Worlds Apart | Chapter 52 | The Illusion of Escape | Novela.app

Xiao Fengtai went on a hunger strike for two days. "Leave him be. Let him starve," Mrs. Xiao huffed when she heard the servant's report. "If he truly manages to starve himself to death over a man like that, I’ll actually have some respect for him." She knew him well. On the third day, Xiao Fengtai began to eat normally. On the fifth day, he was groomed and dressed, then escorted by Mrs. Xiao herself to Cambridge for his admissions interview. Before the interview began, Xiao Fengtai still harbored a flicker of hope. Causing a scene at Cambridge would not only ruin his chances of admission but also serve as a vent for his fury, humiliating Mrs. Xiao in the process. However, the moment he saw his uncle among the interviewers, their eyes meeting, he understood: even if he didn't utter a single word, he would likely receive an offer. Futile resistance—he might as well give it up. On the way back, Mrs. Xiao took a phone call. Xiao Fengtai leaned his head listlessly against the car window, listening to the elderly woman offer her thanks several times to the stranger on the other end. After hanging up, she gave him her first smile in days. "You did very well." Xiao Fengtai merely stared at the passing greenery outside the window. Though the English countryside was beautiful, it became tedious after a while—an endless expanse of green meadows, black sheep, white sheep, brown cattle, dairy cows, sheepdogs, and little houses shaped like matchboxes. White clouds hung low on the horizon, thick and solid, looking as though one could reach out and tear off a handful. *It would be nice to be a sheep,* he thought. A sheep, a cow, a bird, a dog—anything would be better than this. "...Tiffany is back too. I heard her interview went smoothly as well," Mrs. Xiao continued to herself. "I've invited her over for dinner tonight. You two haven't seen each other in a long time; take the opportunity to catch up." Xiao Fengtai adjusted himself into a more comfortable position, his gaze still fixed outside, acting as if he hadn't heard a word she said. After not seeing her for a few days, Tiffany appeared even more charming and vivacious. She had always been skilled at pleasing every elder except Mrs. Xiao; now that Mrs. Xiao was intentionally playing the gracious host, the dinner was naturally filled with laughter and conversation. Aside from the silent Xiao Fengtai, the scene could be described as perfectly harmonious. "I'm going to rest now. You two children take your time chatting," Mrs. Xiao said after dinner, making an excuse to leave the room and leaving Xiao Fengtai and Tiffany to face each other. Accustomed to Xiao Fengtai's cold shoulder, Tiffany was racking her brain for a topic when, to her surprise, he was the one to extend an olive branch. "Want to take a walk in the garden?" Her heart skipped a beat, but her body reacted instinctively, putting on a sweet smile. "Sure." The temperature in London in February was essentially the same as in December. The night wind was biting and desolate. Only a few landscape lights flickered in the small garden; there were no flowers to see, and even the few evergreens looked withered. They walked in silence for a while. For the sake of aesthetics, Tiffany wasn't wearing a coat, and her legs were beginning to lose sensation from the cold. She was just about to suggest they head back when he gently draped an arm around her shoulder. "Are you cold?" His voice was so close, it didn't feel real. "Is this any better?" "...Yes." It was more than just better; a wave of warmth flooded her entire body. Even without a mirror, she knew how red her face must be. "That's good." He had never been this gentle, this kind to her. "Tiffany, could you do me a favor?" "What is it?" she whispered. "If it's something I can help with, I'll definitely do it." Xiao Fengtai took a step closer, pulling her into his arms until their shadows merged into one under the streetlamp. He whispered in her ear, "I have urgent business and need to return to Singapore. Can you help me find my passport? Grandmother has it." In the end, he simply couldn't let go. Even if Jiang Tong had betrayed him, he couldn't delete the man from his memory with the press of a button. He had to hear Jiang Tong explain why he did it to his face. He wanted Jiang Tong to look him in the eye and admit he had never loved him. "Okay," Tiffany agreed, as expected. "I'll do my best." The deal struck, the two finally didn't have to wander aimlessly in the freezing cold. They jogged back to the villa, said their goodbyes in the living room, and returned to their respective rooms. Tiffany sat in her room for a moment. Once she heard no more footsteps outside, she crept to the door and pulled it open. Mrs. Xiao's room was not far from hers. She tapped lightly on the door three times before carefully pushing it open. "Well?" Mrs. Xiao got straight to the point. "Did he ask you to help him get back to Singapore?" "You guessed correctly." Tiffany bit her lower lip unconsciously out of a sense of humiliation. "He asked me... to steal his passport from you." "How foolish." Mrs. Xiao huffed, pulling the passport from the small handbag she carried. "Give it to him in a couple of days. Make sure you act the part." "Aren't you afraid they'll just elope? Wouldn't it be better to wait until that man leaves Singapore before letting Cousin go back?" Mrs. Xiao sneered. "Even if your cousin dared, Jiang Tong wouldn't have the nerve." "Kenneth won't turn back until he hits a brick wall," she sighed. "Let him go. Let him see exactly what kind of creature this person he thinks he's in love with really is. Otherwise, he'll hate me for the rest of his life." Tiffany submissively agreed and left the room clutching the passport. Mrs. Xiao, however, no longer had the heart to read. In the empty air, she seemed to see her daughter's face again. The little girl of seventeen or eighteen with rosy cheeks, who would toss her schoolbag aside and run to the tennis courts the moment school was out. The young mother kneeling in the wind and snow with a swollen belly. The gorgeous, mature noblewoman who would never smile again. The madwoman, bloated and pale, chained to a bed, howling and screaming during her episodes. The last time she had seen her, a few days before she passed, the little girl she had watched grow up day by day in the palm of her hand had grown white hair. She had embraced her, and with a rare moment of lucid rationality, her daughter had said, *Only Mama is good to me.* "He Ling..." she whispered. "Mama is sorry." It didn't matter if Xiao Fengtai hated her for the rest of his life. She already had one foot in the grave; how many years did "the rest of her life" even amount to? But she could not fail her little girl. When she eventually went to the afterlife, she had to be able to face her daughter with her head held high. She had promised her that she would raise Xiao Fengtai well. She would never let her daughter's son repeat the same disastrous mistakes. ***