To the Love of My Life

Madeleine looked at her expression through the rearview mirror. After observing that Ruby was indeed alright, she finally relaxed.

It was quiet in the car for barely a minute before Madeleine blurted out again without thinking, “And there’s also this thing, Ruby, the other day I heard from my third brother that my brother Steve has been going to a club during the day instead of the office lately. The club is called…”

Madeleine tilted her head in thought and then exclaimed, “Gardenia Clubhouse.”

“It’s really strange, though that club is considered high-class, it’s actually quite ordinary. I wonder what my brother is doing there every day… And the other night at eleven o’clock, he even had my third brother call a taxi, at a high price of US$137 too. When paying, my third brother casually asked and found out it was for a girl… Tsk, tsk, tsk… My brother must have a new beloved girl…” Madeleine suddenly closed her mouth again, this time not daring to look at Ruby. Instead, she stared straight ahead, holding her breath, and concentrating on driving.

Ruby was in a daze listening to Madeleine’s long string of words.

Two days ago, eleven o’clock, a taxi… It completely coincided with the night she was harassed and couldn’t get a taxi.

That night, she had to wait for a long time at the taxi waiting area and caught a cold. The taxi she eventually got was called by him?

So that meant the customer in the “Peony Room” was Steve Burton all along… The person the manager met that afternoon was also him, and it was because of him that the manager was so polite to her…

The more Ruby speculated, the more certain she became. Her heartbeat quickened involuntarily.

It turns out that these few days, it wasn’t just her overthinking, Steve Burton really had been around her all the time, hadn’t he?

Ruby’s expression became frozen.

Madeleine, on the other hand, thought her thoughtless words had hurt Ruby. It took her a while to gather the courage to glance at her again and softly apologised once more, “I’m sorry, Ruby.”

Ruby was still lost in her thoughts and didn’t respond.

Anxious, Madeleine pressed on, “Ruby, I’m really sorry. I just couldn’t keep my mouth shut. Actually, I’m only so thoughtless when I’m with you. Ruby, please don’t take it to heart…”

Coming back to her senses, Ruby didn’t even catch what Madeleine was trying to say. She just gave her a perfunctory nod, suddenly feeling the urge to be alone for a while. Seeing Madeleine’s car entering the West Garden Villa Area, not far from the Gregorys, she spoke softly, “Madeleine, you can drop me off here.”