The night fell into darkness, and the temperature dropped as days passed by. Although the weather in A City was not as frosty compared to the winter tide breezes in the north, the wind blew a nibble colder than wonted.
Kevin serenely peeked at the celestial night sky from his rolled-down window from time to time, expressionless. In the backseat, Rose was still limp from the intoxication she got herself into.
After a moment, Kevin grew impatient. He stepped on the gas pedal and zoomed the freeway to take Rose to the Starry Hotel.
Unlike the lifeless evening, the hotel was grandeur and unbelievably luxurious all year round, making the cozy people indoors despise the outdoor wintry zephyrs even more.
The myriad of luster was turned on as it illuminated through the intricately crafted and textured colorful sheers of glass.
"Mr. Kevin?"
the lobby manager rushed over and asked as soon as Kevin got off his car.
"Yes, it's me," Kevin answered casually as he loosened his velvety tie and pulled out his car key.
"Your room is all set, Mr. Kevin. Always ready for your arrival at any time," the lobby manager greeted fawningly.
Kevin's room was a supreme suite in the VIP list prepared by the Starry Hotel. Even if guests came barging in looking for a lodge at the seasonally booked hotel, they didn't dare to rent it out. They kept the room polished and clean all the time so that once Kevin showed up at the front desk, they would not make him wait for his accommodation.
"No, I'm leaving. You take her to the suite." As he finished his sentence, Kevin swung the back door open and signaled the lobby manager to pull Rose out of his car.
He only stepped out because he didn't want anyone to touch his car, or else he wouldn't feel the need to trouble himself and unlatch the door.
"Okay, Mr. Kevin." The lobby manager was confused, but he didn't dare to show the puzzled look on his face. He had his questions in mind, but in the end, to follow directives was his duty.
As soon as he closed the back door, Kevin sat on the driver seat and disappeared in a flash, leaving Rose behind in the hands of the lobby manager.
"Get out of my way!" Being dragged to the elevator, Rose suddenly woke up to the surprise of the lobby manager.
"Miss, are you alright? Mr. Kevin said you were drunk. Allow me to take you to your room," said the lobby manager with a courteous smile, confident that the woman in front of him wouldn't get offended by his helping hand.
"No, don't follow me!" Rose pushed the manager away and stomped upstairs in her eight-centimeter-high heels.
When she reached a hallway where no one was around, her arrogance abruptly turned to a helpless shame.
She finally knew the truth behind the reason why Selma insisted her to be Kevin's wife. It turned out that Kevin's child was terminally ill and needed another child with the same blood type to save his life.
A feeble gleam appeared on her lips as she fathomed the situation. She didn't like Kevin at the beginning, but she didn't know why she felt so distressed now.
"Kevin, I'm an excellent woman, so why don't you approve of me even if you could just for the sake of your child? Why?" She clenched her hands into fists of stone, her eyes were madly open, and her voice was cracking in reluctance.
She couldn't afford other people to see her like this, gushing with embarrassment, so she swiftly went to her room.
In the East Mountain Villa,
the clock ticked ten in the evening. The evening gale was surprisingly fresh and serene under the rare sight of the barren skies of A City being filled by thousands of glittering constellations.
Restfully lounging on the deck chair as she leaned her back to look at the heavens, Anne suddenly remembered the wedding dress from the Starry Sky Series that she had seen a long time ago. The daisy white and the sapphire blue wedding dress was decorated with intricate diamonds like ornamental flowers. The model struck a pose as she wore it in a dazzling and elegant stature in front of the camera.
The corners of her mouth leisurely raised as she daydreamed, but it slowly disappeared after she thought that such a magical scene was too unreal to exist in this world or to happen in her lifetime.
Suddenly, the ringing of her phone interrupted her pondering. Talking a look at the caller ID on the screen, she saw that it was Selma. She grew anxious as she had a bad feeling about this call. Selma seldom called her, so this must be about something severe.
Anne answered the phone and heard the fretful voice of Selma over the phone. She said, "Has Kevin gone back?"
"Not yet. Why? Is there something wrong?" Anne's heart skipped a beat as she asked blankly.
"He went to send the daughter of the L Group back to hotel. Now, Rose just told me that she had returned to the hotel, but Kevin was not with her, so I thought maybe he's there." Selma's tone was still frankly rude, but Anne didn’t bother. She was already used to her attitude.
