Belated Moonlight: He Regretted Only After I Left-Chapter 74: How Much She Must Have Loved You...
"What... did you say?"
Jasper’s voice was so hoarse it was almost unrecognizable, "Who... is engaged to whom?"
Jude was taken aback by his reaction, his heart skipped a beat, "No, it’s not... Old Hawthorne, you... you didn’t know? Shane Donovan and Stella Sterling! It’s been spreading all over the circle, just, just next month..."
He watched as Jasper’s face turned deathly pale, the color drained completely, as if someone had drained all the blood from his body, leaving only a lifeless gray.
"Impossible..." Jasper suddenly stood up from the chair, his movements so abrupt that he knocked over the ashtray on the table, scattering cigarette butts and ashes everywhere in a mess.
"She’s in love with me! How could she get engaged to someone else?!"
He seemed to be trying to convince Jude, but even more desperately trying to convince himself.
Yes!
Stella has loved him for the whole five years, how could she suddenly turn around and get engaged to someone else?
"She must be doing it on purpose... she’s angry with me..." Jasper muttered to himself, his gaze frantic, fumbling to pull out the phone from his pocket, "I’ll call her... I’ll explain everything to her..."
His trembling fingers unlocked the screen, found the number indelibly engraved in his mind, and dialed it—
[Sorry, the number you are calling is currently on another call...]
The cold, mechanical voice echoed.
Jasper refused to give up and dialed again.
The same prompt sounded once more.
It was as if he understood something as his fingers stiffly exited the dial interface, opened the contacts, and found Stella’s name—[Stella, what’s this engagement thing? Call me back.]
Click send.
Instantly, a glaring red exclamation mark popped up on the screen, followed by a line of tiny text: [Message not sent successfully, please add the recipient as a friend first.]
Blocked...
The phone, WeChat... she had sealed off every path available to him.
Completely, without leaving a trace.
Jasper abruptly lifted his head, bloodshot eyes fixed on Jude, "Phone! Give me your phone!"
Jude was so shocked by his demeanor that he instinctively retreated and hid the phone behind him, "Old Hawthorne, you... you need to calm down..."
"I am quite calm right now." Jasper’s words came one by one, each squeezed through his gritted teeth, "Give me the phone."
"..."
At this moment, Jude wished he could slap himself—why had he opened his mouth earlier?!
But Jasper wasn’t listening at all, he directly snatched the phone from Jude’s hand.
A string of intricate numbers unlocked the screen, which stayed on Shane Donovan’s Moments page!
Jasper’s dialing fingers froze—
Somehow, as if possessed, he began to scroll down...
The last entry was from last night.
A shadowy silhouette leaning against the car window, the outline soft, hair blown by the breeze.
The caption held only two words: [Mine.]
Scrolling upwards...
[Meeting you means truly living.]
[Finally made it.]
Each entry, every single note, without mentioning Stella, yet all about her.
That overwhelming sense of treasure and possession almost leapt off the screen, cutting into Jasper’s heart, already riddled with wounds, like burning, sharp knives.
He fixed his gaze on the screen, his eyes ached, his breathing heavy and strained.
Those images, those words, and the memory of Stella once looking at him with eyes filled with starlight and love...
Is she now looking at Shane Donovan with those very same eyes?
Why?
How did it come to this?
Jealousy, regret, panic, despair...
An eruption of emotions like molten lava surged within his chest, burning away his last shred of reason.
He suddenly stabbed the button for a voice call, his movements quick, catching Jude completely off guard.
"Beep—"
As soon as the dial tone rang out, Jude nearly jumped out of his skin, almost tackled Jasper to snatch the phone back and slammed it off with all the speed he had!
"Jasper! Have you gone completely insane?!" Jude was furious too, his long-repressed wrath erupted instantly.
"Look at what you’ve become now?!"
Jude almost shouted, his voice made Jasper freeze in his tracks, "Back when Stella loved you heart and soul, where the hell were you?!"
Jasper looked up, bloodshot eyes fixed on him.
Yet Jude continued heedless, each word struck like a poisoned whip on Jasper’s heart, already drenched in blood.
"Grace suddenly collapsed needing a blood transfusion, did you ask Stella even once?! You let her go right away without hesitation! One time, two times, I lost count of how many times! She even turned pale and nearly fainted from drawing blood, did you care even once?!"
"Whenever Grace cried, threw tantrums, or threatened, called, how often did you leave Stella to go comfort her?! What did you treat Stella as?! A dog at your beck and call?!"
"Stella stayed with you for five years! A full five years! Her best five years! She managed your law firm, dealt with tough clients for you, shielded you from every kind of attack! She followed you like an idiot, eyes set only on you, but did you ever really see her?!"
"Just how much must she love you... damn it, how much did she love you... to let you torture her for five years... and finally leave in despair..."
Jude’s voice turned choked, genuinely heartbroken and unfair for Stella.
Every word felt like a heavy hammer, battering Jasper’s eardrums, sinking into his hollow chest.
All those memories he had intentionally ignored, dismissed as normal, now bloodily unraveled by Jude, lay bare before him.
He once didn’t understand...
But now, he does.
It’s not wisdom, it’s disappointment, grievance, a numbness after repeatedly being heartbroken by him.
"Uh..." A cry of extreme pain escaped Jasper’s throat, as if his heart had been ripped out alive and trampled on.
He could no longer hold it in, abruptly let go of the phone he was fighting for, staggered backward, his back crashing heavily against the cold bookshelf.
With a "thud," he slid down the bookshelf, sitting on the ground curled up.
He pressed his hand hard against his left chest, the throbbing agony almost tearing him apart, far more severe than any other physical harm he imagined.
Turns out the heart can truly hurt this much, hurt until breathing is impossible, causing spasms throughout, wishing to die at once.
The Stella who was once completely his, she won’t ever return.
Jasper curled up amidst the mess of ash and shattered glass, tears began flowing unbidden, mingling with the blood oozing from the wounds on his hand, splatting on the floor.
He regretted it.
He wished he could go back and kill the self who hurt her repeatedly.
But, it’s too late.
Everything’s too late.
Jude halted his cursing seeing him like this, a knot clenching in his chest, ultimately merely sighing heavily, turning his gaze away.
If only he had known earlier, why did he behave as he did?
There’s no such thing as a medicine for regret in this world, is there?
