Chapter 155 Reunion with an Old Acquaintance

Chapter 155 Reunion with an Old Acquaintance

Stephanie's POV

The moment I saw her, my eyes stung with tears.

It was really her.

Her hair was shorter than I remembered, and the childishness had faded from her features—she looked so much more mature now. But those eyes, I could never mistake those eyes.

Pale green, like shallow seawater soaked in sunlight, with that familiar light hidden in their depths.

I took an involuntary step forward.

She stared at me, frozen, and the canvas tote bag in her hand dropped to the ground with a soft thud.

After a long silence, she spoke first, her voice hesitant. "You're... Stephanie, right?"

I nodded hard.

Tears spilled down her cheeks, even as her lips curved into a bright smile.

She lifted her hand to wipe the corners of her eyes. "I'm Emma! Do you remember me?"

I nodded furiously.

How could I possibly forget?

Back at the orphanage cafeteria, she was the quiet girl who always sat beside Yasmin.

She'd sit in the corner with her bowl, eating slowly, and afterward she'd wash her own dishes and stack them neatly back on the shelf.

She was three years older than Yasmin. Yasmin used to tease her, calling her a 'little shadow,' but Emma never minded—she'd just smile and continue following quietly behind Yasmin.

I couldn't hold back anymore. I rushed forward and threw my arms around her.

The impact made her stumble back half a step, but the next second her arms came up and locked tightly around my back.

We stood there in the doorway, clinging to each other, both of us shaking with sobs.

I don't know how long we cried—I only felt her shoulders trembling gently against mine, her emotions just as uncontrollable as my own.

Finally, slowly, we loosened our hold on each other.

I gripped her hands, looking her up and down.

She'd grown so tall—I actually had to tilt my head up slightly to see her face clearly.

But those delicate features were still the same familiar, comforting ones I remembered.

She wore a work badge on her chest, clearly printed with: Family Psychology Clinic, Director—Emma Carter.

"Emma, you're amazing! I never imagined that when we met again, you'd already be so successful."

She glanced down at the badge and smiled faintly.

"Hardly successful. I studied medicine in undergrad, then got interested in psychology and pursued it in grad school. After graduation, I came back here and realized a lot of people in this small town were dealing with mental health issues but had nowhere to turn. So I opened this clinic. The fees are very low—basically charity work."

Warmth and admiration swelled in my chest. I squeezed her hands tighter. "I always knew you'd succeed. You were so smart back then—every bit as brilliant as Yasmin."

The moment I mentioned Yasmin, the light in her eyes dimmed sharply.

She lowered her gaze to her fingertips, her voice dropping. "Yasmin and I were good friends too. Not as close as you two, but back at the orphanage, she always looked out for me. We were even roommates for a while. Then suddenly Kaitlyn said she was moving me to a bigger, nicer room, and I got transferred. Not long after that... Yasmin had her accident and was gone."

She wiped the dampness from the corners of her eyes and looked back up at me, forcing a weak smile.

"Look at me, getting all emotional and keeping you standing outside this whole time. Come on in."

She bent down to pick up the canvas bag and took my hand, leading me inside.

Christopher followed behind me. He exchanged glances with Emily and Rufus but didn't come in—just stood at the door and spoke quietly with Emily for a moment.

Emily nodded and led Rufus to a room nearby to wait.

I followed Emma into her office.

Emma poured two cups of hot tea and sat down across from me.

She held her cup in silence for a moment before speaking first. "Elisa gave you this address, didn't she?"

"Yeah." I nodded. "She said if I came here, I'd find all the answers."

Emma's lashes lowered slowly. "She probably already told you that Yasmin... was most likely sexually assaulted."

The instant I heard those words, my heart twisted in my chest—suffocating and dull.

I took a deep breath and set my teacup gently on the table. "What happened? Tell me everything."

Emma closed her eyes softly. After a long silence, she finally began to speak.

"I've felt for a long time that something was wrong about Yasmin's death."

"Yasmin was an excellent swimmer—she'd even competed and won. You were so young back then, and you didn't weigh much. Even if you panicked and grabbed onto her while drowning, there's no way it should have dragged an expert swimmer like her under and drowned her."

"But I was too young then—three years younger than Yasmin. Even though I was full of doubts, I had no way to investigate. Eventually I even started second-guessing myself, wondering if I just couldn't accept her sudden death and was imagining things."

She paused and looked up at me, shadows filling her eyes.

"Until later, when I almost got sold off by Kaitlyn—just like those other kids."

My breath stopped abruptly. "What?"

"That night, Kaitlyn gathered a whole group of us kids together. She said the orphanage was having a day off and she was taking us to the beach. We were all so excited. She dressed us in brand-new clothes and gave each of us a piece of chocolate."

"We drove to the beach, and we saw this huge cargo ship anchored offshore. The ship didn't look old or broken-down, but it was pitch black—not a single light on. It felt... wrong."

Her voice began to tremble uncontrollably.

"She told us we were going to play an adventure game. She said there was treasure hidden in the ship's hold, and whoever found it first would get a slice of strawberry cake as a prize. All the kids rushed onto the ship, thrilled. But I felt this panic rising in my chest—something didn't feel right."

She lowered her head, her fingertips lightly tracing the rim of her cup.

"I quietly stepped back and turned to run toward the road onshore, trying to find someone to help. But I didn't get far before they caught me. Kaitlyn was too heavy to run fast, but suddenly two strange men came charging out of the shadows. Each one grabbed one of my arms and started dragging me toward the ship."

"I fought as hard as I could. I screamed at her to save me. But she just stood there on the shore, head down, clutching a stack of cash in her hands, counting it. She never once looked at me."

I clenched my fists so tightly they ached, a chill washing through me.

"Those two men got tired of me struggling. They said I was too much trouble, that rich buyers wouldn't like someone so difficult, and they were just going to send me back. But Kaitlyn wasn't having it. She offered to lower the price on the spot. She told them I was an orphan with no one—that even if I disappeared, no one would come looking. She said I'd be useful as a ship companion, as a servant."

"Those men spent so much time at sea, I guess they'd gone too long without... contact with women. In the end, they agreed."

At this point, her face contorted with unbearable pain.

"They dragged me into the ship's hold and locked me in a tiny room. And then... then I..."

Emma covered her entire face with her hands, her shoulders shaking violently as sobs wracked her body.

"They raped me."

My eyes flew wide open. My whole body went rigid. I stared at her in disbelief. "What?!"