Love's Redemption

Redmption 330

The man didn’t try to escape this time. He stood his ground and watched me steadily.

“Do you know me?” I asked directly as I approached him.

“No.”

I sized him up. He wasn’t striking at first glance, but he became more attractive the more one looked at him.

Today, he was wearing a light blue T–shirt instead of the gray hoodie from yesterday. He looked clean and well–groomed.

“It seems like our encounters have been a bit too frequent from yesterday to today,” I subtly suggested that he might be lying.

“We really don’t know each other, but you look very much like someone I know,” he said. I couldn’t help but laugh at his clumsy attempt at a pickup line.

Noticing my mockery, his cheeks flushed slightly. “I’m serious. I have a photo.”

He pulled out his phone, tapped it a few times, and showed me a picture. I looked from his face to the phone and was genuinely taken aback.

The photo was of a lady with her hair in a bun, and her smile was very radiant. She looked quite similar to me. The main difference was the beauty mark

I stared at the lady in the photo for a while before looking back at him. “She does look like me, but I don’t/ know her.”

“I know.” He put his phone away, and his voice was now a bit subdued.

“So, why are you following me?” I noticed that he was wearing sneakers rather than formal shoes.

He didn’t reply.

I assumed he was feeling guilty and said bluntly, “Following me like this could be considered stalking. I could report you to the police.”

His gaze faltered slightly. “I really don’t have any ill intentions.”

“Even if you don’t, an unknown man following me makes me feel scared and uneasy. Do you understand?” My tone was firm, as if I was giving a lecture to a subordinate.

“I’m sorry!” He lowered his head slightly.

“I don’t think you have any bad intentions. I’ll ignore our encounters from yesterday and today, but don’t let it happen again,” I warned him.

He didn’t respond, and I started to turn away.

“Wait,” he called out to me.

“I’m Charles Collymore, a PhD student,” he said, showing me his student ID.

I noticed the words “Beckham University” on the card. That was one of the best universities in the country, and my impression of him immediately changed.

Seeing him flee in a panic yesterday made me think that he had an unusual demeanor. Clearly, my judgment was correct.

“Beckham University was my dream too, but I didn’t get in,” I said before returning his student ID, making a self– deprecating remark that was also true.

I didn’t get in because of Chris. He didn’t want to go, and of course, I didn’t pass the entrance exam later. I sacrificed my own dreams for love, which now felt foolish in retrospect.

Charles looked at me with a pained expression. “The lady you saw earlier… She’s very ill. She may not be around much longer.”

I was taken aback when I saw the sadness on his face. “Is she your girlfriend?”

He swallowed hard. “No, she’s my mentor.”

She was also an exceptional woman, but she fell ill.

“What kind of illness does she have? Can you tell me?” asked cautiously.

At that moment, he seemed shrouded in sorrow, and his demeanor was heart–wrenching. “It’s not an illness. It was a car accident from a year ago.” This content © Nôv/elDr(a)m/a.Org.

His words were rough, but I understood. Seeing his distress, I blurted out, “Was the car accident your fault?”

Charles‘ head drooped lower, and he gave a soft hum.

I began to understand his sadness and why he was following me. He must be reminiscing about his mentor from a year ago, perhaps seeing some resemblance in me.

Unsure of how to comfort him, I asked, “Is your mentor never going to wake up?”

Otherwise, he wouldn’t have said she might not be around much longer.

“Yeah, she’s just being kept alive by a respirator now,” he said, and a wave of sadness swept over me.