Filed To Story: The Scarlet Vengeance: Justice of a Framed Beauty Novel (Grace & Jason)
“So, it’s because of your limp that you don’t want Brian?” said
Camille.
“…I will meet her, I just haven’t figured out how to face him yet,” Valda hesitated for a moment and said, “I know he has been looking for me all this time. I have also seen some of his photos online and know that he has been going through a tough time. I never thought of letting him continue to suffer in this pain, I just…just…”
Valda hesitated and for a moment, she didn’t know how to continue speaking.
That conflicting mindset has been tearing her apart, it was like this before, and now it has become even stronger.
Camille saw her friend’s sad expression and quickly comforted her, saying, “Don’t worry. If you haven’t figured out how to face him yet, take a few more days to adjust your emotions before meeting him. You don’t even know how much he wants to see you!”
Valda bit her lip and pulled back her lame right foot.
Camille sensed her friend’s insecurity and comforted her by saying, “Don’t worry about your legs. Even if they don’t get better in the future, Brian will still be with you. I’ve seen how much he misses you these days.”
“Okay!” Valda interrupted her friend, “Stop talking, Camille. I’m sorry for only letting you know now that I’m still alive. As for what happened between Brian and me, I will deal with it on my own.”
“Okay, so where do you live now?” asked Camille.
“I live in a nearby small hotel, where you don’t need an ID to check in,” said Valda.
In other words, it’s like those cheap hotels. Camille understood the situation well. “Why don’t you stay at my place first? I’m worried about you being alone in your current state. Besides, I finally get to see you and there are so many things I want to talk to you about.”
Valda thought for a moment, nodded and said, “Okay.”
Camille brought Valda to her place and at night, the two of them. lay on a bed together.
Camille said, “Come on, even if you haven’t figured out how to deal with Brian, you haven’t figured out how to deal with me either? You could have contacted me earlier.”
“I’m sorry,” murmured Valda.
“Okay, stop apologizing all the time. Do we really need to keep saying sorry to each other?” Camille said. “By the way, how did you manage to survive? It’s been so long, why haven’t the police or Brian found you yet?”
“I never thought I would still be alive,” Valda exclaimed. At the time when she put Jasmine in the basket, she was actually prepared to die. “I woke up two months ago.”
“Awakened two months ago?” Camille was surprised. “So, you were in a coma for 10 months?”
“Yeah,” Valda said.
After waking up, Valda told her friend what had happened, including how Lisa had saved her and how she couldn’t contact the outside world when she first woke up.
Because it was a very backward village, even making a phone call required going to the neighboring village.
Even at the very beginning of her recovery, she experienced a condition called aphasia, which made it difficult for her to speak. and caused weakness throughout her body. She even struggled to write a single word with a pen.
Of course, even if she could really write, Lisa who saved her is illiterate and probably wouldn’t be able to understand it at all.
Later on, as time passed, her physical condition gradually improved and she was finally able to speak. It was then that she found out that she had been unconscious for a long time.
Although her broken leg had been cast and treated, it had not been fully healed.
And now, because the optimal treatment time has been missed, it is no longer possible to fully recover.
Yesterday, she hitched a ride with a kind stranger back to Emerald
City, but she hadn’t figured out how to face the situation yet.
“Actually, last night, I saw Brian at the entrance of the community!” Valda murmured.
“What?! You saw him?” Camille exclaimed in surprise.
“Yes,” Valda nodded. “At that moment, I actually wanted to go up and call out to him, but when I lifted my foot, I…saw the crutch I was leaning on and my foot…”
“So you didn’t go up to him, did you?” Camille said. “But Valda, do you know? No matter what you look like, Brian won’t leave you. He will only love you more and cherish you more! These days, I’ve seen him miss you so much that he doesn’t seem like a normal person.”
Valda remained silent and didn’t speak.
“Valda, you’re alive now, so you must have good fortune after surviving such a disaster. You and Brian will definitely be very happy!” Camille said, feeling full of heartache for her friend.
Happy… Valda gently closed her eyes, but now, she dared not hope for happiness anymore.
Originally, he and she were like people from two different worlds, and now, she had a limp leg again.
What made her suitable to stand by his side?
Perhaps from the beginning, they were destined to be apart. Everything…was forced by her at that time!
It was another day of meeting Brian once a week, usually Brian would send a car to pick up Camille, it could be a restaurant,
Brian’s villa, or a place that Valda and Brian had been to before.