"He hasn’t come back here either. Plus, his whereabouts seem to be none of my business," said Anne unruffled.
"I know you are angry with me," said Selma, but her sudden gentle tone made Anne sneer.
She knew all too well that such a voice could only be heard when she needed her to do something.
"Are you going to tell me to leave Kevin again?" said Anne indifferently.
She had already suffered a far crueler blow from Selma, so what she wanted to tell her now was not a big deal.
"It's good that you know that Kevin has a noble status. An adopted daughter of the Ye Clan like you don't deserve him, but Rose? She’s a hundred times more suitable to be with Kevin." Selma spoke in a gravely serious tone when she sensed that Anne wouldn’t yield to persuasion nor coercion.
Although Anne was madly bursting in flames deep inside, she managed to keep her composure.
Yes, she was the adopted daughter of the Ye Clan, but what about it? Who stipulated that she must possess a legitimate identity to be with Kevin?
Before, she never believed such a law because she loved Kevin, but now, she didn't believe it because she never gave an ounce of care about it anymore.
However, Anne was still unpleased from the way Selma dissed her. She said in an easy tone, "What one lacks is what makes them fear the most. As far as I know, when you married into the Fu Family, you came from a lowly family. Are you afraid that Kevin will follow your footsteps?"
"You're back?" Anne's voice drifted like a balloon suspended in the air. The pretentious serenity in her voice made Kevin throb in pain.
"Yes, I am," he replied.
"Kevin, I didn't expect you to be in such a hurry," Anne sneered.
"Why? What do you know?" Kevin's expression seemingly froze at the moment. Although he knew he did nothing wrong, he felt it difficult to explain to her.
"I know everything. A few days ago, when I took care of Eddy, you met Rose. You have met her several times, or maybe you’ve gone more intimate with her. Your mother likes her status and her blood type is the miracle we have all waited for, so your mother wants you to get married to her, right?" Anne raised her eyes, full of stubbornness. She always kept her pride soaring like a kite in the wind.
Because she was the bastard queen. She had no family, no background, just a poor foster child.
She could only act tough like an empress, stepping on shattered glass recklessly as she dragged her blood-shedding feet because she knew that once she fell, there would be no one waiting behind her to break her fall, and her defeat would be absolute.
She once wished for the love of Kevin, but he turned out to be the man she never wanted in her life. She felt like a shiver in the cold wind, and she knew better not to care about it.
"Yes, that’s right." Kevin wanted to justify himself, but what Anne said was the truth.
"So, you come clean with me. Kevin, I am so lucky that I never accepted you nor forgave you for who you are and what you’ve done because I could only imagine the horrible things I could have done to myself in this flood of embarrassment." Anne's voice was weak but starkly gritty.
Kevin was terrified of the underlying gist of her words. He reached his hand to caress Anne, but she was quick to violently shove his gesture aside.
"No, please. I won't let you get hurt, and I will do everything to protect our son." Kevin knew that her rendezvous with Rose was a big mistake, so he was at a loss of words.
"There’s no need to care for me. You better listen to your mother and do what must be done." Anne took a deep breath and beamed a crooked smile which made Kevin feel inexplicably blue.
"That’s not going to happen. I would never listen to my mother’s plea. It’s you that I love, and there’s no other woman worthy of my vows," said Kevin as he calmly tried to give her his reassurance.
As the tension heightened like rockets, Anne seemed to be on the verge of collapse. She didn't speak as much as she normally did to contain her emotions to herself, and her burst of emotion gave Kevin a lot of excruciating agonies to spare.
Kevin’s conscience told him that he had gone too far. He was numb to the towering pinnacles of piled up grievances that impaled her heart to become like this.
"I don't believe you, Kevin. I don't mind if you marry someone else, or if you have children with some other woman," said Anne without any warning as she leveled her line of sight with his.
Kevin was already taken aback by her guileless sentiments, but she continued, "You can do anything you want as long as I can be a loving mother to my son. I will take care of him all my life. You can just visit him at any time you want. You can go ahead and look after the child you'll have with the woman your mother acknowledges."
In a blink of an eye, Kevin clenched his fists as firm as a rock, looked at Anne dead in the eye, and asked, "Did I say that I allow this?"
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