LM
CHAPTERS 669 - 671
CHAPTER 669
With Janell's plea, Jane felt a cut through her heart. The remaining tears she had been suppressing all this while came rolling out at once.
She wanted to stiffen up and pretended that she couldn't see her Janell, but she couldn't do it, just like how she couldn't forget Edwin.
She squatted down and held her child in her arms and rubbed her head. "My baby, I'm sorry! I am so sorry!"
"Mommy, I don't want you to say sorry! I want you to be by my side!" Although Janell was young and didn't understand a lot of things, she knew that she needed both her father and mother to be happy.
When she didn't have a mother back then, her father, grandparents, and Little Aunt loved her very much. Yet, there were always people who said that she was very pitiful. Because other children had mothers, and when she was born, her mother left her. So everyone thought that she was so pitiful.
She wanted to be a happy child instead of a sad and pitiful child as what the other children described.
"Mommy, I love Daddy, but I also love you a lot!" Janell held her mother's head and planted a kiss with her soft lips. "If you leave me, I will cry very loudly!" Her voice was so soft. It was the childish, sweet tone of a child.
It should have been an innocent voice, but her voice was breaking "Baby, I'm sorry! I'm really sorry!" Apart from apologizing, Jane did not know what else she could say. Her heart was aching from how sensible her daughter was.
She was afraid of losing Edwin. Edwin didn't want to lose her, and her daughter didn't want to lose her mother too.
She was still carrying the baby she had with Edwin. How could she be so cruel to let the child lose the father before the child was even born?
When the child was born in the future, how would she explain to the child? How could she have the courage to tell her child that her mother had divorced the father, hence, the child could not see his father?
What if the child asked her why she left the father? Then how should she answer? Did she want to tell the child that she left the father because she was afraid of losing him?
What a contradictory answer, but it was true. Because she was too afraid of losing Edwin, so she asked for a divorce extremely painfully.
Divorce was another way to lose Edwin, but this kind of loss was different from the other one. After the divorce, she was no longer his wife, but she could still hear updates about him. She would know if he was safe and fine. If she could watch him from afar, that would be more than enough.
"Jane, do you understand now?" For the last time, Edwin gave her a chance to think about it and wanted her to make her own choice.
"I.." She was still afraid. "What should I do?" At the thought of losing him forever if she returned to his side, the mere thought had ached her heart to the point where she could not even breathe.
She didn't dare to return! If Jane didn't answer, it meant that she still wasn't sure.
"Janell." Edwin called for her daughter out in a low and deep voice.
"Daddy?" Janell raised her tiny head and looked at her father. Her big eyes were filled with worry. She was very worried that her father would lose his temper again and scare her mother into tears.
"Bring Mommy to the study." Since she wanted to work, then he would let her work. But she could only work by his side. She couldn't leave his sight ever again.
"Okay!" Janell took Jane's hand and brought her to the study As long as her mother didn't leave her father, as long as her father didn't yell at her mother, as long as her father and mother could go back to how it was before..
As she thought about how her parents would be okay again, Janell was jumping with happiness. However, there was something else in Jane's heart.
If the knot in her heart was not untied, Jane wouldn't be able to live with Edwin in peace.
"Edwin, we.."
"Go to the study room and think about it carefully. If you can't figure it out, then you're not allowed to leave this door."
The Edwin who was dominant and overpowering felt like a tyrant. He had the final say in everything, and no one could ever refute him.
Therefore, with that tone, Jane stayed by Edwin's side. He gave her a death order and told her to think it through. If she couldn't make a decision, she wouldn't be allowed to leave the study.
Jane sat in front of Edwin's computer and accidentally touched the mouse on his desk. The computer was turned on, and her picture appeared on the screen.
In the photo, she was wearing a white t-shirt paired with denim jeans. She also wore a white hoodie embroidered with a bear. Her long black hair was casually tied into a ponytail...
Jane was unconsciously attracted by herself as she stared at the picture. The Jane in the photo had a bright smile full of life. She seemed so confident.
If she remembered well, she was just married to Edwin that time. He had also just taken the position of president at Innovative Tech. As the company secured a successful deal, the company took a trip to Bihai Villa Holiday Resort. Hence, Jane was dressed up casually as depicted in the photo.
