CHAPTER 116: CHAPTER 116: NOT A FIRST MEETING, BUT A REUNION

The plane landed at Beldon Airport.

Having stayed in Kennet for a few days, returning to Beldon again, my state of mind was entirely different.

Holly felt a vague sense of bewilderment.

The Maybach blended into the city traffic.

While passing a familiar stretch ahead, it paused for a moment at the traffic light.

In the back seat, Holly looked out the window, bored.

A group of elementary school students wearing little yellow hats, carrying small backpacks, noisily got off the bus and lined up under the teacher’s guidance to cross the street.

Across the street was one of Beldon’s landmarks, Orbital Park.

"Oh?"

Blake Sinclair turned his head when he heard the sound, his voice gentle, "What’s the matter?"

Holly shook her head, but her eyes still followed those lively figures outside, feeling nostalgic, "Nothing, just curious that elementary schools can now go on summer research trips to Orbital Park."

She was stirred by memories, "I remember my first time at Orbital Park, it was during the summer break of my second year in high school."

Holly sighed with a bit of regret, "That day, I had just entered the park and fell, scraped my elbow, so I couldn’t play many exciting games, just watched others longingly."

Blake Sinclair’s fingers twitched slightly, instinctively touching his thigh.

The gentle look in his eyes instantly rippled with complex emotions.

He lowered his eyes to hide the tumult of emotions, then lifted them again, with a deliberately suppressed gentle tone, "That must have been such a pity."

"Yes, I was really upset at the time."

As Holly spoke, she suddenly seemed to remember something, her eyes brightening with a little pride, turning to him, "But, my diary entry for that research trip got the highest score in the whole school!"

Blake Sinclair’s heart suddenly raced, stopped for a moment, tore up, aching yet excited.

Looking at the exhilarated expression on Holly’s face, he had a premonition of what she was going to say next.

He tried to keep his tone in normal surprise, "Oh? That impressive?"

Holly, lost in her reminiscence, didn’t notice his oddity.

"Of course. Although I didn’t play many games that day, I helped a little boy in a wheelchair and even watched the castle fireworks show with him."

As she spoke, Holly found it funny too, "That wheelchair was quite heavy, and I was injured myself back then, but somehow, I found the strength to push it up the slope."

Each word she spoke at this moment transformed into a key, unlocking the layers of memories.

Blake Sinclair listened quietly, not interrupting, just kept watching her profile, emotions deepening in his eyes like ink that wouldn’t dissolve.

At this moment, no one knew the great storm that arose in his heart.

The night he had cherished for over a dozen years, suddenly became clear because of her words.

The noise of the crowd, the solitude of the wheelchair, the splendid fireworks, and the breeze that came with her unexpected appearance that summer night.

"...By the way, I remember it was that little boy’s birthday that day, I even gave him a newly bought keychain."

The young girl’s crisp voice broke through the years, once again falling into his ears.

"...Later, I wrote this experience into my research trip diary. The teacher said it was genuinely emotional and gave me the best composition award. After that day, every time I went to Orbital Park, I subconsciously looked at the spot for the fireworks... always thinking that if I could meet that brother again, I must tell him about this..."

So, she always remembered, even regarded it as a proud memory.

Sunlight fell through the car window onto her fluttering eyelashes, everything beautiful seemed so unreal.

Over a dozen years, time passed by, his long solitary trek through the dark tides finally, at this moment, heard an echo from the past.

He won the bet...

The intense impulse almost burst through his chest, sourness and ecstasy swept through every part of his body.

Holly.

This was never our first meeting.

It was a reunion.

But in the end, he said nothing.

The car passed through the main road and entered a tunnel.

The light inside the car dimmed suddenly.

Under the cover of darkness, Blake Sinclair finally stopped concealing the emotions accumulated in his eyes.

He reached out, grasping Holly’s hand tighter, almost greedily pressing it on his thigh.

The pads of his fingers carried a slight, imperceptible tremble.