In the past, every time Camille met with Brian, she only felt sadness and sorrow in her heart.
But this time, it’s…nervous.
Valda is still alive, but now they have to keep it a secret from Brian and wait until Valda figures out how to face the situation before telling him.
Camille understands her friend’s hesitation and insecurity.
After all, people like Brian are already unattainable men, and Valda knows that this love may seem warm on the surface, but in reality, it is very difficult.
Valda was already lacking in self-confidence, and now… she’s afraid that this feeling of inferiority will only get worse.
At times like this, it may not be helpful to rush things. It might be better to wait for Valda to work on her own psychological development before facing Brian.
This time, Brian’s driver pulled up to the entrance of a restaurant and led Camille to a private room.
Brian is already inside the private room.
Camille walked in and Brian said to her, “What do you want to eat? Order for yourself.”
“Okay,” Camille absentmindedly ordered a few dishes and looked at Brian’s almost emotionless face, which was much colder than before.
Compared to before, Brian was now much colder.
It was like he was frozen in an icy abyss, devoid of all emotions, except for a hint of humanity when talking about Valda.
How happy would this man be if he knew Valda was still alive?
Camille secretly thought that Brian could help Valda feel less insecure and let go of her worries.
“Why are you looking at me like that? Is there something on my face?” Brian’s voice suddenly rang out in the private room.
Camille suddenly snapped out of her thoughts and hurriedly said, “Ah, no…nothing.”
She quickly lowered her head, afraid that the other party would detect that she was hiding something, after all, the person sitting in front of her was Brian!
Brian glanced at Camille and didn’t say anything else, his gaze shifting to the rag on his wrist.
“What do you think Valda is doing now?” muttered the coarse voice.
Camille was startled and stared at Brian with wide eyes. “What…what is she doing?”
“Maybe she’s injured and still recovering, so she can’t come back yet,” Brian continued. “Or maybe she suddenly got inspired and is drawing her favorite comics, forgetting about time. When she finishes drawing the story she wants to tell, she’ll naturally come back…”
But when will she come back? Camille wondered.
She breathed a sigh of relief. So that’s what he was talking about. She thought Brian had noticed something else.
“It won’t be long before Valda comes back,” Camille said.
“Yeah, she’ll be back soon!” he said, as if this belief had become his only reason to keep going.
If one day this belief were to collapse, could he still go on living?
After loving someone so deeply, losing that person made the whole world lose its meaning.
If only he had realized it earlier, how good would that have been?
If only he had told her how much he loved her earlier, how good would that have been?
The phrase “I love you” has now become an unforgettable regret in my heart.
“Um…” Camille pursed her lips and hesitated a bit before saying,
“Brian, if Valda were to come back in the future, but she’s not quite the same as before, what would you do?”
“What’s different? What do you mean by ‘different”?” Brian asked in response.
“It’s like having an incurable disease, for example, it’s better to… be disabled, or have some physical problems,” Camille said.
Brian looked up and stared at the other person. “Why do you say that?”
Suddenly, Camille felt extremely guilty and her palms started sweating. She tried her best to remain calm and said, “Just like you said earlier, she might have been injured, which is why she couldn’t come back. So, I was thinking that her injury might be quite serious, which is why she hasn’t been able to return yet.”
“No matter what she looks like, she will always be my wife, as long as she is alive and can come back to me…” With this in mind, he will do his utmost to take care of her, protect her, and prevent her from any danger or harm in the future.
“That’s good.” Camille breathed a sigh of relief. As long as Brian didn’t mind Valda’s leg disability, her insecurity would eventually disappear and she could be with Brian.
At this moment, the restaurant staff brought out the dishes.
Camille was eating, but Brian didn’t touch the dishes in front of him much.
“You should eat some too,” Camille said. Every time they met, it seemed like she was the only one eating, while he hardly ate anything.
“I don’t have much of an appetite,” Brian said flatly.
“Even if you don’t have much of an appetite, you should eat a little. You seem to have lost some weight again. If you lose any more, you’ll disappear. Let me tell you, Valda likes to paint beautiful women and she used to love painting you the way you were before. If she sees you like this now, she might not even want to paint you anymore,” Camille said.
Brian’s eyelashes trembled slightly. “You’re right.”
So he picked up his fork and started eating.
Camille knew that sometimes, she had to bring up Valda to get
Brian to listen.
During the meal, Camille talked about the past experiences she had with Valda, and Brian listened attentively.
When they finished eating, Camille said to Brian, “Um…can I take a picture of you?”