A frown settled on my brows when I finally knew why she called. Marcus was really a difficult character. He must have put the woman through a lot of ordeals for her to become this haggard.
“Scarlett, can you tell me how you made him fall in love with you?” she asked again.
I looked at the desperate woman before me and recalled how attractive she looked when I first saw her on the plane.
She looked at me intently with an imploring gaze, and it broke my heart to see her in this state. “Just leave him, Camelia. Do you still remember how you used to be? You were happy and confident.”
“What did you say?” Camelia looked at me, befuddled.
She was making my heart break. “Do you still remember how you were when we first met? Your blonde hair was shining and you were absolutely stunning. You’re attractive just the way you are. You don’t have to become anyone else. Don’t throw away your unique self just to mimic other people. When you find someone worthy of your love, that person will bring out the best in you, so why give up on yourself for someone who doesn’t even appreciate you?”
Camelia looked lost and helpless. “But I have no one else besides him. Where can I go without him? We already have a child together.”
It was unimaginable how a fruitless relationship could eat away the charm of a woman. “Camelia, you are your own self. If you’re willing to take charge of your own life, you can still find yourself again and be the spirited woman you used to be. Your child should not be your excuse. The White family can take good care of your kid. What you need to think of is how to regain the confidence you’ve lost.”
There were two things women should never stop doing throughout their life. The first was to stay beautiful. They should do everything they could to make themselves attractive. Not for anyone else, but for themselves. The second was to enrich themselves. Women should earn their own money and keep improving themselves. No matter how harsh life was, no one should stop feeding their soul so they could become stronger and more independent.
I didn’t mean to say that women should never believe in true love. The love we were after should be one that made us better, not worse.
I was not sure if Camelia would take my advice seriously. She was wasted and kept complaining about how unfair Marcus was treating her. After all these years, Marcus had even given up on making up lies to her.
When I came to think of it, men were really fascinating creatures. They would always dwell on things they couldn’t get their hands on. However, when they got what they wanted, they would not appreciate and take care of it. They ended up being alone because they stubbornly clung to the love they could not have and pushing away the love they had always had.
Marcus was not John. I could not tell if Marcus would fall for Camelia one day. All I could do was to encourage her to love herself. Regardless of whether she would earn his love one day, one should always care for her own wellbeing before anything else.
Life wasn’t perfect. There were bound to be many regrets in life. Not being with the person we loved as one of those regrets was not a big deal. After all, it was not like romantic love was the only thing in our life.
All of us had to tread down the path of life whether or not we had someone by our side.
I had to say Camelia could really drink. I even lost count of how many glasses of brandy she took before she lay on the table, still muttering for more drinks.
Right after I got her out of the bar, we were met with unwelcomed guests. K City was really not a safe place.
Two drunkards approached us when they saw two of us stumbling out of the bar. “Hey there, sweeties. Craving some company after a drink? How about some fun tonight? I’m sure you’ll be begging for more.”
As the spoke, two of them reached for us.
“Keep your filthy hands to yourself!” A woman’s sharp voice pierced through the night.
I was startled at the woman’s voice. It took me a while to recognize the woman with her heavy makeup on. It was Kristina. Her wig sat awkwardly on her head, and she looked far from appealing.
The two men smirked when they saw her. “Mind your own business before I kill you, ugly hag!”
Kristina glared at them coldly. “Kill me? I dare you to.”
The two men exchanged uneasy looks and spat at her. “I’m not gonna get my hands dirty touching you. You’re disgusting.”
