Lu Jia's body, radiating a strong maternal glow, disappeared. Jack smiled awkwardly and turned to walk towards Bai Ru's room. He raised his hand and knocked on the door, standing in front of it and softly asking, "Bai Ru, are you asleep?"
"The door is not locked, come in!" A cold voice from inside the room belonged to Bai Ru, and it seemed to carry a hint of fatigue.
Jack turned the doorknob and stepped into the room, immediately spotting Bai Ru standing in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, smoking with her back to him. Bai Ru had changed out of the clothes she wore during the day and was now wearing a white silk nightgown that Jack had never seen before. The nightgown was very thin, yet it appeared quite proper, completely concealing Bai Ru's perfect figure.
With her left hand supporting the elbow of her other hand, Bai Ru gently inhaled the cigarette held between her fingers. She heard Jack's voice as he entered, merely tilting her head slightly without turning around. At her feet lay two empty bottles of red wine, and a broken wine glass with a bit of residual red liquid was scattered on the coffee table beside her, creating a kind of tragic beauty.
"I brought you some food, hurry up and eat while it's hot!" Jack looked at Bai Ru's graceful back, unsure of what expression to wear on his face. He wanted to step forward and ask her a few questions, but Bai Ru's attitude at that moment made him feel somewhat unfamiliar. She no longer seemed like the little woman who would always gaze at him affectionately; it was as if she had returned to her lofty status as a star.
Jack bent down to place the plate in his hand on the dressing table in front of him. Bai Ru had not turned around or said a word the entire time, standing there quietly as if she had nothing to do with him. An absurd feeling immediately arose in his heart; he felt just like a hotel waiter, delivering takeout and then expected to leave. What could he possibly expect from an international superstar to say to him?
Jack chuckled self-deprecatingly, a sense of loss deeply enveloping him. Perhaps this was the pride that Bai Ru should have. If it weren't for this damn doomsday, Bai Ru might not even have glanced at him!
Jack took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. Just as he was about to turn and leave, a wooden photo frame on the dressing table caught his attention. He stared at the happy couple embracing in the picture for a full six or seven seconds, then smiled with a sense of relief. After reminding Bai Ru to get some rest, he turned and walked towards the door.
"Jack…"
At the moment Jack was about to step out of the room, Bai Ru finally called out to him, her voice tinged with a hint of urgency and grievance. Jack paused, turned around, and asked blandly, "What's wrong?"
"Where are you going? Aren't you… going to sleep with me?" Bai Ru took a small step forward, looking at Jack's feigned relaxed face with a hint of resentment.
"I think it's better if I don't. You probably prefer to be alone tonight, right?" Jack gently shook his head, instinctively glancing at the photo frame on the dressing table, his eyes revealing a complex emotion that was hard to articulate.
Bai Ru's face turned slightly pale, and she bit her colorless lower lip, a bit angrily saying, "What's wrong with you? Are you really that stingy?"
"How can I not understand what you're saying? Where am I being stingy?" Jack spread his palms, shrugging innocently.
"You… you saw the photo of me and him, didn't you? You can't just ignore me like this!" Bai Ru quickly walked up to Jack, roughly pulling him back from the hallway, then slammed the door shut with a "bang," staring into his eyes, fuming, "You're not going anywhere tonight; you have to stay in my bed, even if it kills you!"
"How come I never noticed that you have such a willful side? Well, I guess I'll just die on your bed!" Jack chuckled helplessly, turned, and sat down on a set of white European-style sofas. He looked up at Bai Ru, whose face still bore obvious tear stains, sighed, and said slowly, "Since you're not in a good mood, why not be alone for a while? Don't you think I'm quite unnecessary right now?"
"I'm sorry..."
With her hands hanging in front of her abdomen, Bai Ru kept twisting her fingers. She lowered her head and said sadly, "I know my emotions are not right, but some past events, once they come to mind, I can't control them!"
"Hmm, I can understand!" Jack nodded, picked up a cigarette from the coffee table in front of him, lit it, took a puff, and looked at Bai Ru softly as he said, "Everyone has their own past hidden deep in their hearts, even I do. So you don't have to worry too much about my feelings, at least not tonight here. I think you should have some time alone to calm down. I'll sleep in the room opposite you, okay?"
