Troy insists that they should accept his gifts and emphasizes, "What's mine is your daughter's. So you don’t need to feel pressured."
Karin speaks up, "Dad, since it's his intention, you guys can accept it."
Hearing his daughter and Son-in-law both say so, Mike has to accept it, puts his arms around his granddaughter, and says with a smile, "When Esme grows up in the future, Grandpa will give them to you as a dowry."
“Hahahaha…” They all laugh in unison.
After chatting for a while, Mike suddenly says to Jane, "Go to the guest room to clean yourself up. It's late. All should rest."
"Why should I clean the guest room?"
"For my son-in-law to live in it."
Troy is taken aback, "Dad, I'll just sleep in Karin's room."
"No, you are not married yet."
Karin is even more surprised, "Dad, our child is five years old."
"I don't care. I won't allow you to be in the same room if you're not married anyway."
"The wedding will be held sooner or later. It's just a ceremony."
"Do you want to rebel with me?"
He raises his eyebrows. And Troy immediately nods, "Dad, I will do everything as you said."
At night, after Karin puts her daughter to bed, she sends a text message to Troy, which reads, "Are you asleep?"
"No, do you want to come to my room?"
She smiles annoyedly and replies, "Come to the courtyard. I have something to tell you."
"Come to my room, okay? We can talk while making love."
...
Karin closes the door of her room and takes the lead to go to the courtyard. And soon, Troy also shows up.
"Didn't I tell you to go to my room?"
"Aren't you afraid that you will lose the image you've managed to maintain tonight?"
He sighs while stroking his forehead, "Then what are you going to say to me?"
"Thank you."
Karin gazes at him profoundly, "Thank you for helping our family maintain our pride today."
"It is what I should do."
"I should say thank you to you. And it seems that all the stuffiness that has been building up in my heart for years has come out at once."
"Then how do you want to repay me?"
His eyes become burning as he doesn’t hide the desire in his heart. Karin's face turns red as she says, "For the sake of the fact that I let Esme recognize you as her irresponsible father, let's get even."
“Well…” Troy doesn’t know whether he should laugh or cry as he says, “Since we are even, why did you call me here?”
"I have something to say to you."
"What is it?"
"The legal representative of HS Group, the company I worked for in Edinburgh, is your second uncle Emmanuel Charlie, which I found out when I accidentally asked for William's signature."
Originally, she thought that Troy would be as shocked as she was after hearing her words. However, Troy is surprisingly calm.
"Did you hear that?"
Seeing that he doesn't say anything, she pushes him.
"Yeah."
“Boom!” Karin feels that something in her brain explodes. And her legs go limp. She falls into Troy's arms...
Grass extends inches by inches. And the wind gently blows. Standing in front of her grandmother's grave, Karin doesn’t shed any tears. It is not that she isn’t sad. Instead, she dares not to cry. If she does, it means that her grandmother indeed has gone.
"Regarding your grandmother, before she died, she still called your name." Jane sobs, "She said, ‘Karin, where have you been? Why didn’t you come back to see Grandma…’ "
When her mother says this, she feels even more heartbroken and guilty. Then she immediately gets down on her knees with her hands clutching at the dirt on the ground. Although her nails have been broken, she holds herself back from crying.
"Your grandmother is a woman with a bitter life. All over her life, she has been waiting for a man who failed her. And she is still waiting for him until her death. Even so, the man didn’t come back. And she died so unwillingly. When you came back with an illegitimate daughter, your father and I were overwhelmingly painful. And we couldn’t accept it. It is not because we were afraid of being laughed at by others. Instead, we were afraid that you would end up like your grandmother..."
As Jane says so, she can’t help but lose her voice and cry. It is just that this time, she no longer cries desperately.
"Fortunately, Troy didn’t fail you. Unfortunately, your grandmother couldN’t see such a scene. If you had come back a few years earlier, your grandmother should be overwhelmingly happy as she sees your family. Maybe she could live a few more years. After all, she died in hatred because she had been waiting a lifetime without seeing any hope."
Troy slowly walks to the tombstone, gently takes Karin into his arms, and says heartily, "Cry if you want to. Don't hold yourself back. You no longer need to be strong. So don't be afraid of letting others see how much pain you are in."
"I don't want to cry."
Karin bites her lips tightly and stares at her grandmother's picture, and says, "She surely has been tired before she left. It's good that she left. It’s good. She never has to wait for that person again."
Originally, waiting for someone is an exhausting thing, let alone waiting for someone for a lifetime.
If there is an afterlife, Karin hopes that her grandmother will never be a woman who waits for her man foolishly.
Although she says she won’t cry verbally, tears flow and fall on the ground one after another. She knows it better than anyone that her grandmother's sadness doesn’t come from her calm sentiment for the years passing by or the simple and lonely suffering or the longing for affection between males and females. Instead, she knows that the reason why her grandmother was sad was that she simply didn’t have a chance to say a lot of words in her heart.
Jane leaves the cemetery with Esme first. Troy accompanies Karin in front of her grandmother's grave as he says guiltily, "I'm sorry, Karin. It's all my fault. It's my failure to fulfill the promise at the critical moment that the same encounter does not mean the same fate, which caused you to fail to see your grandmother for the last time. I'm so sorry.”
She shakes her head, "It's not your fault. Everything is predestined."
Troy kneels down and slowly raises his right hand, "Grandma, I swear to you today that I will love this woman beside me with everything I have during my lifetime. And I will guard her until I die. Never will I let her suffer a little bit and be hurt a little bit. Please bless her and make sure she is safe and happy."
Karin's eyes well up with hot tears. It turns out people won’ only cry in pain. Occasionally, they will cry out of their happiness.
She also raises her right hand and says with tears in her eyes, "Grandma, I swear to you today that I will do my best to love this man beside me as long as I live. Disregard how many difficulties, dangers, misunderstandings, and pains, I will believe in him unconditionally, follow him, and live without regret even if I put my life on the line. And please bless him, making sure that he has to be safe and healthy. "
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