Irene sneered inwardly as she glanced at Sophia, who was sulking next to Michael.
As it turns out, Sophia is having a fit of the sulks, so it’s no wonder that Michael doesn’t dare to come onstage. Otherwise, he would have difficulty defusing the situation if the little girl begins weeping later!
Having collected her thoughts, she held the microphone and said to everyone below the stage, “It seems that the colleague is absent today. In that case, I shall sing ‘The Love of My Life’ for everyone alone.”
A round of applause came from the audience.
The cicada’s chirps kept ringing in her ear, and the air was unbearably sultry. She pushed the window open to let the cool breeze into the room, but she didn’t expect to see the young man she had been waiting for a long time hiding in the shade of the tree downstairs the instant she pushed the window open. His white shirt was soaked in sweat, but when he looked up and saw that the long-awaited window was finally opened, his suntanned face cracked into a delightful smile…
“Your shirt was pure white in color, and the sky was slightly blue. You were carrying a bamboo basket, and I saw the smile on your face with a thin sheen of sweat…”
Irene began singing the song in a clear voice. The sincere emotions in her pure singing voice made the song extremely appealing, and the audience was entranced while listening to the song, as if it reminded them of their first loves.
Michael seemed to be listening to the song as well. Moreover, he closed his eyes slightly, as if he was enthralled by the song’s mood.
It was as if he was lost in his memories and was unable to snap out of them.
As Sophia listened to this song, she couldn’t help recalling the person who was by her side in the days of her youth. She and he were young and thus ignorant of the harsh reality of the world. The love between them was so young, pure, beautiful, and foolish; looking back at the old days, she found that the happiness she had back then was genuine.
Richard was listening to this song as well. As he closed his eyes slightly, his mind was preoccupied with Sophia.
His love for her was faint and innocent; it was the purest and most beautiful without any impurities.
Since when did his love for her begin to change?
Perhaps it started when he brought her back to the Harper Residence for the first time. She was so silly, foolish, and embarrassing back then that he couldn’t hold his head high in front of his family. At that moment, he realized that they couldn’t possibly be together. No matter how much he loved her, the love between them would die out as they returned to reality.
Even so, his love for Sophia was genuine, and she was aware of this too.
The love between them was sincere, but it was built upon their young age and ignorance, so it couldn’t withstand even the slightest blow and temptation by reality. It was beautiful and fragile; only at this very moment would it occasionally glisten with a trace of the past
Their love back then was already gone. He could have ended their relationship in the most amicable way, and she definitely wouldn’t pester him.
However, Richard ruined her in the cruelest way!
Michael also recalled his old days. Many people had appeared in the wonderful years of his life, and Irene was only one of them.
When he heard this song, what flashed across in his mind was the scene where he ran on the sports ground when he was young.
They were so innocent and happy back then. Celine hadn’t ended up in the state she was in right now; Joel was still a brother of the same age as his; and Irene was still a naive little girl who could sing as beautifully as a lark. As for Michael, he was just an adolescent boy with a dream of his own.
They studied in a school attached to the military, so they would have a drill with the troops every morning before going to school. The good thing about the military compound was that there were many children of the same age, so everyone always went out and had fun in large groups.
They were so naive, honest, and happy at that time.
They would go camping outside the town together, during which the older kids had to look after the younger ones. Michael remembered that he and Joel were the eldest among the kids, so they had to bring many things with them and look after Stanley, Caleb, and other little brats whenever they went camping…
The song ended, and everyone returned to reality as the memories of their youth gradually disappeared. They seemed to find it hard to accept that the reality and their memories were struggling plainly against each other like that. In the end, however, reality gained the upper hand and occupied their minds.
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