Filed To Story: The Scarlet Vengeance: Justice of a Framed Beauty Novel (Grace & Jason)
“Okay.” Veronica said.
The two of them found a restaurant nearby, ordered their food, and were about to find a table to sit down when a figure walked in from outside the shop. When that person’s gaze met
Veronica’s, they suddenly froze, their face showing a complex. mix of embarrassment, nervousness, and other emotions.
Veronica was also stunned. She never expected to meet
Daniel again in a place like this.
Daniel was her first love, but their relationship back then started off beautifully and ended in a hurried and embarrassing manner.
The current Daniel no longer had the same spirit and vigor that she saw in high school. He was dressed in the uniform of a delivery rider, giving her a feeling of being in a different world.
For a moment, she couldn’t help but wonder if she had mistaken him for someone else. Was this person really Daniel, or just someone who looked similar?
“Veronica, do you know him?” Shirley, who was standing next to Veronica, spoke up.
Veronica suddenly came back to her senses, but didn’t know what to say. The other person also regained their composure, didn’t say anything, quickly went to the cashier, picked up the already packed takeout on this side of the counter, and hurriedly walked out of the shop.
Daniel… didn’t call out to her! Veronica didn’t know what she was feeling right now. Perhaps the best ending for her and
Daniel was to pass by each other like strangers, just like now.
“Veronica, do you really not know that person? You two stared at each other for a long time just now,”
Shirley said.
“I know him. He was my senior in high school,” Veronica replied.
“Just a simple senior-junior relationship?” Shirley asked. Judging from the way the two of them looked at each other just now, it didn’t seem like a simple senior-junior relationship.
“Um… there was some unpleasantness between us before the senior transferred out,” Veronica tried to play it down.
Fortunately, Shirley wasn’t the type to dig deeper and didn’t ask any more questions. After finishing their meal, the two of them went to the bus stop together. Shirley was going back to school, while Veronica was heading to the talent agency where she worked.
Shirley’s car arrived first, and she waved goodbye to Veronica before leaving.
“Okay,” Veronica replied.
After waiting for a while and seeing her bus arrive, Veronica was about to take out her monthly pass from her bag when an electric bike approached her. The person riding the bike said to Veronica, “Veronica, long time no see. Can we talk?”
It was Daniel!
Veronica didn’t expect Daniel to come back, and it seemed like he had purposely looked for her in the area.
“Okay,” she replied.
The two of them went to a nearby tree-lined path next to the bus stop, and Daniel parked his electric bike to the side.
“What a coincidence to meet here,” Daniel said. “It’s been years since we last saw each other.”
“Yeah, when you live in the same city, there’s always a chance of running into each other,” Veronica said.
“How have you been?” Daniel asked, looking at Veronica’s clothes. She wasn’t wearing any designer brands, just some cheap and worn-out clothes, with visible wear and tear on her shoes.
“I’ve been okay,” Veronica said.
“Is Mason not treating you well?” Daniel hesitated to ask.
Veronica looked at him in confusion.
Daniel quickly added, “I was just wondering if you ended up with him after we broke up. After all, he cared about you a lot, didn’t he?”
“No, I didn’t end up with him after we broke up,” Veronica said. “And I haven’t seen him much in the past few years either.”
Daniel was taken aback. “You didn’t end up with him? Does that mean you still have feelings for me…?”
“No, it’s not about you, it’s about some misunderstandings between him and me,” Veronica explained. “But recently, we’ve tried to be together again…um, in a trial relationship, that is.”
She spoke vaguely, as the explanation of her current situation with Mason, with whom she was trying to date, might sound a bit strange to outsiders.
Daniel felt a sense of disappointment rising in his heart.
When he heard Veronica say that she had broken up with Mason, he felt a strange happiness that he couldn’t explain, because he hoped that he could still hold a place in her heart after many years.
That’s why he felt disappointed when he heard the rest of her words.
“You…are together now?” he murmured.
“Um, at least for now,” Veronica said.
“Why?” Daniel asked.
Veronica looked at him with confusion, clearly not understanding what he was asking.
“Why didn’t you two get together back then, and only recently started dating?” Daniel asked. Mason had used such means to break up with Veronica back then, but after many years, he was now dating her. It all seemed very strange to him.
Veronica pursed her lips and said, “This is between him and me, senior, you don’t need to ask too much.”
