Rufus began to talk about the past.
“Your grandfather made us to get married. When we first got married, we were like strangers, and then
you and Brian eased our relationship. But it was either love. We have been together for long, and we
had you, so we were like families.”
Remembering the past, remembering his dead wife, Rufus was not guilty. He did not feel sorry for his
dead wife.
Hearing that, Stella knew Rufus was not waiting for her mother but that woman.
“You don’t love Mom, but Mom loved you. Otherwise, she wouldn't have jumped to her death because
of you. She could not accept your betrayal...”
“I had nothing to do with her suicide.”
Rufus interrupted Stella.
“Dad, what do you mean?”
Stella asked Rufus with surprise. She heard everything dad said. Everyone thought her mother couldn't
accept being cheated, so she jumped to her death.
Her father did not deny it in those years. But more than 20 years had passed, her father said he had
nothing to do with it.
Rufus didn't control himself and had said it out.
“Nothing. It's all over. It doesn't matter who was right or wrong.”
“Stella, I am not afraid to take the responsibility.”
Rufus did not give an explanation, but covered it.
“Dad......”
“Stella, your mother is dead. We must respect her. What happened between me and your mother does
not matter. Don’t talk about it.”
Rufus didn’t let Stella continue to ask, and he regretted his impulse.
“Well, what about that woman? Have you been waiting for her?”
Stella did not continue to ask, but she guessed that there must be something between her parents.
Her father was frank and he was not afraid to take the responsibility. Even if it wasn't his fault, he could
have taken it.
So she believed her father.
But that woman who had made her father lonely for so many years, who had kept him waiting for so
many years, was a thorn in her heart.
“Alas......”
Rufus first sighed and then opened his mouth.
“Stella, you have grown up and experienced love and marriage. There are things and feelings you
understand better than I do.”
“Living with your mother for so many years, I have never thought of betrayal and never had fancy for
any woman, though I had no feelings for her. But Isobel is different. For me, she is the real love.”
“I'm very happy to be with Isobel, and I was going to divorce your mother and marry Isobel. But I didn't
handle it well enough. Your grandfather found it out. You know what kind of man your grandfather is.
He won't allow my marriage to go wrong, even if it doesn't work out, it must be profitable.”
Rufus could not help but sigh. Speaking of Isobel, he had guilt in his eyes, which was different from that
when he spoke of his wife.
Stella quietly listened, although his attitude of mentioning her mother was different from that when he
mentioned Isobel, she did not interrupt her father.
Just like her father said, her mother had been dead for more than twenty years. No matter who was
right or wrong, all they could do was face the reality.
Her father was still alive, but he lived in remorse and regret. And he had been lonely all his life.
It was the first time in more than twenty years that he had mentioned the past. If her father wanted to,
she wanted to be a listener, to let him pour out his repressed feelings.
Rufus went on.
“Isobel was a doctor, and her brother has a construction company. But your grandfather did not like this
construction company.”
“Your grandfather made things worse by meddling in it. Isobel didn't know I had a family with two
children. Your grandfather took her away by force, told her about my situation and threatened her.”
“It hit Isobel very hard. She felt cheated by me. She denied even my feelings for her. I lied to her. I felt
indebted to her. I've been waiting all these years for the chance to meet her again and apologize to
her.”
Rufus did not conceal his feelings to Isobel. Only when he told her his true feelings, Stella would accept
it bit by bit.
After waiting for more than 20 years, he did not wait in vain. Finally, Isobel came back. But Rufus did
not expect that Winnie would be with Brian.
“You were young and you blamed Isobel. Your attacks, combined with your grandfather's blackmail and
emotional oppression, made her lose her job and she had to leave.”
“It was my fault, my selfishness hurt Isobel.”
Rufus said the memory and he felt better after saying it.
Stella could hear her father's guilt and love to Isobel, but he never mentioned his hurt to her mother,
which was unbearable to her.
“Dad, you not only hurt Isobel, but also mother.”
Stella said.
“I did not conceal your mother, she had known about me and Isobel.”
“Never mind. She wouldn't be happy underground if we mention it.”
Rufus then stopped the topic.
Stella respected her father and she did not ask although she found something wrong.
Rufus groaned again.
“I don't know if you believe what I said, but I have a clear conscience and I can guarantee that every
word I say is the truth.”
Rufus hoped that Stella could understand him, and could let go and tolerate.
“Dad, I believe everything you said. If Isobel comes back, do you still want to be with her?”
Stella believed his father unconditionally, but she asked a question.
Stella understood her father had been waiting for so many years, but he could not accept it from her
mother's point of view.
But Stella looked distressed when she saw loneliness in her father’s eyes. How could he be lonely for
more than twenty years?
At the moment Stella felt that it was the existence of Isobel that made her father endured for so many
years.
“If she comes back, if she will to be with me, if you and Brian agree us to be together, I want to be with
her.”
“We are old now and I don’t know how long I can live. I want to use the rest of my time to make up for
her and to feel happy.
Rufus did not hide his feeling and did not hide his love to Isobel. At this time, if he was still silent,
retreated, Brian and Winnie's life would be destroyed.
Stella looked at her father, listening to him, suddenly she felt that her father was the world's most pitiful
person. He did not know what love was when he was with her mother. When he finally met love and
understood love, Grandpa destroyed her father's yearning for love.
“Dad, haven't you heard from her in all these years?”
Stella asked tentatively. She did not know if she would forgive Isobel, but she really wanted her father
to be happy and wanted him to smile.
“Alas...... Stella, I have a question for you. If I find Isobel, will you agree with her to be with me?”
Instead of answering, Rufus asked a question. He did not want to deceive her, but he could tell her that
Isobel had come back.
“I...”
Isobel did not know how to answer.
“You can't take it? You still hate me, don't you? Alas...... Everyone hated me, but your mother
understood me. Unfortunately, she's gone.”
Rufus knew it would be such a situation, knew his children would not forgive him. If their mother had
not killed herself, things might not have turned out this way.
When she died, everyone put the blame on him, all the consequences on him. He was a man, it didn't
matter how much he took, but the children were hurt by that.
Sometimes he thought about how the two children had changed after their mother died, how they had
been repressed for so many years, and how he hated his wife.
But hatred was not the answer.
On her way home, Stella was depressed because of her conversation with her father.
Her father said he owed her mother nothing, but who should be blamed for her death?
Her father stopped speaking when it came to her mother. He said her mother was the first to know that
he was with Isobel and it could be checked.
At that time, she and Brian could not control their mood when they knew Rufus cheated on their
mother, but their mother was calm as if nothing had happened.
However, why didn’t their mother expose him? Since she did not expose him, it meant that she could
accept it, but why she committed suicide? What was it between her parents?
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