Chapter 823 That Memorable Past
After finishing his words, he ignored her and strode out of the room.
Kayla was rooted to the spot. After a long time, she recovered, and her expression changed dramatically.
Meanwhile, Emmeline was having insomnia.
Even though she had lain in bed with her eyes closed for quite some time, she couldn't sleep. She didn't know whether it was because of Kayla's incident or because she was so upset.
When she opened her eyes, she saw nothing but pitch darkness. Then, she turned around and took the remote control from the nightstand. Using that, she opened the curtains, and the silver moonlight poured in.
Suddenly, a memory from her days in the orphanage came into her mind.
That day, it was also a night in the summer, where the moon was bright, and the vault of the sky was lit with stars.
As she couldn't fall asleep, she sneaked to the kitchen and stole some melon seeds. After that, she climbed up the stairs behind the yard and sat on the rooftop to watch the stars.
While she was eating melon seeds, the cool night breeze blew on her face. At that moment, it felt like even the wind was sweet.
Just then, a teenager's cold voice came from downstairs.
"Hey, what are you doing?"
That voice startled her. As she thought it was Grandpa Farrington, she stood up and prepared to flee. Unfortunately, she stepped on a piece of broken tile with moss and slipped.
Perhaps, the boy was shocked too. He just stood there and watched her fall.
In the end, she fell on him, and both of them dropped to the ground together.
Because Emmeline pressed on him, his body was sore, and he felt as if his bones had shattered. Then, it took them a while to get up from the ground.
As soon as she saw it was Jara, she punched him on the shoulder angrily.
"You scared me to death. I thought it was Grandpa Farrington."
While clutching his chest that was aching from being hit by her, he was also enraged.
"What do you mean by scaring you? You are the one who is sitting on the roof in the middle of the night!"
Upon hearing that, Emmeline felt guilty.
"What does it have to do with you?" she murmured.
Hearing that, Jara was furious, but he couldn't do anything to her. So, he snorted coldly.
"If you keep acting like this, I'll tell Grandpa Farrington and ask him to punish you."
Upon listening to his words, Emmeline was scared.
It wasn't easy for her to find a place that provided clothes, food, and education to settle down. She didn't want to be kicked out.
Therefore, she quickly grabbed his arm and said ingratiatingly, "All right, all right! It's all my fault, okay? Please don't report me to Grandpa Farrington."
Jara responded with another cold snort and let her off the hook.
Standing in the small courtyard with Emmeline, he looked up at the rooftop, feeling curious.
"Do you really feel relaxing on the rooftop?"
Emmeline replied, "Of course! It's too stuffy inside, whereas it's chilly up there. Besides, you can see the stars too. Do you want to have a try?"
As Jara grew up in a strict environment, he had never tried these things before.
Thus, he shook his head without hesitation.
"No thanks."
Even so, Emmeline's interest was piqued.
Pulling his hand, she urged, "Oh, come on! Try it! Who knows? Maybe you will like it. Come, I'll take you upstairs."
At first, he was reluctant, but he couldn't resist her enthusiasm. Hence, in the end, he followed her up the stairs.
Indeed, the view on the rooftop was different from the ground.
It was as if he could feel the sky above his head by just stretching out his hand.
Although the orphanage was not the highest building, it was relatively high in this humble town.
So, from the rooftop, he could take in the sight of the scenery surrounding him, which made him feel enlightened.
With that, his mood gradually turned better, and he finally understood why she enjoyed being here.
Just then, Emmeline took out a handful of melon seeds and offered him some.
For a moment, he was confused, but before he could react, he heard a crisp sound—Emmeline tossed a melon seed into her mouth and was chewing it with relish.
When she turned to Jara, she saw he was still in a daze, and her eyebrows raised.
"Go ahead and eat it! You can't just sit here and enjoy the night breeze. That would be boring."
Looking at Emmeline, he copied her movement by throwing a melon seed into his mouth and began to chew it.
Jara—who was born with a silver spoon—had never tried such a thing before.
Sitting on the rooftop in the middle of the night, eating melon seeds, and looking at the stars.
Initially, he was uninterested, but for some reason, when he looked into her bright eyes, he felt like obeying her.
Later on, Jara was secretly annoyed.
Did she cast a spell on him? Why was he doing something unorthodox with her?
This was outrageous!
However, his action didn't match his thoughts.
In the following days, under the guidance of Emmeline, they went out of line several times.
Despite rejecting her most of the time, he would still go with her.
Gradually, both of them grew up.
Not knowing since when it started, Jara became the one who took the lead in doing bad stuff with Emmeline.
Perhaps... it started when Jara left the orphanage and returned to the Holland family.
Actually, Emmeline wasn't sure. When they met again, she somehow noticed that he was no longer that innocent boy who would hang out with her all day long.
As the night wind caressed Emmeline's face, her thoughts drifted far away.
It was as if she had traveled back in time and returned to that sunny and warm afternoon.
That afternoon, she encountered the young Jara—who brought happiness to her youth—under the grape rack in the courtyard.
......
It was already late at night.
Emmeline fell asleep without herself knowing.
Then, she had a dream.
In her dream, she was in a chaotic and miserable scene, where there were bloodshed, mountains of corpses, and blood everywhere. Besides, she could hear countless heart-wrenching screams and the sounds of a gunshot.
With disheveled hair, she walked aimlessly. As her companions collapsed one by one, she tried to give them a hand. However, when she stretched out her hand, it only passed through the other person's body, and she couldn't grab them.
Just then, a bullet came straight at her companion.
As soon as she saw that, her eyes widened, and she wanted to warn him. Even so, when she opened her mouth, she could not make a sound.
In the end, she could only watch as he was shot in his mid-brows and died in agony.
"Argh!"
Emmeline woke with a start.
With that, she found herself in darkness. At the same time, the clock next to her was ticking away while showing that it was only 4 a.m.
She shut her eyes for a while before she opened them again and sat up.
At that moment, cold sweat from the nightmare had covered her body, and her pajamas were wet. As her pajamas stuck on her body, she felt uncomfortable.
For a while, she sat there. When all the scenes from her dreams had dispersed from her mind, she lifted the quilt and got out of bed. Then, she went to the bathroom.
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