Ryan said it seriously, his tone was devoid of any plea. Every word he said was filled with solid strength, colliding with Marley’s inner world heavily.
Instantly, Marley felt that his insides had collided as it panged hard with pain. His pupils immediately contracted sharply, and his tone filled with chiding, “Mr. Babel, please don’t forget that Sylvie is my wife!”
But Ryan did not even look at him, his gaze landing on the plate before him. His voice rang calmly, his emotions unreadable, “Sylvie is a strong girl, she wouldn’t care less about anything, but only you! If you really think that she’s your wife, please treat her better. If she keeps being this exhausted, she might even lose her child!”
The sentence hit Marley painfully as he was stunned there, the expression on his face had frozen solidly there.
Ryan gave Marley enough time to think, as his words continued at the same normal pace, “I don’t have the right to ask you for anything, but I just want to remind you that Sylvie is a fine girl. If you can’t treat her nicely, someone else would be thinking of her, someone else would be better than you, and would care for her more than you do. If you love someone and can’t give her happiness, you should rather let go!”
Marley was silenced by Ryan’s words, he was deep in thought. It was undeniable that during their marriage, Marley had always thought and comprehended his needs and his purpose. Whenever he was unhappy, Sylvie was also unhappy. There were indeed problems with their marriage, and the problems would have existed even without Jemima, without Ernie.
Ryan took a deep drag of his cigarette, “Marley, you’ve never really understood Sylvie. If you really love her, you would have noticed if she was being slightly unhappy, and would even be more unhappy than she is. But you’re not. Or you have realized it but you’re distancing from her on purpose, you’re torturing her. You’re selfish, Sylvie is pregnant now, she pregnant with your child. How could you allow her to look this exhausted? You should know, today when I saw her and saw her pale face and greenish eyebags, I wanted to take her away!”
Marley did not know what to say at the moment and could only listen. At this moment, he was speechless.
“Do you know why she fell in love with you? I think you surely wouldn’t know!” Ryan continued lightly. “Sylvie had known you five years ago, if you had a heart you would have remembered. If you didn’t have a heart, I wouldn’t say anything else! I just want to add one more sentence in the end, if Sylvie keeps on being unhappy, no matter with what identity I will take her away. You better watch out!”
Having said this, Ryan extinguished the cigarette butt in his hand, stood up, and left in large strides.
Marley was stunned there and did not speak for a long time. Just like that, he sat there silently, unmoving.
Ryan walked out and went down from the stairs on the other side, he avoided Sylvie on purpose.
When Sylvie came back again, she saw Marley sitting alone by the table. She was a little surprised, “Where’s Ryan? Did he leave first? Let’s go as well? Ryan’s leaving for Country K soon, on the flight the day after tomorrow.”
Marley realized that she seemed to be explaining, his heart feeling uncomfortable and suffocated. He finally realized Sylvie’s carefulness, as if he was a husband that got jealous easily. At this moment, Marley suddenly felt that he seemed to be unreasonable. Something pressed on his heart and he suddenly felt that he could not breathe. How did they end up like this?
Sylvie realized that his eyebags were heavy as well, he looked exhausted. After a long while of seeing him being unresponsive, merely looking at her like this with a heavy expression. His look at her was unreadable, and Sylvie called out to him hesitantly, “Marley?”
Marley stood up, walked forwards, and hugged Sylvie. His strength was strong and his hug seemed to have regained its warm feeling. Sylvie instantly felt that her heart was sore.
“Sylvie, go with me to the company this afternoon, alright?” He asked by her ear dimly.
Sylvie buried herself in his arms. After a while, her voice whimpered as she spoke, “Alright!”
Sylvie went to the company with Marley and took a nap in the restroom in the office while he handled work affairs.
In the afternoon, Marley received a call and left the company hurriedly, saying that he would come by to pick her up after work in the afternoon. Sylvie waited in the office, as she was being bored, Aila came up to find her.
Sylvie was a little surprised at her arrival, “What’s up?”
Aila sat on the couch, laughing at herself. “I want to know where Ernie went!”
“Ernie?” Sylvie frowned. “I don’t know!”
“How could you not know? How is it possible that Ernie didn’t tell you where he went? He adores you so!” Aila was quite emotional. “Tell me, Sylvie, I’m looking for him!”
“I really don’t know!” Sylvie’s eyes were clear, staring straight into Aila’s eyes.
“I’m carrying his child!” Aila spoke softly, her tone filled with pleading. “If you know where he is, please tell me, I’m begging you!”
Aila is pregnant with Ernie’s child?!
Sylvie was thunderstruck and was unable to recover for a long while.
Sylvie did not know what happened between Ernie and Aila. At this moment, she only felt a little strange, her feelings were indescribable. Was this how men were? Ernie had told her that he loved her, but he had an affair with Aila. She did not intend to blame Ernie for anything, but she suddenly felt that men’s words are so unbelievable! She did not have the right to blame Ernie for anything as well, but she was instantly relieved. Some words were unbelievable!
“If I have any news of him, I will surely tell you, but I really didn’t know where he went! So, I’m sorry.”
Aila saw that she did not seem to be lying, she opened her mouth, wanting to speak but stopped.
Sylvie was smart, she saw her response as if she had something to say. Yet she waited for a long while and did not see her starting to talk, so she finally started, “Anything else?”
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The readers' comments on the novel: A Moment in Destiny
the writing is quite childish, but maybe it's just the translations...