On this lovely night, Kevin stood on the balcony, alone, with a lit cigarette between his fingers. He smoked occasionally. The breeze broke the smoke rings blown by him. The beautiful moment from the afternoon flashed back into his mind. His heart started racing at the very thought of it.
He was then leaning against the door, watching Daisy make tea. Absorbed in her elegance and the serenity in the air, he stood there for a while before he finally greeted her. He kept telling himself that Daisy was an unattainable dream for him, but his heart raced uncontrollably every time he saw her. Kevin smiled bitterly and said to himself,
Kevin, don't forget that you are married. Are you forgetting that you have a wife named Leena? Why do you desire a woman who will never be yours, and who doesn't even pay any attention to you?'
Kevin carefully stubbed out his cigarette in the ashtray. He looked into the sky, and then walked back into the room, trying to repress his racing heart. Would the pain and bitterness fade away if he stopped thinking of her? Would he have to start a new relationship to forget the past? Would he have to fall in love with another woman before he could stop admiring her secretly? In that case, he would strive to fall in love with his wife Leena. He would open his heart to her and let her in.
When he got home from work, he looked everywhere but he didn't find Leena's note. Out of boredom, he picked up a small round item on her dressing table and started to play with it. However, he accidentally dropped it on the floor. It rolled under the dressing table and couldn't be seen anymore. Kevin was in a daze for a few seconds. Then he gave a wry smile and bent down to look for it. Since he had no idea what it meant to Leena, he felt he had to put it back.
He spotted a piece of paper under the dressing table. He picked it up in confusion. Some words were scribbled on the paper in dramatic handwriting like that of an artist. They said, "Kevin, I have gone to Paris, France, due to some emergency. Since I can't reach you, I'm writing this note to you to let you know. I'll be back in a couple of days. So don't worry. Leena."
The note was short and concise but Kevin felt relieved after reading it. 'Turns out that she has gone to France, but why so suddenly? She didn't mention anything about it before the war games. But anyway, at least now I know where she is. That is a relief, ' he thought. Kevin kept the note on the dressing table. Then something occurred to him. 'The door and the windows were closed, so how did the note get under the dressing table? In a place that's totally out of my sight. Did Leena put it there intentionally?' he wondered. Kevin shook his head with a smile and went on with looking for the small item. 'Why do girls love such strange small items, even a highborn girl like Leena?' he asked himself.
Kevin felt lonely, looking around the big empty house. He wondered how a perky and active girl like Leena coped with the solitude. In this respect, he thought Leena was amazing. The way he had married her seemed despicable to him now. Young and beautiful, she was supposed to have a lot of choices. Kevin came to the study. It was 1 a.m. here so it would be 5 p.m. in Paris.
Kevin came to the study. It was 1 a.m. here so it would be 5 p.m. in Paris. Leena's phone was off. Kevin decided to find out whether she was online and what she was busy with. With a cunning smile, he sat in front of the computer and logged on the QQ number he had just applied. He started to work on his opening line while eagerly waiting for the login process to complete. 'Should I be frank with her or stay mysterious?' he thought. He couldn't make up his mind. His eyes lit up when he saw Leena's QQ was on.
He clicked on her QQ icon. The dialogue window appeared, his hands were on the keyboard, but he didn't type anything. He didn't know what to say. He thought about it for a while and then typed a short sentence- "Hi, beauty! I am glad that you befriended me." But on second thought he felt it sounded too frivolous, so he deleted it.
"Hello, nice to see you here." Kevin typed another sentence which he felt conformed more to his personality. He sent it before he could regret it. He worried that nothing would get solved if he kept hesitating, so he decided that the best way was to send the greeting first and work on the rest later. However, even after a long time there was still no response from Leena. Kevin started doubting, 'Did I use the wrong greeting? Doesn't she want to speak to me? If she doesn't, why did she agree to befriend me?' Tons of possibilities and questions popped into his head. He was stuck, not able to figure out his next move.
On the other hand, Leena was swamped in Paris. It was the last day of the contest. The competition was brutal and the standards were high. She had to be very careful. Otherwise, the sweat and labor of the designers would be wasted. As a designer, she should know how much hard work had been put in these designs. She had prepared herself well for this last round of competition, including reviewing notes about the rating scales and designing philosophy. Hence, she didn't have time to respond to QQ messages.
Leena was usually indulged in fun and frolick in her daily life, but she also have a serious attitude towards work and business, which prove that she was responsible. That's why Kevin didn't get any response from her. Right now, her devotion towards the contests was quite appealing. People said that men focusing on work were most charming. A woman who bent her mind to work was as charming as such men.
The night was replaced by dawn. The sky in S City was clear and bright. The dawn marks new beginning. Brian Ouyang stood in front of Mary with a smile, eyes full of contempt.
Mary, what's the matter with sis Daisy.? Why did she sayshe doesn't know me? What did you do to her? Mary had bullied Daisy for all kinds of reasons. Brian hated her for that. He never addressed Mary as a sister, although they shared the same mother. In Brian's heart, only Daisy, his half sister who shared the same father but a different mother with him, deserved to be his sister, while Mary was just a stranger who temporarily lived in the Ouyang's residence.