273
Chapter 22
Ariella did not speak, she just stared at him.
On a hot summer night, Calvin was seen sweating profusely.
He thought she hadn’t heard clearly and was about to ask again when Ariella finally spoke up.
“Shyla said today was a great day for your wedding, why are you in Landhall? Doesn’t the groom need to attend the wedding?”
Her tone was calm when she said these words, but it stirred up a storm in Calvin’s heart.
Under the overwhelming pressure and aura she exuded, his rationality finally returned to his mind and he left.
“The wedding was canceled.”
“Why was it canceled? Was it to come and find Shyla? Does Harold know vabout this?”
Ariella didn’t give him a chance to catch his breath, a series of questions fell on him like beads on a jade plate, making a crackling sound
After a few minutes of silence, Calvin managed to squeeze out a few sentences in response
“It was cancelled before I came, and it had nothing to do with Shyla I was just worried about her being alone, so I thought of coming to see her.
“Alone in a foreign land?”
Ariella smiled and retold it, with a complex undertone in her tone.
“With me, her own aunt, around, what could possibly happen to her?”
“But she almost drowned in the lake this morning.”
Listening to his thoughtless retort, Ariella’s gaze became increasingly solemn.
Lultu
“Do you think 1, as an aunt, did not fulfill my guardianship properly?”
Although Calvin’s words were humble, his tone was stubbornly confident
“I didn’t mean it that way, I was just stating the facts.”
“Fact?
Ariella nodded in agreement and took two steps forward.
The voice instantly became stem.
The fact is, the Gutierrez family never formally adopted Shyla; she was originally named Moran and still goes by that name. The fact is, her parents passed away when she was young, and she made some foolish mistakes, but she has since corrected herself, and you should treat it as if nothing ever happened. The fact is, she calls you uncle, so you should love her like you would a younger relative, instead of having any unethical thoughts!”
Calvin’s face grew paler and paler as she reproached him sentence by sentence, until finally, it became completely colorless.
He lowered his head and dared not look at those eyes that were as sharp as swords.
But he kept arguing with her, even though she had already spoken.
“You also said that she didn’t have the last name Gutierrez!”
“Is it enough to not have the surname Gutierrez? Have you forgotten how much older you are than her? Her parents watched you grow up, and you watched her grow up. How can you be so confused! If our older brother and sister–in–law in heaven lanew about your dirty thoughts, they would surely regret helping the Gutierrez family so much back then!”
Word by word, sentence by sentence, it exploded in Calvin’s ears like a thunderbolt.
He trembled uncontrollably, his face filled with confusion and despair.
הד
My chest felt as if it was blocked by a huge stone, and
ne, and I couldn’t catch my breath no matter what.
He tightly clenched his fist, his tone filled with unbearable pain.
“I knew! I knew everything… but I just couldn’t control myself!”
“Over the years, it wasn’t just Shyla who suffered, but I almost lost my life too! I knew it was wrong, that’s why I found someone to marry, just to put an end to her feelings! Just to keep her peacefully by my side!”
“As long as she stayed by my side, even if it meant I would be an uncle for a lifetime, I would willingly accept it! But she still left, leaving me behind!”
“She was twenty–one years old this year, and we had been together for twenty years! She had already become a part of my life, a bone in my body. Without her, what meaning would there be in my existence?”
With tears streaming down his face, he revealed all the e hidden worries that had never been known to anyone, shedding tears with every word
Ariella had never seen Calvin so fragile
In her heart, he was a person who remained calm and reliable, mature beyond his years, no matter what happened.
So she could rest assured to hand Shyla over to him:
But she forgot that, no matter how mature his mindset was, he was still a young
a young person in his twenties, with desires and love.
Until today, Ariella had to admit that she had an undeniable responsibility for the current situation.
She deeply regretted not bringing Shyla over back then and regretted missing countless opportunities over the past eleven years.
I am even more ashamed in front of my late brother’s parents, the Moran family’s ancestors, and the Gutierrez family who extended a helping hand to her in her most difficult times.
The great mistake has already been made, and remorse is meaningless.
She could only do her best to make up for and salvage all these mistakes.
