| had arranged to meet Sweety just outside the hotel, somewhere not far from me. | put on a sunhat and got ready to go out.
As | reached the corridor, | ran into Idris, who had just cout of Madam Young's room. He furrowed his brow slightly when he sawwearing a sunhat and about to leave. "Where are you going?" I had no intention of hiding anything, so | replied, "I'm meeting Sweety for dinner." He paused for a few seconds, then nodded. His voice was low and restrained when he said, "I'll have a bodyguard follow you. Callif anything comes up." I nodded back. Considering everything that had happened today, | knew Idris had his hands full with various matters. Without further ado, | entered the elevator.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtAt the restaurant.
| arrived nearly half an hour early. When Sweety arrived, she had red eyes. | furrowed my brows and asked, "What's wrong with your eyes?" She took a sip of the lemonade | had ordered for her on the table and replied indifferently, "Nothing. Why did you want to see me? If it's about askingnot to bother Liam, you don't need to waste your breath. | know what I'm doing, and I don't want anyone tellingwhat to do." | furrowed my brow, feeling like she was now a complete stranger tonow. "Sweety, he's married, he has a child, and his wife is pregnant with another one. Do you really want to obsess over someone who can't give you a future?" "I don't need a future!" she retorted, looking atas she spoke with a hoarse voice. "I just happened to fall for him, so | want to admire him from a distance. | haven't done anything wrong. Anyway, do you have the right to stand here and condemn me, Yvette Scott? Your man doesn't love you, so you can't stand to see others happy, right?" | was stunned, and a sudden wave of disappointment surged through me. | knew that no matter what | said about Liam, it would not matter. | repeated Emily's words to her and said, "No matter what you want to do, Sweety, listen to my advice. Liam is not yours. Stop being so stubborn." She sneered and looked at me. "So, you chere today to deliver a message for that woman? You're right, Liam and | have nothing to do with each other. So what? Who can guarantee that marriage will last a lifetime, without no chances of divorce or widowhood?" "Why, you..." | was getting angry because she had not taken in a word | had said.
Suppressing my anger, | changed the topic and asked, "Are you in Tully City for work or a vacation?" | had been quite busy lately and had not been in touch, so | had no clue what had been going on in her life recently.
She took a sip of lemonade and said, "A vacation." I nodded. After the incident on Island in the Lake, she had been in low spirits. It was good for her to chere and take a break.
Not wanting to argue with her, | asked, "Did you cwith friends, or are you alone?" She was getting a bit impatient. "Alone." "When are you planning to go back?" | asked. | merely intended to have a casual chat with her just like we used to, discussing our lives and trading gossip, but it seemed she did not want to talk tomuch right now.
"I don't know yet," she replied, then glanced down at her wristwatch. "You can have your meal alone later. | have something to do, so | won't be eating with you." After saying that, she picked up her bag and prepared to leave.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏm| opened my mouth but did not say anything in the end. There were just sthings in life that had to change.
My heart felt empty as | watched her leave. The young girl who used to wait forto finish school so we could walk htogether seemed to have drifted far away.
"All alone?" | heard a voice behindand instinctively turned around. It was Inch and Charlie.
Seeing the two of them, | suddenly remembered that we had gone to the forest together today. | quickly sized them up and saw that they were both fine. Still, | could not help but ask, "Did anything happen to you guys today?" They shook their heads. Inch looked atand said, "Ms. Scott, there were too many people at the cable car station, and we were afraid something might happen, so we squeezed out of the crowd. When we turned around to find you, we couldn't. We tried calling you, but you didn't answer. Are you okay?" | shook my head and briefly explained what happened later in the day. Looking at them, | asked, "I'm glad you guys are alright. Did you say | didn't answer your calls?" | was a bit skeptical and instinctively took out my phone to check. Indeed, there were several missed calls from Charlie on WhatsApp. | had not checked the app, so | did not notice them.
| looked at the two and quickly apologized, "I'm sorry, it was probably too chaotic at that time, so | didn't see them." Inch shook his head and smiled, not saying anything.
Charlie looked at me, his gaze falling on the scratched part of my face. His dark eyes darkened slightly as he said, "You got hurt."