Chapter 222: Car Accident
The Smith Group, CEO's Office.
James waited from morning until 4 PM, but Mia never called him.
Looks like she really forgot.
To say he wasn't disappointed would be a lie.
But who told him to love her?
James sighed quietly to himself.
If she wouldn't come to him, couldn't he go to her?
James sped up processing the documents on his desk and left work half an hour early.
First, he went to the supermarket for a big shopping trip, and also bought a few boxes of daily necessities that Mia liked.
Tomorrow was Saturday. Tonight, he could use her forgetting his birthday as an excuse to do whatever he wanted without holding back.
Not a bad birthday present.
Carrying two large bags full of groceries from the supermarket, he drove to Silver Oak Manor.
This timing was just right.
Just one more intersection before reaching Silver Oak Manor, James was waiting at a red light when a familiar figure caught his eye.
It was Mia.
When he saw clearly that she was carrying a beautifully decorated cake box, James couldn't help but smile.
Mia remembered.
So she'd been avoiding his hints because she wanted to surprise him.
In that moment, James felt incredibly happy.
His loving gaze fell on Mia through the windshield, following her every step.
Suddenly—
A black Volkswagen entered his field of vision.
He saw clearly that the car was heading straight for Mia.
James shouted out of control, "Mia, watch out—"
But his car was still some distance from Mia. James screamed desperately, but Mia couldn't hear him.
The car was getting closer and closer to Mia, just one more turn and it would hit her.
In that moment, James couldn't think of anything else.
Only one thought remained.
Mia couldn't get hurt.
He absolutely couldn't let Mia suffer any harm again.
The traffic light was still counting down, but James didn't care anymore. He suddenly released the brake and turned the steering wheel.
Avoiding the cars going straight, he floored the gas pedal, and his car shot forward like an arrow released from a bow.
No time to worry about the consequences. After catching up, the distance was too close to force the car to stop.
A few feet behind Mia, he rammed into it from the side.
The two cars collided.
Amelia's car was sent flying by James's impact, flipping several times on the road before stopping.
James's car also lost balance due to excessive speed and crashed into the traffic lane.
A moving truck in the straight lane couldn't avoid it and crashed into them.
James's car was flipped over and landed on top of Amelia's car.
Everything happened too fast. When Mia heard the commotion behind her and turned to look, she only saw the moving truck.
Blood was trickling out from under the truck's wheels.
Seeing the blood, Mia covered her mouth with her hand, feeling nauseous. She put down the cake, leaned against a tree, and dry-heaved.
Around her, onlookers were discussing the accident.
"The truck driver is fine, but the people in the other two cars are bleeding a lot—"
She'd been afraid of blood since childhood and didn't like seeing gory scenes—they gave her nightmares.
So Mia didn't go forward to check the situation. After recovering a bit, she picked up the cake again and left the scene.
Because of her inner resistance, she never looked back and didn't notice that at the accident scene, James lay severely injured in the car.
Blood stained and blurred his vision. Through the car window, he watched Mia walk away with the cake, step by step.
Only after she safely entered the residential complex did James let go of the last bit of strength he'd been holding onto.
As long as she was okay, that was enough.
After Mia left, ambulances and police cars quickly arrived, and the onlookers were dispersed.
Medical staff rushed forward with stretchers and pulled both Amelia and James from the cars.
Both were severely injured and unconscious, their conditions unclear.
...
Mia returned home and immediately poured herself a glass of warm water. After drinking it, her heart slowly calmed down.
The doorbell rang. It was the decorations she'd ordered for James's birthday tonight to create the right atmosphere.
After receiving them from the delivery person and closing the door, she called James before starting to decorate.
"Sorry, the number you have dialed is currently unavailable—"
Mia hung up when the call didn't go through, not thinking much of it.
She sent him a text: "Waiting for you at home tonight."
There was still about half an hour until he got off work. After sending the message, Mia tossed her phone aside.
She started decorating.
By the time she finished, it was almost 6:30. James should have arrived at Silver Oak Manor by now.
Was he angry?
That night when he reminded her, he'd reminded her two more times, and she'd brushed it off both times.
Did he really think she'd forgotten his birthday, so he turned off his phone today, sulking?
The old James might not have done something like this.
But she couldn't be sure about him now.
Mia picked up her phone and called James again.
Still showing as turned off.
Mia put down her phone, picked up a book, and sat on the sofa reading while waiting for him to show up.
Even if James was sulking, he wouldn't sulk for too long.
She was pretty confident about that.
But time passed minute by minute.
From 6:30, all the way until 10:30.
She'd only turned a few pages of the book in her hand, her mind elsewhere.
Her gaze kept drifting to the phone beside her.
The phone did ring several times.
Each time, she immediately picked it up to check, but each time ended in disappointment.
They were all messages from other people.
Not from James.
Mia waited another half hour, until 11 o'clock.
She called James's phone again. Still turned off.
Ending the call, Mia stood up and walked to the dining table.
Silently, she took down the decorations and packed them away.
This was the second time she'd prepared a surprise for him, only to have it fall flat.
Not as heartbroken as the first time, this time Mia packed everything away with a relatively calm expression.
After packing it up, she set it aside.
As she stood up, she saw the cake she'd specially learned to make, her gaze lingering on it for a long time.
Finally, she looked away, turned to go to the bathroom to shower, then went to bed.
The next day.
All day long, not a single call from James.
Mia didn't call him again either.
That evening, she returned home.
After divorcing James, this had been her own little world.
But now, there were traces of James's life here.
In the entryway, a pair of men's slippers sat next to her women's slippers.
She changed her shoes and walked in.
She clearly hadn't let him leave too many traces of his life here, but as she stood in the living room and looked around.
His presence seemed to be everywhere.
She seemed to have gradually gotten used to it again—used to him appearing in her sight and in her life at any time.
Used to him messaging her whenever he had time every day, even if he didn't show up.
Just one day without news from him.
And she was already feeling somewhat uncomfortable.
This wasn't what she wanted.
Mia pulled her thoughts back. She didn't actively call James and ordered takeout for herself.
She tried hard to live according to her old habits. Without James, it wouldn't have too much impact on her.
The third day, the fourth day, still the same.
She didn't ask James why he hadn't shown up.
She still didn't actively contact him.
And didn't want to guess what he was trying to do by suddenly disappearing from her life.
She didn't know if he was playing psychological games with her.
Whether he wanted to use this method to prove that she'd gotten used to his presence.
To prove that he could still easily control the relationship between them.
Or maybe because she forgot his birthday, he felt she didn't care about him.
Maybe he was really angry, didn't want to make an effort anymore, wanted to give up.
It wasn't that she couldn't see how good James had been to her during this time.
But she also knew that James was someone with deep thoughts.
She couldn't see through his heart. What she could see was only what he wanted her to see.
Caring too much about someone was too exhausting.
Mia didn't let herself overthink it anymore.
She returned to the track of living alone, going through her days step by step.
She truly did what she'd once told James.
Just like that, more than half a month passed, and James finally contacted her first.