Chapter 108 - This Time Last Year
Late at night, the soft light of the snow threw some light through the window into a spacious study. Mo Yixuan leaned against the swivel chair, his expression serious. He held a stick of cigarette in his right hand which was already half finished.
There was also a box of cigarettes on his study table but the box was empty. He had smoked his way through an entire packet.
He wasn’t even sure how many sticks of cigarettes he had gone through but the smoke filled the entire study.
The maids had brought up his food but he didn’t even touch it. Since his fight with Xia Yuwei he had touched neither food nor water.
He rose to his feet and pursed his chapped lips tightly. He walked to the windowsill and pushed open the glass window. Soon, the chilly wind entered and blew bitingly across his face like knives and he could feel the chill down to his bones.
Yet, it was as though he could not feel the chill. He supported himself against the windowsill and stared at the billowing snowflakes dancing across the skies unceasingly. He reached out to catch a snowflake and soon that snowflake turned into a water droplet in his palm.
He suddenly closed his eyes and his thoughts drifted back to this day last year.
It had also been the night before Christmas last year and he was still married to He Xiyan then. She stayed up till late waiting for him and was elated when he had returned. She made him supper and personally sewed his clothes. She had bought a big coat for him and that night, they had performed the most intimate act between husband and wife.
That was the last day they were man and wife. After that day, he brought Xia Yuwei home and that woman never returned home again, just like she had disappeared completely.
He bowed his head and glanced at his watch. He had already worn it for five years. It wasn’t an expensive watch and it looked a little worn, but he had never changed it.
He took off his watch and held it in his hand. It felt cold, colder than his own palm, but to him, this item warmed his heart.
This was the gift she had given him five years ago when she confessed her love. She had only been a student then and so innocent that he found it cute. He didn’t even know how long it had taken for her to save up for this watch.
Many girls had liked him back then and he often received all sorts of flowers, presents, love letters. He rejected all of them but he did not reject her. Perhaps he had thought that she was so innocent that it was cute, or perhaps he had been moved by her and thus, accepted her confession.
She had truly loved him very much. She would do anything he asked and she listened to his every word. She did not hold back anything in her love for him. Sometimes, all it took was for him to say a few words of affection and she would be happy for many days.
Yet, he had been the one to abandon her in the end. He even got together with Xia Yuwei before they were divorced.
He thought that Xia Yuwei loved him too and could add a bit of excitement in his boring marriage and that she could even make him a father. He had paid a terrible price for this moment of excitement. This woman had turned into a completely different woman after marriage. She was lazy, vain and selfish. She had no love to give and she was irresponsible, ignoring even her own child.
He could have never imagined that she would marry such a selfish and frightening woman.
He frowned at that thought and his eyes clouded over with sadness. He curled his fingers into a fist and pressed that fist against the window pane. Then, he made up his mind.