His voice was low, lingering, yet very assured: "Holly, he’s very happy."

Holly turned to look at him, curious about the certainty in his tone.

Blake Sinclair met her gaze, gentle and certain: "He is very... very happy. Being remembered by you for so many years and involved in this way in a part of your life, must be the best birthday gift for him."

Holly broke into a smile, her eyes curving, "Is that so? Haha, I hope so. I also hope that little brother is still happy now."

Blake Sinclair looked at her bright eyes, his adam’s apple moved.

He would be.

Because from that evening onwards, all his happiness, hopes, and even the most memorable brilliant moments of his life were connected to you.

...

That night.

Holly slept uneasily.

She was taken into a series of bizarre dreams.

In the dreams, each scene was shrouded in a thin mist, within reach yet unattainable.

In a long, narrow alley, shell wind chimes under the eaves were ringing.

A little girl with pigtails ran quickly, her red face dotted with mud.

She didn’t care at all, holding up a basket of freshly picked bayberries, her clear voice echoing in the alley, "Yarrow, I brought you the biggest and sweetest bayberries!"

From deep within the alley, came a cool and indifferent young boy’s voice, feigning nonchalance: "...I didn’t say I wanted to eat them."

The little girl laughed even more happily.

She waved her small arms, running even faster, but accidentally tripped over a protruding stone on the roadside, her small body staggered a bit.

Almost the moment she staggered, the voice at the end of the alley immediately tensed.

The boy’s deliberately maintained indifference shattered, carrying a hard-edged concern, "Slow down! If you fall... and get hurt, if you cry... I won’t help you, I won’t come over."

The little girl steadied herself, unconcerned by his words, shouted back: "Got it, Holly’s fine. Hehehe, the bayberries are fine too!"

Finished speaking, she ran even faster, her pigtails swinging behind her head.

Sunlight filtered through the leaves, casting mottled shadows gently on the boy in the wheelchair.

He wore a clean white T-shirt, somewhat dazzling in the sunlight, further complementing his pale skin with a fragile look.

The sunlight, as if deliberately, always blurred his face, only showing his slightly tense jaw and the lips contracted into a slight smile as the girl approached.

Holly wanted to get closer, to see his face clearly, but the sky suddenly darkened.

The scene before her shattered in an instant.

The next second, she stood in Orbital Park.

Amidst the bustling crowd, she sat alone on a bench, morosely eating fries.

She twisted her injured wrist, suddenly seeing not far away, a boy trying to push a wheelchair uphill alone.

He wore a clean white shirt, but the back of his hand pushing the wheelchair revealed prominent veins from exertion, his movements stiff yet stubborn.

Holly trotted over, her voice crisp, "Hello little brother, let me help you."

The boy’s back stiffened further at this moment, he quickly lowered his head, the wisps of hair on his forehead covering his eyebrows but revealing a birthday badge pinned on his chest.

Holly helped him push up to the platform.

The boy seemed to want to thank her as he turned his head.

Just at that moment, fireworks burst into the sky from a distance.

She instinctively looked up to the dazzling sky, catching only a softly spoken "thank you" masked by the sound of fireworks.

The voice was clear, but... particularly familiar...

That voice...

Holly snapped her eyes open.

Her heart still slightly heaving from the dream.

Outside the window, daylight shone brightly.

She took a while to disentangle herself from the dream.

Was it because she mentioned Orbital Park with Blake Sinclair yesterday that she dreamt of that little brother?

But who was that boy under the tree in the wheelchair?

She remembered dreaming about that vague figure once before.

But why did the voices of the two in the dream sound so alike?

And carried an indescribable familiarity.

"Awake?"

A familiar voice sounded at her ear.

Holly turned towards the sound, Blake Sinclair was standing at the foot of the bed changing into a suit, his tie still untied.

"Breakfast is ready. After eating, we’ll go to the hospital to see Celia. Okay?"

His voice...

Unexpectedly, it miraculously overlapped with the words in the dream.

Holly instinctively glanced at his legs..