After so many years, she still remembered that time very clearly because what happened that time was too memorable. It was so beautiful that she would never forget it, so she kept that memory dearly at heart.
Because all those beautiful memories were shared with Edwin. She still remembered that Edwin told her that she would always have him as her strongest support. He also told her that he didn't care about her past, as he was only concerned about her future.
Every detail of that trip was so deeply engraved in her heart, so she could recall it immediately. However, she did not remember that Edwin had taken photos of her that day.
But when she looked at the photo again, she saw the colourful roses in the background. She could then vaguely remember the story behind this photo.
After so many years, Edwin was still keeping her photos and used them as his wallpaper. Jane's heart trembled again. She was emotional, worried, and scared all at the same time. She clicked on the mouse, and saw a dialog box popped up requesting for a login password.
Jane tried to key in Edwin's birthday. The password was wrong. Jane then entered Janell's birthday, and received another prompt saying that it was wrong.
Both attempts failed. Jane gave it a serious thought and decided to type her own birthday. It was also wrong.
It wasn't Edwin's birthday, it wasn't Janell's birthday, and it wasn't her birthday...
Then what other special numbers were there? Jane tried to think harder but still couldn't think of any number combination that was special to Edwin.
She typed 6 numbers casually. The password turned out to be correct, surprisingly.
It was '131224.
This number was given to her on the second day after their marriage registration. Edwin gave her a bank card, and the password of the card was 131224.
Jane finally remembered. 131224 was the 24th of December in 2013. It was Christmas Eve. She was abandoned by her family that day and drank alone in the bar.
She found out later on that night, it was also the first time she had met Edwin. She even vomited all over Edwin when she was drunk.
CHAPTER 670
On the 24th of December in 2013, Jane was betrayed by both her boyfriend and sister, abandoned by her family, and had become homeless all of a sudden.
On the same day, she met Edwin Carter, the one person who would matter the most to her eventually. They both had completely different lives and stories.
One had nothing left, and the other was trying to start a new life. It was hard to tell what the future held for them during that time.
If she had not been betrayed that day, she would not have gone to the bar to drink alone. She probably wouldn't have puked all over Edwin and left a lasting impression on him.
Then Edwin would not have recognized her when she was on a blind date a few years later, and then replaced the other man to have a date with her instead.
She couldn't recognize Edwin because she was so drunk that night when she puked all over him. Edwin, on the other hand, remembered her so well and even used the date of their first meeting as his passwords.
Jane could feel her heart aching over and over again. Edwin had done way too much for her, but she had never done anything for him.
Just as Jane was deep in thoughts, a folder on the desktop attracted her attention, 'My Jane Ronan'!
The name of the folder was literally 'My Jane Ronan'.
Jane opened it. There was a Word file and a PowerPoint file in the folder.
Jane first opened the PowerPoint file. With a click, her photos appeared and were playing automatically one after another. Every photo also came with a caption.
The caption described a brief background behind the photo. Some examples would be 'Her designs were praised highly by her customers', 'She was very happy', 'She made two dishes on her own and more...
The pictures would always have dates above the captions too, other examples included Jane wasn't in a very good mood today' and 'She did not say a word no matter how I tried'.
Every photo, no matter her emotions, was described clearly in the slides. She could tell how much effort Edwin put into creating this.
The photos continued to play out one by one, and then there were no photos left. There was only a simple sentence that appeared at the end, Today was the 30th day since Jane left, and my heart has also left with her 30 days ago.
As she stared at that line, Jane clicked back to the previous photo. The date was exactly 30 days before that sentence was written.
That meant that since she went missing, Edwin didn't open up this folder for 30 days...
Well then, how did he survive those 30 days? Jane tried finding more files to see if Edwin wrote anything else.
However, Edwin only had this sentence as a record about her going missing, and there was nothing else.
The folder was then filled with Janell's photos. The captions were no longer written from Edwin's point of view, but in Jane.
The last sentence of each caption was exactly the same, "Baby Janell, even if I'm not by your side, my love for you never faded. Love, Mommy.
From the first photo to the last photo of Janell, the photos had this caption beneath them. Jane was left in shock and felt extremely painful.
