What Separates Me and You

Chapter 246

Chapter 246 My Biggest Regret

The scene frozen in the picture had become somewhat blurry, yet it was still discernible that there were three individuals captured within it-two men and a woman.

As Lewis gazed at the picture, a sense of sadness washed over his face, and his eyes seemed to lose focus. It was as if he was peering through the image, glimpsing a distant, bygone place.

Many years ago, an old man with white hair always sat on the rocking chair by the balcony, staring at this picture as he spaced out. He could spend his whole afternoon looking at this picture.

When someone walked past him, they could often hear the soft sigh of regret from his mouth. Nôvel/Dr(a)ma.Org - Content owner.

Lewis looked at this picture for a long while. He only regained his senses when he heard someone knocking on the door. He put the picture back into the book and closed the drawer.

When he turned around, he saw Robert standing at the door.

Under the dim light, Robert had his hands behind him as he stared at Lewis with a complicated expression. He was aging as well. His sideburn had turned white, and even his back was slightly hunched.

The two exchanged glances for a second before Robert finally walked into the loft, his shoes. leaving a trail of muddy footsteps on the floor.

“I was just wondering why the lights are on. So, it’s you.”

Lewis didn’t say anything.

Robert walked toward the old rocking chair and sat down. He slowly rocked back and forth, imitating his father’s habit.

“After Grandpa Alan passed away, do you feel as if the whole world is against you?”

Lewis remained quiet.

Robert took out a pipe from the drawer and started rubbing the tobacco leaves. Alan loved smoking like this when he was still alive.

Looking at Robert’s action, Lewis zoned out for a while.

Robert patiently rolled the tobacco leaves and put them into the pipe’s mouthpiece, then lit it up with a lighter. He opened his mouth and smoked. For someone who’s just in their fifties, he looked like an older man.

“I’ll be taking my leave.”

Lewis was about to go when Robert called out to him. “Wait.”

He stopped in his tracks with his back facing Robert, but he didn’t turn back to look at him.

Looking at his back, Robert said sadly, “Lewis, you’re my proudest son. You were once my greatest pride and joy too. However, you’re also my biggest regret.”

Lewis turned his head back slightly to look at Robert after hearing what he said.

But Robert had already ended that topic. His eyes roamed around the loft with nostalgia.

“When I was your age, Grandpa Alan still disciplined me with his belt. It’s hard to believe I’ve reached his age in just a blink of an eye. Of late, I’ve been thinking about everything I’ve done. But no matter

how hard I think about it, those good and bad times throughout the years still seem pretty messy to me.”

Lewis knitted his brows together. “What are you trying to say here?”

Glancing at him, Robert chuckled. “I’m just ranting. You can leave if you don’t want to listen.”

Lewis moved his eyes away and looked elsewhere as if thinking about something.

At last, he walked to a wooden chair not far away and sat down.

Seeing that, Robert let out a laugh. He was still smoking on his pipe when he sized Lewis up with a meaningful gaze.

On the other hand, Lewis was sitting there upright, allowing his father to look at him.

After some time, Robert spoke up, “I know what’s going on between you and your mom. She’s forcing you to marry someone who’s well-matched with you. She even tried to make me convince you about this. But I didn’t say yes. Relationships just can’t be forced. Although marriage and love could be two different matters, if you marry someone you like, the love you have for her would finally find its home.”

Lewis raised his brow slightly.

Robert was a loverboy when he was young too. Many times, he thought he had found true love. It was probably impossible to count all the lovers he had had.

That was why it was funny to hear those words from him. It didn’t feel like it was his place to tell his son something like that.

But Lewis was listening quietly without rebutting him.

Robert continued, “But your mom has always been like this. If you can’t accept it, you can only do what I did by having a fallout with her. By then, she wouldn’t control you anymore.”

Lewis asked, “Really? Won’t that make her go madder and take revenge?”

Robert replied with a hint of disdain, “Are you scared of her revenge?”

Even Robert never took her vengeful actions seriously, likely because he had no vulnerabilities

for her to exploit. To him, everything she did seemed like a clownish spectacle. Her actions appeared as childish as a game played by a three-year-old.

After being silent for a few seconds, Lewis got up suddenly. “I’ll get going now.”

This time, he showed no signs of intending to stay any longer. He exited the room without looking back. After picking up the umbrella from the corner, he departed from the loft.

Josephine had been waiting for him to return in the dark basement.

But in the end, the pain in her tummy and the lurching motions of her stomach made her curl up in pain on the ground. Then, she lost consciousness.

She had no idea that shortly after she had fainted, the man she was missing so desperately had finally returned from the loft.

As Lewis reached that spot, his eyes instinctively gravitated towards the wooden plank, which sat there seemingly out of place.

He kicked away the plank with his feet, but it was so dark inside that he couldn’t see anything.

Kneeling down, he peered inside using the flashlight on his phone. However, all that the beam of light revealed were random objects scattered throughout the area.

“Lewis!” Out of nowhere, Nancy darted over to him. Her face paled the moment she saw Lewis crouching in front of the basement door.

Lewis looked around once more before getting up to meet Nancy’s eyes.

Nancy pulled at his elbow. “What are you doing here in such heavy rain? Come with me!”

He didn’t move. “Why?”

Seeing how she couldn’t make him move, Nancy gave up. She said, “Selena is here. Go meet her.”

Lewis’ face darkened. Even his tone went cold. “How long are you going to keep this up?”

Nancy was stunned for a second before she quickly said, “I’m not forcing you to marry her. But I promised her mother about this. Even if you don’t want to, can’t you just find a reason to turn her down? If I were the one to tell her about this, it would be too embarrassing for me.”

Nancy was a prideful woman, after all. She believed she had done nothing wrong. She merely promised Mrs. Williams that she could set them up. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have gone to such lengths to coerce Lewis into marriage.

After a while, Nancy gritted her teeth and said, “After you reject her this time, I’ll never introduce you to another girl again, alright? Don’t make me look bad.”

Lewis pushed her hand away and walked toward the living room.

Nancy sighed in relief and made a look at the maid.

The maid nodded, signaling that she understood what she meant.

After everyone had left, the maid called two people over to open the metal gate, then jumped in to bring Josephine out.

At that time, Josephine had already passed out. Her body was soft and limp against another person’s arms like a plush toy.

Her head hung low, concealed by her wet hair, as water continued to drip onto her feverish face.

“Mrs. Alvarez, what should we do now?”

The maid tried to act smart and suggested, “Maybe we can lock her up in another spot since Master Lewis is beginning to suspect something is going on here.”

“Where else can we lock her up then?”

The maid looked around. The rain was falling onto the people standing there, including Josephine.

The coldness on her skin made her eyelids flutter for a second.

Nancy was growing impatient. Just as she was thinking where she could imprison Josephine, she turned her head to find Lewis standing with an umbrella not far away, eyes fixated on

them.

To be more precise, he was fixating his gaze directly on Josephine, who was being held in the

arms of the bodyguard.