The Man I Couldn’t Escape Chapter 14
In the infirmary, Lorelei lowered her eyes as she applied medicine to Sebastian.
Her eyelashes trembled almost imperceptibly, and her voice was very soft.
“When did you find out about my past?”
Sebastian looked at her, raised his hand to catch her wrist, making her lift her head and meet his gaze. “Leila, you weren’t wrong about what happened before. You don’t have to carry the burden yourself.”
Lorelei seemed to be scalded by his warmth and instinctively pulled her hand back, suppressing the ache in her throat brought on by his words.
“I know I wasn’t wrong. But I… I can’t convince myself to forget those humiliations.”
“Seb, if during those three years I hadn’t been trapped in San Francisco, but had finished my studies here… maybe I could have responded to your feelings. But now, we’re not right for each other.”
Lorelei lowered her eyes, hiding the redness in them.
“Leila,” Sebastian reached out, gently pressing his hand to her cheek, guiding her gaze back to him. “I’ll stay with you.”
“If you can’t forget in a year, I’ll stay with you for a year. If you can’t forget in two years, I’ll stay with you for two years. If you still can’t let go, it’s not your fault—it’s mine for not being able to make you happy.”
“What I said at the campsite will never expire.”
Touched by the man’s earnest words, her heart suddenly trembled.
“Why me? You clearly have better choices…”
Sebastian shook his head with a smile. “Leila, love isn’t a choice.”
He patted her head lightly, then stood up and took her hand.
“If you don’t say anything, I’ll take it as a yes, okay?”
“Let’s go, girlfriend. I’ll walk you back to your dorm.”
Warmth flowed from her fingertips into her heart. Looking at the seriousness and sincerity in Sebastian’s eyes, Lorelei felt her nose sting.
In that moment, she inexplicably wanted to be selfish.
She didn’t let go of his hand.
Sensing her emotion, Sebastian bent down, poked her cheek with two fingers, and said, “Our Leila looks even better when she smiles.”
Sebastian held her hand as they walked out of the infirmary.
Suddenly, a low shout came from behind them.
Terrance had come back to deliver something to Lorelei, only to see a man holding his sister’s hand as they walked down the street together.
With a darkened face, he threw down the item and chased after them. “Who are you!”
“Leila,” Sebastian interlaced his fingers with hers, leaned in and whispered with a laugh, “Three, two, one… run!”
The wind lifted the short hair of the man in front of her, and Lorelei could hear her own heart pounding like a drum.
When she finally returned to the dorm, she saw it was pitch dark inside. Lorelei tiptoed in, but as soon as she closed the door and turned around, the lights suddenly came on and her roommates surrounded her, all staring at her in unison.
“Come on, confess! How far have you and Sebastian gotten?”
“Don’t pretend, we all saw who was downstairs just now. If you two haven’t made any progress, we won’t believe it!”
Lorelei tightened her grip on her bag strap, her ears burning. Skipping over what happened in the infirmary, she briefly recounted the events at the campsite.
A chorus of teasing erupted all at once.
“Sebastian is so bold! Who would’ve thought!”
“Oh, come on! Don’t you get it? Our Leila is so outstanding, she’s a real catch! If Sebastian doesn’t hold on tight, someone else will snatch her away! Besides…”
The roommate trailed off, keeping them in suspense.
“Sebastian has already waited a long time for Leila. I heard from the dorm supervisor that three years ago, after Leila left school, he even came in the pouring rain. No one knows what happened, but when he left, his eyes were bloodshot…”
The roommate’s words reached Lorelei’s ears.
Like a stone stirring up a thousand waves, she suddenly turned around, pushed open the door, and ran out. “Leila, come back early, it’s late…”
Sebastian was still downstairs outside her dorm, smoking a cigarette.
Seeing her suddenly run down, he was startled and stubbed out his cigarette.
He took off his jacket and draped it over her shoulders. “Why did you come down?”
Lorelei looked into his eyes, feeling something break through the surface in her heart. She took a step forward, suddenly wrapped her arms around his neck, pulled him down, stood on tiptoe, and kissed him.