Chapter 171 Revenge
Her words made Edgar feel a pang of pain. There was a wave of emotions clashing at each other deep in his eyes, something that Jean noticed.
But she did not care. She leaned against the door, seemingly trying to get as far away from him as possible. She was adamant not to talk anything about forgiving, at least not until Edgar died anyway. So, everything that Edgar did was in vain. She did not care.
“Sure, you’re right.” There was a tinge of exhaustion in his voice. He turned his head away only to see Gigi running at the car from the house.
He ordered the driver to start the car with a frown. Then left the car alone. Meanwhile, Jean did not move a muscle, and when the car had been driven far enough, she planted her head in between her arms.
What was supposed to be a good day somehow felt quite upsetting – and she did not know why. “Miss Eyer, shall I drop you off at Mr. Royden’s villa?”
Jean kept mum. Where else could she go?
…
Meanwhile, Nathan received a call from Edgar, and by the time he arrived at the Reeces’ to pick him up, he could immediately tell that Edgar was not in a good mood. “You stayed here all night?”
Nathan was surprised, as he thought it had never happened. Edgar rubbed his temples, “Sam thinks I am behind the accident involving the Jacksons.”
“What?” Nathan almost broke into a fit of laughter, “Your soon-to-be father-in-law is quite a funny man. Why would you do that? Unless you’re out of your mind.”
Edgar continued massaging his head. Humans and their greed… That’s why he gets fooled by mere words. Jean took advantage of Sam’s greed and convinced him to turn against Edgar without much effort.
“I suppose losing the support of the Reece’s Group doesn’t hurt the Roydens that much, only that it really damages your reputation,” Nathan lowered his voice, “then what are you going to do to salvage the situation? Organize a wedding reception?”
“Nah.” Edgar rejected the idea without much consideration. Winnie mentioned about this earlier at the Reece’s residence, but Edgar deflected the topic.
“Because of Jean?” Nathan was not afraid to make a bold assumption. Edgar gradually shut his eyes and did not respond. Nathan tutted at him and slammed on the gas as they raced across town towards the dinner venue.
Halfway through dinner, Edgar received a call from Susan. “Sir, Miss Eyer hasn’t been home until now. Do you think she’s okay?”
“Don’t worry about her.” Edgar was starting to lose his patience. This was when he realized that his emotions had been fluctuating based on what that woman had done.
I must be out of my mind. Just like what Jean said – he had nothing to do with her, alive or dead! “Mr. Royden, I’d like to propose another toast to you.” Another man rose to his feet.
He had drunk not fewer than ten glasses of wine tonight. It was not as strong as spirits, but Edgar would normally politely refuse a toast as such. But he would accept all the toasts tonight, and it was clear that he was trying to numb himself with alcohol.
“Enough, Edgar.” Nathan grabbed the glass from his hand in a timely manner. “Let me drink this on your behalf.”
He knew very well how much Edgar could drink. Edgar was pushed back to his seat, and he took his phone, staring at the time and date for a long while.
Suddenly, he seemed to have remembered something, and he jumped to his feet and stormed out of the restaurant. “Hey, Mr. Royden, are you okay?”
“Let me check on him, please go on.” Nathan chased after him, “Where are you going?”
“Looking for her.”
Thunders roared in the sky, and rain soon followed.
Edgar had too much to drink, so he could not take the wheels. All he could do was to tell the driver to go faster.
“Sir, we can’t go any faster than this, it’s too dangerous to speed in this weather.”
Edgar rubbed his temples.
He thought he was supposed to forget what today meant.
It was Gary Eyer’s death anniversary; the same day the Eyer Group went into liquidation. It also marked the day when he called for the divorce with Jean.
The car came to a halt outside the cemetery.
He held a black umbrella in his hand and went up the narrow stairs.
Nobody in their right mind would burn joss papers in this weather.
He scanned the area briefly and found a woman standing coldly before a tombstone. Tear marks could be seen on her face.
“Dad, I am so helpless.”
“Dad, I’m sorry.”
“Dad… I miss you.”
Jean was never one to reveal her sad emotions. She stared down at Gary’s tombstone for a long while and could not say anything else meaningful.
After what felt like hours, an umbrella came over her.
She turned around and yelped, “You don’t deserve to be here, go away!”
Edgar chose to stay silent. He put the umbrella in her hand and turned around to leave.
Jean refused to accept his gesture and tossed it to the ground without hesitation.
‘Clap!’
Lighting filled the sky, accompanied by the listless rumbling of thunder.
Rain continued splashing on their bodies as both planted their feet in the ground.
Jean’s legs were starting to numb when she slowly moved away from the tombstone, and she noticed Edgar had not moved an inch, looking away in the distance.
“You won’t get a cab at this hour, are you planning to walk home?”
“None of your business.” She shook off his hand, and the injured wrist started twinging in pain.
“You have a race in a few days. Are you planning to represent Ben’s team with a fever? You’ve fallen far behind in the numbers, at this rate, you’re not breaking any records.”
Edgar continued as he followed closely behind.
Jean gritted her teeth as she stepped onto the slippery stairs and then roared disgruntledly, “Can you stop lecturing me? You’re in no place to tell me what to do! If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t have ended up in this state!”
“I know,” he continued down the stairs, eyes filled with an enigmatic void. “but it doesn’t matter how much you hate me, you must live, or you will never get your revenge.”
The sound of his words instantly muted Jean like a magical charm.
He took a couple of large strides to catch up to her, then wiped the water off her face.
“If you’re looking for revenge, you must do whatever you can and get to my level, instead of crying and resenting the past. You’re wasting time.”
He sounded even more apathetic than he usually did, and each word struck Jean’s heart like a nail to the coffin.
She opened her mouth, but words would not come out.
Edgar dragged her down the rest of the stairs and brought her to the lounge area nearby the cemetery, then poured her a cup of hot tea.
“What are you waiting for? Drink, or you’ll catch a cold.”
He put the cup into her hand and turned around to stare at the rain.
It felt like time had come to a pause.
Jean lowered her head and felt the steam from the tea splashing on her face.
The clock chimed at twelve o’clock sharp.
Edgar grabbed a set of clean mattresses and blankets from the shelf and placed them next to Jean. “Nobody will be coming this late at night. This is provided for free, just take a rest here tonight. We’ll leave first thing in the morning.”
Looking at Jean’s unappreciative look, he added, “Are we going back to the rain or leaving tomorrow?”
Jean fidgeted with the sheets unwillingly.
As thick as the blanket was, it was barely enough to make her feel warm.
Edgar then went to the other room, grabbed a hot water bottle, and went through the cabinets to find a pot to boil water with.
Jean sat looking at him, wondering why he was familiar with the place.
Despite having her eyes fixed on him, she did not end up asking the question.
“I lived here for a while when I was little.” Edgar started boiling some water, and she could tell from his voice that he was reliving his memories.
Living in a cemetery?
Jean clutched the cup firmly. She knew nothing about this.
