Chapter 29
On Friday, the sun blazed high in the sky.
I sat at the prow of the boat, sending Norton a photo.
Half a minute later, Norton called me.
“Norton, do you want to guess how deep the water is here?”
I turned around with a smile at the person beside me on the boat.
It was Norton’s mother Zona.
“Doreen, are you on the phone with Norton?” She was a bit hard of hearing, so she spoke loudly enough for Norton to hear.
I smiled at her and nodded.
“Does Aunt Zona know how to swim?” I asked Norton with a hint of interest.
“Doreen, you’re trying to get back at me,” he said with conviction.
“Exactly,” I replied calmly. “Are you sure you want to go through with this contract and leave your mother with me out here on the sea?”
“If you have a problem, deal with me. My mom has never done anything to hurt you!” He seemed to be gritting his teeth blinked and said, “Do you really think you have the right to lecture me right now?”
I hung up the phone and sent Norton the address before continuing to take photos of Zona striking different poses.
“Doreen, do I look good like this?”
I replied loudly, “Yes, you look wonderful!!!”
An hour later, Zona and I were back onshore, enjoying some coconut juice.
It was at this moment that Norton arrived in a hurry, his forehead beaded with sweat and looking quite disheveled
Missing the signing time meant that all the effort he had put into this collaboration for months was now for nothing. Even if the other company was still willing to cooperate despite the setbacks, his superior would never give the project to him again.
“Norton!”
Norton scanned his mother up and down. several times, and only when he was sure she was okay did he let out a sigh of relief.
“Mom, I need to talk to Doreen about something. Please wait for me in the car.”
He stared at me in silence until his mother left, then he said, “Doreen, are you satisfied now?”
I shook my head honestly.
This was only the beginning.
“The person I have always loved is you,” he said quietly, “Doreen, what is it that you can’t let go. of? If it’s Regina, I can tell you that after we got together, I didn’t have any physical relations with her.”
Well, a kiss didn’t count as “having physical relations.”
“And if it’s what happened that day… I know that caused you real harm, and all I can do now is make amends. I swear, every day from now on, I will be here to help you through it, okay?”
It was absurd.
Even now, he still didn’t see the harm I suffered as something significant, Norton sighed deeply.
“I truly love you and genuinely want to marry you. Doreen, can you give me one more chance?”
At this moment, Norton’s emotional conflict was evident.
He both resented me for the dirtiness from the kidnapping and felt torn between his love for me and his guilt.
That day, I responded to him, “Norton, marry you? Only over my dead body.”
His eyes showed pain, and he stumbled away from me.
Humans are contradictory beings.
Just as Norton is, so am I hate Norton to the core, but I never wished harm upon his mother.
When I went to pick her up today, I didn’t plan on showing her any kindness, but her first words to me were, “Doreen, I noticed you’ve lost so much weight from our video chat last night. I got up early this morning to make some soup for you. Come inside and have some before you head out to the beach.”
I had arrived at 8 a.m., which meant she must have started making the soup at least by 6.
Later, I often reflected on whether I was wrong to show any kindness toward Norton’s family, which only gave him another chance to hurt me.