Evelyn never wanted a husband like her father, because he was too domineering and indifferent. Except for the ladies in his family and his buddies, Carlos did not care about anybody else.
What she longed for was an extraverted, unrestrained husband, who loved her dearly, so that she could live in ease in front of him, without wearing any disguise.
He didn't have to be rich like her father either. Carlos was someone who made the most money in his life; he was also the most exhausted at the end of the day. That was why she worked so hard, to share some of his workload.
She didn't want her future husband to chase after money like her father did. She only needed him to work enough to support their family.
Sheffield held her hand even tighter and thought, 'I will do whatever you ask of me.' He did not say it out loud because he knew that she wouldn't believe him. But he wanted to do everything he could to make her happy in the future.
Evelyn was born with a silver spoon in her mouth; she was blessed with a perfect figure and was a natural beauty. Yet, she had to go through a lot of setbacks in her love life. "Your ex-boyfriends might not have been your true love, and their deaths were not your fault. Once you meet someone who loves you and whom you can truly love, he will never leave you."
'Someone who loves me…' Evelyn smiled bitterly.
"Sheffield…" She stopped and looked at him.
He waited for her to speak, but she fell deep into thoughts. Her first boyfriend was introduced to her by her grandmother when she was twenty-six years old. He had just finished his study as a postgraduate and had received his master degree. He was about to join the aerospace industry, and had a promising future ahead of him.
Unfortunately, he died in a car accident in the third month after they had started dating. It rained heavily that day and the road was drenched with his blood.
Her second boyfriend was the manager of ZL Group's branch company—a young and promising man who had been actively pursuing her. She was twenty-seven years old back then and was also eager to fall in love. So, she had agreed to the relationship.
One day into their third month of dating, he died in his own villa. His face was unrecognizable, and his hands were gone. It was brutal.
The third boyfriend was arranged by her father himself. The death of her first boyfriend was likely to be an accident, but the second one was murdered. In order to flush out the murderer, her father asked a taekwondo black belt, who was also a public prosecutor, to be her boyfriend.
On the last day of their third month together, he was dead too. No matter how good he was at taekwondo, there was no way that he could have avoided that bullet. He, quite literally, bit the bullet.
He was on his way to work due to some emergency, and was killed halfway there.
Calvert was her fourth boyfriend. He wasn't bothered about her past and wasn't afraid of dying either.
Astonishingly, he avoided the assassination attempt on the third month. What they hadn't expected was that their relationship would face pressure from the Ji family. They eventually had to break up.
'Sheffield believes that if I meet someone who truly loves me, he will never leave me. But it's not that my ex-boyfriends wanted to leave me. They were murdered.'
She let go of Sheffield's hand and turned away. She didn't want him to get killed.
Sheffield looked at his empty hand and wondered if he had said something wrong. He patted his forehead remorsefully. 'Sheffield Tang, why won't you just shut up? The more you talk, the farther she goes, ' he told himself.
Evelyn had already rushed into the crowd. He ran after her. "Evelina, wait for me."
Even though Evelyn walked fast, Sheffield was still able to catch up with her due to his long legs. He was soon standing by her side again. "Did I say something to upset you?" he asked with a frown.
Maintaining an expressionless face, Evelyn said, "No. I just think you're too frivolous. We just met, but you've already kissed me without my consent and forced me to hold hands. I hate such behavior."
Sheffield's mouth fell open. 'She was fine just a moment ago, wasn't she?' "All right, Evelina. If you don't like it, I won't touch you anymore. Don't be mad at me, okay?"
Evelyn stopped walking all of a sudden, but Sheffield didn't notice. Unawares, he kept moving forward while saying, "I accept my mistakes. Don't be angry now… Eh? Evelina?"
He turned around and looked for her. She was standing a few steps behind, staring at him.
He walked back and asked cautiously, "If you don't want to walk with me, I will go ahead and you can follow behind. Or would you like to go first?"
Evelyn ran her fingers through her hair. "Sheffield," she said in a cold voice.
"Yes?"
"Don't bother me anymore."
Sheffield froze. It was heartbreaking to be rejected completely.
He nodded without hesitation. In the next three seconds, he adjusted his mood and waved to Tayson, who was in the crowd. "I'm leaving."
Tayson walked closer to Evelyn.
"Be careful. Go home early. I'll leave you be," Sheffield told her with a sad smile.
Then, he really left.
Evelyn watched him walk away, feeling dejected.
It was almost ten o'clock at night when Evelyn got back to the guesthouse. She walked through the entrance, but didn't notice the person sitting at the window on the third floor.
Tayson, however, saw the man. A sly grin appeared on Sheffield's face as he raised one of his eyebrows at him.
Casting him a cold glance, Tayson followed Evelyn into the guesthouse.
As soon as they were out of sight, the smile on Sheffield's face disappeared. He picked up the glass of wine on the window frame and gulped it down.
He looked at the sky and then at the empty glass in his hand. He couldn't believe what he had gone through.
He should have been out there, having fun. But now, he was sitting by the lone window, drowning his sorrows in alcohol.
'Ah! Such a terrifying thing love is. I've always been the one to break hearts. This is probably karma hitting back.'
When he had first set his eyes on Evelyn, he had even come up with the names of their future children. But right now, he was back where he had started.
Evelyn woke up the next morning. She got ready and walked out of her room. Tayson was waiting beside their car at the entrance; she sat in the back seat. Sheffield was nowhere to be seen.
"Miss, should we go to the tea plantation or D Town?" Tayson asked as he drove.
"Let's go to D Town," Evelyn replied casually.
"It's dangerous out at the border. Please stay with me at all times," Tayson reminded her.
"Okay." She looked at the scenery passing by the window, hiding the slight loss deep in her eyes.
D Town was very small, but it was lively. The streets were crowded with tourists and vendors who spoke non-standard Mandarin.
There were Buddhist people living all around the place. The decorations of the Buddhist temples were slightly different from the ones in other places. Pious Buddhist men and women were everywhere.
Evelyn found a remote temple, bought an incense stick, took off her shoes and walked inside.
In the past two years, she had visited the graves of her three ex-boyfriends twice. She just felt like she had to offer her prayers at this temple.
She wanted to wish them happiness in the other world.
