31

As they say, meeting today must be fate.

Soon, a daring invitation and an equally daring acceptance led to a peculiar date.

Michelin-starred restaurant.

Aileen held a strawberry ice cream cake and ate while observing the man sitting across from her. Geoffrey looked at the girl, puffing up her cheeks as she ate like a bunny, a hint of coldness on his face started to melt.

"You e-eat quickly; that's g-good." Seeing Geoffrey not moving, Aileen extended a somewhat unclear invitation.

"...sure, thanks for your reminder."

The restaurant was decorated in pink, and waitresses in cute bunny uniforms walked back and forth. Geoffrey dressed in all black seemed out of place, drawing strange glances. Geoffrey began to regret his impulsiveness.

"Next, please welcome our pianist Jayson, who will perform 'Jingle Bell' for everyone. Merry Christmas to all!"

As the familiar tune began to play, the atmosphere in the venue became more joyful. Unaccustomed to crowds, Geoffrey stiffened, and Aileen noticed something was off. "What's wrong?"

Geoffrey didn't intend to reveal his true feelings and only said, "I didn't expect them to play this song."

It was the longest sentence he had spoken so far, and Aileen was somewhat delighted.

"Oh? Do you have other favorite piano pieces?" Aileen guessed that he was a few years older than her and probably didn't like this style very much.

"'Into The Dark,'" Geoffrey slowly said in English.

"Sebastian Larsson's 'Into The Dark'?"

After the pianist finished playing, Aileen wiped the corner of her mouth and said meaningfully, "The piece you mentioned is quite heavy, but there's another one I'd like to recommend to you."

With that, she stood up and went toward the stage, whispering to the host for a moment before sitting down at the piano.

"This is 'Vanessa's Smile,' a gift from Miss to Mister, wishing you a Merry Christmas."

As their eyes met, the girl smiled with confidence, and a trace of surprise crossed the man's blue eyes.

The piano keys flowed beneath her fingertips, the cheerful rhythm seemed alive, constantly trying to touch the man's resilient heart. Watching her confident and composed performance, Geoffrey began to look at this unfamiliar girl with sincerity, and for a moment, he had the feeling that... by looking at her like this, he could truly feel joy.

The piece concluded.

After dinner, Geoffrey escorted Aileen home.

"Do you live around here too?" Aileen raised her head, and snowflakes fell from her long hair.

Geoffrey hesitated for a moment, and his gaze darkened. "My mother lives around here."

"Oh... so you're here to visit her." Aileen guessed he lived quite far away, but he occasionally exuded a cold aura mixed with a hint of loneliness, making her suspect that he had been through something challenging.

Her father once said that when a person emits an aura of indifference, it's just a means of self-protection.

"Let's stop here; this is my home."

Following his gesture, Geoffrey froze in place. His lips pressed together as he remained silent. Lost in thought, Aileen climbed the steps and waved goodbye to him. However, as she turned around, she seemed to remember something and turned back to hand him a gift box.

"Here, a Christmas gift."

"Although I originally planned to give it to Cary, I spent two months working hard to make it, so please don't dislike it."

Geoffrey merely stared at her, saying nothing. Aileen opened the package, tiptoed, and unceremoniously draped a red scarf around his neck.

"Sir, sometimes try to open your heart; you might find unexpected rewards."

Staring into the girl's sincere amber eyes, Geoffrey's heart, which had just been marked, began to crack. Geoffrey watched Aileen's departing figure, furrowing his thick eyebrows, and his blue eyes filled with various emotions.

So it turned out that she was that only daughter of the family his mother worked for.



Geoffrey’s POV

She is my redemption.

Since the age of 5, my world has been filled with darkness and violence. Except for my mother, I thought everyone was cold and selfish.

And so was I.

For 7 years, I immersed myself in the medical field, rapidly gaining fame both domestically and internationally for my exceptional medical skills. Later on, unsatisfied with stopping there, I ventured into the business world under the guise of a genius surgeon. After my mother's death, I lived like a walking corpse, only money and fame could appease the demons in my heart.

Marriage held no meaning for me until I met her again.

She was no longer the lively and innocent girl I once knew. On the contrary, she became sensitive and cautious, always lowering her head and sometimes nervously looking around, like a rabbit trapped in a cage.

Later, I learned from the news that her family had fallen apart, and she was being pursued by debt collectors. I conceived a plan to have her marry me. It was amusing to see that she was still as naive as 7 years ago, falling into the trap within a week.

She didn't recognize me.

In front of me, she was always cautious, seeming to fear me.

After signing the marriage contract, she would secretly hide in a corner and cry. She often called a boy named Cary Williams, her childhood playmate, but he never answered. I knew that boy was her closest childhood friend.

Every time I saw her tearful eyes, I wanted to hold her and comfort her, saying, "It's okay, I care about you, I'll give you the whole world."

But I was afraid it would frighten her.

I carefully traced the signature on the contract, my heart surging with waves of emotions, then calming down as if clutching at the waterweed while drowning.

I comforted myself.

It's okay; I can take it slowly. We have a long life ahead.

My little wife.

Four years after marriage,

We had a pair of twins, a boy and a girl. She was very happy, but I wasn't as happy. I had worked so hard to erase that damn childhood friend from her heart, and now two more people were taking her attention away.

I wanted her to belong to me alone, both body and soul.

However, when I returned home late at night and saw the moonlight shining on the peacefully sleeping mother and children, something in my heart was suddenly touched like never before. It was a warm feeling that spread from my heart to my whole body. From then on, it filled me with anticipation for the future.

Later, I realized that this feeling was called happiness.