Chapter 36
The office suddenly became quiet after Yolanda said these words.
Aaron stood in front of her closely, making her feel oppressed due to his tall height.
Under such oppression, Yolanda did not think too much but mentioned what happened between them last night.
After all, the first kiss meant a lot to Yolanda, so the only thing that came to her mind was to blame this on him as she knew that she had no confidence at the critical moment when she was being "held accountable" by Aaron.
But Yolanda regretted it when she said it, which seemed to mean "you should not mind that I deceived you because you kissed me", or that "I have lost my first kiss and that's a great sacrifice, and what else do you want from me?"
Yolanda shut up and tried to explain.
"I mean -"
But Aaron interrupted her.
"So that's why you feel like you're putting up with the humiliation, right?"
Haring that it was her first kiss, he was stunned and got rid of what he thought happened between Yolanda and James.
"... her first kiss? Did she give me her first? So ..." thought Aaron.
He admitted that the knowledge of the fact made him relaxed for a few seconds and that his jealousy also disappeared instantly.
But soon he figured out the question haunting him for a long time, which was the reason that Yolanda endured humiliation.
During the three months Yolanda lived in his house, Aaron did not give her any good attitude in the beginning, but he had given her anything she wanted since he was willing to be her brother to help her recover her memory, except for that time when he impulsively kissed her.
Aaron even had not been so tolerant of his real sister.
Previously, Aaron had not understood why Yolanda said the words "enduring humiliation", but now it all made sense as she said so condescendingly that she had given her first kiss.
"I kissed you, and you think it humiliation?" Aaron asked with mixed feelings.
"..."
"What do you mean by saying 'enduring humiliation'?"
The man bent slowly to Yolanda, with one hand against the door, and his body slightly bent down almost against her lips.
"Did I sleep with you?" asked Aaron.
Yolanda, "..."
This straight question caught her by surprise.
Just yesterday she had intimately called her brother, however, they talked about such adult topics just after one night,
She was a little embarrassed and did not know what to say, and her cheeks were burning because of Aaron's fiery breath.
Yolanda knew she had not expressed herself rightly, which made the man in front of her misunderstand.
"No one else should be blamed, and it is I who deceived him first." Yolanda thought.
She tilted her head somewhat helplessly, "I didn't mean that."
Aaron, however, immediately held her cheek and turn her head back, "Then what do you mean."
"..."
Yolanda also did not know what she wanted to express, maybe subconsciously she wanted to take that kiss and sell it as a favor, and for the sake of that kiss, let her take on the matter on her own and not involve others.
But now it was obvious that the man did not care about it.
After all, he was surrounded by pretty women, did he cherish her first kiss?
What a joke!
Yolanda hung her head dejectedly, "I didn't mean anything. It's true that I lied to you about that, and I didn't mean to make excuses for myself."
Aaron slowly stood up straight, did not move, and looked down at her.
It was such a beautiful face, and if she had not been Yolanda, he might have already let her know the consequences of fooling him rather than just saying sorry.
He stopped talking, put his hand down, walked to his desk, and sat down.
The office became quiet again. The quietness was like an indifferent punishment, and even the air was so cool that people could not feel any warmth.
Both this room and the man were cold.
Yolanda stood still for a while before she gathered the courage to say, "I know you're angry, I'm sorry that I've disturbed your life for three months, and no matter how much you hate me, you deserve it, because it's my fault."
Then it was a long silence and no response.
She felt that he was not interested in what she said at all.
After a few minutes' silence, Yolanda hung her head, "So, can I leave now."
"Nobody asked you to come."
"..."
As she had expected, Aaron did not even raise his head when saying this.
So, her inner monologue was just for nothing.
Yolanda nodded awkwardly and turned around, "I am sorry, bye," after a pause, "Mr. Jensen."
The door was gently closed. In the room, the man was full of anger, and pressed the pen tip forcefully on the paper but wrote nothing.
"'Mr. Jensen', What a 'Mr. Jensen'. Before the revenge, she called me brother in a good manner, but she calls me Mr. Jensen after it. Does this woman have any conscience?" Aaron thought.
When Yolanda left the office, Phoebe was waiting for her outside nervously and relieved to see her come out safely.
"Mr. Jensen didn't do anything to you, did he?"
Yolanda shook her head, "No, he didn't. What about you?"
Phoebe answered, "He didn't do anything to me, either."
"Then what did he ask you to come to tell you?"
Phoebe wondered, "He did not say anything, but scolded me passionately, and asked me to leave when you came."
"What an unpredictable man... Well, anyway, I'm glad Phoebe's okay." Yolanda thought.
Yolanda immediately remembered what happened to Sally when she heard from Charlie that Phoebe had been called by Aaron to his office, so she got hurried and ran over without hesitation.
"Then what about James?" Yolanda asked.
Phoebe was also confused at that time, "I saw him when I got there, and he seemed to end up quite bad."
After a pause, she continued, "Does Mr. Jensen help you by doing this?"
Yolanda did not know, nor dare to think so.
Aaron was a meticulous person, having his own reason for anything he did. Besides, when Yolanda could not fend for herself, she had no face to think she was favored by him.
