Chapter 25
When Lola woke up, it was already the next day.
By that time, brilliant sunlight had streamed in from the balcony, lighting up the entire room. Lola slowly opened her eyes and looked around, momentarily unable to grasp her surroundings,
She remembered sitting on a rock yesterday and gazing at the waves. As Lola watched on, the somehow drifted off, but memories of what happened afterward were a bit hary, Lola thought she must have fallen asleep, and she couldn’t help but wonder how she made it back to the villa if she had indeed dozed off
Just then, the door was gently pushed open, and a servant quietly walked in. Upon seeing Lola awake, she paused slightly in surprise. “Mrs. Sinclair, you’re awake?”
Over the past few days, Lola had grown less resistant to the island and had calmed down considerably. Even her chilly demeanor seemed to dissipate somewhat, encouraging the servant to approach her more boldly.
Lola looked at the servant and asked, “I think I fell asleep on the rocks yesterday?”
“That’s right!” The servant seemed to have anticipated Lola’s question and replied with a smile, “When I went looking for you last night, I couldn’t believe you had actually fallen asleep on the rocks. It took me much effort to carry you back to the villa from there. Mrs. Sinclair, you really shouldn’t do that again.”
Lola quietly looked at the servant and didn’t respond.
The rock she had fallen asleep on was large. It was not easy for Lola to climb down by herself, not to mention have someone carry her down from it. It would have been nearly impossible for the
servant, who was in her forties or files, to carry Lola back. The only explanation was that she had been brought back by someone else.
This was Dominick’s island. Since Lola’s arrival, aside from herself and the servant, she had seen no one else apart from Dominick.
Therefore, it wasn’t hard to guess who had carried her back.
Upon seeing that Lola didn’t pursue the matter further, the servant quietly breathed a sigh of relief and went over to draw open the curtains.
Lola then looked outside. It appeared no different from any other day, with not a single boat or yacht in sight. She wondered if Dominick had just returned from outside or had been on the island all along
Guessing he might have been on the island all along, Lola decided not to go out after finishing lunch but to return to her room instead.
“Mrs. Sinclair, there’s a flower field behind the villa. Would you like to see it?” the servant asked.
Just as Lola paused and was about to decline, the servant spoke again. “Staying in your room all day is not good for you, Mrs. Sinclair. Why don’t you come with me? I know you want to leave this place. Maybe we can find a boat or a yacht. Mr. Sinclair always comes from the back. I think there might be a way to leave from there.”
Upon hearing that, Lola thought for a moment, and her eyes lit up.
It didn’t take long for them to come upon a lush green field, where the leaves locked vibrant against each other. There were clusters of pure, full blossoms hidden among the foliage, each one full and vibrant. As a gentle breeze passed, the flowers swayed slightly, bringing a burst of fresh gardenia scent that was refreshing and uplifting. Belonging to NôvelDrama.Org.
Lola then paused and stood still without taking another step forward.
Memories from the past then came rushing back to her mind.
“Dom, I prefer gardenias to roses!”
Dominick looked down at the documents in his hand and didn’t
respond.
Lota didn’t seem to mind. While trimming the gardenia bush in front of her, she said, “I like gardenias because they bring joy, like the vibrant summer filled with unknown hopes and happiness. They also symbolize strength and a lifetime of…waiting!”
Before she could finish speaking, Dominick stood up initably from the couch and walked away.
A hint of disappointment then flickered in Lola’s eyes as she watched his figure disappear through the door. She turned back to the flowers in front of her and managed a sweet smile.
She said, “For lovers, gardenias represent eternal love and commitment, a beautiful symbol of devotion!”
Meanwhile, the servant had taken a few steps when she realized Lola was still standing there, unmoved. She then continued to persuade her, saying, “Mrs. Sinclair, the gardenias are blooming so beautifully. Why don’t we pick some and take them back to your room? That way, you can enjoy looking at them every day.”
Lola looked up at the servant coldly as she spoke emphatically. “Please tell him for me that belated affection is worth less than a dime!”
After saying that, she turned around and went back to the villa,
Lola thought, “I should have guessed from the start that if Dominick Brought me here, he wouldn’t let me leave easily. Moreover, the servant is Dominick’s, so how could she help me find a way to escape? He knew I wanted to leave, and he also knew that if it were just to visit the flower field, I certainly wouldn’t have come. So, Dominick must have instructed the servant to suggest that perhaps a means of escape, a yacht or boat, might be located at the back of the island, leading me step by step to this field of flowers.
Upon seeing her leave, the servant paused and was about to follow her. However, Dorninick suddenly appeared from behind a flower wall with a pot of flowers in hand.
“Mr.Sinclair!” The servant greeted.
Dominick nodded in response, glanced at Lola’s retreating figure in the distance, and followed her with the pot of flowers in hand.
Once Lola returned to her bedroom, she went to the balcony again and lay down on the lounge chair, quietly reminiscing about the past. She had once kept a gardenia in Sinclair Manor’s Serenity Haven two years ago in a light purple pot. Now that she was thinking about it, the flower might have already withered, thrown out of Serenity Haven, and turned to ashes
The memories of two years ago made her shut her eyes in sorrow.
Just then, the room door was opened quietly from the outside. Lola didn’t turn around, thinking it was the servant. But when she smelled the faint scent of gardenias, she was startled and instinctively looked back, only to see Dominick’s tall figure standing at the door, holding a pot of gardenias in a light purple pot.
She was taken aback, her gaze instinctively drawn to the light purple flowerpot.
Dominick walked over, placed the pot on a side table on the balcony, and softly said, “Your flower,”
Lola just glanced at it before coldly looking away.
It wasn’t until she heard Dominick leave and the door close that she looked incredulously at the gardenias and pondered, “I didn’t expect the flower to still be alive! The light purple pot, the lush green leaves, the white blossoms, the familiar stems have grown much taller than two years ago. The once thin stems have thickened and grown, clearly showing they’ve been well cared for… But how could it be?! I thought that after I left, Dominick would throw out everything related to me from Serenity Haven. Yet, this flower is still alive.
When Lola went downstairs in the evening, she didn’t see the servant around. Instead, there was someone moving around in the kitchen.
She walked over without a further thought, However, upon reaching the kitchen doorway, Lola realized the busy figure in the kitchen wasn’t a servant but Dominick himself,
His tall figure was dressed in a white shirt and suit pants, giving off a homely vibe, unlike the usual distant CFO of the Sinclair Group. Dominick also wore
a black apron and was focused on cooking, Lola had never seen him cook before, nor did she know he could.
However, Lola just glanced at him and decided to return to her room.
When Dominick carried two dishes out of the kitchen, he saw her resistant demeanor and said gently, “Lola!
“You don’t have the right to refuse to eat. You only have the choice to eat on your own or let me feed you!”