“If your beloved woman changes her mind and comes back to you, will I be abandoned again?” Estelle asked.
“She won’t come back to me.”
“You’ll never know. She might change her mind one day. Sir, you are such a good man. When she realises how good you are, she will come back to you.”
“What happened between me and her is too complicated. Well, it’s a long story. Anyway, she has a new life now, and I will not go to her anymore. This is the last thing I can do for her,” Mr. Mysterious words were barely audible.
After a while, he finally picked a bottle of wine and smiled, “This one looks good. She likes sweet wine the most, but the quality of sweet wine is not better than other wines. I think drinking the sweet wine was like drinking grape juice.”
With a helpless smile, Estelle said, “I like sweet wine too.”
“Really?”
“Life is so bitter. Drinking sweet wine can make me happy,” Estelle explained shortly.
Mr. Mysterious took out two goblets, filled them with wine, and handed one of them to her. “Let’s have a drink. Cheers.”
“What do we drink?” Estelle chuckled and asked.
Mr. Mysterious pointed at the starry sky and said, “Let’s drink to the beautiful stars in the sky.”
In the darkness, the outline of Mr. Mysterious was good-looking.
Somehow, Estelle could feel that he was a little lonely.
She didn’t know what Mr. Mysterious had ever experienced and couldn’t understand why his beloved woman broke off from him and married someone else. From her point of view, a steady, rich gentleman like Mr. Mysterious was an ideal mate.
Mr. Mysterious said that he felt guilty for that woman.
‘Did he cheat on her? No, he’s not that sort. Since he loves that woman deeply, he’s definitely faithful to her,’ Estelle couldn’t help thinking.
“Estelle, what are you thinking about? Why are you so silent?” Mr. Mysterious suddenly asked her.
Estelle shook her head and clinked her glass against his. “Nothing. I’m just a little tired.”
Mr. Mysterious said gently, “You’ve been busy recently and should have a good rest.”
“Sir, may I ask you a favour?”
“Is it about your daughter?” Mr. Mysterious glanced at her.
“No, it’s... Do you know which welfare house in Hadale is more reliable?”
Hearing that, Mr. Mysterious was a little surprised. “Why do you suddenly ask about the welfare house? Are you afraid that Cristofer will abandon your daughter and send her to the welfare house?”
“No. I have a friend who is seriously ill,” Estelle said. “She was worried that no one would care for her child after her death, so she wanted to find a welfare house in advance. Of course, you always know more than I do, so I asked you about it.”
Mr. Mysterious chuckled, took a sip of wine, and smiled, “Estelle, have you ever heard such a saying? When a person says ‘I have a friend’ to begin a story, most of the time, this friend is him or herself. So, what’s wrong with you? You’re seriously ill?”
Estelle explained, “I really have a friend who’s seriously ill. I... I’m healthy.”
“How old is the child?” Mr. Mysterious asked.
“About six years old. It’s a boy.”
“The man called James doesn’t want to take care of your son anymore?” Mr. Mysterious took a wild guess.
Estelle was shocked.
‘He knows so many things about me. He even knows James!’
“Sir, it’s really not me who needs help. My son Yohan is in Ameris with Mr. Harris, and being taken good care of by Mr. Harris won’t leave him alone.”
“Really?” Mr. Mysterious doubted. “It seems that James treats your son very well.”
“Mr. Harris is a good man. He helped me a lot when I was abroad.”
“Have you fallen in love with him?” Mr. Mysterious asked.
Estelle shook her head honestly and said, “I won’t fall in love with anyone else for the rest of my life.”
“It seems that your marriage with Cristofer has cast a psychological blow to you.”
Estelle opened and shut her mouth, not knowing what to say.
“It doesn’t matter,” Mr. Mysterious said. “I will make you believe in love again.”
Estelle didn’t respond to him.
“You don’t believe me?” Mr. Mysterious seriously asked her.
Estelle said, “I didn’t mean that.”
‘I just don’t believe in myself. We never know what’s coming tomorrow,’ she thought helplessly.
“I’ll ask someone to make a list of the welfare houses in Hadale and send it to you. You may show it to your friend,” Mr. Mysterious assured her.
Estelle took a deep breath and said, “Thank you, Sir.”
“It’s late. Let’s go to bed.”
****
The next morning, Estelle’s phone rang and woke her up.
She answered the phone with a drowsy mind. “Hello?”
“Hi, is that Miss Hudson?”
“Yes. This is Estelle Hudson. Who’s that?”
“Here is a package for you. I’m at the door of your room now. Please open the door and sign for it.”
‘Package? Who would send me a package to this hotel?’
In confusion, Estelle went to open the door.
Then she saw a young delivery man dressed in uniform standing outside. He handed her a file bag and said, “Here’s your package. Please sign here.”
“Okay.” Estelle nodded and signed the receipt. After that, the courier left.
Estelle closed the door, returned to the room, and opened the package.
In the file bag was only a piece of paper on which were the lists of about fifty welfare houses in Hadale.
The information about the welfare houses was detailed, including the environment, the fees, the children’s educational conditions, and so on.
‘Mr. Mysterious is so efficient. It’s been only one night since I asked him for help, and he sent me such a detailed list,’ Estelle thought.
Suddenly, she thought of something and picked up the file bag that had just been thrown aside and carefully scrutinized the label of the express company.
On the column of the addressee was her name, while there was only a word in the column of sender--- SIR. And the sender’s address was a branch of the express company, which was not far from the Grand Hotel of Hadale City.
In a word, there was no information about Mr. Mysterious on the package.
Estelle smiled helplessly and thought that she was naive.
‘How is it that Mr. Mysterious exposes his identity so easily?’
Then she called the little boy’s mother. The boy’s mother said that she would come to the Grand Hotel of Hadale City in the afternoon, and they made an appointment to meet in the hotel lobby.
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