Chapter 31
Emily Smith transferred buses three times with her arms full of shopping bags. By the time she arrived at the prison, it was already afternoon. The slanting sunlight spilled across the visitation room's glass, reflecting her slightly exhausted face.
"Dad," she called softly.
On the other side of the glass, Henry Johnson's eyes lit up as he studied his daughter. Three years apart had only made her more elegant, her features faintly reminiscent of his late wife.
"You've grown up," Henry said, his voice thick with emotion. "Did you find a job?"
Emily's fingers tightened slightly. She lowered her lashes and named a company comparable in scale to BestTech Group.
"Good, that's good." Henry nodded repeatedly before suddenly asking, "Why didn’t your grandmother and Xiaoyi come?"
"Grandma’s legs have been hurting badly." Emily’s voice was almost inaudible. "Xiaoyi... stayed home with her."
Henry didn’t question it. His younger daughter’s autism had always been the family’s heartache. Thinking of the timid child, a flicker of pain crossed his eyes.
"Your mother... still no news?"
Emily shook her head. The woman who had abandoned her family had long since started a new life in another city. She still remembered the sharpness of her mother’s voice on the phone: "Don’t drag me down!"
"I failed you all." Henry’s eyes reddened suddenly.
"We’ll wait for you." Emily pressed her hand against the glass, her fingertips turning pale.
By the time she left the prison, dusk had fallen. Returning to Sky City Apartment No. 1, the place was silent—no sign of him.
She exhaled in relief, yet an inexplicable emptiness lingered.
Late at night, her new phone screen lit up. The top trending hashtag on Weibo read: #WilliamJohnsonSeenWithRisingStar#. Clicking in, a nine-grid photo set showed the man bending to adjust the hem of a female celebrity’s dress, his gentleness painfully vivid.
Emily locked the screen abruptly.
What right did she have to care? It was just a transaction.
The next day, during the Business Department’s routine meeting, the director unexpectedly praised the contract she had drafted. Colleagues cast her looks of envy or curiosity, but Emily only smiled politely.
"Come with me to W City tomorrow," Michael Thompson stopped her after lunch. "We have an important client to meet."
Emily was about to agree when she remembered the location from the trending topic. Her fingers trembled slightly, but she nodded. "Understood."
At the hospital, caregiver Amy Green was brushing Xiaoyi’s hair. The younger sister sat motionless as a doll, showing no reaction to Emily’s arrival.
"I’ll be away on a business trip for two days," Emily murmured. "Please take good care of her."
Back in the empty apartment, she hesitated for a long time before finally sending William a WeChat message. It sank like a stone—no reply came, even late into the night.
Her voice-over work ended close to midnight. Daniel Chen complimented her rapid improvement, but Emily’s smile was strained. She opened Weibo again, and the latest trending topic stole her breath—
#WilliamJohnsonAccompaniesMengliToWCity#
In the photos, the man’s gaze at the female celebrity onstage was so tender it could melt ice. Suddenly, tomorrow’s business trip felt like a ridiculous joke.
She turned off her phone. In the darkness, her lips curled into a self-mocking smile. Jinzhou and W City were miles apart—what were the odds she’d run into them?