My Aloof Husband Can't Stop His Devoted Affection-Chapter 581 - 032: The rest of my life to repay
"Come over and sit down! Don’t just stand there." Seeing that she showed no signs of resistance, Nan Jiayan reached out, took her hand, and led her to sit down in front of the sofa, then went to the kitchen to make her a cup of coffee.
Throughout, Lu Shishu didn’t say anything. In fact, she was curious about why he suddenly left without saying a word seven years ago, and she especially wanted to know the root of what had troubled her for more than seven years.
When he brought the coffee over, Lu Shishu looked at the steam rising from the cup, slowly lifted her hand to take a sip by her lips. The light bitterness and milk fragrance felt so familiar, making her nostalgic. Images of the time when she first met him and the time when they were together flashed in her mind.
So sweet, so happy...
Yet, just thinking about his unannounced departure, that heart-wrenching feeling, that happiness, and sweetness, would vanish entirely.
Nan Jiayan sat beside her, his face still carrying a gentle smile, but the desolate look in his eyes made that smile seem somewhat forlorn.
The whole room was silent; Lu Shishu didn’t urge him to speak but just kept her head down, slowly sipping coffee, though in her heart, she harbored a bit of expectation and inexplicable anxiety.
"Seven years ago, on August 7th, my parents divorced. Because of this, there was a huge uproar at home. On August 20th, my mom suddenly fainted, and after going to the hospital, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Later, my uncle used his connections to transfer my mom to a top hospital abroad where the medical technology and facilities were the best. At that time, I was almost collapsing because of family matters, and due to my mom’s illness, I had no choice but to accompany her abroad for treatment. Half a year later, Nan Xueyou began to plan to marry Wu Qianxin. By September the following year, my mom couldn’t hold on anymore and passed away. I muddled through more than half a year because I didn’t want to face Nan Xueyou and Wu Qianxin, so I didn’t return home. My uncle found an art school for me over there. During that time, I wished so much that you were by my side, wanted to see your smile, wanted you to tease me, wanted you to say to me, ’Don’t worry, you still have me.’ But when I tried to contact you then, I found that your phone, your WeChat, your email, all ways of contacting you were gone. That feeling of despair, I don’t think I ever want to experience it again in my life."
Recalling those two years of memories, Nan Jiayan felt extremely heavy and miserable. That feeling of being abandoned by the whole world, he really didn’t have the courage to go through it a second time.
Maybe it’s because of the changes in his family that even someone who was once so confident became insecure. Since graduating abroad, he has thought countless times about going back to find her, but the thought of Nan Xueyou and his current situation left him with no courage at all.
His confidence now has only gradually returned in recent years, and he has walked out of the shadow of his mother’s passing, but he still can’t forgive Nan Xueyou.
Back when his mother was about to pass away, he put down all his pride to plead, asking Nan Xueyou to see his mother one last time. Nan Xueyou agreed at that time, but until she closed her eyes, he never showed up, not even attending the funeral. It was a month after the funeral that he appeared, holding Wu Qianxin’s hand at her grave, fiercely stabbing pain into his eyes.
The true rupture between father and son was at that time, and it was then that Nan Jiayan utterly despised Nan Xueyou, that heartless man.
But to this day, seeing him also lying in bed due to illness, abandoned by those he once thought he loved, he, even in hatred, couldn’t just ignore him, let alone abandon that innocent little girl.
Lu Shishu listened to him speaking with a hint of hardship in his words, her heart suddenly tightened. She had imagined countless reasons for his sudden disappearance, but she never expected this.
Just from hearing him talk like this, Lu Shishu could imagine how distressed he must have been at that time, just like when she found out he was gone, coupled with the heartache of his sudden passing, like a thunderbolt out of the blue. In her once brightly sunny world, only a bleak gray remained, teaching her to gradually disguise herself, begin to protect and isolate herself from any harm, refuse all goodwill from the outside world, and just quietly stay in the world she deemed safest.
