Chapter 9
These words struck Benjamin like a bolt of lightning on a clear day, leaving his mind completely blank: “Leave? Isn’t today the wedding…?”
“Didn’t you say half a month ago that there wouldn’t be a wedding?”
Benjamin felt as if he could no longer understand what people were saying; otherwise, how could he have interpreted it as Rachel canceling the wedding?
When he rushed back to the Garza’s residence, William was sitting on the sofa reading the newspaper. The loud sound of the door being flung open made him look up, and when he saw Benjamin’s appearance, he was momentarily stunned.
In the center of the living room, Benjamin’s face was slightly pale, his whole being in a state of intense concentration.
He stared fixedly at his father and spoke in a hoarse voice: “Dad, what on earth is going on? Where did Rachel go?”
William snapped out of his daze: “Didn’t Rachel tell you? That child…”
“Dad,” Benjamin urged.
“Half a month ago, the day Rachel was discharged from the hospital and came here, she said you two weren’t truly in love, didn’t want to hold each other back, wanted to cancel the wedding, and would leave with Wendy.”
“I thought it wasn’t right to tie you down because of your parents‘ affairs, so I agreed. But I didn’t expect that child wouldn’t even discuss it with you…”
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The rest of his words were drowned out by the sudden ringing in Benjamin’s cars. He collapsed onto the sofa, holding his head in his. hands, unable to make sense of anything.
The incident with Angelina happened after Rachel said she wanted to cancel the wedding. He really couldn’t figure out why she would call it off -could it really be that she thought they were holding each other back?
But if that was the truth, why did his heart hurt so much? It felt as if a piece had been forcibly gouged out.
Suddenly, William, sitting on the sofa, seemed to remember something and called for a servant: “Go to my study and bring down the box from the shelf.”
It was a small wooden box. William handed the box to Benjamin: “Rachel left this for you. She asked me to give it to you.”
This was what Rachel had sent to William after holding Wendy’s funeral,
Benjamin took it in a daze, his hands trembling as he opened it. Inside was a letter and a childish ring woven from wooden strips.
He stared at the crude, childish ring for a long time before finally remembering when it was from.
When Rachel was twelve, she was bullied at school and thrown to the foot of the mountain.
That day, he searched for her the entire day, shouting until his voice was hoarse, before finally finding Rachel curled up at the foot of the mountain. The moment she saw him, she threw herself into his arms and cried her heart out. He was at a loss for how to comfort her, and in the end, he wove a ring from a branch he broke off and told her he would never let her be bullied again.
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Chapter 9
He had long forgotten about that hastily made ring, never expecting that she would keep it until now.
Benjamin felt as if a bucket of bitter liquid had been poured into his heart, filling him with overwhelming bitterness.
He took out the letter beneath, and it took him two tries to fully unfold it;
“Benjamin, perhaps in your heart, my mother and I have always been people who repay kindness with ulterior motives. But I still want to tell you, neither my mother’s choice back then nor my decision to marry you was ever about seeking repayment. You never needed to go to such lengths, désigning those thirty–three injuries to delay the wedding. If you had told me you loved someone else, I would have left. I’m sorry for keeping you by my side all these years, making it impossible for you to pursue true love. Now I return your freedom to you. I wish you happiness.“
