Debbie patiently stayed inside her car close to Building 2 within the Champs Bay Apartments from the morning to even after dusk. And whenever she would get a pang of hunger, she had to make do with just a few pieces of bread.
This apartment complex in particular seemed to have been reserved solely for the wealthy and powerful. One of Jared's close friends happened to live in this area. Debbie was able to trick the guard into believing she had come there to visit that guy, and for that reason, she managed to get into the compound.
At that point, it was already 10 o'clock in the evening. Debbie was just playing around on her phone to pass the time. Then all of a sudden, she got blinded by the headlights of a car entering the compound.
Only a handful of cars were given entry to this housing community. For every single vehicle that would pass by the entrance, Debbie would immediately look up to check if it was Carlos'. So, when she noticed this car as it was coming in, she did that just as well.
The black car that passed by proceeded to pull over right in front of Building 2—it was an Emperor car, the latest model. The driver then stepped out of the car and opened the rear door for the passenger sitting inside. A man promptly exited the vehicle.
After hours and hours of waiting inside the car, she finally saw the man she was looking for. It was none other than Carlos.
Wasting no time at all, she quickly locked her phone, set it aside, walked out of the car and called out to him, "Carlos Huo."
The second he heard a voice calling his name, Carlos turned around to check who it might be. He was a bit puzzled by what he saw.
A woman wearing a blue jumpsuit and a pair of high-heeled shoes approached him from the dark.
And with nothing but a single quick look, Carlos recognized her in an instant—the woman who, for some reason, was barefoot and was wearing a red evening dress the other night.
Of course, she was no longer in that same weird position. This time around, she seemed rather composed.
It was not like Carlos knew her at all, but to a certain extent, there was something about her that looked so familiar. She politely smiled at him as she leisurely walked closer holding a white Chanel purse.
In spite of all of that, her eyes were still the same. Even when their eyes finally met, she didn't bother looking away.
In the end, she didn't approach him any closer. She stopped in her tracks the second she got right next to his car.
He stood by the doorstep of the building, with his gaze fixated on the hopeful look on her face.
He opted not to say anything; he was curious about what her reason could be for waiting up on him, what she could possibly want from him.
People say that the eyes are the windows to the soul. Her eyes had been filled to the brim with so much tenderness for him, while his, on the other hand, simply felt so cold.
'I guess he doesn't recognize me in any way.
What am I supposed to do now? Should I ask him about it?
Maybe I shouldn't do that, ' she pondered for a second.
Lowering her head, she shifted her attention over to her feet to hide the pain about to slip from her eyes. It had been three years since the last time the two of them saw each other, but the moment they finally came across each other again after such a long time, they seemed to be nothing but strangers.
Given that the mysterious woman didn't utter a single word after calling out to him, Carlos just turned to leave.
Immediately after hearing his footsteps, Debbie had no choice but to pull herself together. She lifted her head up and tried to stop him. "Wait a second!"
Without bothering to turn his head to look at her, he simply replied, "What?"
"I... Carlos, do you really not recognize who I am? Tell me the truth." She found it so hard to believe. How could things have turned out like this? Because of that, she was desperate to get an answer out of him.
This time, he turned his gaze toward her, looking her straight in the eye, and answered quite apathetically, "No."
When she heard that, tears began welling up in her eyes. But she needed to be strong, so she somehow managed to smile at him. "That's fine. I'll just have to remind you who I am, and then you'll eventually remember me again." The fact that he was still living and breathing was a big surprise.
"Not interested," he simply said.
She was completely aware of how he would always act around strangers, forbidding and unfriendly. Only this time, it was her who was a stranger to him, and this was more than enough to break her heart.
Wearing those high heels, she went past his car. Way back when they were still together, she recalled how she would always be having a hard time moving around in those high heels, so Carlos just had her wear sneakers with a formal dress when they attended an expo during that one time. But now it was a bit different; she had already gotten used to wearing those high heels.
This time, even though she was still a couple of steps away from him, his car was no longer blocking his view of her. So, unlike before, he could now see her from head to toe.
Drying her eyes, she brought out a few things from her purse. Then, she stretched out her hand and told him, "Look at these! Don't you remember? You gave them to me in the past. And I've always been taking good care of them."
