8
In the hospital room, Lucas had an absurd dream.
In the dream, he married me as he wished, and we spent a sweet time together.
But he grew tired of the constraints of marriage and only felt free and easy when he was with Rachel.
So he planned a fake kidnapping, then took Rachel and ran away, faking their deaths in a plane crash.
From then on, he no longer had to be bound by family responsibilities.
Rachel was gentle and considerate, Mrs. Carter regularly sent money to support them, and he soon had a son.
He later heard that Rachel had instructed the kidnappers to torture me, but he chose to remain silent.
As for me, his abandoned wife, he thought I would probably start over with the fortune I had been allocated.
Later, Mrs. Carter gave birth to another son, and he finally let go of his guilt towards the family completely.
It wasn’t until his hair had turned white that he learned I had stayed with the Carter family all along.
After Mr. Carter passed away, I alone shouldered all the pressure.
I even helped the frail Mrs. Carter raise his younger brother, sent him to a prestigious school, and finally took over the family business.
<
–
He knew I had been waiting for him to come back all along, which made him even more afraid to show up.
That year when we encountered each other on the cruise ship, he never expected to meet my eyes.
My gaze went from dazed to shocked, then to heartbroken.
He stopped combing Rachel’s hair, not knowing how to open his mouth for a moment.
My temples had already turned gray, making me look much older than them.
He was even more surprised when his daughter actively went to talk to me.
“Auntie, you look so cool. Are you traveling alone? Want me to take
He saw me staring at him with red eyes.
But when he opened his mouth, he couldn’t say anything.
Until the huge wave hit, and we were all swept into the sea.
He heard himself cry out clearly:
a
photo for you?”
“Emily, I’m sorry for making you wait so long. In the next life, don’t wait for me anymore!”
He suddenly coughed up a mouthful of blood, waking up from the nightmare.
He firmly believed I wasn’t dead. If he could fake his death, I must be able to as well.
He recklessly pushed aside all work, taking his sick body around the world to look for me.
On my side, with the experience from my past life, I quickly took control of the situation.
Thinking about how Alexander said he admired my abilities, plus my brother saying he was a fan of my career.
During this time, I pulled him into every project team, taking him to meetings and business trips.
He always looked at me with a mix of grievance and gratification.
I had to find ways to make it up to him, secretly giving him a raise.
One day, I changed into casual clothes to eat in the staff cafeteria.
The female colleagues at the next table were gossiping:
“Have you noticed? Mr. Xiao has been coming to work on time lately, even coming in on weekends. So many people are deliberately staying late hoping to run into him!”
“Yeah, yeah, if he would just smile at me once, I’d be willing to sleep at the company every day!”
“Stop dreaming. I heard Mr. Xiao follows Miss Shaw around all day now. How could we ever compare?”
I didn’t expect him to be so popular in the company.
That night after a business dinner, he insisted on sending me home.
He was drunk and mumbling about going back to help me revise the proposal.
I couldn’t help but tease him: “Mr. Xiao, you don’t need to work so hard. We can revise it tomorrow.”
He looked at me with drunk, misty eyes, his voice soft and sweet:
“No way, I’ve waited so long for you to come back. I have to perform well and let you see my sincerity.”
11:4
<
Those affectionate eyes made my heart skip a beat.
