After making a few calls, D did not pick up. He stood up and paced around the room. Finally, he paced back and forth in the room.
Just as she was thinking about whether she should fly to America to find D directly and question him in person, her phone suddenly rang. She quickly turned around and rushed back to the sofa to pick up her phone. When she saw that it was an unfamiliar number, she hesitated for a moment before picking it up.
âAnhao.â
The moment she heard the voice, the light in Anhaoâs eyes dimmed.âWhatâs the matter?â
An Ping heard Anhaoâs indifferent voice and was afraid that she would just hang up the phone. After all, this child had never been willing to pick up the An familyâs calls for so many months. This time, she wanted to take advantage of the upcoming New Year to talk to her, but she actually picked up.
â Child, tomorrow is the new year. Your grandparents want to see you. We want to spend the new year with you in A City. Also, after more than half a year of communication and your fatherâs insistence, your grandfather has already let go of those obsessions from before. Also, your grandfather misses you very much. He has always liked you, but he canât get over that hurdle in his heart. But now, he has thought it through. Youâre a child of the An family and my daughter. We want toâ¦â
âIâm sorry, Ms. An.â Anhao interrupted her.
When Anhao spoke softly, her tone was cold and devoid of any warmth. There were no fluctuations in her emotions.âIâm not interested in what happened to your family over twenty years ago. So, whatever youâve communicated with each other in the past six months, what youâve done, or what you want to do now, it has nothing to do with me. Please donât call me again in the future.â
â Anhao, I know you hate me, and I know that youâre still upset because of what happened in Han City. Iâm worried about you and I want to be with you, but youâve been rejecting me. I donât want my presence to affect your life and your mood, but child, itâs almost the new year. Since the three of us are still living well in this world, shouldnât we cherish the present? No matter what happened in the past, we can sit down and talk about it. Wouldnât it be good to let our family reunite in the new year?â
âReunion?â Anhao chuckled.â Madam An, it doesnât really matter to me whether itâs been eight or nine years. If you really look closely, I was fourteen when you left. Itâll be my twenty-fourth birthday in a few months. Thatâll be ten years. Iâve been used to being alone for the past ten years, and Iâve also gotten used to being alone during the new year. I donât need anyone to accompany me, nor do I need to reunite with anyone. If you really appear in front of me, Iâm afraid I wonât be able to adapt.â
âAnhao, listen to Momâ¦â
â Ms. An, if thereâs nothing else, Iâll hang up now. Iâm sorry that I canât reunite with all of you. On account of our blood ties, I wonât fall out with any of you, but I wonât have too much contact with you either. I wish your family a happy new year in advance. Oh right, help me tell Anxin that I wonât snatch her mother away, nor will I snatch her life and status in the An family.â
After a moment of silence on the other end of the phone, An Ping said softly,âAnxin has already leftâ¦â
Anhao frowned. Although she didnât understand what the word âleftâ meant, she didnât intend to ask further.
âShe was afraid that the card in her hand would be frozen, so she withdrew ten million dollars and left. She has been missing for half a year and has never returned.â
Anhao held the phone in silence, but she couldnât even say a word of comfort.
She knew that Anping had her reasons for not taking her back then, but she had always been too lazy to listen to these reasons.
She also knew that Anxin was actually a substitute for her. Because she looked very similar to her, Anping couldnât bring her back at the time, so she brought Anxin home to take care of her after seeing her. It was actually to make up for the things that were missing in her heart.
Taking in an orphan was a kind of kindness, so Anhao didnât blame her. She only blamed Anping for suspecting her and Anxinâs fight back then, but more than that, she was afraid that after being separated from her mother for ten years, they were already strangers to each other.
After experiencing life and death, loss and gain, Anhao no longer clung to anything.
Therefore, whether she stayed or left in peace, no matter what kind of story Anping and Mr. Arel had, no matter what happened to the An family more than twenty years ago, she no longer cared about these things.
â Happy New Year, Ms. An.â Anhao hung up the phone after she finished speaking.
She placed her phone on the sofa and then looked at the computer on the coffee table.
Her heart was empty. She wanted to grab onto something, but she couldnât. She could imagine how uncomfortable An Ping would be after hanging up the phone, but everyone in this world was so selfish. Everyone had their own difficulties and reasons for being selfish.
Then letâs not torture each other anymore. After being separated from each other for ten years, they were forced to be together. It was nothing more than filling the missing and gaps in the hearts of some old people, as well as those years of regret.
Why should she fill those gaps now? She had never been so loving and kind.
*****
This yearâs winter was much colder than every year.
Anhao wished she could wrap herself in a coat and a down jacket every morning when she went out. Lin Qing said that he wanted to buy a mink coat for her and that it was loose and warm, but Anhao declined.
A mink coat? Her belly was already more than seven months old and was as big as a watermelon. If she wore a mink coat, she would look like a living bear. If she went out with her round belly, she would probably be captured and locked up in the zoo like a national treasure.
Moreover, she did not want to dress up like a nouveau riche.
In the afternoon, Anhao sat in the car after attending a certain business event with Lin Qing. She was exhausted.
âHow is it? Youâre already thirty-two weeks pregnant, and your body is getting heavier and heavier. Your due date is in eight weeks. If you really canât do it, you can rest at home for the next two months. Leave the companyâs matters to the vice president and Mobaiâ¦â Lin Qing said with concern as he passed the thermos to Anhao.
Anhao sniffed her nose, which was a little red from the cold outside, and didnât say anything. Because the business event she had just participated in was a little complicated, she was still immersed in the atmosphere just now and thinking about countermeasures.
Lin Qingâs words only brushed past her ears. After drinking the water, she turned to look out the window.
A black limousine sped past. The window was slightly opened, and the slightly pale side profile of the person in the car flashed past.
The thermos cup in Anhaoâs hand suddenly slipped from her hand, and the warm water spilled on her feet and the leather chair.
âAnhao? Whatâs wrong?â Lin Qing turned to look at her.
Before Lin Qing could finish his sentence, he saw Anhao rush out of the car without even putting on her coat.