Chapter 81: Chapter 81 Memories are beautified and faded (8)
Only a moment ago, she thought she could let him go. But she now realized that she could never let him go. Even if she armed herself with hypocrisy, she could not let him go. She could never.
At that moment, however, she was soaked with water. She saw Olivia’s face through her hair stuck to her face with muddy water, with her eyes sparkling with a sense of betrayal.
‘Olivia, I’m so glad you are here right now!’
Francis didn’t grab Dylan Lennox as he pulled his body away from her. Dylan didn’t even feel Olivia had been standing close as he was carried away with Francis’s aggressive kiss.
“Are you guys playing the fool with me?”
‘Yes, please get more angry and feel betrayed. I didn’t think you would have a smooth relationship with that old dotard even if you were forcibly married to Earl Duoldran. That will make you feel more attached to Dylan…But I won’t let you do that.’
“Olivia, don’t misunderstand me! Let me explain everything.”
But Francis thought to herself, ‘Oh, Dylan. My poor man. Look at Olivia’s eyes over there. She will never believe what you have to say from now on.’
Francis sighed, looking at Dylan miserably. Olivia’s eyes were already full of anger, as if she was convinced of his infidelity.
“Misunderstanding? Shut up! Francis, you crazy bitch! How can you insult and shame me like this? Ha! Misunderstanding?”
“Please calm down! I know what you’re thinking, but I swear! This wasn’t what I meant. Francis and I are not romantically related at all as you imagine! ”
“Dylan, how can you say that? Don’t tell me a lie because that woman’s talking flippantly. Are you going to hurt my feelings?”
Francis deliberately squeezed his arms tightly as if she would never let him go.
“Olivia, please!”
Dylan violently pulled his arms away from Francis and grabbed Olivia’s arm, but Olivia slapped him in the face furiously. Dylan’s head turned sharply.
“Why are you touching me with your dirty hands?”
She shouted as if she was venting her frustration and anger. Though she uttered a few more words icily, Dylan stood still as if he had been bound up with her resentful eyes. She turned her back without any regret. Next to him, Francis shouted with a shrill voice, while touching his face. Watching Olivia disappearing, Dylan came to his senses belatedly.
‘No, I can’t let her go like this!’ He began to follow Olivia urgently.
“Dylan!” Francis stopped him, shouting at him loudly.
She shook her head from side to side, presenting Olivia’s marriage certificate.
Dylan Lennox’s eyes trembled when he looked at the certificate stained with muddy water.
He was filled with anger.
“Is this what you wanted from me?” He said as if she was disgusting.
Dylan grabbed the marriage certificate from her hand and ripped it apart on the spot.
Folding the torn pieces of the certificate and putting them in his pocket, he left the Hazlet mansion. That day Dylan rode all night and reached Marquis Zaksen Bahar’s mansion.
“So, I showed the torn marriage certificate to Marquis Zaksen… and that made your marriage invalid. ”
After he briefed Wendy about what had happened between him and Francis, Dylan sighed a long sigh.
He had been hoping for a chance to explain to her for the past two years. Now, his heart trembled tremendously. As if to hide the trembling, he took a deep breath again.
“When I came back from the marquis’s mansion, you were already gone.”
He did not talk about what kind of troubles he went through at the marquis’s mansion and the quarrel between the two families. That’s nothing, compared to his sense of loss after she was gone. He suffered a lot of mental stress and other troubles after she left, but he would not be able to make her understand his pain.
Wendy, stood silent like a statue for a long time, repeatedly opened and closed her lips as if she was hesitant.
“You must have suffered a lot of troubles in the territory of the marquis…”
Wendy couldn’t finish her thoughts before turning away from him. The almond petals fell sporadically.
“There was nothing for you to worry about.” Dylan laughed bitterly.
He was moved to hear her speaking sincerely without showing any cynicism.
“Why…Why did you do so on that day?”
Wendy asked him what had happened for the first time on that day. Actually she heard him explaining everything, but she asked again.
“I had no other choice at that time.”
“No, you shouldn’t have kissed her!” Wendy raised her right hand and stroked her face.
“Please, believe me. At that moment, I had no choice but to do what Francis wanted.
Even if she did it with malicious intention, I had to do as she wished. I had to because I couldn’t lose you…”
“Didn’t you know that you would lose me the moment you kissed Francis?”
She looked at him blankly.
“It was a meaningless kiss. It was just a kiss. I swear I had no other woman in my heart. ” He spoke earnestly.
Wendy raised her head and looked at Dylan. Due to the sun, she could hardly see his face. A black shadow, contrasted with the sun beyond, covered his face. It was dark like their relationship.
“A single kiss can destroy all one’s trust in the other party,” she spoke, closing her dazzling eyes. She felt her whole body getting cold. She had no anger or hate for him now.
“If there’s something wrong, I’ll get it right. If I was foolish then, I will reflect and fix it. I also know that although my choice on that day was the best for me, it turned out to be the worst. Nevertheless, give me a chance.”
“… Too much time has passed since then. ”
“You know how much I loved you. You, too, loved me, right? Think about our good times.”
“I don’t even have any memories to beautify now. I couldn’t even tell you I am grateful to you that you saved me and stopped my unwanted marriage. I don’t want to blame you for not telling me first, or not knowing Francis’ cunning… What’s the point of me feeling sad at this point? Our relationship is over already. It’s just that our relationship lasted up to that point.”
Although she knew that she wasn’t the only one who had been hurt by their broken love, she couldn’t treat him like she used to. She didn’t want to say she was sorry for misunderstanding him, nor did she want to blame herself for her hasty judgement about his relationship with Francis. Several seasons passed, and their good relationship in the past disappeared like the piles of leaves.
“Please… don’t say that, Olivia!” Dylan’s eyes were bloodshot.
He was more fearful than the moment she was upset with him. He felt he would really lose her.
“I’m leading a new life now. I’ve got a new name, Wendy Waltz, and I’m spending every day so peacefully that I can’t compare it to my past life.”
She had forgotten Dylan, who was once her darling and could not be separated from her life. The waves carrying him had already drifted far away, while she already set her foot on the land and walked long and far away from the shore.
“So, just lead your own life from now… Please. Nothing changes. Just help me lead a new life of my own. It hasn’t been easy for me to get here. I don’t want to go back to the past again.”
She looked at him bitterly for a while. There was nothing left in her heart where her intense hatred of him had been. It had been swept away in a storm or emotion so there was nothing left, nothing to sprout a bud again.
“I just…” Dylan couldn’t speak.
After looking at her wistfully for a while, he couldn’t hold her until she turned and left. He didn’t have the nerve to do so because her desperate and earnest voice was more urgent than his begging voice.
“Haa…”
He leaned back against the tall almond tree and sighed. The few remaining petals from the tree fell silently. He lifted his arm and covered his eyes. He was crying silently. Francis had kissed him passionately. As her lips and tongue touched his in his mind, he could only feel his tears of the present.
Wendy walked along aimlessly, staring blankly into the distance as if her soul had dried up.
After walking for a long time she came to her senses and looked around. She found herself already at the corner of the street leading to her house.
“Oh, I have to head for the flower shop,” she muttered.
Nevertheless, she continued to walk on in the same direction. She couldn’t know the reason.
She walked as if she was bewitched by something.
Walking past the alley and entering the front yard of her house, she unconsciously looked up at the window next door.
A dusty wind blew and tickled her eyes. When she rubbed my eyes, she felt sore.
She felt as if grains of sand had filled her eyes.
While she was rubbing roughly, someone grabbed her arm.
“Wendy.”
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