CHAPTER 131: CHAPTER 130: TRUE FEELINGS

Maeve took a cigarette, placed it in her mouth, and kept staring blankly at the natural lake not far away.

Simon Forrester lit her cigarette and then lit one for himself.

Amidst the swirling white smoke, neither of them spoke, quietly smoking, each lost in their own thoughts.

As the cigarette was about to be smoked to the end, Maeve laughed, "I didn’t know until today that Mr. Forrester smokes too."

"In design work, who doesn’t smoke? It’s just a matter of smoking more or less." Simon Forrester leaned against the stone wall behind him, one hand in his pocket, the other holding a cigarette, his eyes staring into the void.

Maeve took a long drag, squinting as she exhaled the white smoke, "I’ve never seen you smoke before."

Simon Forrester chuckled, casually extinguishing the cigarette in his hand in an ashtray, "I don’t smoke in front of her."

The implication was that he didn’t smoke in front of Sienna, so Maeve naturally never got the chance to see him smoking.

Simon Forrester wanted to chat with Maeve for a bit, so he wasn’t in a hurry to leave.

After a moment of silence, he asked, "What time did she leave?"

Maeve glanced at her watch, "She should be home by now."

Seeing her cigarette burn to the end, Simon Forrester lit another for her but didn’t light one for himself. He was actually trying to quit smoking.

After another quiet moment, he asked, "Why did you all take on this place? You clearly didn’t have the capacity." He actually noticed the potential for economic trouble for Sienna from the moment he took on this project.

Maeve: "Sienna always wanted to bring her mom over, but the elderly woman felt that since she couldn’t work, she’d be a burden on her daughter, so she was reluctant. That’s how the idea of a guesthouse came up. Considering her daughter’s business was being taken care of by her family, the elderly woman would generally agree to come over."

Blowing out white smoke, she continued, "Moreover, buying a decent house in Brimfield costs tens of millions, right? Running a place like this not only makes some money but can also serve as a home; isn’t that nice?"

Simon Forrester listened intently, making no comment.

Maeve: "Plus, as you can see, Sienna isn’t doing well at Vantage, so... she needs her own career and harbor."

She smoked non-stop, one cigarette after another, her addiction severe.

Simon Forrester stood by, thinking about Sienna but unsure of what to do next.

For the first time, he felt this lost: "Tell me about her."

Maeve smiled, staring at the sky in the direction of Z City.

She also missed the Sienna from back then.

It seemed she was speaking more to herself now.

"Fifteen years ago, Sienna was admitted to Z City No. 1 High School, but her stepfather hid her acceptance letter. When the admissions officers didn’t see her report, they came looking in the village, and her mother, upon finding out, secretly sent her away at night, keeping it from her stepfather."

"She rode on a tractor with bricks from the village, carrying just thirty yuan. From the village to the town, then to the city, this thirteen-year-old girl who had never even left her village took days to get to school."

"That was the last time she took money from home. That thirty yuan was saved by her mother, risking her stepfather’s violence. For those three years in high school, she came first in her class every time, and the school gave her three hundred yuan a month as living expenses, allowing her to finally complete high school peacefully."

"But even then, after the entrance exams, she almost couldn’t attend college. She aimed for Braden University but couldn’t afford the tuition. At that time, HKU was willing to waive her fees for a few years and offered her a full scholarship, so she was forced to leave for Azure Harbor."

"There, unfamiliar with the place, without family or friends, she had to learn the language, study her major, work, and save money to go back to Braden University for her master’s." At this point, Maeve suddenly let out a mocking laugh, "Bearing a mountain-like pressure and still soaring high, not everyone can understand such a life."

"To work, she washed dishes at a restaurant opened by mainlanders. At that time, she was thin and short, skinny as a bean sprout, looking like she’d get knocked over by a breeze..."

"Later, she went to Braden University and then to Harvard, studying, fighting, and saving money all the way. Finally, she joined Vantage on her own merit but had to endure various injustices and gossip... Even so, she persevered without complaint, wholeheartedly loving all of this. She sponsored three impoverished college students from her hometown, often forgetting that she too had it tough..."

