When Armand came in after finishing cooking, he saw Theresa teasing the fishes as soon as he
opened the door. He noticed her smile, which he hadn’t seen for a long time.
He wondered when he had seen her smiling last time.
It seemed to be centuries ago.
He wasn’t willing to break the rare silence, so he leaned against the door and watched her silently.
After a while, when Theresa saw him, he strode over.
Theresa asked, “How did you find this place?”
Armand answered, “There are a lot of house hunting apps nowadays. As long as I’m willing to pay, I
can find a good apartment.”
Theresa understood. Although this was a small apartment, not as big as his house, it was quieter. She
also felt quite cozy when staying here. When she was home, she even had to be careful when
speaking, afraid of pissing Elizabeth.
If she continued to stay home, Theresa was afraid that she would be suffered from depression soon.
She stood up from the hanging chair. Since she was sitting there for a long time, her right leg went
numb. She almost lost her balance and fell on the floor. Armand acted quickly and held her.
Theresa looked up, only to find that he was looking at her. He whispered, “Are you alright?”
She shook her head and said, “I’m fine. My leg went numb after I’ve sat for so long.”
Armand lifted her and carried her in his arms. Theresa struggled. He held her more tightly. “Stay still.
Let me hold you for a while. It’s been a long time.”
He looked down at her and continued, “You’ve lost so much weight.”
Theresa gently curled up her lips into a smile. “Am I thin?”
“Of course.”
Armand put her on the chair next to the table, on which there were three light dishes - stir-fried green
vegetable, stewed eggs and tofu with shrimps, and the seaweed soup.
Theresa looked at the dishes on the table in disbelief. “Did you cook them all?”
Armand said, “I didn’t lie to you. I’ll cook for you every day from now on. How can I deceive you?”
Picking up a spoon, he got some tofu and put it in her bowl. He said, “I used to cook for myself before.
Later, I stopped.”
He was the only man who could cook among Boyce, Matthew, and himself.
Theresa picked up the spoon and tasted the tofu. It wasn’t as delicious as the dishes cooked by the
chefs in the restaurants.
However, for her, she could only eat such light dishes right now. In the past month, her mouth was
fulfilled with bitterness.
Armand said, “Let’s go out after lunch.”
Theresa asked, “Where are we going?”
“To my law firm,” Armand answered. “In the past few weeks, you were always at home or in the
hospital. It’s time to meet others. Just take it as a relaxing method.”
Theresa thought for a moment. Even if she wouldn’t go out with him, she would stay home sleeping.
She’d rather go out for some fresh air. Hence, she agreed and said, “Okay.”
After lunch, Armand did the dishes. Then he found her an outfit.
Theresa said, “I like what I’m wearing now.”
She checked on her clothes and found it was all right.
Armand took a new dress out of the cabinet and asked her to put it on.
He wanted her to be delighted in this way.
Theresa took the dress over and said, “Will I be delighted after putting on a new dress?”
Armand said, “At least you need some change.”
Theresa agreed. She put on the new dress and went out with him. They were walking hand in hand out
of the unfamiliar community. Probably it was because they were in a strange place when they were
walking, they couldn’t help looking around the environment.
It was a big community. Apartment buildings were quite distant from each other. There were reasonable
greening areas inside the community, and there were also security guards at the entrance.
Armand reached out his arm and let Theresa take it.
Theresa refused and said, “We’re not dating now. Stop doing it.”
“Why can’t we be dating?” Armand asked, forcibly grabbing her hand to take his arm.
He said, “This community is close to my law firm. Let’s walk there.”
Theresa agreed.
It was a cool day today, so they walked slowly. When passing by the silver birches along the road, they
saw lush leaves and branches. Occasionally, a gust of wind blew through the leaves, making them
clatter.
Shortly after, they walked into the law firm. As soon as they entered, they heard someone weeping.
Armand became a bit tense, pausing immediately.
Theresa wondered what happened to him.
Armand was all his ears while listening to the weep.
Theresa pushed him gently and asked, “What are you doing?”
Armand was afraid that Elizabeth would come here to make a fuss after failing to find him.
She had done such things at home already. He could imagine that his grandmother could come over to
make a scene and bitch about him despite her public image.
He almost went nuts because of Elizabeth, afraid that she was crying.
After listening to the voice carefully, he didn’t think it was his grandmother. The woman’s voice was
younger than Elizabeth's.
He patted Theresa on her hand and said, “Nothing. Let’s go in.”
Theresa looked at him, wondering why he was so nervous just now.
When they entered, they saw a mid-aged woman who was crying hoarsely in the reception room.
A lawyer was standing next to her, looking at her helplessly. He couldn’t talk to the woman at all as she
came here weeping only. She couldn’t tell him about the details. How could he help her?
Armand asked the receptionist, “What’s going on here?”
“Mr. Bernie, this lady has been here for a long while. She said she wants a lawyer to help her daughter.
After Anderson came over, she kept crying without speaking. Hence, Anderson could only stand here
and pass the tissue to her.”
As she spoke, she also heaved a sigh, wondering what exactly happened to make this woman crying
so miserably.
Armand walked over and asked Anderson to go back to his work. He could take care of this mid-aged
woman.
Instead of asking the woman what happened, he waited for her to calm down. He could tell that she
was way too excited. If she couldn’t calm down, how could she tell him why she had come to find a
lawyer?
Armand asked Theresa calmly, “Are you thirsty?”
Theresa pitied the woman a lot. She asked, “Aren’t you going to ask her what happened?”
Armand didn’t answer her. He went to pour two glasses of water, one for Theresa, and one for the
woman.
He asked, “Theresa, would you like to wait for me in my office?”
Theresa shook her head. She still wanted to listen to the woman, wondering why she cried so hard.
The woman found that Anderson had left the room, but she didn’t know who the man and the woman in
front of her were. She asked, “Who are you?”
Armand helped Theresa sit down on the sofa and said, “I’m one of the lawyers here. You can tell me
why you’ve come here. If you haven’t thought it over, you can go home and think it through. Then you
may decide if you still want to come here or not.”
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