Chapter 73

CHAPTER 73 Jane’s apartment was a lone mountain, dwarfing the other rooftops in the neighborhood. Now it was fully covered in dazzling lights and caught everyone’s attention. Jane’s family had been living off like royals in this neighborhood from the rents alone.

When regular cars arrived, Jane’s parents didn’t bother to come out to personally receive them. When the Porsche stopped outside, Jane’s mother came to receive them. She put on quite a bit of gold and was all smiles as she received Elizabeth and others. She thought Benjamin was a driver, so she didn’t even spare a glance at him and left.

Elizabeth and her parents also completely ignored Benjamin after getting to the apartment, but they kept talking to almost everyone they thought were worth their time.

Benjamin went to park the car in the parking space, but there was no room. He had to go to the nearest parking lane and park there. At the same time, another man was parking his car there. He saw Benjamin and immediately frowned in anger. This was the same officer who was at Oliver’s accident scene. After getting knocked out cold by Benjamin, he felt too embarrassed to go after him, but now that Benjamin was right in front of his eyes, he couldn’t just walk away. “Hey, you!” he called out Benjamin as he walked toward him. Benjamin glanced back and recognized this man immediately. He adjusted his shirt a little and started running “Wait!” the officer chased him. “You think you can outrun an officer?” he said almost arrogantly, but to his surprise, Benjamin’s speed wasn’t anything to slight at. The officer gave it his all, but he couldn’t close the gap between him and his target.

Benjamin made him run around a block until the officer grew tired and gave up. By the end of it, he was sweating crazily, with his lungs on fire. He hadn’t run so hard in years. “Dammit. Now that I’m in my late thirties, my body isn’t the same anymore.” After taking some rest and catching up his breath, he adjusted his tie. “I shouldn’t be late to the party.”

He hurried to the apartment and got there in a couple of minutes. An old lady was sitting outside on the stairs, with a stick next to her. “Isn’t she Jane’s grandma?” he approached her.” How are you doing, grandma?” he spoke loudly because he knew she had both seeing and hearing issues.

“Who are you, brat? Why are you coming with empty hands?” she asked. “Didn’t you bring any birthday gift for me?”

The officer was startled. “I-It’s your birthday, today?”

Benjamin just got there, but seeing the officer at the stairs, his heart jumped at once. “Eek! What’s this guy doing here?” he immediately moved out of the view.

Time passed. Benjamin was grinding his teeth. “How long is this bastard going to talk with that old woman? I want to get in, but with him around, I can’t.”

“It is I and my husband who built this apartment forty years ago, with our sweat and blood,” the old woman explained, “but no one cares about my birthday today.”

“I didn’t bring any gift as I didn’t know, but...” the officer leaned in and kissed her on her cheek The old woman immediately slapped him, shocking him to the core. “How brazen the young ones have gotten these days!” she grabbed her walking stick and swung it around. “You wouldn’t leave even an old lady like me alone, would you? Where are you?

Come and receive your punishment.”

The officer had already rushed into the apartment and was rubbing his cheek. “That damned old crone... she sure hit hard.”

Benjamin, on the other hand, laughed so hard he spilled some saliva on the bushes. “Guh, guh,” he even coughed a little. His cheeks turned somewhat red. “Huh,” he took a deep breath. “That was really funny.” He then approached the stairs where Jane’s grandmother was still holding the stick and tapping the ground. Hearing footsteps, she frowned. “You dared to come back again?” she waved it crazily. For an old woman in her eighties, she was quick, Benjamin thought while dodging her attacks easily. In a few seconds, she grew tired and stopped. Benjamin then casually walked past her and said, “Happy birthday, ma’am.” Her expression slowly but surely changed. She could tell that this voice was different from the officer who had kissed her only a minute ago. She felt somewhat surprised and good at the same time. “W-Who is this?” she turned her head and looked behind, but Benjamin had already entered the apartment. And she wished she had the eyes so she could have seen this guest and taken good care of him. After entering the apartment, Benjamin’s mood brightened up because of the flower decorations and the fragrances they gave. He can not only tell these flowers were fresh, but also that they were brought from the garden of the Sterling villa. He remembered Rebecca talking on the mobile about delivering flowers a few days back.

“Rebecca... So you came early to design all this for your friend?” his heart melted from appreciation for his wife. “I really misunderstood you. If I had come early, I would have helped with the decorations, too. I might have had enough time to buy a gift, too.”

And Benjamin saw Jane and Rebecca talking with other guests together as if they both were the ones hosting the party, and Donovan, the birthday boy, was standing on the side, chatting with some kids. Rebecca didn’t make many friends after college, and she would spend most of her free time with Jane. So seeing them be close and friendly, Benjamin felt happy for them. But soon, the apartment brought back some memories of the fateful night, when he and Rebecca came to this place directly from the bar. She gave him directions to Jane’s room on the top floor while he helped her walk and not fall. Along the way, she even vomited on his shirt, and it was not exactly a pleasant experience, but even when she was drunk, she apologized to him for spoiling his shirt and said she would buy him a new shirt. Her words made him smile back then.

He looked a bit drunk himself. And he was only planning to drop her in Jane’s room and leave. He put her down on the bed and washed his shirt and his face. He was walking out, but he noticed that she still had her sandals on. He came to take her sandals off, and he did. He noticed that there was an almost crescent moon shaped mole on the sole of her left foot. He had a similar mole on his right foot, which he thought was oddly coincident.

When he tried to cover her in a blanket, she caught his hand and murmured, “Please, don’t go.” Her eyes were closed, and she probably didn’t know what she was saying, but those three words made him sit on the bed while she kept holding his hand.

Coming back to the present.

Benjamin’s mind was still fuzzy. “I sat there, and I don’t know when, but I fell asleep. And then the next thing I remember, her screaming woke me up the next morning. And we were both naked.” He touched his forehead in shame. “How can you forget the most important part, Benjamin? You are just a careless piece of shit.”

He then emotionally looked at his wife who was all smiles and laughs as she conversed with the guests. “Doesn’t this place remind her of that night? Not even a bit?” his heart sank down.