Chapter 163 Ships Passing in the Night
Fiona followed the florist's gesture and gazed at the bunches of flowers, pausing briefly.
Besides the champagne roses, there were also sunflowers and purple daisies, the varieties she often ordered from this store.
The florist seemed to truly appreciate the person who ordered these flowers.
Before Fiona could collect her thoughts, she heard the florist saying, "There's this gentleman who comes in twice a week to buy flowers for his wife. In addition to the seasonal blooms, he always picks up sunflowers and purple daisies, probably his wife's favorites."
Buying them for his wife, huh? Fiona mused.
"He must be very fond of his wife." Fiona responded, then pointed to a display behind the florist, "I'll take the sunflowers."
"You have good taste. Our sunflowers here, if not the best in the whole Bay City, are certainly the best in the central district!"
While chatting, the florist skillfully wrapped Fiona's flowers.
"Are these for someone special?" the florist asked.
"You could say that, my daughter adores sunflowers."
The first painting Chicago did was of sunflowers. Janna knew Chicago liked them and even planted an entire field of them.
"You look as young as a college graduate! And you have a daughter?" praised the florist with a sweet tongue.
Fiona smiled.
With the sunflowers in hand, Fiona stepped outside to a light drizzle. She carefully placed the flowers on the backseat of her car, then got in and drove off slowly, leaving behind the street that felt both familiar and strange.
Five years had gone by. The city hadn't changed much. But on a small street like this, there were new storefronts, new signs.
Fiona withdrew her gaze as she felt the faint hint of melancholy from the depths of her heart. As she pulled away from the intersection, a black Maybach glided past her.
Inside, Darwin looked utterly exhausted, his eyes glued to a video on his iPad. Several days had passed since he'd seen Fiona's photograph. Darwin had put all his work aside, investing every effort searching for the woman who had appeared at the science museum that day.
But due to missing surveillance footage, he had nothing to show for it. He even tracked down the vlogger who recorded the video that day and bought all of her footage. Initially, she was quite wary. But when Darwin personally visited her and she realized he was the one asking, she readily agreed and sold the footage to Darwin.
"Mr. Solomon, we understand why you want these videos. But before we sell them to you, I have to tell you the truth... Ever since netizens spotted a person resembling Miss Woods in them, my team and I have gone through the footage frame by frame, and she doesn't appear again.," said the vlogger.
Darwin watched on, his eyes red and bruised from fatigue.
"Mr. Solomon, we've arrived at the florist." the driver announced, pulling Darwin's attention from the video he had been watching, as he parked the car.
"Go down to the underground garage." Darwin responded briefly as he got ready to get out of the car.
"Right away!"
Darwin stepped out of the car, the raindrops cool on his face, but he seemed not to feel them as he walked straight into the florist shop.
The shopkeeper was chatting with her husband. "We've sold out of the sunflowers, we'll need to have the florist bring more tomorrow."
Her words had just finished when the tinkling of wind chimes could be heard.
She turned around with a smile, "Hello, Sir! The bouquets are all here!"
Darwin nodded, paid for his purchase, and walked towards the exit with the bouquet in hand.
Approaching the doorway, a gentle breeze wafted in from outside.
He paused momentarily, a reflex made him look back.
"Sir, would you like to buy any other flowers?" asked the shopkeeper.
Darwin wasn't entirely sure why… It was just that at that moment, it seemed as if a familiar scent had lightly grazed his nose.
But by the time he stood still, the scent had vanished, an illusion, perhaps...
He hadn't slept in two days, and it was making him edgy.
Or was it really just nerves?
Suddenly, another question arose in Darwin's mind.
"Ma'am, did someone just come in here before me?" Darwin asked.
"Huh?" The shopkeeper looked a bit confused, then answered, "Indeed, there was a customer just now."
She then pointed to the shelf, "They bought all the sunflowers in the shop."
"Sunflowers?" In Darwin's mind, the image of Fiona arranging sunflowers, placing them under the sunlight with a satisfied smile, flashed back.
"Yes, she said it was for her daughter." confirmed the shopkeeper with a nod.
Darwin froze for a moment.
A gradual gloom settled in his eyes.
A mother, huh...
"Okay." Darwin responded.
He went out, lifting the door curtain behind him.
The shopkeeper wore a look of utter bewilderment.
Her husband teasingly remarked from the side, "Look at him, he must have had a fight with his wife."
She glared at him.
Yet, she too could tell that the well-to-do client seemed off today,
Even more so than the first time he walked into their shop to buy flowers, five years ago.
Darwin opened the door.
Like every time he came home before, he waited in the darkness for a moment before reluctantly turning on the light.
He arranged the flowers.
After a shower, he sat down on the sofa with his iPad and continued watching the videos.
The video blogger's child, a clever and cute three-year-old boy, behaved like a little trickster.
After approximately fifteen minutes, the little boy took his father's hand and went to the restroom.
The mother waited outside with the camera, partly muttering to herself.
It was then, in the camera's lens, the silhouettes of two people, one tall one small, passed by.
The adult was only captured from the waist down, but because of her size, the little girl holding the adult's hand was fully in the frame.
Her curly hair was in a ponytail, clipped with a blue butterfly hairpin, wearing a pale blue dungaree dress, little combat boots, and her expression was not as cute as when he held her, rather cool.
Darwin froze the frame.
"Chicago..." he uttered softly.
What a coincidence, she was also at the museum that day?
Just then, Darwin's phone buzzed twice on the side.
He picked it up.
"Darwin, don't forget, 8 a.m. tomorrow…" said Lilian.
Darwin then remembered that he had promised to accompany Lilian to the art exhibition the next day.
"Mhm." Darwin replied briefly.
His gaze shifted back to Chicago.
She was clearly holding a man's hand.
Was it her father? Or the man from the other day?
Darwin glanced at the hand, noticing many wounds.
The man from the other day was clearly a businessman.
It wasn't him.
Meanwhile, when Fiona got home, she found Chicago, Charles, and Ashton all asleep on the couch, lying in a tangled heap.
"Chicago insisted on waiting for you, and Charles stayed with her... Just when Miss Ashton got back and saw Miss Chicago and Master Charles asleep on the couch, she lay down with them..." Wendy explained with a look of resignation.
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