In her hand, she was holding a designer watch, a diamond ring which was almost the size of a pigeon egg, and a pair of turquoise earrings. Under the bright orange light, those items glimmered so dazzlingly.
His memories were gone, yet his good taste in jewelry never changed. He was still so fond of those kinds of things.
For an enthusiast like him, he could easily tell that those things she showed him could be somewhere around a billion dollars.
She might have had tears dripping from her eyes, but her smile remained so sweet and loving. "All throughout these last three years, I had brought all of these with me wherever I would go. I did that because it helped me hold on to the hope that somehow, somewhere, you were still alive...and that you were still there beside me at all times."
Now, she was able to finally confirm that he was indeed still alive and kicking. Her mind wasn't just playing tricks on her; every little bit of it was real.
At the sight of this, Carlos pursed his lips, feeling quite irritated. He stood there silently for a while, then he opened his mouth and said, "Miss Nian, I've told you this before, and I'll just say it once more in hopes that you'll understand me better this time. I do not know who you are. It could be true and I may have made some sort of promise to you back then, but all of that is long gone. I'm going to get engaged, so please don't ever bother me again with this nonsense. I'm sorry."
Those words made her feel as though a bolt of thunder had hit her in the head. The very man she had loved even after all those years had just told her that he was about to get engaged to another woman, and he even asked her to stop pestering him.
Upon hearing that, Debbie kept the items she was holding closer to her and held them tighter. With a smile on her face, she retorted, "I don't really care about that. You've already fallen for me once before. I truly believe that I can make you come to love me again."
Due to her unsettling confidence, Carlos actually felt a bit uncomfortable. "There's no way that's going to happen," he responded flatly.
At his response, Debbie simply burst into laughter, her tears running down her cheeks. "Carlos, you've done countless unthinkable things to me before ultimately falling in love with me in the end. And I always managed to make you regret it every time you did something bad. Oh, apart from that, you also once said that I was the one destined to become your woman. So, from that logic of yours, you are destined to be my man. No way in hell I'm going to give you up without putting up a fight."
Carlos didn't open his mouth to answer. Instead, he simply ignored her and walked past her.
She turned her head to look what caught his attention and saw a white car pull over behind her. Carlos opened the rear passenger door and assisted a woman as she was getting out.
As it turned out, it was actually Stephanie.
"Carlos, could it be that you just got here?" From the corner of her eye, Stephanie noticed Debbie, so without delay, she lovingly wrapped her arms around his waist.
"Hmm." Carlos closed the door after helping her get out.
Stephanie leaned over to him on tiptoe and quickly gave him a kiss on the lips. "Honey, let's get inside now. It's been such a long day. I feel so tired."
Before the eyes of other people, Stephanie appeared like such a strong businesswoman. But when it came to Carlos, she would be like a completely different person, one who would always be so sweet and loving.
"All right then." With their arms around each other's waist, the two of them made their way into the building.
The moment they walked past Debbie, neither of them bothered to spare her even a single glance, acting as if she did not exist at all.
As soon as they stepped foot inside the building, both their cars drove off straight away.
Watching all of this with her very own eyes, Debbie felt like the world had turned its back on her. She was so alone. As if time randomly stopped, everything around her seemed so quiet.
She couldn't remember how she could have possibly gathered her thoughts and made her way into her car. It took the best of her just to hold back the urge to beat the hell out of Stephanie. And now, she had no clue what her next move should be.
Feeling so tired herself, she instantly dozed off inside her car. And during the early hours of the following day, her deep slumber had abruptly been disturbed by a loud horn.
She kept the car window open with just enough space to make sure that she wouldn't risk getting suffocated while she was sleeping. That was the main reason why she had gotten startled by the horn.
Checking out the apartment in front of her, Debbie sneezed.
She seemed to have caught a cold.
When she was finally fully awake, she came back to her hotel room to take a nice, relaxing warm bath—she badly needed one anyway. Then she started a video chat with her daughter. Piggy appeared to be having breakfast in the Wen family's house.
She noticed that Elsie, Irene's mom, was the one feeding Piggy. Debbie felt a little guilty and remarked, "Aunt Elsie, there's no need for you to be doing that. You don't have to worry about her; she can just eat on her own."
Elsie simply let out a soft smile and told her, "It's totally fine. I just really love feeding Piggy. She looks so adorable."