Daniel suddenly realized that he might have crossed a line with his question.
“I’m just…worried about you,” he said hesitantly.
“I’m doing well now,” Veronica replied.
Daniel gave a bitter smile, realizing that the underlying meaning of her words was that he was now just an outsider and had no right to ask these questions.
“And you? This is just a part-time job, right?” Veronica asked. According to their age difference, Daniel should have already been working full-time.
“Yeah, part-time. I haven’t found a suitable job yet, so I’m delivering food and sending out resumes at the same time,” Daniel said. “The economy isn’t doing well right now, and it’s hard to find a job after graduation.”
“Well, good luck. I have to go to work now, so I won’t chat for long,” Veronica said, heading towards the bus stop.
As she spoke, she walked towards the bus station sign.
“Veronica!” Watching Veronica’s back as she left, Daniel couldn’t help but speak up. “Have you…ever hated me over the years? Hated me for what I did back then…”
“No,” she said calmly. “I never hated you!”
After saying this, she lifted her foot again, and Daniel watched her disappearing figure, feeling a heavy and oppressive weight in his chest.
She never hated him, but why did he feel that it was even harder to bear than if she had?
It was as if he had no place in her heart!
Veronica didn’t deliberately avoid thinking about her relationship with Daniel, but whenever she thought about it in the past, it was always in relation to
Mason.
But today, when Daniel asked her if she had ever hated him, she suddenly realized that she had never hated him.
Was it because their relationship was too short and shallow that she didn’t even have the capacity to hate it?
But in reality, Daniel simply made a choice between his home and his relationship with her, and he chose his home, betraying her feelings.
“What are you thinking about?” A sudden cold voice sounded in Veronica’s ear.
Veronica was startled, only then realizing that Mason had appeared in her room without her noticing any sound.
However, the fact that he knew the door lock password to her room made it natural for him to enter.
“Why did you come here?” She stood up abruptly and asked.
“Just came over since I had free time,” he said. “Don’t you like seeing me come over?”
“No!” She quickly replied, “It’s just that when you come over… um, you could give me a heads up in advance, so I can be mentally prepared.”
“Why do you need to be mentally prepared?” he asked.
“…” Veronica was speechless for a moment. Well, whatever. “It’s nothing, it’s okay if you don’t give me a heads up.”
He looked at her and asked after a moment, “What are you doing?”
“Huh?” She was taken aback, only then noticing his gaze on the sewing machine. “I’m planning to make two pillows.”
“Pillows?”
“Yeah, we only have two pillows at home, which is not enough. I plan to make two more. I got some scrap fabric from the flea market today, as well as the cotton stuffing for the pillows. Do you think this fabric looks good?”
He was a bit puzzled and asked, “Why make them? Can’t we just buy them directly?”
“If you want, I can make it cheaper, and you can also choose the fabric you like,” she said. “Anyway, this is a quick job.”
As she spoke, she sat back down. Her sewing machine was.
an old-fashioned one that her mother had used before she passed away. After her mother’s death, she tried to imitate her mother’s style and use the sewing machine to mend things.
Watching Veronica skillfully press the pedal of the sewing machine and the needle fall onto the fabric she had already cut, Mason’s mind flashed back to his childhood.
Before he was found by the Reed family, life was not easy for him and Veronica. When his clothes were torn or too short, she would help him mend them.
Only two years older than him, she struggled to press the pedal of the sewing machine with one foot while maintaining her balance with the other, using the old sewing machine to mend his clothes.
And the sound of the needle falling, at some point, became a beautiful sound in his ears.
But later, after the Reed family found him, she no longer needed to mend his clothes, and the old sewing machine never appeared in the Barlow family’s new house again.
He never thought he would hear that sound again after so many years.
When Veronica finished making the pillowcase and looked up, she found Mason sitting in a chair next to her, leaning against the back of the chair, his hands resting on the corner of the chair back, supporting his chin, and his eyes closed, as if he were asleep.
He… fell asleep?
Veronica walked up to him, looked at Mason, and couldn’t help but raise her hand and gently brush his bangs off his forehead.
His eyelashes trembled, and he slowly opened his eyes, his pitch-black pupils staring at her quietly.
“Are you tired? Do you want to rest in my bed for a while?” she asked.
“Not tired, just closing my eyes so I can hear the sound more clearly,” he said.