Ophelia was dead. There was no way Brendan would lie to her about this matter. But if it was not Ophelia, why would Brendan keep a photo of a woman who looked like her?Deirdre’s heart began to pump faster and faster as an idea began slowly taking shape in her head. “Glenna, can you tell me more about the photo? Can you tell where she is and who she's with?” Deirdre asked.Glenna looked at the photo closely for a while, but she could barely see anything because the photo was blurry. “This photo is weird. It seems to me that she’s in a room or something. She’s sitting on a bed, and there’s no one else in the photo.”“What about her hair? And what is she wearing? Does she have long hair or short hair?” Glenna was startled by Deirdre’s string of questions. She tried to calm her down by saying, “Calm down, Deirdre. I’ll tell you slowly.”“I’m sorry…” Deirdre pressed down her surging emotions and closed her eyes. If Ophelia was still alive, then she could not leave the country any
Deirdre bit her lip tightly. When she came back to her senses, she made another call, typing the phone number in her memory.After a short while, the call was connected and a sleepy voice rang out. “Who is it?”Embarrassed, Deirdre parted her lips and said, “Madame Russell, it’s me… I’m sorry for calling you at this late hour. Were you sleeping?”“Deirdre?” Eilis woke up and sat up straight. “Of course not. I'm still watching TV on the couch. What’s the matter? Why did you call me all of a sudden? I thought you said you were going to Germia soon. Did you have a fight with Mr. Reed?”“No…” Deirdre felt a gush of warmth surging in her heart. Eilis had always cared about her. “Nothing happened between us. It’s just that we were held back by something, so we haven’t departed for Germia yet.”“I see…” Eilis sighed. “Well, on the bright side, it’s good to stay home as well. After all, international calls are expensive. It costs a lot for you to call me like this, and I don’t want you to
“That’s simple. My friend knows how to copy a photo. I’ll get in contact with him now.”“I’m sorry, Glenna,” Deirdre said apologetically. “You've helped me so much, yet I still need you to help me do something at this late hour.”Glenna smiled and said, “You don’t have to apologize to me. You’ve helped me a lot, right? Besides, we’re friends, and as friends, we should be helping each other.” Deirdre, who was touched by Glenna’s words, nodded.She did not sleep well throughout the entire night. However, she still woke up very early the next day.She had not forgotten her promise to Brendan. Brendan was rather impatient as well, as he called her and asked where she was as soon as the clock struck eight.Deirdre told him the address of the neighborhood. Glenna had already gone to work, so she walked to the entrance of the neighborhood alone. As soon as she went out, she captured the figure of a man through her blurred vision.“Where is my suit?” he asked, getting down to business
Deirdre’s hands were shaking. She tried to open her eyes as wide as possible to see clearly the man in front of her, but to no avail. She forced herself to calm down and asked, “Why… Why is Kyran’s phone in your car?”Brendan had never expected something like this to happen. He frowned and chided himself for his carelessness. He had been very cautious in the past and had always been meticulous about everything. Now, he had made a mistake because of the photo.However, he soon calmed himself down and said, “I met with him today.”Deirdre became nervous. “You met with him today?!”“Yes, what’s the matter?” Brendan sneered. “Don’t worry. I didn’t do anything to him. We just had a little talk.”Deirdre’s heartbeat was getting faster and faster, and her chest was heaving up and down rapidly. “What did you guys talk about?”“Well, we talked about a lot of things. For example, we talked about you.”“Me?”“Didn’t you beg me to let him go? Honestly, I didn’t want to do it, but since I w
Tobey knew that she could not see with her eyes, so he described the photo to her. “Mrs. McKinnon looks very healthy in this photo. She’s smiling brightly at the camera.”Deirdre remembered that Ophelia had been very nervous at the time. She had been worried that she would not look good in the photo, so she had taken her best outfit—a flower dress—out and put it on. Unfortunately, she was too skinny, so the dress had not suited her well.She had taken a rope and tied it around her waist, and Deirdre had felt like crying upon seeing what she had done. She had leaned on her mother’s shoulder and said, “Mom, when I make a lot of money, I’ll buy many beautiful dresses for you. We will stay in a big house, and you won't have to push a cart down a muddy road anymore when you go to the market.”However, little had she expected that she would be the one to cause her mother’s death.Deirdre’s eyes turned red around the rims, and she smiled. “I remember you saying that the flowery dress look
“Kyran…”Deirdre felt that there was something wrong with them. She bit her lip and asked, “Why did you come back so early today?”Kyran pushed the hair in front of her forehead to the back of her head gently and said, “What’s the matter? Did you not want me to come home early to keep you company?”“That’s not what I meant…” Deirdre’s voice became lower. “I was just a little bit surprised.”Kyran grabbed her hand and brought her over to his side. “It's been a long time since I spent time with you, so I decided to spend the day with you today.”Deirdre let out a dry laugh.For some reason, she felt that Kyran was putting on a show to flaunt their close relationship in front of Tobey. This made her feel slightly uncomfortable. She did not like to act all lovey-dovey in front of people she knew. “So he’s the boyfriend you’ve been talking about, Deirdre?” Tobey chimed in. “He doesn't seem at all like what you told me. You said that your boyfriend was very gentle and understanding
“Kyran…” Tears streamed down from Deirdre's eyes. She lowered her head, and her voice sounded choked when she said, “How could you think like that?”He should feel more secure than anyone.“No matter what happens, I won’t leave you. I love you, and unless you don’t love me anymore, I’ll always be by your side. I promise you,” Deirdre said with a smile, her eyes filled with tears. “You’re better than me, and it’s my honor to be with you. I don’t understand why you would feel so insecure. You shouldn’t feel this way…“Tobey has only treated me like his younger sister since we were kids. We're like brother and sister. The fact that I didn’t choose to be with him in the past means that I’ll never be with him in the future either.”Kyran cupped her face between his hands and asked, “Really?”Deirdre nodded sternly. Kyran lowered his head and kissed her. Deirdre felt embarrassed as she said, “Is my face salty? It’s filled with tears.”“It’s sweet,” Kyran whispered into her ear. “It’s b
The things that happened last night surfaced in her head. Kyran had not gone easy on her at all, especially not on her neck. She felt that he must've left a very obvious mark on her neck. It was very embarrassing, and she could not raise her head up. Tobey got to his feet and said, “Wait for me here.”Then, he went out of the coffee shop. After a few minutes, he came back and handed a bag to Deirdre.“Put it on.”Deirdre stuck her hand into the bag and pulled a scarf out. She wrapped it around her neck, finally feeling a bit better.Tobey tapped his finger on the table and said with a fake smile, “Deirdre, it seems like your boyfriend doesn’t respect you.”Deirdre raised her head. Tobey added, “He knew that you were coming out to see me today, yet he did this to you. He didn't care at all about how much trouble what he did would cause you, and I don't think you'd really like to be in the limelight because of it either.”Deirdre fell silent. Tobey was right. However, Kyran had