Out of Control: Into Your Everything-Chapter 197: Nothing You Want to Ask Me?

Although he knew he shouldn’t look, Aaron Carson couldn’t resist stealing a glance at the romantic couple after averting his gaze for just a few seconds.

The handsome man and beautiful woman were such a pleasing sight.

It’s only natural to enjoy watching them.

However, Aaron Carson had barely glanced once before Julian Ford and Scarlett Shaw were already walking towards him.

He hurriedly and respectfully escorted the boss and his lady to the car.

Julian Ford shielded Scarlett Shaw’s head as she bent to get into the car, then mentioned the name of a dessert shop to Aaron.

The dessert shop was in Capitoline’s old district; the streets were bustling and narrow. It was Aaron’s first time taking the boss to this place.

They arrived twenty minutes later.

As Scarlett Shaw sat in the car, looking at the familiar scenes outside the window and thinking about everything that happened at the hospital today, it seemed as if some subconscious connection to the past made her not even surprised when she saw that dessert shop.

The last time she was here was last winter, when she and Julian sat at a small table by the second-floor window, where he revealed to her his true birthday.

Back then, Scarlett merely thought that Julian Ford used a fake birthday date to deal with social obligations so he could celebrate quietly by himself.

Looking back now, the reason was far more complicated.

It made her dare not pry into his past under the guise of care, which was essentially an excuse for her possessiveness.

They went into the shop and directly up to the second floor.

On a weekday afternoon, there were no other customers in the shop.

It was also the time of day when the light was most intense and bright.

They still chose the same spot as last time, but this time, Julian pulled Scarlett to sit beside him, gently pinched her fingers, and said softly:

"In the past, your curiosity wasn’t very strong. Don’t you have anything you want to ask me about what happened today?"

Scarlett’s eyelashes trembled, and she looked up into his eyes. Her pink lips moved slightly but couldn’t make a sound.

The sunlight streaming through the floor-to-ceiling window was less intense, and the temperature was just right.

Very warm.

Julian brushed Scarlett’s lips with his thumb and, after ordering tea and a dessert, calmly said:

"When my brother was still around, every year on my birthday, he would bring me here to share the cake we had last time. But we only had the chance to do it twice before we couldn’t share it again."

Scarlett, of course, still remembered that cake.

It was an outdated style that had been nearly phased out ten years ago and was quite out of place in this dessert shop.

Even with just a quick glance, she was certain the display counter didn’t have a model of that cake.

"After my brother passed, I’ve still come here every year by myself, which is why that cake’s style and flavor have been preserved,"

Julian explained, seemingly reading Scarlett’s mind.

Of course, this shop also faced the threat of being phased out over time, but supporting such a small shop’s operation wasn’t difficult for Julian Ford.

Before Julian brought up his brother on his own, Scarlett had always been hesitant to mention him, partly because she wasn’t sure how Julian felt about his brother.

But today’s scene made it clear enough; Freya Pierce wasn’t even close to being fair between her two sons.

All her affections had been given to Julian’s brother.

Yet, with Julian’s two simple explanations, it was obvious:

He and his brother had a very good relationship.

Something suddenly flashed in Scarlett’s mind, and she said in a moment of realization, "The photo you carefully preserved in your study isn’t of you and Ryan..."

"Mm."

Julian nodded.

"It’s of me and my brother."

"You’ve seen my mother; this isn’t her first day acting like this. When my brother was around, even though she favored him, her obsession and sensitivity, combined with my father’s betrayal of the family and my mother, made her love for my brother equally suffocating."

"However, my brother did much better than me. He inherited all of our parents’ good qualities. Though he didn’t show his emotions like my father, he was as sensitive and considerate of others’ feelings as my mother."

Julian suddenly paused, his gaze shifting away from Scarlett’s face. His calm voice carried a faint, distant sadness.

"When my brother was here, he almost single-handedly bore all my mother’s negative emotions and pressure. Despite being just a child, he always protected me."

Until the last moment of his life.

The man subconsciously loosened his grip on her hand as he was lost in his memories, making Scarlett’s heart suddenly ache heavily.

As if something precious was about to slip through her fingers.

When his fingers started to withdraw, she held onto him tightly.

Her heart inexplicably began to race, tinged with an unfamiliar nervousness, and Scarlett softly asked, "How did your brother..."

"Kidnapping."

Julian looked at her, his calm black eyes turning frighteningly cold at the mention of the word.

Even Scarlett involuntarily tensed up.

Noticing she was frightened by his emotions, Julian composed himself and held her hand instead. "At that time, both my brother and I were kidnapped. To protect me, my brother endured all the pain and torture alone. We even... found a chance to escape..."

But—

"My brother was too badly injured and didn’t survive until the police and ambulances arrived."

"If he’d just held on for another ten minutes, perhaps he could have lived."

Julian’s tone carried an understated sense of detachment.

But Scarlett could feel it.

At this moment, even his fingertips were cold.

The hidden coldness in his eyes, under intense restraint, spread through every nerve ending, turning into a beast-like hatred lurking inside him.

"At that time, I hated a lot of people."

He hated the inhuman kidnappers who cared only for money, the too-late rescue that was of no use, and Ezra Ford and Freya Pierce.

But most of all, he hated himself.

Ezra Ford and Freya Pierce constantly told him he was the reason his brother died.

Julian Ford never argued against this statement.

How could he refute it?

Even he believed that in his brother’s death, he was one of the snowflakes in the avalanche.

He wasn’t the monstrous kidnapper who directly tortured his brother to death, but his cowardice, his avoidance, and his blindness to the pressure his brother endured—all pushed his brother step by step towards the abyss.

Even at the critical moment of life and death, it was his brother who stood in front, bearing it all alone.

The server then came by and set the brewed tea and dessert on the table.

Julian’s words came to an abrupt halt.

Being interrupted was one thing, but more so, it was the painful torment of those memories.

As if they dragged him back into that once hopeless whirlpool.

Julian poured Scarlett a cup of tea, while she looked at him with almond-shaped eyes, seemingly more trapped in the depths of it all than him.

The dessert shop’s teacups were small and lacked aesthetic, but when held by Julian’s long, well-defined fingers, they unexpectedly gained a touch of elegance.

When he pushed the teacup towards Scarlett.

She suddenly hugged him tight.