What Edwin had done for her was far more than she had imagined, but he never said anything.
Many people had told her that Edwin suffered a lot over the three years she had gone missing. As powerful and as strong as he was, he almost followed her footsteps and wanted to leave because of her disappearance. This was what Jane heard from others.
As Edwin had never told her anything. In this little scrapbook that he made himself, he'd only included her and Janell, and there weren't any of his photos.
Even when there was a photo of him, he was always just a supporting role. He would either be standing behind her or Janell.
When it came to this pair of mother and daughter, he was very willing to just stand aside. The more Jane thought about it, the more painful her heart ached.
She no longer wanted Edwin to be hurt because of her. She had to protect him at all costs instead of avoiding him. She needed to protect him by his side. She wanted to tell him that in this life, he was her man, and she would not let anyone hurt him.
She wanted to rush to Edwin's side to loudly declare that no matter how difficult life would be in the future, she would never give up on him. She wanted to be with him and raise their children together, so that their children would know that they were the happiest children in the world.
Jane got up quickly, and as she was too excited, her legs felt weak and she nearly fell down. However, she didn't bother much. She just wanted to go back to Edwin's side.
She opened the door of the study and crashed into a warm embrace by surprise. She didn't notice that since she was locked up in the study, Edwin had been guarding at the door, worried that something would happen to her.
Jane looked at the man right in front of her eyes, she reached out her hands to give him the tightest embrace ever.
"Edwin , I'm so sorry!" Edwin hugged her, but his body was a little stiff.
"I'm with Janell, we don't want to hear apologies."
She apologized because she wanted to let him know that she had made her decision and still insisted on leaving. This was not what Edwin wanted, so he didn't want to accept her apology!
"I will not say anything about leaving you and Janell from now on. The two of you are my closest people in the whole world. How could I ever leave you?"
She was too silly. Even though Edwin had repeated so many times, it took her so long to realize.
"Jane, what did you say?" Edwin couldn't quite believe what he had just heard. And only in the face of Jane, would such a lack of confidence ever happen.
Jane was crying in his arms, but she assured firmly. "I said that even if you kick me out in the future, you can't drive me away from you. I want to stay with you and our children. I don't want to ever be separated from you guys again."
In fact, she had always known what her heart desired. However, what had happened made her too afraid and she did not have the courage to face it, so she chose to be a coward. She learnt her lesson now, and she would never do it again in the future.
Edwin was still a little uncertain. "Have you figured things out?"
Jane replied, "No!"
"No?" Edwin was driven absolutely mad with that response.
Jane wobbled a little in his embrace and wiped her tears. "I haven't figured it out. I only know that I want to stay with you. No matter what happens, we will face it together." Jane's sudden change of attitude did not make Edwin very happy.
However. He thought that this woman l was playing a conspiracy with him, so when he put his guard down, she could sneak away. "Edwin, do you not want that?"
Finally, Jane realized Edwin's cold response as he didn't seem to be very happy.
Edwin responded very seriously, "Jane, I am taking every word you said very seriously. But if you dare to mess around with me, I will never let you go so easily.".
CHAPTER 671
If Jane played any tricks with Edwin again, he would definitely punish her hard to prove that he wasn't just anyone she could offend.
"Edwin, I know that you've taken every single word I said to you seriously." Jane looked into Edwin's gaze bravely while biting her lips, "I am absolutely serious too."
She looked at him firmly. "I know you love me and you'd want me to be by your side all the time. I too want exactly that. But there are too many things I'm worried about. I'm afraid that we don't have the chance to grow old together."
At the thought of potentially losing Edwin, Jane found it hard to breathe and her heart ached, "Edwin, ever since I agreed to marry you, I've made up my mind to spend the rest of my life with you. I've never thought about divorcing you."
She sobbed and continued to speak through her trembling voice, "The reason I proposed the divorce was because Ed Yates threatened me. He will hurt you. I was so scared that I will lose you, so I did what he said."
"Edwin, you know what?" Jane directed the question to Edwin, but in the meantime, she was trying to reassure himself, "You probably didn't know how it felt like when I saw your signature on the papers. My world was falling apart."
