SWNOVELS Chapter 14
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Chapter 14 Happy Birthday
The room was a bit shabby, and Carlisle felt claustrophobic inside. He had never lived in such poor conditions before.
Seeing his visible disgust, Helene borrowed a set of clean. sheets from the landlord to replace the existing ones. As she busied herself tidying up the space, Carlisle watched, standing to one side. It wasn’t as if he didn’t want to help. It was just that he never did these things and didn’t know how
- to.
And Helene didn’t complain, either. She was already used to taking care of others since she had grown up with Zion. Diego had become spoiled as well under her care, so much so that he was basically unable to care for himself anymore.
After tidying up the room, the landlord sent them two packs of instant noodles for dinner. It wasn’t much, but it was better than nothing. The sight of junk food, however, made Carlisle lose his appetite almost instantly.
Not wanting to eat anymore, he walked over to the sofa on the other side of the room in exasperation and took out his phone. That was when he noticed a notification for a message -birthday wishes from Italy.
His hands trembled as he opened up his mailbox. There was that familiar name. Sylvie.
“What are you looking at?” Helene asked. It was rare to see Carlisle in such a daze, so she walked over with her plastic bowl of cheap noodles.
Chapter 14 Happy Birthday
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He immediately turned off his phone and said, “My friend was wishing me a happy birthday.”
“Your birthday is today?” Helene asked in shock.
She looked down at the instant noodles in her hand and felt terrible for Carlisle. This was far from a fitting birthday meal. Suddenly, something came to mind, and Helene put down her bowl.
She dashed out of the room, and Carlisle was so exhausted that he didn’t pay much attention to what she was doing. Then, the rainstorm picked up again. Strong gales whistled in from the sea, shaking the window. Lightning flashed and thunder roared violently as raindrops crackled against the glass.
Everyone inside watched on in fear, wondering if their little shelter would hold up if things got worse. Suddenly, another flash of lightning ripped through the sky, and the power went out throughout the town. The entire area was instantly plunged into darkness.
Carlisle, who had fallen asleep shortly after speaking to Helene, jerked awake from the sofa.
“Helene? Where are you?” he called out. He shouted her name
a few more times, but there was no response.
He was just about to step outside to look for her when the door suddenly opened.
It was Helene with a handmade cake in her hands. A dozen candles flickered in the darkness, the warm light enveloping her face in a sunset halo.
Chapter 14 Happy Birthday
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Walking toward Carlisle like an angel, she hummed a song. Then, she began to sing, “Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you…”
Carlisle stood there dumbfounded. He hadn’t celebrated his birthday for twenty years, and no one knew when it was except for the few he kept close to him. It was a topic that he never mentioned to anyone else outside of them.
“Helene, thank you for your kindness, but… Ever since my parents passed away, I’ve stopped celebrating my birthday,” Carlisle said rather coldly, building walls around his heart.
Helene stopped in her tracks and looked at him with a pained expression. She could feel his pain as her own.
“Carlisle, I know how hard it is to lose your parents, but that doesn’t change the fact that today is your birthday. Your parents must be watching you up above, and I’m sure they want nothing more than your safety and happiness. They wouldn’t want to see you hurting like this over them. You have to be kind to yourself for their sake.”
“You don’t understand what I’m going through.”
“No, I do. I’ve experienced the same pain. When I learned that as a child, my grandmother took on the responsibility of raising us… How she found us by the seaside, how my parents had abandoned me… My pain was no less than yours. My parents might still be alive, but they were dead to me all those years ago. I’ve never once felt their love, not even for a day. I never had it, and I never will. In some ways, I think you’re luckier than me.”
Carlisle felt moved as well knowing that Helene had gone through something similar. “You don’t want to find them?” he
Chapter 14 Happy Birthday
asked.
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“The world is too big,” she replied, shaking her head. “There are too many people. How could I hope to find them? And even If I did, would I somehow be able to get all the love they should’ve given me?”
“So do you hate them?”
“I don’t. I don’t think there are any parents in this world who don’t love their children, but they all have their own problems. All I can do is live the life they gave me well. They brought me into this world, so I’ll make good use of my time here.”
Helene set the cake down on the table and looked up at Carlisle. “I don’t know when my birthday is, so I don’t celebrate it either. How about we celebrate together today?”
“I made this myself. Want to try some?”
Carlisle walked over and looked down at the birthday cake. It didn’t look great, but he could feel the thought and care she had put into it. The longer he stared, the wider the crack in his frozen heart started to become.
“Let’s make a wish together.” Helene closed her eyes and began to make a wish. Suddenly, at that moment, the room became so very quiet. It was as if the whole world had collapsed into that one space for the two of them to share.
Looking at Helene’s delicate face under the candlelight, Carlisle also slowly closed his eyes.
Helene asked for three wishes, and when she opened her eyes, she found that Carlisle was staring at her blankly.
Chapter 14 Happy Birthday
“Did you make your wish?”
Carlisle nodded.
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“Then how about we exchange wishes? If you say it out loud, it won’t come true. So I’ll text you mine, and you do the same.”
Helene sent her three wishes after she finished speaking, but Carlisle refused to take out his phone.
“Why aren’t you sending me yours?”
“Because my wish can’t be fulfilled,” he admitted sadly. His only wish was that his Grandpa could live an even longer life.
“Well, sometimes wishes aren’t meant to come true.”
Carlisle looked up in surprise and met Helene’s eyes, as bright as pearls shining in the night.
“Sometimes, wishes are just there to give someone the courage to live. To make someone brave or strong. To get rid of their fear of whatever difficulties await them. Even if we can’t make our wishes come true, it won’t matter. We won’t regret what we’ve done, because we’ve worked so hard. You‘ re just one insignificant person in this giant world, and there’s so little that’s in your control. So don’t make things so hard for yourself and just do your best.”
This young woman who had only taken her first steps into society was wise beyond her years to Carlisle. Now, he finally understood why his Grandpa had chosen her out of so many other applicants at a single glance.
Helene may not have been the best woman objectively, but her wisdom and personality alone were the most suitable for
Chapter 14 Happy Birthday
Carlisle.
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She handed Carlisle the knife to cut the first slice, and he walked over behind her. Placing it in her hand, he hugged her from behind and said, “We’ll cut it together.”
Helene’s heart began beating faster. Maybe she was imagining things and it was all in her head, but she could’ve sworn Carlisle was feeling the butterflies too. She could feel his heart pounding and breaths getting shallow.
These two pairs of hands holding the knife trembled slightly, and as it sunk into the cake, Helene stopped halfway through. Helene couldn’t tell whose hands were shaking anymore, and it took all she could to keep her focus on the cake. But the heartbeat of the man standing behind her distracted her so
much.
After the first cut was made, the rest of the slices followed quickly. It must have only taken a few minutes at most, but that one moment felt like an eternity to Helene. It surely was, as her palms were so hot and covered in sweat.
Helene took her first bite of the birthday cake she had made and was whisked away to memories of the shop she passed by all the time as a child.
She used to love watching the bakers hard at work inside, taking a few minutes to admire them whenever she walked by. Fortunately for her, it just so happened that the owner of the homestay’s daughter sold homemade cakes. She posted regularly on social media to advertise her small business, and she had all the materials and tools that Helene needed.
The cakes were delicious.
Chapter 14 Happy Birthday
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Carlisle didn’t have much of a sweet tooth, so he only ate two pieces. But it was enough to make him hungry again, and he ended up scarfing down the instant noodles. It was a good birthday meal.
And outside, the storm raged on, becoming ever more violent.
Cher 15 Moming Love