Yolanda pressed her head that ached a little, "Pheeb, I'm going out, don't worry about me."
"Are you not feeling well?"
"I might get a cold from the rain, never mind."
After Yolanda left the company, the disturbance arose within Azel Group after several days' tranquility.
[Do you feel that the office queen seems to have lost power ...]
[There was such a spectacular scene on the 39th floor today, people going in and out all the time, but they were all in the office, and no one know what happened inside.]
[Make a guess. Is she going to be replaced by someone else?]
[Hey, I thought our boss would be a prey to her charm, but now it seems that she is just ordinary.]
[But Yolanda is more beautiful than any of her predecessors. Anyway, looking forward to the next queen!]
Yolanda went to the mall and bought some gifts, then took a taxi to the hospital.
She had said before that she was coming to visit Nina in the hospital, had thought of coming with Aaron after confessing to him on Valentine's Day, but had never thought all these things would happen.
Yolanda found the ward with a fruit basket and gifts. Happer was peeling an apple at the bedside, Elsa was playing with her phone, and Nina saw her first.
"Yolanda." Nina struggled to sit up.
Old Happer and Elsa also saw Yolanda.
He immediately put down the stuff in his hands, pulled out the bench on his side, and said, "Yolanda, why do you come?"
She smiled and replied, "I came to see Nina."
As speaking, Yolanda took out the fruit basket and nutrients, "These are for Nina. Hope you recover soon."
Then she took out a gift box with a scarf in it, "This is for Uncle Happer, and it will make you feel warm."
Finally, Yolanda took out a new model smartphone and gave it to Elsa, "Work hard now that you graduate and stop wasting time worshiping any star."
The family looked at her in astonishment with their gifts, "Why give us so many gifts?"
"I came to see Nina, so I bought them together. Last time I went to your house to eat dumplings, I shouldn't have gone empty-handed, but at that time I ...", Yolanda said while lowering her head, felt relieved about the past after a long pause, and then said, "The gifts are not expensive and just a token of my appreciation."
Nina and Elsa did not know, but Happer witnessed how she was ignored by Aaron in the rain last night.
"Yolanda," He seemed to figure something out and asked hesitantly, "Are you and your boss okay?"
Yolanda shrugged her shoulders, "Yeah, we're fine."
Happer could not tell whether she was really fine or just pretended to be OK.
He said sincerely, "The boss really has you in his heart, yesterday I went to the airport to pick him up, and on the way, I heard that he finished his work in Sutton in advance without sleep for the whole night, just to rush back to have dinner with you."
Yolanda listened to him, lowering her eyes and immediately squeezing out a smile to hold her tears back, "Well, I know."
Although Happer was not sensitive, he was by no means incapable of seeing what the thing happening last night implied. He was silent for a long time and sighed, "It's all my fault for my zoning out while driving that night, and you and Aaron wouldn't have been like this if I hadn't hit you."
Yolanda shook her head, "I made the mistake myself, and how can I blame others?"
She carefully suppressed crying, sat down for a while, and then got up to say goodbye for fear of not being able to control her emotion in the ward.
"Uncle Happer, I have to leave for I still have something to do."
He looked at her worriedly, "Be good, Kid."
Like Ms. Twelve, they had all come to take Yolanda as their own child.
And Aaron also gave his heart to her.
Yolanda knew that she had screwed it all up.
Or, perhaps it did not belong to her at all.
After all, she got it all by deceit from the start.
The day after the rainstorm, the whole city was shrouded in cold and damp. Yolanda walked out of the hospital and gathered her coat, which was Phoebe's and a little big for her.
Yolanda stood in the center of the square and suddenly realized that she didn't even have a single piece of clothing of her own in this city.
Having nothing at first, then something, and finally nothing, she just went back to the starting point.
She should actually have had nothing three months ago.
Yolanda closed her eyes and took another breath of the cold air of the capital.
She stopped a taxi cab, "Please take me to Cliton Night Fair."
The story in the three months all started from there. If she had not been there that night, Yolanda would not have been hit by Aaron's car.
On that night, the old fortune teller in the night fair said that everything would be fine for her after that night.
As he said, she indeed got better.
But now she lost all again.
Yolanda wanted desperately to find the fortune teller and ask him again, "Does she still have a chance?"
On the way to the Night Fair, she took out her phone and looked at the few contacts on WhatsApp, and the man had a black picture as his profile photo.
Yolanda opened their dialog box, the last message was on the night before Valentine's Day, and it was a video call that Aaron made to check the homework he had assigned her before he left for Sutton.
He asked her questions like a teacher, she answered and occasionally acted like a spoiled child, and they chatted for over an hour.
Happer said Aaron had been up all night to finish his work and spared so much time to spend with her.
Yolanda looked at the man's profile photo and sighed softly with regret.
Given Aaron's personality, she thought he must have unfriended her.
She played on her phone for a long time and wanted to find out if she had been unfriended, but did not know what was appropriate to say.
After all, Yolanda had just been kicked out of his office this morning, so she could not just send him a message shamelessly again.
She could only see Aaron's Moments of three days, and it did not have any content for a long time, so it was impossible to tell right away whether they were still friends.
