Chapter 18
It was the year Enola had turned 18 years old.
Robert woke abruptly from his sleep, instinctively reaching for his wrist. Normally, a sandalwood rosary bracelet would be there, but it was missing right now.
He didn’t recall ever taking it off. His first thought was that Enola, being playful as always, had taken it while he was asleep and hidden it somewhere.
At first, he didn’t think much of it. He even imagined finding it before she could return it, just to see the adorable look of defeat on her face.
He searched for a long time but didn’t find the bracelet. Instead, he stumbled upon a diary. Robert knew that even children had their own secrets, let alone an 18–year–old young
woman
The right thing to do was to put the diary back where he found it and continue searching for the rosary bracelet. But for some reason, as if possessed by an unseen force, he opened it.
He read about her youthful emotions page after page–her quiet, tender thoughts. It stirred both curiosity and an inexplicable ache in his heart.
The girl he had raised for ten years had finally grown up. She had learned to love. He even wondered which brat was that lucky to have captured her heart.
Then, he turned the page and… saw his own name.
“Today, I secretly kissed him while he was asleep. In that moment, I swear I could hear my own heartbeat pounding in my ears.
“I know this is wrong, but I love him too much.
“Why does it have to be him?
“Gosh, Robert Shaw, if only you weren’t my guardian!”
Just then, he felt as if a bolt of lightning had crashed down upon him, and a deafening explosion rang in his ears. But what was even harder for him to accept was the faint yet undeniable thrill he felt when he saw his own name written in her diary.
Unable to handle this revelation, Robert stormed upstairs in a fury, heading straight to her room. His anger was so intense that he didn’t even bother knocking. He simply pushed open the door.
That was when he witnessed a scene he would never be able to forget for the rest of his life.
Enola sat on the edge of the bed with her back to him, carefully placing the rosary bracelet he always wore, bead by bead, into her most intimate place. The collision between purity and decadence was so intense that it stabbed at his heart, making his vision blur with rage and confusion.
He furiously exposed her actions, threw away the rosary bracelet, and immediately sent her off to Melcian. Yet later, he secretly retrieved that very bracelet. He carefully preserved it, framed it, and hung it in the room he never allowed Enola to enter.
As his eyes wandered across the room, he saw various scattered items—a doll she once abandoned, her old exam papers, and accessories she mysteriously “lost“. Every single item, without exception, had something to do with her.
Only at that moment did he suddenly realize that from the very day this room existed, he harbored feelings for her that he shouldn’t have. But he was too weak and cowardly, placing all the blame on her for his own mistakes
That year, he deliberately avoided her calls and messages. He treated her desperate pleas for help as mere attempts to appear vulnerable, all so she could return to his side. He kept telling himself, “You can’t get soft. You must cut off all these feelings before they grow.”
It was also in that same year that he met Enola’s “friend“, Chloe.
собаку
Yet, perhaps out of subconscious yearning for another kind of ending, he chose not to burst into the room in the dream. Instead, he waited quietly until she returned the rosary bracelet, freshly cleaned and still carrying a faint chill that seeped gently through his wrist into his bones.
The vivid scene still lingered before his eyes, making his breathing grow heavier. When she leaned in to kiss him secretly once again, he finally opened his eyes.
Seeing the panic in her eyes, Robert grabbed Enola’s hand as she turned to flee, whispering firmly, “If you still feel the same way when you turn 20 years old, let’s get married.”
Time swiftly passed, and Enola’s 20th birthday arrived soon enough. He asked for her answer once again, and he saw the unwavering affection in her eyes.
Enola firmly nodded vahile saying, “Robbie, I love you, and I’ll never regret it.” On that very day, they registered their marriage, and he finally made her his.
Chapter 16
