It seemed that he seeks death as his atonement.
It was evident that, deep down, Cathy could never truly let go of Felipe.
Despite her earlier memory lapse, the instant that she remembered, her feelings for Felipe would have only become stronger.
Besides comforting Cathy, Niamh did not know what else she could do at this moment.
Half an hour later, Kendrick drove back to the beach of April Hill.
When she saw Kendrick, Cathy hurriedly approached to probe him with her questions.
“Ken, did you meet with him?”
Kendrick faced Cathy, who had an expectant look on her face, and gave a slight nod. “Yes.”
“Well, what did he… What did you guys talk about?”
Recalling Felipe’s request before he left, Kendrick paused for a while before speaking.
“He hopes that you could live a blissful life.”
The terse statement felt like a cold sword stabbing through Cathy’s heart.
The glint of expectancy in her eyes slowly crumbled until the wind blew away the remnants of her shattered hope, and the light in her eyes completely faded.
Once they had sent Cathy back, Kendrick brought Niamh back to Adam’s place.
Adam was currently away at the hospital for consultation.
Niamh could tell that something was up with Kendrick since his return from the meeting with Felipe. As it was awkward to ask him with Cathy in the car earlier, she was waiting for this moment to ask. “Kendrick, what did you guys talk about when you went to see Felipe? It’s not just as simple as what you’d told Cathy, isn’t it?”
Kendrick had already decided earlier to inform Niamh, but he had not expected her to see through him so quickly.
“Nia, you certainly know me well.” Kendrick could not help but sigh. “Yes, that wasn’t the only thing we talked about.”
“What else did you talk about then?”
“He asked me to do something for him.”
“What is it? You can’t even tell Cathy about this?”
“That’s right. This is something that can be known by anyone except Cathy,” Kendrick said as his expression grew serious.
Niamh immediately realized the import of this matter. At the same time, she became more inquisitive and confused.
“What is it, exactly?” she asked.
As she said that, the hallway reverberated with the sounds of high heels clicking against the floor.
Niamh and Kendrick simultaneously looked up and saw Shirley.
Wearing a coat, Shirley slowly strutted closer toward them. “You must be surprised. You just got a call from me not long ago, yet here I am, in the flesh.”
She chuckled. “Don’t be too surprised. I just want to observe how my experiment is coming along, and my experiment seems quite successful.”
Kendrick had initially intended to seek out Shirley for a solution, so he certainly had not expected her appearance.
Emotion darkened his eyes as he quickly walked toward Shirley. “Shirley, if you want to conduct your experiments, I’ll be your subject. Stop tormenting my wife any further.”
Shirley looked at Kendrick with admiration. “It’s her who I intend to torment. Wouldn’t it be a waste of effort if I were to torment you?”
“Shirley, you…”
“Kendrick.”
Niamh interrupted Kendrick in a gentle tone. She met Shirley’s grinning eyes with a calm and sharp gaze.
“Kendrick, let her continue tormenting me. After all, Miss Brown had said that my life won’t be so easily ruined no matter what. In that case, so long as I live, I think I can handle whatever torture and suffering that might follow.”
Shirley laughed. “Mrs. Waldburg is indeed no ordinary woman. Since you are so courageous, I do hope you can survive the next flare-up.”
As she carried out her profound speech, she glanced around the house. Her gaze eventually became fixated on the calendar for a few seconds.
“Ah, no wonder he’s not in. It seems that today’s that day.”
Shirley stared at the calendar for a few moments, then she suddenly turned and left with a cold expression.
Niamh and Kendrick shared a look before shifting their gaze onto the calendar.
That day?
What day was Shirley referring to?
A cemetery in the city outskirts.
For nearly the entire afternoon, Adam had been sitting in front of a tombstone at which two individuals were laid to rest.
He initially had to go to the hospital for consultations in the afternoon, but this day was too special.
Adam sat alone on the edge of the railing in front of the tombstone. He quietly faced the tombstone and whispered with a smile.
“It’s been another year. Time passes so quickly. I had wanted to come here earlier, but my friend suddenly became unwell, so that delayed me for a bit.” Adam explained to the tombstone. “You must be disappointed, aren’t you? It’s still just me this year. My sister, she…”
“I’m here now, aren’t I?”
A sudden voice interrupted Adam mid-sentence.
He paused abruptly. He looked back in disbelief and saw Shirley walking with a carefree demeanor toward him in a beautiful coat.
Shirley leisurely approached him. She shifted her gaze from the white chrysanthemum in front of the tombstone, to the burning candles, and finally to the engraving on the tombstone before her. Her eyes grew icier the longer she looked at it.
“When did you came back?” Adam asked. They had just talked on the phone not long ago, and he still remembered Shirley’s cold attitude on the phone. He would never have thought that someone who had never asked after their parents for more than ten years would suddenly appear here.
“Does it matter when I came back? Isn’t my appearance on this important day all that matters?” Shirley asked with a sneer.
Adam frowned. Such words were always a little unsettling to him. However, today is their parents’ death anniversary. It could not have been better now that Shirley came to pay her respects, so he did not want to pry for now.
He walked over and handed a candle to Shirley. “Light a for mom and dad. You had never visited them all these years.”
Shirley looked at the candle that Adam was handing out and seemed to ponder for a few seconds. She then reached out her hand.
While Adam had thought that Shirley would light the candle, Shirley threw the candle to the ground and stepped on it with her foot instead.
Additionally, Shirley stretched out her hands and swept the flowers and burning candles off the stone table.
The rattling sounds of the falling objects instantly broke the silence in the cemetery.
Adam, briefly stunned, stepped forward to stop her, but it was too late.
“Shirley, have you gone crazy?” questioned Adam. “This is your birth parent’s resting place!”
“Birth parents?” Shirley sneered, responding with extreme coldness. “I don’t have such patriarchal parents.”
“They were not patriarchal, Shirley. You’ve always misunderstood mom and dad!” Adam growled lowly, his typically mild and gentle face betraying a never-before-seen impatient look.
“Shirley, for all these years, you’ve always thought that mom and dad only loved me and not you, but in fact, the person they had wanted to protect and nurture was you!”
As he finished speaking, Shirley cackled.
“Heh, hehe, hahaha…” Shirley howled with laughter. “Adam, you’re only saying this to get the anti- toxoid reagent for Eveline, aren’t you?”
“This is our family’s affair. Why would I involve an outsider?”
Adam emphasized, then carefully explained.
“Shirley, you always think that you’re so smart, but you’re extremely stupid when it comes to this! You keep thinking that our parents hadn’t cared about you and ignored you. Even when they’d sent you to St. Piaf to further your studies, you still think that they’d abandoned you. I’m telling you, Shirley, you’re just too conceited!”
“Shut up!”
Shirley stopped Adam, feeling slightly infuriated.
“Who do you think you are to lecture me? I’m warning you, Adam. Stop meddling in my business with Eveline and Kendrick. If you dare antagonize me by helping them develop the anti-toxoid test reagent again, you‘d just be asking for trouble!”
“Trouble? By trouble, do you mean Carter Gray? The man who has you at his beck and call, isn’t that right?”
When Adam mentioned Carter, Shirley’s expression changed abruptly.
Adam felt even more pained upon seeing the change in Shirley’s expression.
“Are you in love with that man?” Adam asked in a much softer tone.
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.