At this point, Maeve’s eyes reddened, and her voice choked. It was as if she saw the skinny, bean-sprout-like Sienna from those years waving at her.

Suddenly she shivered, stood up from the wooden steps, looked hard at Simon Forrester, and in a low voice questioned, "Are you sure you like her this way?"

She thought Simon Forrester would seriously consider after hearing Sienna’s past, whether someone so low-born, who struggled so hard yet could not overcome her class, could walk a lifetime with him.

But Simon Forrester nonchalantly replied, "Of course I do, why wouldn’t I?"

Maeve was stunned.

Simon Forrester’s face carried a smile, "I’m not as snobbish as you all, worrying about matching social standing or family power when dating someone. I like her, even if she’s an orphan, even if she’s disabled, I’d still like her."

He put both hands in his pockets, lazily leaned against the stone wall, gazing at the natural lake and the scenery of the area, shaking his head with a cool laugh, "Tsk tsk tsk, just look at today’s societal norms, poisoning the minds of you young women like this? You’re considering what advantages you could bring someone before dating them? If you like thinking this way, then keep it to yourself, don’t go influencing or harming others."

This "others" naturally referred to Sienna.

After dropping these words, he turned and left. The lighthearted indifference on his face vanished in an instant.

His heart felt heavy, unbearably so.

When Maeve talked about Sienna’s past, another him in a parallel world seemed to have already found the Sienna of those years. Watched her study hard, saw the great bewilderment because of poverty, saw her hands wrinkled from dishwashing liquid, saw her, young and fragile, standing in the kitchen, her tiny, weak wrists holding those big and heavy plates...

In that parallel world, he was in tears.

He wanted to embrace her, to comfort her, to give her a beautiful future, to shield her from all hardships and difficulties.

...

Simon Forrester returned to Brimfield before dawn.

He stopped his car under the apartment building, watching the sky turn from fish-belly white to a blazing blue in the sunlight.

He stared unblinkingly at the stairway entrance, counting the time, planning that if he didn’t see Sienna by 8:30, he would go up to find her. Because he wasn’t sure if this workaholic would skip her break to go to work again.

Time passed exceptionally slowly, and by nine o’clock, when he was certain Sienna was not going to work, Simon Forrester parked the car and went up to find her.

Knocking on the door, no response; calling, no answer.

Realizing she had hidden herself away again, he knocked harder, calling her name, "Candy!"

The neighbors across the way occasionally came out to tell him to quiet down, or they would call the police. He ignored them, continued knocking, continued calling.

After more than ten minutes, the door opened.

Sienna stood there with a phone in hand, glaring at him with grievance, just about to say something when he pulled the door open from the outside, his tall frame blocking the doorway’s light.

She was startled, took a hurried step back, looked at him in panic, her words stuck on her tongue, hesitated for a while before saying, "The neighbors called to say they’re calling the police! You better leave!"

He said nothing, closed the door behind him, stepped forward and gave her a firm hug.

She was held so tightly she couldn’t breathe, struggling to speak, "If you don’t leave and get caught by the police, I’m not bailing you out!"

He buried his face in her neck, whispering, "If the police arrest me, I’ll need you to be my lawyer."

She pushed him, sounding disdainful, "I’m not helping you; it’d be better if you got arrested by the police..."

Before finishing her sentence, he kissed her.

Her instinctive reaction was to push him; as time ticked by, the air grew thin, and she felt like she was suffocating, clutching her chest, her face flushed like her blood pressure was off the charts.

Suffocating.

Until she began coughing heavily, he finally released her, yet didn’t let her go, instead wrapping his arms around her waist, carrying her straight into the bedroom, tossing her onto the bed.

She jumped up, pulled the covers over herself, and exclaimed, "What are you doing? Get out!"

Undeterred, he kicked off his shoes, took off his socks, turned to lie next to her, and casually draped his arm over her waist, leaving her dumbfounded and forgetting to push him away.