"Thank you, Mark," Kevin said a bit indifferently. After taking the food from Mark, he continued, "Happy New Year to you too! Have you eaten yet?" The man smiled and nodded. Earlier today, Mrs. Xu had asked Kevin to have dinner with her family this evening. But as he was on duty, he couldn't leave his post without permission, and had to kindly reject her offer.
"I've already eaten. That's all yours." Just as he was about to leave, Mark turned to add, "They're going to get cold so you should eat them as soon as you can." Although the dumplings were in a thermal container, the weather was very cold this time of the year. Kevin appreciated the simple reminder.
"All right." During this time, the canteen at the army base often served dumplings. Before he got married, Kevin used to have them in the canteen with the other soldiers. This year, however, he wasn't in the mood as it reminded him of his reality.
But he wasn't the only one suffering. While he missed Leena terribly, the latter also experienced an intense longing for her husband.
She had been to different countries these days, enjoying different landscapes and eating at local restaurants. It was easy to keep herself distracted in the day. During the dead of night, however, she was harassed with thoughts of her husband all at once.
As it was the Spring Festival, she made dumplings for herself even when she didn't have the appetite. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she tried to eat some of her cooking. If she were by his side at this moment, they were probably feeding each other dumplings.
Soon, the journey would be over. And when that happened, what would she do then? When would she stop missing him? The idea of never seeing Kevin again tortured her.
Taking out her cell phone, she looked at Kevin's photo. Whenever she moved to a new city, she would preoccupy herself with activities as many as she could. Otherwise, Kevin's face would cross her mind, and that made it difficult for her to stop herself from buying a ticket to go back to him.
As it was currently daytime where she was, that meant it was night back in the city where Kevin was. Curious, she wondered what Kevin was doing right now. Was he having dinner with his family or the soldiers at the moment? Or was he alone like she was? Or, did he already fall in love with another woman? Unable to breathe, Leena wished it never crossed her thoughts.
The longer she was away from Kevin, the more she missed him. Unfazed by it at this point, she knew she was being followed by some people these days, probably by the men who were sent by Edward's father. Time and again, Leena wondered if Jonathan would ever spill her whereabouts to Kevin. And if he did, she thought, 'Will he fly to me one day?'
During the Spring Festival, the streets in S City were lively. Kevin, however, stayed in the army base every day to avoid it altogether. When Duke asked him to have a meal together, however, he had a hard time giving an answer. In fear of meeting anyone related to Leena, Kevin eventually turned him down in a nice way. The encounter would simply drive him crazy.
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