Sasha was speechless.
She dried the tears on her cheeks and turned to look at the person who had sat down next to her. She was surprised to find that he was just a young boy.
His clothes were shabby and well-worn, and a guitar was strapped across his back.
“What’s with that look? Is a wandering singer like me unworthy of sitting next to you?
“Huh?” Sasha immediately shook her head. “No, no! You just reminded me of my younger brother, that’s all.”
Her “brother”; the one who had impersonated as Lance on Wall Street.
Sasha felt like crying again at that thought.
The boy saw her expression change and quickly started strumming on his guitar. “Shall I play you a song? Maybe you’ll feel better after some tunes…”
“Will I really?”
“Of course! Just listen and see!”
Then, the boy, who Sasha noticed was rather handsome, began to play a melody.
“Now that I am a man,
I can only keep running,
No matter how scared I am,
Running through the darkness,
Hello, tomorrow,
Smile through your tears,
Tomorrow will be a better day…”
The boy’s voice echoed through the subway, sounding strangely familiar. Sasha just listened as he sang. She suddenly understood that she had been such a fool.
She had failed to understand such a simple philosophy. After having lived through so many ups and downs in all the years of my life, how could I let man and a divorce crush me like this? I don’t belong to him; he’s not my master! Why does he always have the final say in everything? Back then, we got together because he wanted to get together, and now, we’re getting divorced because he wanted a divorce. I won’t let him do this to me anymore!
Sasha suddenly felt enlightened. Her entire being came alive again.
The boy finished his song and smiled when he saw the change in her expression. “Do you feel better now, miss?”
Sasha nodded fervently. “Yes, I do! Thank you! Well, I’ll be going now. Thank you again!”
Then, she stood up, pulled out a wad of bills from her pocket and gratefully pressed them into the boy’s hands.
Sasha did not even count exactly how much she had given to him. She had to hurry back home. She wanted to get her children, pack up, and move as soon as possible. No had cleaned Royal Court One in a long time. She had been too busy to attend to that.
After Sasha had reached home, she had brought her three children together with her to Frontier Bay.
Sabrina had seen her leaving with bags of their belongings. She had protested and said she was insane for moving when Christmas was just around the corner.
Sasha had ignored Sabrina’s words and instead, had brought her along with them.
“Come on, let’s go! Let’s celebrate Christmas there together. Besides, you’ve never been there, right? We’ll clean up the place together and you can pick out a room. We’ll spend Christmas there this year.”
“Really?” Sabrina had asked in disbelief.
Nonetheless, she had scooped up Vivian, who was lagging behind, and both of them had gotten into Sasha’s car together.
This sneaky woman! Sasha smiled and shook her head to herself.
The two women and the three children spent the entire afternoon cleaning up the villa in Frontier Bay. They were finally done as the sun started setting.
“Mommy, I’m hungry. When are we having dinner?”
“Aww, you’re hungry? Okay, Mommy will get you some food right away. Wait a while, okay?”
Sasha immediately went into the kitchen, pulled out the groceries that she brought with her earlier, and began to prepare dinner.
After dinner was ready, right around the time when Sebastian would usually be coming home, she deliberately asked the children to turn off the lights.
“Sweeties, shall we give Daddy a surprise? Let’s turn off all the lights now. We’ll only turn it on when he comes in, okay?”
“Okay!” The three children happily agreed to Sasha’s plan to surprise their father.
Sabrina, who was next to her, commented in a low voice, “Such innocence!”
Sasha paid her no mind and turned off all the lights.
The villa was plunged into darkness. From the outside, no one could have guessed that there were people inside.
Later, as Sebastian was on his way home, he was driving down the street when he caught sight of the lifeless villa from afar. In his mind, he thought of another small courtyard, all lit up with orange light.
All the energy drained out of him. He stopped his car in the middle of the street and stared at the dark villa.
It felt depressing to be going home to an empty and deserted home.
After a few seconds, he sighed and guided his car into the driveway.
Ding!
Just as he was about to step through the front door after parking his car, the villa was suddenly lit up brightly.
“Daddy is home!”
“Daddy, you’re finally back! We tried to surprise you? Were you surprised?”
It was like magic. The villa which he had thought to be empty was suddenly bright with light and life, and his three children were running on their little feet towards him.
The jumped onto him as soon as he walked in.
Sebastian was surprised indeed. He gazed down at his children hugging his legs for a long while. His mind was still in a daze.
His children were like a dream made reality. They were just too good to be true.
