Emily saw that the calls were all from Joyce and James, and there were a lot of people texting her, but she didn't have time to text them back one by one. She quickly dialed James' number, but no one answered, so she had to call Joyce.
As soon as Joyce picked her phone, she asked, "Emily, where the hell have you been? Why didn't you call me until now?"
Emily was also speechless since she didn't want to do so, so she had to explain, "It's a little troublesome and is out of my expectation. Where's James? I dialed him but no one answered me just now. Is he at your house?"
"He's long gone." Joyce said, "The day we went back and then the next day, he received a call from his family saying something happened at his home. He was in a hurry to go back home to deal with it. He even left Bryce with us. I haven't heard from him in the past few days. He disappeared like you, but he made a phone call, and then there was no word from him."
"What? Something happened to his family?" Emily was surprised.
James' family was a family of academics, and his parents and relatives were engaged in scientific research. They were either university teachers, professors, or editors. Normally, they lived a peaceful life. How would something suddenly happen?
"You can't get through to him, right? I can't get through to him either. The kids have been nagging about you for the past few days, and I'm in a great hurry. Emily, if you can come back now, then come back first! Just to see the kids, and then we can think of a way to contact him after you come back." Joyce added.
Emily said "Yes" and quickly answered, "Okay, I'll be right back. Wait for me."
After she hung up, Emily said to Lisa, "Drive me to XXX road! I'll go to visit my friend."
"That girl named Joyce?" Lisa asked.
Emily nodded. Lisa and Joyce knew each other, so she didn't keep it secret to Lisa.
Lisa sighed and opened her mouth as if to say something to Emily, but she didn't speak out. She stepped on the gas and quickly drove her to the place.
Emily thanked Lisa after she got out of the car and hurried to Joyce's house.
Joyce was at home to look after two kids. When she saw Emily coming back, she asked anxiously, "Emily, where have you been all this time? You don't even give me a call. Do you know we're all worried about you?"
Emily apologized immediately, "Joyce, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. It's all my fault. I really didn't expect Franklin to lock me up there and not let me out. If I had found a way, I would have contacted you."
"Mom." Bryce heard her voice and ran out of the room. Then he hugged her leg and called her aggrievedly.
When Emily saw that his son's eyes were red, she quickly lowered her head, picked him up, and kissed his little face hard.
"Bryce, do you miss mom? I'm sorry, I'm sorry. It's all my fault. Mom will never leave you behind anymore. Please forgive me, okay?"
"Mom, don't leave Bryce behind anymore." Bryce said aggrievedly and nudged her neck lovingly.
The mother and son huddled together and were so intimate that Joyce was embarrassed to say something unimportant.
"Show me the news. I want to make sure if it is true." Emily didn't seem to hear Joyce's words and was still thinking about the reliability of the news.
Joyce quickly found the news on her phone and showed it to her, "Look, the news has been announced for several days. It has been being reported over the past few days."
Emily read the news. It was true.
Then the comments below were even more heart-wrenching. Franklin got married but people were all cursing Emily. They said that Emily had been a dog in the manger and then she stopped the couple who were childhood sweethearts, a perfect match, so she should have her comeuppance.
Anyway, there were all kinds of unpleasant words, which were so unacceptable, and cursed her, the ex-wife to die early.
Emily's face turned pale. Joyce quickly grabbed the phone and said, "Don't read the comments anymore. These people really have nothing to do but poke their nose into others' business. They don't mind their own business but they like to meddle in other people's business. They don't know what happened. They have no reason to gossip here. Emily, forget it."
"But Joyce, I..."
Emily suddenly wanted to cry and felt extremely aggrieved.
She was like a girl who had been bullied and humiliated for so many days. Even though she had been bullied for so many days, in her heart, she still felt that the person who bullied her still had feelings for her. But now she knew that he was only flirting with her without any feelings at all. Her self-esteem was suddenly trampled on and her heart was pounding and then it was thrown into the mud.
"Haroooo..." Emily couldn't help but cry on Joyce's shoulder.
Comments
The readers' comments on the novel: Hello, Mr. Brent