Cosset You Forever

She had a boyfriend before, but they broke up. Now she was single.

As for himself, he had a fiancee... After he realized he liked Angela, he made a decision. Like Teresa once said, "It's all about good timing." The time was set. Before the end of the year.

If Rosa couldn't be found by that time, then he would disunite his past with Rosa and go after Angela. What good did endless hoping do?

He knew that it might've been unfair on Angela, but he couldn't help thinking about her.

Lately, he had been madly missing Angela when he was busy at work. Missing the sound of her voice, saying her name, and her lovely small face...

After a while, he finally opened his eyes and glanced at the dinning table nearby. He saw a pair of chopsticks and the bowl.

He marched toward the table to regard the food. After he saw through its bubbles of condensed water clearly, he smiled.

Immediately, he ran out of his apartment without tasting a bite of the food, got in his car and drove toward Xinhe Garden.

When he finally arrived at Xinhe Garden, it was Nancy who answered the door. She looked at Arvin in such surprise, "Dr. Gu? What are you doing here?"

Arvin couldn't explain why. He just asked, "Where is she?"

She...? Nancy balked, but eventually she got who Arvin meant.

"I called her a while ago. Isn't she at your birthday party?"

Arvin furrowed his brow. This was the last thing he expected. Arvin closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. "She told you so?"

"No, I just saw my big brother's Moments on my phone. I wondered why she was not in his group photo, so I called her. I assumed she went after that." Arvin screwed up his eyes, but he could tell Nancy wasn' lying. She wasn't the type who knew how to lie with efficacy.

However, it seemed like something was wrong from the way Arvin's kept his head dropped in thought.

Arvin looked up with a frown. "Could you call her to ask where she is now?"

He tried to call Angela, but she didn't answer.

Nancy was confused why Angela didn't pick up Arvin's call, but she let him know that. She couldn't express it then, but she didn't have much trust for the doctor. That didn't mean she wouldn't help him find Angela. She got to her room to get her cell phone. Then she dialed Angela's number in front of Arvin. Angela answered Nancy's call immediately. "Hi, Nancy."

Angela's voice sounded less mellifluous than it usually did. It felt like she was quite... Depressed.

Worry strained Nancy's face. She asked, "Where have you been, Angela? Didn't you go to Arvin's birthday party?"

'Why did she sound so unhappy?' Nancy kept this to herself.

"I'm already downstairs. I'll be up soon."

Nancy took a long breath. Her worrying heart relaxed, "Okay, I'll be waiting for you at home."

"Okay."

...

Downstairs, Angela pressed the elevator button, something half-hidden in her fist.

It was not long before the elevator door opened with a bing. Arvin was obstructing the way to Nancy's apartment. He obviously had been waiting for her a long time, because he looked like a skeleton, pale, worn, and bored.

'Arvin...' thought Angela in sheer horror. 'How come Arvin is here?'

She knew she should have smiled at him and said 'happy birthday'. Howere, nothing could compel her to smile in that moment, so victimized she felt.

'If you can't smile, just don't smile,' thought Angela, trying to instill some sense of control. It made sense, then, to avoid Arvin's eye. She tried to carry on walking without saying a word.

Arvin would not allow this. He grabbed her hand and dragged her away from Nancy's apartment, back into the elevator. Arvin had such a strong grip. She couldn't get loose.

She fought and fought but could see it was useless. Angela didn't try to struggle any more. Nancy was nowhere in sight and couldn't be much help anyway. Arvin carted her out of the apartment building, and around the corner toward his car.

He wrangled her belongings out of her grip, and put them into his trunk and fastened the safety belt over Angela.

Arvin then drove to Shengfeng Mansion. No words passed between them all the way there.

When they arrived at Shenfeng mansion, Arvin put on his slippers. He had put the bags on the shoe cabinet in the entryway and left them there. Then he brought a pair of slippers for Angela.

In the dinning room, Arvin and Angela stood facing each other, the engorged tension only pierced by the sound of Angela's involuntary gulping.

Angela struggled a little, but finally she smiled sweetly. "Happy birthday, Dr. Gu!"

Arvin was amazed by Angela's smile. He couldn't utter a single word.

Only disappointment seemed to counsel Angela when he didn't reply. It had formed the predominant theme of the day. She tried to get his birthday present which she had put on his table earlier in the day. However, there were two identical boxes where there should only have been one...

Angela opened one of the boxes only to find it was also a brooch! The two brooches shared a platinum chain pattern.

However, this new one had a maple design. And hers was also a brooch made by one of the Tahiti pearls that Arvin gave to her.

Arvin saw Angela staring into space after seeing the present Nita gave to him. He took the box and put it aside. Quickly, Arivn remembered the most important thing. He hadn't dragged her out to criticise her, to berate her, but to show sincere sorrow over the mistake. "Angela, I'm sorry."

Somehow the apology made Angela even more wronged than before, as if the apology was the nail that cinched the deal.

She pouted and her lips turned down. A tear washed her cheek moist. To cover her eyes, she bent to take the other box. She told Arvin, with her head lowered, "Well, Arvin, this... is... the birthday gift I bought for you..."

Arvin was startled to see that Angela's present was in the same box as Nita's.

He took this gift from Angela and gently lifted the lid. It was a male brooch used for matching with men's business suits.

The upper pattern was a wing made by platinum and the lower part was a Tahiti pearl with grain. The two parts were connected by two chains of platinum.

Wing... Pearl... Arvin understood Angela's meaning and he laughed.

'Angela keeps reminding me of my nickname, big wing.'

However, Arvin felt like the atmosphere of soothing balm between them was growing too tumultuous for plain sailing.

On a whim, he lifted Angela's chin up. Her red cheeks were doused with tears.

"Crack!" Arvin closed the box and put it into his pocket. And then, he hugged Angela in his arms tight.

Arvin knit his brows as he wiped her tears away, repeating gently, "Don't cry. It's my fault. I'll explain it all to you."

Arvin didn't expect his mum to do this to deliberately make Angela misunderstand him.

Angela wiped her tears on her face as well. "You don't like me, right?"

Even if she was stupid, she knew that if a man really liked a girl, he would bring her into his circle of friends, and his life...not leave her in the dark...

Arvin, however, didn't bring her to his birthday party... Instead, she kept waiting for him, alone.

Arivn shook his head and smiled at Angela, "Oh, silly Angela, would I allow you to approach me if I didn't like you?"

'Sounds about right,' Angela thought to herself.

Arvin continued to explain, "My birthday party was held by my mother. I didn't know about it at all until I went off duty. Don't you believe in me?"

Angela's red eyes looked straight into Arvin's deep ones. She unconsciously nodded, "I believe in you."

Arvin raised the corner of his mouth into a smile. "Good."

Angela clearly heard the word 'good' but she didn't think about it deeply. She pretended to be displeased and kept asking, "But you didn't let me go when you knew your mum held a birthday party for you!" Arvin smiled at Angela's complaint and added, "I just don't like those occasions. It's torture for me. If I brought you to the party, you'd suffer like I did."

Indeed, the embarrassing and time-costly birthday party had only wasted his patience, and made him hate birthday parties all the more.

He stayed at the party only for the sake of his mother. Otherwise, he didn't care a pin for it. He didn't want to stay for one single minute.

Listening through Arvin's explanation, Angela nodded her head and spoke her true feelings with chagrin on her face, "Do not leave me alone. Even if it is torture. Don't leave me alone, okay?"☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