Chapter 111
After all, when he first met that person, it was in this small town.
However, probing further now, he seemed to be overthinking.
“It’s not you,” he simply remarked that she was not the one.
“Not what?” Rosalie thought, confused.
At this moment, the owner of the restaurant served the dishes. Calvin said, “Okay, let’s eat. Fancy some wine?”
Recalling her previous drunk episode in front of Jonathan, Rosalie hastily shook her head. “No thanks, a soft drink will do.”
Therefore. Calvin requested two bottles of non-alcoholic drinks from the owner.
“You’re not having wine as well?” She raised her eyebrows.
“I have to drive later, so no wine for me, Calvin replied.
Rosalie’s expression suddenly darkened. Memories of the car crash and her unjust sentence for drunk driving, despite her being sober, echoed in her mind.
“Back then, your accident was also due to drunk driving, wasn’t it?” His voice abruptly broke the silence. “Is that why you found a job at the Environment and Sanitation Administration as a cleaner?”
“At least I still have work to do,” Rosalie answered with a touch of self-mockery.
“Would you like me to talk to the Environment and Sanitation Administration and get you a less strenuous position there?” Calvin offered.
“No need,” Rosalie declined. After all, it was a heavy burden to accept favors from someone like the scion Calvin.
Calvin’s eyebrows furrowed slightly. It was the first time his offer of help had been turned down. Were it not for her bearing a resemblance to someone from his memories, he wouldn’t have ventured to help her get another position.
Rosalie concentrated on the food in her bowl. Even with her head down, she could still feel his eyes on her from time to time as if he were trying to unravel a mystery.
After a long time, upon finishing their meal, Calvin suggested, “I’ll take you home.”
“There’s no need. I’ll take the bus.”
“At this hour, do you think you can still catch the bus back to Strico even if you rush to the bus station immediately?” Rosalie looked at the time and realized that it was already 8:30 p.m. Even if she took a cab to the bus station now, she wouldn’t make it in time for the last bus.
As for the train, the services would not be available until tomorrow morning.
“I’ll give you a ride,” Calvin said indifferently. “But if you’d rather not, you can figure out something on your own too.” Rosalie bit her lip slightly. If left to her own devices right now, she honestly had no solutions.
“Well… Then thank you,” she uttered, a bit embarrassed.
After getting into Calvin’s car again, Rosalie sat in the passenger seat and stared at the night beyond the window. Selena Quintanilla’s classic “Como La Flor” was playing from the car’s speakers.
To Rosalie’s astonishment again, she never expected that Calvin would appreciate such classics.
The track was even set to play on a loop.
Therefore, the song just kept playing over and over in the car.
Rosalie nostalgically recalled her own affection for the song and remembered how she used to sing along.
Since this song was in Spanish, she even learned the pronunciation of every lyric in the song in order to sing it accurately.
back then.
Reminiscing on those days spent at Wilma’s place, she felt those were perhaps the happiest times she could remember. Lost in the melody, fatigue began to overtake Rosalie as her eyelids became heavier and heavier.
These days, she had to work during the day and learn how to knit gloves at night. She hardly got any sleep every day. Plus, early this morning, she rushed over by bus and worked all clay.
Soon after, Rosalie unconsciously closed her eyes and fell asleep.
Calvin glanced at Rosalie, who was asleep, and turned down the volume slightly.
After Rosalie fell asleep, she resembled more of the person in Calvin’s memory. In fact, when she had her eyes opened, she
also resembled that person. It was just that the burdened and depressed look in her eye after suffering hardships was foreign. to how that person in his memories looked.
The girl’s eyes were clear and bright, seemingly filled with endless hope.
When Rosalie woke up, the car had stopped at the entrance of the residential area where she lived.
She felt embarrassed and hurriedly unfastened her seat belt. “How long have I been sleeping?”
“It’s okay. It wasn’t long.”
Rosalie hurriedly got out of the car, reaching out to grab her bag placed next to the seat. Unfortunately, she accidentally spilled the contents of her bag on the seat in a hurry.
Flustered and sweating profusely, she immediately started gathering her belongings that were spilled from her bag.
All of a sudden, a hand moved quicker than hers and swiftly picked up the half-finished gloves.
“Are you knitting gloves?” He was a little surprised.
“Well, I am bored. Just keeping myself busy by knitting them.” She made a casual excuse and quickly took the gloves back from his hand. She uttered a brief “thank you” before closing the car door and hurried into the residential area.
Through the car’s windshield, Calvin watched as Rosalie’s figure slowly disappeared from sight.
The gloves she had been knitting seemed to fit the size of a man’s hand. “Is she knitting it for a particular man?” he wondered.
Usually, a woman knitting something for a man would suggest particular sentiments and feelings unless it was for a family
member.
However, the yarn was already aged. Calvin couldn’t help but wonder about the recipient of those gloves.
Calvin restarted the car and drove away from the residential area.
Rosalie returned to her home. After washing up, she took out her phone and checked her balance in her phone.
Since she was released from prison, she only managed to save less than 1,000 dollars until now,
Rosalie asked about Wilma’s medical expenses when she was in the hospital. Although she owed only a few hundred dollars currently, the expenses would continue to rise if the treatment persisted. Conservatively estimating the expenses, it might take about 10,000 dollars, and the subsequent costs would vary based on her grandmother’s health progress.
For a quarter of this estimated sum of 10,000 dollars, which would be around 2,500 dollars, she was still short by around 1,400 dollars.
In the past, such an amount of around 1,400 dollars wouldn’t have bothered her, but her situation was now different. Rosalie finally understood the feeling of being in a pickle because of a lack of money.
She was able to calculate the monthly salary from the job she had at the Environment and Sanitation Administration. As for others, since she had a criminal record, it was hard for her to get a part-time job.
Rosalie sighed and was still worried until she fell asleep.
“Hey, don’t sleep. We can escape. A young girl’s voice suddenly came. Rosalie didn’t know who was talking. However, it seemed like the voice sounded similar to hers.
“My feet… It hurts. I can’t walk anymore… Another voice came. Rosalie couldn’t quite figure out whose voice this was, although she knew this was a boy’s voice.
Then I’ll carry you. I am very strong, so I can definitely carry you!” the little girl said. “By the way, don’t fall asleep. We’ve seen it on TV, right? If you fall asleep now, you might not open your eyes again. Would you like me to sing to you? I can sing Selena Quintanilla’s songs, and Granny says I do it pretty well!”
