"Yes," Sheffield admitted honestly. His uncomfortable fidgeting was an implication that he wasn't too keen on talking about Gillian, and he tried to sidestep the topic.
However, Evelyn wasn't going to let him slip away so easily. She raised an eyebrow, feigning curiosity and said, "Please tell me more about your romantic stories from when you were in school!"
"Romantic stories? I wasn't that popular to be honest. In fact, I don't have any romantic stories from school. Admittedly, my relationship with her may have been close, but I don't think I was ever in love with her. But if I had known that I would meet someone like you in the future, I wouldn't have gotten close to any of those women in the first place." In hindsight, their love story would have gone a lot smoother, but everything in life that was ever worth having, was worth every bit of the hardship.
Evelyn curled her lips. "Well, I have good news for you. You now have a thousand chances to make it up to me."
"Then, are you happy now?"
"Of course I am!" Although she knew that he was just coaxing her, Evelyn was still very happy, deep down.
"That's good!"
Hand in hand, they took a walk around the campus, appreciating every second of this wonderful moment they were sharing together. Evelyn listened to him attentively as he told her all about his past life. When Sheffield mentioned his classmates, he would pretend to be annoyed and tell her how all the girls in his school tried to woo him back then.
Sheffield also took her to see the stadium, where he ran with her on his back on the basketball court.
Time flew wondrously when they were together, never having to deal with work or the other trifles of life. Their journey together as a couple was one filled with joy and love.
Right after they got back to Y City, the two of them went to the Temple of Dharma first instead of heading back home.
Facing the statue of Buddha, Sheffield asked the woman beside him, "Do you remember the wish you made two and a half years ago?"
Looking at the Buddha statue, Evelyn said softly, "Yes, I do."
"Has your wish come true? Anyway, my wish has come true!" he said.
She gently hooked onto his finger with her pinky and smiled. "My wish has come true, too."
Sheffield smiled happily. "So we are here to redeem our wishes." When Sheffield had made that wish a few years ago, he wished for life where he and Evelyn would be together until the end. The reason why he had come here was to redeem his wish as well as reminisce about the happy times he had spent with Evelyn.
"Yes!" Evelyn was beaming with joy.
Sheffield had gone shooting his mouth off in front of the Buddha statue that if his wish would be realized, he would renovate this temple and make a generous donation for its welfare. Now that his wish had come true, it was time to keep his promise.
Therefore, after they had redeemed their wishes, Sheffield went to the head of the temple and donated a considerable sum of money to renovate this temple. Before leaving, he asked them to offer fresh fruits and flowers to the Buddha every day with the remaining money.
The maple forest where Sheffield had taken photos of Evelyn more than two years ago was still lush, but the leaves were now green.
They took a stroll down the woodland path, hand in hand, as sunlight streamed white and liquid gold at the same time. Tiny chunks of wood fell to the leaf litter below, the sound dissipating into birds chirping playfully on a tree branch. In this nature's hug of ever open arms of brown, cozy beneath the canopy of greens, their hearts were filled with deep happiness and satisfaction.
By the time they arrived at the Huo family's manor, it was already afternoon. Gwyn was in the living room sipping iced juice from a bottle. Debbie only allowed her to take a few sips, because she didn't want the little girl to have a stomachache. She held the bottle of juice high up and patiently reasoned with her.
"Gwyn! Daddy is back!" Sheffield called out. It had been almost a month since the last time he saw his cute daughter. His eyes reddened and he barely managed to keep his tears at bay.
The sight of them made Debbie heave a sigh of relief. She told the girl excitedly, "Wow, Gwyn, your mommy and daddy are back!"
Sure enough, as soon as she saw her parents, Gwyn threw away the strawberry in her hand and seemingly forgot the bottle of juice in her grandma's hand. Without hesitation, Gwyn threw her hands in the air and ran towards them. "Daddy, Mommy!"
Dropping the gift bags in his hands on the floor, Sheffield strode forward and caught her in his arms. He hugged her tight and kissed her rosy cheeks. "I've missed you so much, Gwyn!"
Gwyn giggled in delight as she reached out with both hands to squeeze Sheffield's cheeks and kissed him on the chin.
Sheffield only came to realize the tragedy of the scene when he touched his chin and found that it was sticky. The perp must have been his little daughter whose lips and hands had traces of strawberries.
Sheffield, however, couldn't care less about the mess and raised Gwyn up high.
Evelyn walked to them and said to the giggling girl, "Gwyn, did you miss me?"
Gwyn nodded at her with a smile, and then reached out for a hug.
This was the first time Evelyn had been separated from her daughter for such a long time. She missed her daughter so much she embraced Gwyn and kissed her face a few times.
Debbie walked out of the kitchen with two glasses of juice, one of which she passed to Sheffield. "Why didn't you tell me before that you were coming? I could have sent someone to pick you up at the airport. Sheffield, come here and get some rest!" she said.
"Thank you, Mom. Don't worry. Tobias picked us up at the airport. He is taking care of our luggage outside, and will come in soon." The couple had so much luggage, they had to fill the trunks of three cars.
"That's good!"
Sheffield took a few sips from the glass and picked out several gifts from the bags he had brought in with him. He handed them all to Debbie and said, "Mom, these are for you, from Eve and me. We got you all your favorite lipsticks. There are also some silk scarfs, red wine, a brooch… I hope you will like them."
Debbie smiled warmly. "Oh, that's so nice of you two, but you really didn't have to get me all of these. Thank you so much. You should be tired from all the traveling?"
"I'm not tired at all. And we also brought gifts for Dad and Terilynn." He began to pull out boxes from various shopping bags.
Evelyn explained, "This is a French red wine, from Sheffield's personal collection. It's for you and Dad. And this brooch is made of the Ocean Pearl we got at an auction. Inside the lipstick set are all your favorite shades. This is a new product and the very first set from this series. These were all chosen by Sheffield." Fortunately, Evelyn didn't have to worry about anything because Sheffield had already picked out the best gifts for them.
Debbie was thrilled to have such a good son-in-law. "All right. I'll take them all. Thank you, Sheffield."
"Mom, you are welcome!" He took out a small box and gave it to Gwyn. "My baby girl, here's your present. I'll open it for you!"
Sheffield undid the silver paper cautiously, opened a red leather case, and displayed a pink musical box. When he slowly opened the box, a tiny ballerina figurine danced in the center, swaying to the gentle tune.
Gwyn held the box in awe and gazed at it for a long time.
No one had ever bought her a musical box before. This was the first time she had seen something like this, and it had come from her father.
In truth, there was a diamond pendant in the shape of a violin fitted with the musical box, but since it wasn't suitable for a baby girl to play with, Sheffield gave it to Evelyn.
Just then, Tobias walked in with three suitcases in his hands.
Sheffield rushed to help him put down the suitcases because he pitied Tobias. These heavy suitcases were, in fact, all filled with mostly gifts Sheffield had bought for the others.
The honeymoon was officially over. The couple went to their room at night with Gwyn, and finally the family of three slept together.
When the next day came, Evelyn and Sheffield had to focus their attention towards their work. Fortunately, Evelyn had Carlos to share her work with, but Sheffield was busy every day.
He was either in the company dealing with documents, or at business dinners.
The Tang family members who had been trying to get back at Sheffield took the chance to approach Evelyn and snitch on him.