Yolanda searched online and found out that one could know whether being unfriended by others by transferring money.
She thought to herself that she had eaten and lived in Aaron's house, besides, he had given her 100,000 dollars in pocket money last month.
How about paying it back?
It was a good idea.
If the transaction had gone through properly, it meant that Aaron had not unfriended her, in addition, she wouldn't be embarrassed for the transaction was justified.
And if not, it implied that he had unfriended her.
Then ... Yolanda would not have a bee in her bonnet with her phone, and there was still hope.
She took a deep breath and sat upright, and even her posture was particularly reverent.
"Transfer 100,000 dollars to Aaron."
When she pressed the last number of the password, Yolanda hesitated for a long time but finally pressed it with a flourish.
She looked up to see the transfer message, and surprisingly, it had been successfully transferred!
Yolanda was delighted that he did not unfriend her?
It was like finding hope in a desperate situation, even if it was very slim, and Yolanda was encouraged by it.
Maybe... maybe it was just like what Phoebe had said, that Aaron was just in a fit of temper and would be fine once he cooled down?
If he was really mad with herself, he would have already blocked her given his personality.
However, this unexpected success gave Yolanda a little more courage and she started to wait for his reply.
But after waiting for half an hour, the money had not been received, nor refunded, and no message was sent from him.
Was he in busy?
Yolanda had to type: [Brother, I'll return the money to you.]
Just as she was about to press the send button, Yolanda realized that she was addressing him incorrectly and hurriedly withdrew her hand.
How could she have the face to call him brother?
Sending it that way would be like a deliberate reminder that Aaron had been her brother for three months for nothing.
So, Yolanda changed the title: [Mr. Jensen, I return the money to you.]
After sending it, she continued to wait for his reply.
Aaron had actually seen the message half an hour ago.
Originally, he had thought this woman would say something to him, but when checking the message, he did not expect that it was "transfer100,000 dollars."
Hmm.
What did it mean?
Did it mean rewarding him for his help or that they were even now?
This woman was quite interesting.
After a while, Aaron received another message-- [Mr. Jensen, I return the money to you.]
He was even more furious seeing the address.
Aaron threw his phone aside and appeared calm on the surface, however, in fact, a message from Yolanda could stir him up.
After trying to restrain himself and calm down for a few seconds, he still couldn't get over it, so he picked up the phone and replied:
[What's the matter?]
Yolanda was stunned and subconsciously replied:
[Nothing.]
She paused for a moment, but finally couldn't help typing aggrievedly --
[I thought you had unfriended me ...]
The ellipsis contained too much of what Yolanda wanted to say but did not dare to, and she wanted to wait for Aaron's sign, at least a sign that he was willing to continue the conversation with her.
But after a few seconds--
Aaron: [Thanks for the reminder, I'll unfriend you now.]
"..."
Yolanda froze and looked at her phone, feeling that she had lost hope.
She hurriedly typed: [Wish you all the best for the future.]
But she didn't send it.
"Wasn't it hypocritical of me to say such words now? I had already lied to him for three months, so stop saying what made no sense." She thought.
Aaron was the god's favored one, the man supported and surrounded by others, and would lead a very good life without her blessing.
Besides, that man stood by his word and must unfriend her if he said so. So, if Yolanda sent any message now, she would only get the official notification that the other person was not her friend.
Well, so be it then. And it was just OK, for she could pretend that he was still on her friends list and had never unfriended her by leaving the dialog box as a memento.
Yolanda silently deleted the message she tended to send and closed the dialog box.
At the same time, the driver stopped the car and wondered, "What? This used to be Cliton Night Fair, why has it all been torn down."
Yolanda looked out the window.
The night fair that was so lively and warm in her memory had now turned into a desolated place, and some renovation plan seemed to be conducted here.
Yolanda's forehead was burning and she was stunned for a long time, suddenly having a strong sense of unreality.
She couldn't help but begin to wonder if this place had really existed or if it was just a dream she had had.
For several days, Aaron did not hear from Yolanda again.
He knew that she lived in Phoebe's place, but he only knew about it and did not take any further action.
His reasoning did not allow him to go looking for her.
It was enough to know that she was there.
On this day at work, Aaron inadvertently saw Phoebe when waiting for the lift in the lobby on the ground floor.
Phoebe was walking with her friends. Seeing him, she turned around and walked away as if she had seen a ghost, but Aaron subconsciously called her.
"Phoebe, come here."
Phoebe had been avoiding the situation for a long time, but she had never expected to meet Aaron here.
She had no choice but walked toward him, pretending that the passionate scolding had never happened.
"Good morning Mr. Jensen."
Aaron frowned, wondering why he just called her over.
If he hadn't seen Phoebe, he would be fine. But once he saw her, he couldn't control the urge to know what Yolanda was doing through Phoebe, and even want to see her.
Aaron did not want to ask so directly and calmly said, "Ask her to come to the office some other time. I don't know where she put a document."
Phoebe was confused, "Who is she?"
She then caught his meaning, "Ah, do you mean Yolanda?"
"She's gone back to Darlington, she left a few days ago."
Aaron, "..."