Chapter 11
After leaving the Parrish’s villa, I took the city bus to Aflon Commercial
Street.
Because of my criminal record, my educational background had been
erased.
Coupled with my physical disabilities, I could only find a part–time job as a dishwasher in a restaurant to support myself for the next ten days.
It was so laughable. When I was fifteen, my parents got me back.
Then they only gave me 200 dollars for my living expenses during the first month. After that, they loathed me, thinking I wasn’t as good as Kyla, so they started to ignore me, though I was their biological daughter.
I could only work part–time to pay for my tuition and living expenses.
At 11:30 p.m.. I washed the last plate.
Then I walked out of the restaurant alone and saw Antonio getting out of a Rolls–Royce Phantom and walking toward me,
“Grace, why have you been out so long?”
Before I could say anything, he led me to the car and opened the car door.
On the seat was a beautiful strawberry cake.
“Happy birthday, Grace.”
I froze in place.
Our families had been friends for generations and had always been neighbors.
Antonio and I had been engaged since we were little. The arranged marriage never changed even after I got lost at two and was found at fifteen.
Till today, I still remembered that he was the first person I saw after I returned to the Parrish’s villa.
That day, he was wearing a white shirt. Standing in the sunlight, he was
radiant.
He was his parents‘ third child.
When I lived in the Parrish’s villa, he was the only one who didn’t look
down on me.
He’d stand up for me when others picked on me, and he’d give me gifts on various holidays.
He was
the only one in Osmal City who was nice to me.
As a result, I fell for him uncontrollably. I saw him as my savior, my only
reliance.
When he was injured by a rival in business, I gave him one of my kidneys without hesitation.
Yet he was also the very person who sent me to jail, where I did seven
years.
“What’s wrong, Grace? Did you think I forgot your birthday?”
His voice snapped me back to reality.
1151 3
I said, utterly calm, “Thank you.”
Then he took out a beautifully wrapped gift box from the back seat. “Open
11.”
I opened it and saw a handmade red wedding dress inside.
“Remember? When you were little, you said you wanna marry me in a red wedding dress, so I had this prepared in advance. Do you like it?” he said gently.
He was, perhaps, the only one in this world who would give me a red wedding dress.
Bitterness filled my heart as I muttered, “Antonio, you remember wrong.
“I don’t like wedding dresses, and I dislike red even more.”
The orphanage director once told me she found me outside a wedding dress shop.
That day, I was wearing an expensive red dress.
I always remembered that, so as I grew older, I’d often linger outside. wedding dress shops, wearing red clothes habitually, hoping my parents would find me.
Antonio was stunned for a second. Then he raised his hand and rubbed my head gently just like he did seven years ago. “I’m sorry, Grace. It’s such a stupid mistake. I’ll have someone make a new one. Let’s go to a restaurant, OK? I’ll celebrate your birthday with you.”
I sat in the car. On our way back, it started to rain lightly.
Antonio kept clutching my hand. “Grace, you’re even skinnier than seven years ago. And your leg…”
Chapter 11
Before he could finish his question, his phone rang.
I saw the caller ID right away. It was Kyla.
He picked up the phone. After she said something, he was flustered and said to the driver, “Go to the Parrish’s villa.”
The driver turned the car around, and we went back to the Parrish’s villa. On the way. Antonio kept texting Kyla.
When we arrived at the Parrish’s villa, I stepped out of the car.
Immediately. I saw Kyla in a white dress standing on the rooftop of the
villa.
At the sight of Antonio and I, she murmured, her face pale.
“Dad, Mom, Naomi, Antonio… Now that Grace is back, I should leave.
Bve.”
With that, she jumped.
Chapter 12
