"OK."
"So, when are you coming back?"
"Almost."
Mia screams before Troy finishes his speech, "Hey. It’s Ms. Eira. She is there."
Karin hears what Mia says. Her voice is so loud that even Eira hears something. Eira looks back, only
to find Troy and Mia. Her face turns pale and she runs away immediately.
"Are you together with Mia?"
Karin asks in surprise.
"Yes. I have something important things to do. I will contact you later."
Troy hangs up the phone and goes after Eira at once.
But they lose track of Eira in the end even though they are quick enough.
Troy curses seeing the alleys before him. Mia also felts angry. But she is angry with Karin.
"It is her phone call that puts all our two-hour efforts in vain. Her phone call really comes at a bad
timing."
Mia stops complaining when seeing Troy’ sullen look.
"Go. We will come tomorrow."
Troy goes directly to his car. Mia follows him. She feels a little bit grateful for Karin because at least
Karin gives her a chance to be with Troy.
Karin’s words crosses Troy’s mind when he passes a shop in his way to the mountain top.
He pulls up and goes in. But he forgets to ask what her favorite brand is, so he chooses to pick one of
each.
Tonight is nothing special, just like every night before when she is waiting for him. Karin sits quietly on
the swing, her legs dangling.
But she feels lost somehow.
"Karin."
Troy comes close to her, kissing her on her forehead.
"Now you are back."
"Yes, I am back. Have you been waiting long?"
"It’s fine." Karin jumps out of the swing, asking, "Where is my bread?"
"I don’t know which one you like, so I bought a lot."
He gives her a big bag of bread, which contains buttered bread, sandwich bread, fermented bread and
so on.
"Oh my god."
Karin feels speechless. She says, "Not this kind of bread."
"Which kind of bread?"
Troy still feels a little bit puzzled. After all, he is a man. He does not know what girls mean by saying
"little bread".
"I mean the thing that girls use during period."
"Sanitary pad?"
"That’s the thing."
"…"
She asked him, a CEO, to buy sanitary pad for her?
"Then, why don’t you just tell me?"
"I thought you knew."
"How would I know? I never buy this sort of thing before."
Troy takes out his phone and says, "Don’t worry. I will call someone to buy it for you."
"No need."
She pouts and glares at him.
"Why are you with Mia?"
"Go upstairs. I will tell you."
Troy tells Karin all the details about the clues Mia provided, about how he and Mia spot the
whereabouts of Eira and how they let her run away before their eyes.
"So, tomorrow you are going with her again?"
"Yes."
Karin feels unhappy when she thinks about the nasty words Mia said several days before in the
banquet Emmanuel held. But she says nothing.
But Troy can still tell she is unhappy. He puts his arms around Karin’s shoulder, comforting, "Don’t
worry. As long as I find out the truth, I will cut off contact with her."
The beautiful moonlight casts on the bed through gauzy curtain which is blown by the wind. Looking at
Troy’s sleeping face, Karin feels everything is just so unreal.
But the arms around her is so real, the embrace around her so warm, the heartbeat in her ears so
peaceful and strong. All these things are declaring that they are together.
But why she still feels worried?
The next morning, Troy and Mia go to Ehle Cloth Mill but they don’t find Eira. Eira doesn’t come to
work.
For three days, they keep waiting, but find nothing.
They ask the man in charge for the absenteeism list and they get to know Eira’s another name, Kyle
Byrne.
Therefore, they start a new round of searching.
Troy devotes himself to find Eira every day. Karin could bear his behavior at first, but one day she fails
to.
"You are determined to find the maid called Eira, aren’t you?"
Troy pauses and nods, "Yes."
"So, what are you going to do if you find her?"
"I want to know what she saw. Why she changes her name? Is there anyone who controls her?"
"So, what if you know?"
"I want revenge."
Karin feels there is a huge stone pressing her heart.
"Can’t you just let it go? I don’t want to see you live in the past every day."
Troy looks at Karin, sighing, "No everything can be just let go. They killed my father, and this is
unforgivable. Everyone knows it. I hope you are with me in this thing."
"But vengeance has a way of rebounding upon oneself. If you can’t find the murderer, are you going to
spend the rest of your life looking for him with Mia?"
Now Troy understands. What Karin rejects is not his revenge, but Mia’s company.
"We have found out that Eira has changed her name to Kyle Byrne, and we also find out where she
lives. Tomorrow, I will try the last search with Mia. If I can’t find anything, then I will stop looking for her."
"Really?"
Karin is doubtful, "But just now you said you won’t give up on revenge."
"I mean no more searching with her. Robert has recovered from foot injury, so I will leave this to him."
"Don’t lie to me."
"I won’t."
He rubs her nose, saying, "I've ignored you these days. The day after tomorrow I will take you to
Provence to see the lavender, which is in full bloom in this season. What do you think?"
"That’s cool."
Karin jumps up. She is so excited. These days, she often dreams about the fight scenes because he
often comes home late. She has been losing of her sleep for several nights. It is time for her to go out
to relax herself.
The next morning, she asks for a week leave from school. She is so happy that she starts singing.
Seeing this, Billie asks, "What makes you so happy?"
"Troy is going to take me on a trip."
"Where are you going?"
"Provence."
"Really?" Billie is very envious, "Don’t forget to bring me some lavender."
"No problem."
Karin promises.
After she goes back to Ziteng Garden in the afternoon, Karin starts packing her baggage. After dinner,
she sits on the swing waiting for Troy as usual.
The moonlight is beautiful. The wind blows gently. She has seen the stars of Zurich a thousand times,
but tonight's are the brightest and shiniest.
The phone is ringing. It is from Troy. Karin picks up immediately, "Hello?"
"Sweetie…"
Troy sounds like he is guilty of something. Somehow, Karin feels nervous.
"What’s the matter?"
"I may not be able to make it back tonight. Mia got separated from me and I'm looking for her."
"Where are you?"
"In the suburbs. There are large woods, and I don't know if she's in danger. If I find her, I'll go back right
away, but if I don't, don't wait for me and go to sleep, okay?"
Karin closes her eyes, and then opens them again. She says sternly, "How could she get lost? I will
wait for you no matter how late it is."
Then she hangs up, denying him the chance to speak.
Actually, what she is doing is to prevent him from breaking his words to her.
Troy’s call comes an hour later.
"I still have not found Mia. Are you still waiting for me?"
"Yes."
"Just go to sleep. It’s very late now."
"How about our trip tomorrow? Shall we go?"
She asks, but her heart goes cold.
"If we can catch the flight, then we will go."
"If we cannot?"
Troy feels guilty, "If we fail to catch the flight, I will ask Robert to rearrange our flight. We can go the
next time…"
"No need. If we can’t go tomorrow, then I won’t go the next time."
Karin is about to hang up, but Troy says anxiously, "Don’t say that. I have asked the local police for
help. I believe I will find her soon."
"It is just your belief. I believe you can keep your words, but it turns out to be the opposite."
"It is just an accident. Sometimes things don’t turn out as plan. Mia is trying to help. I can’t leave her
alone."
"If it is so, then the next time you should make sure the things run as schedule before you tell me the
plan. I don’t want rejoice too soon."
Troy sighs, "All right. Go to sleep first. I will explain to you later. I can’t make myself understood over
the phone."
"No. I will wait until you come back."
"Karin."
Troy gets angry, "Can you just go to sleep? I don’t want you to wait for me every night. You are
stressing me out."
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