Sienna Johnson looked at Adolph Desmond, noticing he had aged considerably. His temples had turned white, and the wrinkles on his face were more prominent. It seed he had carried many worries in recent years.
"Uncle Adolph, we haven’t seen each other for many years."
Adolph respectfully replied, "Yes, Madam. It’s been almost four years, nearly five, since we last t. I wonder, how have you been all these years?"
"I’ve been doing quite well."
With his head lowered, Adolph thought to himself, You’re doing well, but our Sixth Master isn’t.
Back then, Adrian had instructed him to watch over Madam. However, the clever Madam had outmaneuvered him, escaping right under his nose, and Adrian had almost killed him in a fit of rage.
Adolph had complicated feelings towards Sienna.
"Let’s go."
"Alright."
Adrian held her hand as they walked towards the place they once lived. Passing Mirror Lake, Sienna was surprised to find it planted full of the lotus flowers she liked.
She paused to admire the view. The faint fragrance of lotus blossoms filled the air, carried to her nostrils by the night breeze.
"I rember there were no lotus flowers planted here before. When did you plant them?" Sienna walked over, wanting to pick one, but Adrian stopped her.
"The bank is slippery. Let do it, you might fall in." Adrian’s long arms easily plucked a white lotus flower for her.
He handed the lotus flower to Sienna. She took it, slled it, and said, "Thank you. I like it very much."
"If you like it, I’ll have the servants pick a few every day and put them in your bedroom."
"Alright," Sienna readily agreed, not feeling the need to be overly polite with him.
Sienna held the lotus flower in one hand and Adrian’s hand in the other as they walked towards their residence. Approaching their old ho, a wave of nostalgia mixed with apprehension washed over her, and Sienna felt a little nervous.
Her room, originally Adrian’s, was the Desmond family’s master suite, located in the very center of Desmond Manor. It was a three-story building in the Ming and Qing architectural style, with her room on the third floor. Opening the south-facing window offered a view of the garden, the rockery, Mirror Lake...
"What’s wrong?" Adrian asked, looking at her curiously when he saw her stop at the doorway.
"I’m just calming myself down."
"Why do you need to calm down when returning to a room you once lived in?"
"This place used to be a cage for , a place I desperately wanted to escape. After being imprisoned for so long, then finally escaping, only to return to that sa cage... of course, I need to compose myself," Sienna said jokingly.
Adrian was speechless. After a mont, he too suppressed the anger rising in his chest and suddenly pushed the door open. "Mrs. Desmond, this is not a cage! This is where I grew up! This was our ho!"
This woman always had a knack for making him furious. If he died young soday, he was sure the cause of death would be singular: Sienna Johnson would have angered him to death!
She paused at the door for a mont and then walked in.
Adrian turned on the lights, illuminating the room. It was exactly as Sienna rembered it.
She walked over to the fabric sofa. On it lay a pair of cushions she had made by hand, embroidered with two chibi characters—one depicting her and the other, of course, Adrian.
She had drawn the chibi characters herself and embroidered them stitch by stitch when their feelings for each other were at their strongest.
She picked up her chibi cushion, gently caressing the chubby face of her likeness on it, and said, "You actually kept these?"
"What of yours haven’t I kept?" Adrian’s tone was slightly resentful. "After you left, I didn’t allow anyone to touch anything in this room. I didn’t wash your pillow or bedding for a year. Only when your scent had completely faded did I finally have them cleaned."
...
"You said this place was your cage, but in reality, it beca mine. I couldn’t find you, so all I could do was return here, relying on the things you left behind, on our mories, to endure each passing day..."
...
"Back then, I wanted to find you quickly, but I didn’t dare to pursue too aggressively. You, pregnant as you were, still dared to run. Do you know, during that ti, I had nightmares every single night? I dread you were being hunted by my n, that you’d fall, blood would be everywhere, and the child... gone..."
"I’m sorry, I didn’t know. I thought you and lanie Carpenter were happy together, and that, with ti, you would forget . As for the child... I figured you and lanie would eventually have children of your own..."
That was what she had thought at the ti.
A man unwilling to give her his exclusive love—his love must be cheap. Given enough ti, it would fade, and he would forget.
"Is that the kind of person you think I am?" He felt a sting of mockery and injustice. "All I’ve done for you... Haven’t I treated you well enough? Did you ever think about ? When you threw away like trash, did you ever consider how I felt?"
Perhaps it was the familiar surroundings stirring up old emotions; Adrian finally erupted. Here, in the place where they had lived for so long, surrounded by lingering traces of their life together, his pent-up feelings boiled over.
"Adrian, you chose lanie Carpenter back then, so I had no choice but to leave! And I was not wrong to do so!"
...
"The love I wanted had to be exclusive. No matter how well you treated , if you couldn’t give that exclusive love, then leaving was my only option!"
...
"You don’t need to feel wronged or angry. After you chose lanie, I tried too, I truly did. But you never gave a chance.
"I kept trying, right up until the very last mont—the day of your wedding to lanie. That’s when I left.
"Your ceremony was at 10 a.m. I waited until 11 a.m., but you didn’t return. I only left after confirming that you and lanie had completed the rites."
Adrian stood there, his gaze as deep and dark as the night, fixed on her. Unaffected by his dark mood, Sienna strolled around the room, examining the small trinkets she had once used. Many were items she had collected and cherished.
"I’m sorry, I just..."
"You don’t need to explain. I know you keep bringing up the past because you’re just venting the anger you can’t release otherwise. The pride of Abyanabad n... it’s truly insufferable."
...
"However, Adrian, you have to understand that since we’re together now, we can’t keep dwelling on the past. If we keep thinking about the hurt you caused and the ways I betrayed you, we won’t be able to move on with our lives together. We’ll destroy this relationship we’ve worked so hard to rebuild.
"Maintaining a marriage sotis ans choosing to turn a blind eye. For us, that ans letting go of the past and focusing only on how we’ll build our future..."
Sienna took the initiative to hold Adrian’s hand. Adrian knew she was right; it was pointless to dwell on the past. They had both made mistakes back then, and he realized fixating on it now was just stirring up trouble for no reason. So, Adrian gripped Sienna’s hand tightly.
Their fingers intertwined. Adrian took several deep breaths, reminding himself of what he needed to hold onto now and what he needed to release.
Regardless of the past, at least they were happy now.
Adrian rested his face against Sienna’s abdon. Inside, another child was growing—their child, their own flesh and blood.
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