In the end, I was like a piece of paper, a leaf, drifting down from the tree, from the rooftop.
“Belle!”
Fold Up
Jacob cried out and suddenly sat up in bed. His heart felt like it was being squeezed by an
invisible hand.
It took him a while to realize it was a dream.
He dreamed that I died.
He stared at the ceiling and was shocked to find: On nights without me, even the moonlight
was as cold as ice.
He rubbed his face, walked to the bar, and poured a glass of whiskey. The liquor burned down his throat to his stomach.
He deliberately made himself remember the first time he saw Marcella.
It was almost the same time as the first time he saw me, also during that speech at our old
school.
When he walked past the auditorium, he saw a class rehearsing. The piano sounded clean and pure. The girl playing the piano was wearing a little white dress and looked as elegant as an angel.
It was just a quick glance, didn’t even see her face, but she blew him away and he thought about her for years.
Later, when he met Marcella, he realized the girl who amazed him that whole summer was Marcella.
From then on, he wanted to give all the best and most beautiful things in the world to Marcella.
He drank and thought back for quite a while.
Yes, he was sure he loved her.
Even though time flew by, only that girl in the white dress gave him the feeling of first love.
The only thing that felt off was: why would such a clean and pure girl make up dirty rumors about another girl? Was what lan said true?
Also, it was one thing to draw bone marrow to save his own kid, but why did he have to throw that child into the trash can? That was his kid too!
That night, he didn’t sleep well. Every time he closed his eyes, he thought of people he
shouldn’t have.
Afraid I’d die, afraid I couldn’t make it through this.
He was even more afraid that after I got through this, I wouldn’t love him anymore.
He unconsciously curled up, like a wounded animal.
The next day, Jacob went to his old school to try to find his original motivation.
Fold Up
A Thousand Needles for Love
Principal Edmund Houston went with him himself.
“The planetarium Mr. Thornton donated last time was a big hit with the students! You’re a business leader and their idol. When you have time, could you give the kids another talk to inspire them?”
As they talked, Jacob suddenly stopped walking.
Right next to them, a whole display wall in the corridor was facing a 7-inch group photo-it was the one taken after I gave him flowers that day.
I was wearing a light blue school uniform, and he was all dressed up in a suit, holding the flowers I gave him.
That day, I had a little something on my mind, tilted my head toward him, and smiled brightly.
“Does this count as your couple photo?” Edmund joked.
“Back then, a lot of people admired her, and a lot of people admired you. She was the prettiest girl in our school. You can tell from this photo that she now?”
Cally liked you! Are you two still in love
He tur
Jacob felt complicated, just feeling his temples throbbing. around mechanically, and his eyes were suddenly caught by another photo.
S was ob
On the choir stage, a girl in a white dress was sitting at the grand piano with her back to the camera, her flying hair edged with gold under the spotlight.
She was his girl!
The corners of his mouth couldn’t help but show a gentle smile.
wase
“You came here to show off your love, huh?” Edmund shook his head with a smile.
“You guys are together all the time, and just seeing your back, I can feel that ‘love at first sight’
vibe!”
Jacob felt like something important flashed through his mind, but he couldn’t quite catch it.
“By the way, does Belle still play the piano? She was the kind of person who was just born for it, played the piano like a pro, and a bunch of classes all wanted her as their accompanist for performances…”
Edmund not only said this, but also pointed at the photo.
Besides the one in front of him, there were several others. Different classes’ performances, all with the girl in the white dress playing accompaniment.
Jacob’s throat was dry and scratchy, and his chest was pounding. It took him a while to find his voice.
“Who did you say?”
Fold Up
“Your wife Isabelle!”
Jacob felt like he got hit by a muffled thunderbolt.
Edmund was even more surprised.
“You can’t not know, right? She was a specially recruited talent at our music academy. If it wasn’t for Marcella…”
Jacob’s face went paper white for a second.
“What did Marcella do?”
“Weren’t you the model couple? How come you didn’t know anything?”
“Marcella was in the grade above Isabelle, and she never liked Isabelle. She said it was because after Isabelle came to the school, she replaced her as the prettiest girl, but nobody really knew the real reason.”
“That Christmas, she printed a few hundred little cards, used Isabelle’s photo and phone number, and said she was an escort…”
“Back then, we were all afraid Belle couldn’t make it…”
Jacob’s voice was terribly hoarse.
“What happened next?”
Edmund said, “Wherever Belle went, people pointed at her, so she just dropped out of school.”
“The blond guy handing out cards got caught, then we found out it was Marcella who told him to do it, and Marcella got a major demerit for it.”
“Too bad for Belle, she could have had a great future…”
“Hey, speaking of that, with the Thornton family’s money, you totally could’ve found her a world- class master to train her, get her talent back…”
Jacob’s eardrums were buzzing.
That super talented girl, the one God practically spoon-fed, already had her fingers crushed by him, so she could never play the piano again in this life…
The stabbing pain spread from her heart to her fingertips.
When he stumbled out of the school gate, he didn’t even notice his phone slipping from his
hand.
He sat in the driver’s seat of the Maybach, looked at that pale face in the rearview mirror, and suddenly slapped himself!
Then came the second, and the third!
The metal cufflink left a bleeding red scratch on the face.
Fold Up
“Belle…”
“Belle, I was wrong…”
Jacob kept mumbling all the way, and floored the gas pedal.
His eyes hurt a lot, and his vision kept getting blurred by tears.
He had only one thought: I have to see her, right now, immediately!
He wanted to tell me, He loved me, he was crazy about me!
He put his love in the wrong place, the one he loved was always me, only me!
Jacob bought a big bunch of roses on purpose.
However, when he got to the hospital, he found out that seeing me wasn’t an easy thing.
The whole floor where I lived had someone guarding right outside the elevator.
“Sir, who were you looking for?”
“My wife, her name was Isabelle.”
Except for the mercenary who always looked serious, after hearing Jacob’s answer, he actually showed a rare look of contempt.
He glanced at Jacob and quickly went to my hospital room to report.
lan sat on the edge of the bed with his legs crossed, looking down as he peeled an apple for
His lips were pressed into a line, and he was in a bad mood.
A few seconds later, he slowly asked, “Meet?”
I quickly answered, “If we don’t meet, I won’t act cheap.”
lan’s tight lips softened, like he let out a sigh of relief.