"But... don't you want to ask me about him?" Bai Ru bit her colorless red lips and looked at Jack seriously.
"Is there a need to ask? Everything seems to be written on your face! He... should be your fiancé, right?" Jack smiled faintly and glanced at the elegant and handsome man in the photo frame.
"I knew you had guessed it already!" Bai Ru weakly shook her head while touching her forehead, feeling dejected as she said, "You figured it out from the ring that Thomas Xu found, didn't you?"
"Not entirely!" Jack shook his head, tilting it slightly as he looked at the somewhat surprised Bai Ru, and said with a wry smile, "Don't you know that you are a very sensitive person? Since I mentioned coming here to stay overnight this afternoon, you haven't called me 'husband' again, and your mood has been quite poor. Hehe~ By the time I saw that ring again, I basically understood everything!"
"Tao... I'm sorry, really sorry. I just... just..." Bai Ru shook her head helplessly, her already red eyes couldn't help but shed tears again. Looking at Jack, who was smiling at her on the sofa, she could no longer hold back and buried her head in Jack's arms, crying out, "Husband... after all, this is his place, I feel a bit sorry for him! But... but I truly love you, please don't be angry with me, okay?"
"Alright, when did I say I was angry? Don't overthink it!" Jack smiled, gently stroking Bai Ru's long hair, kissed her forehead tenderly, and embraced her as he said, "You two are already at the point of getting married. If you had no emotions at all, then I would really have to reassess you!"
"Let me tell you about my relationship with him?"
Bai Ru wrapped her arms around Jack's neck and lifted her head, looking at him with tearful eyes. When Jack gently nodded, she leaned against his chest and rubbed for a while before sighing and saying, "Sigh~ His name is Marcus Chao Ran, two years older than you, thirty-four years old. Originally, his family had a red background, but it has long since declined. However, he managed to bring his family back to the top stage in just ten years with his exceptional skills. I met him when he was at his lowest point, but I didn't expect that he couldn't even afford a house at that time, yet he still dared to pursue me. Perhaps I was moved by his tenacity. Although I didn't agree to his pursuit, I foolishly lent him five million..."
"He told me with that five million that before I turned thirty, he would stand at a height that would make people look up to him and make me agree to his pursuit, and give me the grandest wedding in the world! At that time, I didn't pay much attention to it, and then he disappeared for a whole five years. When he reappeared in front of me, I was surprised to find that he had really done it, coming back to pursue me with a fortune of over a billion..."
At this point, Bai Ru smiled bitterly, looking up into Jack's eyes, and said, "I don't consider myself a vain woman, but the spectacle he put on when he pursued me is something that I think no woman could refuse. So... I agreed to his pursuit, but it was just an attempt to get to know him. However, this lasted for more than two years, until the moment before the disaster broke out, when he suddenly proposed to me in a grand manner in front of everyone. But I was completely unprepared at that moment, my mind was blank. Although I liked him, I hadn't reached the point of loving him yet. But in front of so many people, I couldn't refuse him and could only agree for the time being..."
"He felt completely different from you. Although his appearance was a bit weak, what he brought was more of a domineering presence, a kind of dominance that didn't care much about others' feelings. And you, your appearance is like those tough guys in my movies, but what I feel from you is a warm care, like a husband caring for his little wife, which makes one feel incredibly comfortable! That day when I put on the engagement ring he gave me, I stayed in this room thinking about it for an entire night, but after thinking all night, I still couldn't make the final decision..."
"In the end, I made a very childish move. I chose to toss a coin to decide my happiness for life. Heads meant marrying him, tails meant leaving him. But the moment I tossed the coin into the air, I suddenly knew the answer I wanted the most... It turned out that I had always wanted to leave him; what I wanted was the opposite of the coin!"
At this point, Bai Ru weakly shook her head and sighed, saying, "Once I found the answer, I put the ring back in the box and placed it on the bedside table in his room. At that time, he was lying on the bed drunk, completely unaware! I left him a letter saying that I needed to calm down for a while and think carefully because my mind was too chaotic! Just like that, I drove away alone, aimlessly wandering around until I entered a supermarket to buy a drink, and that was when I encountered this despairing world doomsday... Fortunately, doomsday also led me to meet you!"