"I wasn't even this upset when I was betrayed by Jonathan pretending to be my family. But when you signed the divorce papers, I thought I was dying. I know that I was still carrying our baby so I must constantly remind myself that I need to be okay. I need to be okay so that I can give birth to our baby."
"Because you gave me a baby. The baby would be the only thing I would be left with." Jane said everything in one breath and finally poured her heart out.
She wanted him to know that he was literally her everything. And like he said, his heart was empty without her. So was she. When he was not by her side, besides living with a soulless heart, every breath she took was painful. Without him, she hadn't had a good night sleep nor enjoyed a proper meal.
If the children hadn't been there to support her, she might not have been able to hold on until now.
A long time passed, but Edwin didn't respond. She pulled at Edwin's shirt and asked nervously, "Edwin?"
What exactly was he trying to do? Why couldn't he just say something, or give her an answer? Why did he have to make her wait anxiously?
"Jane, I'm sorry!" Edwin rubbed her head and embraced her tightly in his arms. "Everything about Ed Yates's threats, I was already aware of it."
Edwin always thought that he was being a good husband for helping Jane sort everything out. In fact, what he had done was far from enough. He had never thought about it from her perspective before, because they were very different individuals.
She knew that he was the leader of Shengtian. She also knew that he made a fortune from the business, but she did not know the ways he used to manage Shengtian.
There were a lot of things that he had never shared with her, because he felt that it didn't matter whether Jane knew them or not. It was precisely because he didn't share anything with Jane, she wouldn't know how powerful he was.
Hence, she was frightened and panicked silently. When a person panicked, the person would either be in a fright or fight mode, which explained her decision.
He knew that Jane was threatened by Ed Yates. However, he did not take the initiative to reassure her that he had a way to deal with Ed Yates. Instead, he waited for her to think about it and for her to make her own choice.
"You knew about everything?" Jane thought that no one had noticed. To her surprise, Edwin actually knew about everything.
When did he find out? Was it before their divorce, or after? When Jane was still confused and lost in her thoughts, Edwin said, "Jane, I have told you many times that you are my wife and I am a man that you can rely on for the rest of your life. So when you encounter someone who threatened you, why didn't you discuss it with me? Why do you have to make a decision on your own?"
Jane lowered her head. "I.."
Edwin raised her head and planted a kiss on her forehead. " I didn't know that you were scared, but now I do."
In the past, Edwin did not understand, but after hearing Jane's explanation, he finally understood. To him, divorce was a big thing.
He had been waiting for Jane all this while. He was waiting for her to think things through and share her pain with him. He thought that she would make a wise decision, so it totally caught him off guard that she would really propose a divorce with him.
At the heat of the moment, he agreed to the divorce. At the end of the day, both of them thought that they were doing this for each other's sake and they weren't understood by each other.
As a result, they did not communicate effectively at all which eventually led to this situation.
Jane did not understand. "What do you know?"
Edwin held her face and said, "Jane, promise me, no matter what happens in the future, no matter big or small, you must talk to me. You can't make your own decisions."
Jane nodded lightly and replied, "I promise you. You also have to promise me that you won't do everything for us without telling me. If there's anything, you have to discuss it with me too."
"Ok, we'll work hard together." Edwin lowered his head and kissed Jane.
From the corner of his eyes, he could see the little fellow standing beside them. She was blinking her big watery eyes and looking at them with great curiosity.
"Janell !" Edwin shouted.
"I didn't see anything." Janell covered her eyes with her tiny hands, but also deliberately spread her fingers apart so she could take a peek at her parents through the gaps between her fingers.
Her father and mother were kissing again, which proved that they had made up. They would not quarrel again in the future, and she wouldn't have to worry that she would become a child without a mother again.
"Come here!" Edwin ordered.
"Daddy, I won't look at you, I promise." Janell quickly said something nice after realizing her daddy's look changed.
What if daddy was angry and spanked her?
"Come here!" Edwin's tone became slightly more serious. "
Janell's tiny mouth moved slightly. If her father continued to yell at her, she would cry out loud and create a scene.
"Edwin, what are you on about? Don't scare her."
Before Janell cried, her mother came to her rescue. Therefore, Janell felt that a child with a mother was the happiest child. When she was bullied by her father, her mother would give her a hand..
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