He squinted his eyes slightly, exhaling smoke, his expression gloomy.

After finishing one cigarette, he stretched out his hand to take another one, but as it rested between his fingertips, he abruptly crushed it.

He picked up the phone and called Autumn Johnson.

The phone rang again and again, but no one answered.

He pressed on his brow and sent her a text message, his fingers flying swiftly across the phone screen to compose a message——

[Fluffy, Auntie said you’re sick, are you feeling better? If you’re sick, you need to listen to the doctor, eat on time, and rest on time so that you can recover early.]

Once the text was sent, it was as if it had sunk into the ocean, with no response.

He furrowed his brows tightly, his long fingers tapping lightly on the table surface, then, again, composed another text——

[No matter what, you will always be my younger sister, I hope you can take good care of yourself. Uncle and Auntie only have you as their child, you are their entire reliance, if something happens to you, the ones who’ll worry the most and be the most heartbroken are them. Fluffy, you’re not a kid anymore, you should learn to think maturely, instead of immersing yourself in unattainable dreams, muddling through your days, and wallowing in despair.]

William Guillen hoped she would see it, even more so hoped she would take his words seriously to heart.

Autumn Johnson is an only daughter, if something were to happen to her, the hardest hit would only be her parents.

Unlike him, who has an elder sister, Fiona, even if something happens to him, there is still Fiona to take care of the parents.

Country A, Imperial City.

When the phone rang, after a long time, Autumn Johnson finally snapped back to reality. She struggled to extend her arm to grab the phone on the bedside table.

Seeing the note that very second, her nose tingled, and her vision instantly blurred.

She clutched the phone tightly in her hand, not daring to pick up, even less daring to hear his voice.

She would definitely lose control of herself, her emotions had already broken down, she didn’t want him to know how miserable she was.

The phone rang over and over, this seemed to be William Guillen’s most patient instance.

Finally, the last ring of the phone bell faded away.

Tears burst out from Autumn Johnson’s eyes at the same time, the tears trickling along the corners of her eyes, seeping into the pillow.

The phone vibrated, William Guillen’s text message arrived.

She greedily, slowly read each word of the text he sent, deeply afraid that if she read too quickly, it would disappear.

Was he concerned about her?

Autumn Johnson found herself going crazy, once William Guillen did anything for her, she would sentimentally imagine that he had feelings for her too.

He didn’t entirely hate her.

Until——

His message came the next day, Autumn Johnson finally broke into tears.

"Younger sister"...

The words "younger sister" forever framed her in a role of sadness, never to overturn.

He said she shouldn’t indulge in unattainable dreams, was this dream referring to him?

Crying as she was, Autumn Johnson started laughing, a self-mocking laugh.

She tossed the phone aside, her heart trembling violently.

She knew all the words, taken apart they were not aggressive, but all combined they turned into a sharp blade cutting through iron like mud, easily piercing through her heart, letting her blood flow like a river...

Autumn Johnson didn’t know how much longer she could hold on, nor how many people were actually mocking her.

Even he... perhaps he thought she was just being clingy? 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

Autumn Johnson endured the intense, piercing pain, picked up the phone, and with trembling fingers, typed out two sentences——

[I’m sorry to have bothered you all these years. Eight years a dream, waking up, the dream also vanished.]