had her back toward him. The brims of his eyes were dyed with a touch of crimson color. and it was caused by him feeling extremely unwilling.
Niamh did what Kendrick taught her and continued swimming forward. She did not know whether she was in luck because she saw another yacht heading toward her direction from not far away.
Immediately, Niamh’s eyes lit up with hope.
She wanted to ask for help. She needed to ask for help from the people on the yacht!
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.