It felt like something was spinning out of his
control.
Now…it seems like everything was becoming
clear.
6
CO
It wasn’t really a surprise that Liam found me.
There were still 7 days left before I was
supposed to leave. After leaving the mansion, I
went back home.
Liam was standing outside my place, a
<
cigarette glowing between his fingers, and his
brow was furrowed.
I saw him when I got back from the hospital.
“You’re done for the day,” he said.
I nodded, not saying anything more.
The space between us felt like a vacuum. He
was waiting for me to say something, but I had
nothing left to say.
Then his phone rang.
It was Claire, and Liam didn’t try to hide it. He just answered the call right in front of me.
Her shaky, whimpering voice came through the speaker, “Liam, I had a nightmare.”
“I dreamed about the earthquake. I dreamed about not being able to save you. Can you…….
く
)
come back and be with me?”
She asked carefully.
Liam automatically looked at me, even though it
was dark.
I glanced down at my shadow on the ground,
expressionless.
Finally, I heard him say, “I’ll be right there.”
He hung up.
Liam reached out to take my hand, and I
frowned and pulled away. His movements
faltered.
He looked at me, a little lost.
He had probably forgotten.
The easy intimacy that we had before was only
because I was crazy about him.
“Uncle, you have an aunt now,”
“We shouldn’t cross any more lines.”
My voice was distant. Liam scoffed, pulled his
hand back, and shoved it into his pocket.
“I know you’re having a hard time dealing with
Claire and me.”
“But it’s okay. I can wait until you can accept it, and then get engaged.”
“For now, just see it as a period for you two to get to know each other better.”
I didn’t respond, just remained silent.
Ever since Claire came into the picture, Liam and I never had another proper conversation.
<
We were always fighting. He called me
shameless for liking my uncle, and that I didn’t
understand the difference between family and
love.
He pushed me away again and again, but I just
kept banging my head against the wall.
Even when his cruel words left me heartbroken.
My friends.
His friends.
They kept saying, “Liam doesn’t like you. Why
can’t you believe it?”
“He likes Claire.”
Every time, I cried, telling them that it wasn’t
true, Liam loved me.
The day I turned eighteen, he thought I was
<
He said he would marry me when I turned
twenty–two.
I held on to the idea that Liam was only
marrying Claire because he felt like he had to.
Until the day that the Shaw family tried to drag
me out of a bar. I had no connection with them,
and I had no idea why they wanted me.
It wasn’t until Shaw Jr. said that his father had
had a stroke that everything clicked.
Liam had told me the Shaws were looking for
me, he said that they were all crooked and that
I should stay away from them.
But I didn’t know they wanted me because
Shaw Sr. needed me to do surgery.
I cried and refused to go, my fingers turning
white from gripping Liam’s clothes.
<
But he just coldly said, “Let go.”
He watched, uncaring as they dragged me
away. Watched as they broke my fingers, one
by one.
He listened to my screams without flinching.
That was when I finally understood, Liam did
not love me.
7
“What are you thinking about?” Liam said,
pulling me back to reality.
“You’ve been acting up long enough. What
happened the other day is over.”
“Amelia, you’re not a child anymore.”
When he finished, he opened the passenger
<
side door and looked at me.
I stood there, not moving. A painful smile
tugged at my lips.
I suddenly wanted to ask Liam from the past.
How he could stand there, watching me get
hurt, watching me get depressed and die?
Even if he didn’t love me, I was still his niece,
who he’d raised since I was a kid.
“Uncle, you were right that day.”
“All these years, any woman who got close to
you, I used little tricks to chase her away.”
“So for my aunt’s sake, I’m not going back.”
Liam frowned.
“Amelia-”
“Uncle, you know I like you, right?” I said
calmly, cutting him off.
His pupils dilated,
All these years, my feelings were not exactly hidden. It didn’t take a genius to figure it out.
I was sure Liam knew it too.
“Amelia,” he said, hesitantly.
“Don’t worry, Uncle. It won’t happen again.”
“I was a fool, I mistook affection for love and
made a fool out of myself.”
“Now I’m trying to fix that.”
“I hope you can understand.”
I gave another smile.
<
Liam looked completely lost, like I’d just said
something impossible to understand.
He opened his mouth as if he was about to
speak.
Then his phone went off again.
The ringing sounded so loud in the quiet night,
one after the other.
He still looked like he hadn’t completely come
to his senses.
I took two steps back and turned to leave.
8
Liam watched my figure disappear into the
night, and suddenly, he felt lost.
He habitually reached for his cigarettes, lit one
- up.
<
He took a deep drag and finally started to come
back to himself.
He looked up.
The lights in my old bedroom were on, and he
could see my silhouette through the blinds.
Three years ago, on my eighteenth birthday.
He was drunk and stumbled into my room.
Looking at me fast asleep, drunk, he did the
unthinkable.
He crossed the line and kissed me.
I looked like I was having a good dream, and I
smiled in my sleep.
Our families had always been close, but Liam
was seven years older than me.
Growing up, even if he accepted my advances,
<
he was always warning me not to confuse
family affection with love.
And not to confuse dependency with affection.
I didn’t love him, and he didn’t love me.
He had let me think of myself as his future wife
to scare away all the boys who had a crush on
me, and to keep the gossip about him to a
minimum.
Dealing with me was enough of a headache.
But when he saw the same scenario play out
with a bad end for others, he backed off.
Relationships that had gone sour never really
recovered.
It was better not to start something.
When he woke up the next morning, he went to
<
12:44
100
Hong Kong for a work trip.
He just never expected to be in an earthquake.
He was pulled from the rubble by a young woman of the same age.
She was a dancer who had lost her legs and her dream because of him, and he was filled with guilt and remorse.
With his money, it wasn’t too hard to take care of her.
He had been taking care of her for three years. Nobody knew about it except his assistant.
The reason was that he was worried about my reaction and thought I’d cause problems for
Claire.
Bringing Claire back was to fulfill his promise to
marry her and to put an end to my feelings for
him after he’d learned I was going to confess.
<
12:44
He wanted me to give up and back off. We
were never supposed to cross that line and
never had a future.
But now,
I’d backed off.
And now he was regretting it.
9
100
When Liam got back to the mansion, Claire was
sitting in the living room, waiting for him.
She was dressed in light clothing, and the
nights in Beijing were really cold. She’d been
waiting for hours, and her hands were freezing.
“Why aren’t you in your room?” Liam asked,
frowning.
