Melanie quickly composed herself and said merrily, “I’m shopping for decor, and I’m looking at a clementine tree right now. If we put it in your house, it will brighten up the room.”
Julian smiled faintly. “It’s up to you, Mom.”
She said in the same merry tone, “Julian, you’re very easy to talk to today. Oh, I also bought a Louis Vuitton cashmere scarf just for Willow. I even picked a color that suits her.
“She’s pregnant now, and we have to make sure she keeps warm whenever she goes outside. Keep an eye on her, Julian. I won’t let you off the hook if something goes wrong”
Julian listened quietly until Melaine was done talking and hung up the phone. The evening light had almost faded. He lowered his head and looked at the cigarette between his fingers, keeping his thoughts to himself.
Esther stood next to him the whole time, keeping him company.
As the sky turned dark, Julian said gently, “Tell Dr. Somner that I can’t do the surgery for the time being. Ask him to give me a prescription that will help with the condition.”
She was stunned. “But…”
He stubbed out the cigarette, looked at her, and grinned nonchalantly. “Esther Barker, I don’t want to hear it. Just do as I say!”
This was the first time he had addressed her by her full name, Esther Barker. In fact, she went to the same college as him, and they had known each other for years.
She immediately burst into tears. She couldn’t accept how things turned out, and it crushed her when Julian spoke as if leaving his final words. He had always been tough and unyielding.
How could someone like him have gotten a condition like this?
The chimes of a chapel’s bell echoed in the middle of the night. A dignified statue of a deity stood tall within its hallowed halls.
A stark black figure was kneeling in the heart of the hall, bowing low on the ground for what seemed like an eternity.
A priest gazed upon his ruined arm and asked gently, “Has regret ever clutched your heart ever since you relinquished your worldly desires?”
“They talked about how they were going to water the tree on New Year’s Day so that it would grow nice and tall. “Mrs. Ziegler poured a lot of heart into trimming the branches. She said that it will liven up the place.”
A gentle breeze swept through. Tears gathered at the corner of Julian’s eyes as he faced the maid and smiled. “It’s the end of the current year. We should usher in the new year with joy in our hearts.”
The maid didn’t notice that there was something unusual about him.
Julian took his coat off, climbed the stairs, and walked toward the door. An orange glow shone on his face, soft yet tinged with sorrow.
Using what was left of his life, he would make an intricate plan for Willow and the kids. He also couldn’t forget about Liam, Melanie, the entire Ziegler family, and…
Julian couldn’t finish his thought. He abruptly stopped walking and let the quietness of the night settle around him. It was then that he realized how unwilling he was to leave the world behind. He had had too many regrets he hadn’t made up for.
Above all, he longed… No, he yearned to grow old with Willow until their hair turned gray.
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