The more he tried to ease up the tension between them, the more their relationship turned sour!
“What’s wrong?” Evan asked puzzledly when he returned home noticing how listless Davin appeared.
Davin stopped in his tracks to regard Evan. The longer he stared at him, the more dispirited he felt; he couldn’t help but lament, “Evan, can’t you just make sure things are in peace?”
Evan frowned at him in response. “What do you mean?”
“Do you have any idea how much of a hard time I’ve been going through? I’m worried sick about you! Y-You really owe me a sports car because of that!”
What nonsense is he talking about?
With a crease on his forehead, Evan eyed him skeptically.
“Evan, let’s talk about your relationship with Ms. Lane… Are you sure you aren’t interested in her in the least bit?”
“Of course I’m not!”
After a pause, Davin then braced himself and pressed on, “Do you really hate her, or you are shunning her on purpose?”
Evan went speechless as he narrowed his brooding eyes slightly.
“Evan, are you avoiding her, as well as all other women and all possibilities that might lead to a relationship, on purpose because you’re held back by something that’s been bothering you deep down inside?”
Davin was scrutinizing Evan’s face to see if there was any change to his expression as he audaciously finished phrasing his question.
He astutely caught the trace of intense misery that flashed in Evan’s eyes when he mentioned his issues.
Indeed, Evan had yet to move on from his past despite so many years have passed!
“Evan, that hoyden has already…”
“It’s getting late. You should go back home and rest.”
Obviously having no intention of elaborating on that topic, Evan interrupted Davin without hesitation before striding up the stairs.
Davin let out a sigh in silence while watching his back.
It seemed like the hoyden’s bite had left a deep marking in Evan’s heart.
Although that hoyden was no longer around, he wondered whether the bite mark was still there at the same place after so many years had passed.
Evan and that hoyden…
Evan and Nicole…
Sometimes, one had no choice but to resign to one’s fate.
…
When Evan returned to his study, he leaned back on the chair in a laid-back manner as he massaged his temples. After that, he took a cup of coffee from the desk and took a sip before placing it back.
“Evan, that hoyden has already…”
As Davin’s words were still resounding in his head, he fished out a cigarette with uneasiness and lit it. Amidst the mist of smoke, some fading memories of his past which he had dreaded to remember came flooding back.
He thought about the last encounter he had with her. At that time, she was like an abandoned doll, crouching sulkily beside a flower bed after she was being mocked.
Staring at her solemnly, he consoled her, “Don’t be sad because I’ll marry you in the future!”
“Really?!” She blinked her eyes which sparkled like stars.
“You bet!” He made her a solemn promise.
Instead of responding to him, she rose to her feet and gazed at him with a faint smile. On the next second, she started a round of giggle that was so infectious that it made him start to laugh too.
Next, his memories jumped to the part when he received the devastating news.
“Mr. Seet, the girl you have been looking for has passed away.”
“What?! No, it’s not possible!”
“It’s true. We found a tombstone on which there was a portrait. The girl in it looks exactly the same as the one in the photo you showed us.”
When Evan heard that, he felt as though something in his head just imploded and he refused to believe it until he went to the graveyard himself and saw the portrait on the tombstone with his own eyes…
At that moment, he finally realized how it felt to be heartbroken and how vulnerable he was when it came to life and death matters.
At that moment, he buried her in his heart, together with all his feelings for her.
From then on, he had deliberately avoided relationships and marriage by focusing his full attention and effort on building his career.
On her death anniversary four years ago, he experienced such intense grief over her demise that he decided to drink away his sorrow at a bar. Little did he know, he encountered Nicole on that fateful night…
With that thought in mind, he took a huge puff of the cigarette.
When the door to his study was suddenly opened, he quickly stubbed out the cigarette and threw it into the ashtray.
“How come you’re still up?”
As Juan was approaching him, he noticed the cigarette smoke lingering in the air. “Daddy, are you smoking?”
Evan pinched the cheeks of the adorable boy as he answered, “Look, it’s pretty normal for guys to smoke. I just had one.”
“Daddy, is something bothering you?”
“Nope.”
