A Call That Changed Her Entire Life

Beryl muttered, "I don't know. I just like him."

"You are still a little girl. You don't know anything about adults..." Emily whispered. She did not want to indulge Beryl's fantasies. At the same time, Emily did not take her words seriously thinking it was just her temporary infatuation. From her point of view, Beryl was a child and her interest in Jacob was just a passing fancy, soon to be forgotten after a few days. "I'll take you to wash your face and brush your teeth. Don't be unruly any more, okay?"

"Okay," Beryl replied quickly. She attempted to placate her mother's anger.

After putting Beryl to sleep, Emily tossed and turned in bed, unable to sleep. Riddled with guilt, she gave in to the urge of calling Jacob's number, but she regretted it as soon as he answered the phone.

A jovial voice came from the other end of the phone. "Emily!"

Somehow, Emily calmed herself down and apologized, "I'm sorry for what happened today. I was so worried about Beryl that I lashed out at you without any reason. I didn't mean to do that, but please don't ever take her anywhere without my permission. You know, if something happens to Beryl, I'll go crazy."

It was quiet on the other end of the phone. Jacob did not speak, so Emily eventually assumed that he had hung up the phone. Then Jacob's voice rang through the phone again. "I know how you felt," he said in a low voice.

"Thank you for your understanding. If there is nothing else to discuss, I will hang up," she said.

"Okay," Jacob whispered. And just as she was about to hang up, he suddenly added, "Emily, I miss you very much."

Suddenly, Emily experienced a sharp pang of pain in her heart. The nausea swirled unrestrained in her stomach.

Neither of them hung up. Bereft of speech, they listened to each other's quiet, regular breathing. Moments later, their hearts beat faster and their breathing became irregular.

Finally, the silence was broken by Emily's words. "Jacob, let's forget the past.

The past is gone. It doesn't matter what happened back then and who is Beryl's father. She will always be my daughter and the most important person in my life. No one can take her place in my heart," she explained softly.

Their relationship was doomed from the start and there was no way to turn back time.

If they continued to fight their fate and persist on being with each other, it would only make them both miserable.

paused to close her eyes and take a deep breath, entombing her memories of him in thick walled ice. Her lungs struggled for breath against ribs of stone and her heart was shattered into tiny pieces.

thing? At this moment she wasn't so certain

……

tightly that all his fingers turned pale. His black eyes lost their luster, as if he was being dragged into the depths

past? That's impossible. I can never forget

all his

who acted like a spoiled child in front of him. He missed the sweet times they had spent together in the past. Unfortunately,

love and affection belonged

displeasure, Jacob found himself in the same position as Jack. They were both stuck in the past,

was a forbiddingly cruel

voice came from outside, followed by a knock on

please," Jacob replied, and he gazed unseeingly out of

desolate demeanor. As if lost in dismal thoughts, he stood in one place, expressionless and

who had done a psychological evaluation for Jacob, came in with the test results and handed it to him. "Mr. Gu, there's been a serious deterioration

did not want to read them. He looked at the psychiatrist,

even worse than it was four years ago. Your nerves are constantly on edge. Your thoughts are always influenced by Emily and the fear that you will lose her. If you go on like this, you're going to have some kind of nervous breakdown, which will weaken

"Nonsense. Emily is alive, and she is back. Why

his voice, and he showed signs of mental instability, as if he would fly into a rage any

his nose and continued, "I also found it strange when I got the test results. In the ordinary course of nature, your mental condition should have gotten better, but in fact, it's just getting worse. After a thorough

me," Jacob said,

upon Emily's return was unsuccessful and perhaps even counterproductive. When you discovered that Miss Bai was still alive, your heart was overwhelmed with great joy. But in addition to that, it had undesired side effect. You started to worry that you would lose her again. The more you love her, the stronger this feeling will get. Eventually, your emotional insecurities will let

only push her away. So your only hope is to suppress your desires and your abnormal love..." the psychiatrist broke down the details in a

off like a time bomb. Everything went red. His vision blurred as a raging flame curled in the pit of his stomach.

in its cave, because he knew that what the psychiatrist said was true.

consciously thinking about it. In his desperation, he even wanted to lock her

to be the only way he could