Chapter 47: From Darkness to Dawn

“Ange, Ange, Ange.” Darcey gave Angelia a little nudge.

Angelia snapped out of her daze and looked blankly at Darcey.

“Are you okay?” Darcey asked, worried.

Angelia still looked lost, staring at Darcey as if she couldn’t process anything. Her mind was stuck on the news that Jerome would be getting engaged to someone else tomorrow.

“What’s wrong? You don’t seem yourself… You’re not falling for Jerome, are you?” Darcey asked cautiously.

Angelia shook her head, distracted. “I’ll cut some watermelon for you.”

Darcey glanced at the table. The watermelon was already cut.

She had never seen Angelia like this before, like she had lost her soul. Darcey followed her into the kitchen.

But instead of cutting the watermelon, Angelia just stood there holding the knife, spacing out.

Darcey could tell something was wrong. “Ange, don’t be sad, okay? Jerome isn’t from our world. He’s someone we can only look at from afar. He’s bound to marry and have kids.”

“Oh,” Angelia muttered. She looked down at the knife in her hand but had forgotten why she was holding it. She quickly put it back on the rack.

Darcey grew more worried. “Jerome really is charming. He’s handsome, ridiculously rich, graceful… he’s someone anyone could fall for. But he’s up in the sky, and we’re on the ground, just looking up at him. You’re smarter and more rational than any of us. You know this. Don’t be upset.”

Angelia shook her head, her eyes misty, like autumn fog or the gentle rain of a southern town in May.

Darcey’s concern deepened. “Remember Barbara? She followed that rich guy to Dubai. We all thought she was living it up, but she came back with a bunch of health issues. The high life isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. I think we’re better off working hard, earning a steady income, at least we’re comfortable, right?”

Angelia’s voice was soft. “I’m not as upset about him getting married as I am worried that something happened to him.”

“Huh?” Darcey didn’t get it.

Angelia couldn’t explain, but she didn’t believe Jerome was the type to play with someone’s feelings.

“I’ve made up your bed. It’s getting late. You should sleep. You can organize your things tomorrow,” Angelia said gently.

“Yeah, you too, get some rest,” Darcey said, giving her a suspicious look.

Angelia left the room and noticed the watermelon on the table, remembering she was going to cut some. “Do you want watermelon juice? I’ve got a juicer.”

“I can take care of myself,” Darcey reassured her.

Angelia opened the door to the guest room. “You’ll be staying here. There’s a bathroom inside where you can shower.”

Darcey gave her an “OK” hand sign.

Angelia went back to her own room and sat on the bed, deep in thought.

Her phone rang. Seeing it was Viola, she quickly picked up. “Sile, is Jerome okay? His phone’s been off all day, and now there’s news saying he’s getting engaged to Xena?”

“He’s fine. His phone was off because he was meeting with the president of Country H, and he had to turn it off,” Viola explained softly.

Angelia breathed a sigh of relief. She had been afraid something had happened to him—kidnapped or caught in an accident.

“That’s good,” Angelia murmured.

“Ange,” Viola called her name. “The news is true.”

“Huh?” Angelia stared blankly into the air.

“The engagement… it was planned a while ago. The timing just worked out,” Viola continued.

Angelia’s mind went blank, but she could feel the pain in her chest, worse than a cramp, making it hard to breathe.

If Jerome was only marrying Xena to handle this crisis, she could understand. She could forgive him.

After all, he had been trapped in someone else’s scheme and needed a huge amount of money to fight against Ruihang. A PR move like this might be necessary, or the losses would be catastrophic.

But the fact that the engagement had been arranged long ago? That was something she couldn’t accept.

It felt like everything between them had been a lie. All those subtle feelings now seemed false, like she was nothing more than a pawn in some game, not even a love game.

“Ange, if you’re willing to stay with Jerome, he’ll treat you well. He told me that being with you feels comfortable. But… he can’t marry you,” Viola tried to comfort her.

He can’t marry her? So she was just supposed to be some secret lover?

Tears welled up in Angelia’s eyes, and she pressed her lips together, trying to hold them back.

She bit down hard on her lip… so hard that the veins in her neck stood out.

Her mind flooded with memories of Jerome—meeting him for the first time at the hotel, going to Denver Village together, him pretending to be Xiao Ye to help her say goodbye to her grandmother.

All those memories seemed like a dream now, blurred by the harshness of reality.

So blurred that she didn’t even want to know if he ever liked her, even for a second.

“Ange, Ange?” Viola called her.

Angelia hung up.

She didn’t understand. The flood of emotions, like a tidal wave, crashed over her, leaving her gasping for air.

She couldn’t wrap her mind around it. Jerome already had a fiancée. Why had he come into her life?

Every word he had said, every action he had taken, had slowly wormed its way into her heart.

Now it felt like she had been looking at someone from a different time, as if the Jerome she knew was never the real Jerome.

She wanted to wait. She needed to wait for an explanation, for an answer.

Time passed, minute by minute, from night to day, from darkness to light, from hope to despair…

But in the end, he didn’t call. Not a single message.

“Mama, Mama.” Alyssa’s soft, childlike voice called out.

Angelia clutched her aching heart and opened the door.

Alyssa rushed over and hugged her tightly. “Mama, waking up and seeing you here is the best!”

Angelia knelt down and patted Alyssa’s little head.

Alyssa had lost his grandma, and he didn’t have a father. She was all he had.

She couldn’t fall apart. If she did, what would happen to her Alyssa?

“Your toothbrush, toothpaste, and towel are all in the bathroom. Go brush your teeth and wash your face. I’ll make you breakfast, okay? Also, Auntie Darcey is still sleeping, so be quiet and don’t wake her up,” Angelia said gently.

Alyssa covered his mouth with both hands and nodded solemnly.

Angelia walked into the kitchen, her nose tingling. Darcey suddenly appeared, concerned. “Ange, what’s wrong? Why is your nose bleeding?”