Chapter 531: I'll Leave the Company to You
"In the future, she will move forward while accompanying her daughter. Other than removing you from her memory, Ms. Layla's memories of other people were not affected."
Landen shut his eyes and nodded.
"Mr. Shilling, if there's nothing else, I'll be taking my leave now," said the hypnotist.
Wilson got up from the couch and waved to the hypnotist, indicating that the latter was free to go.
After walking out of the door, the hypnotist turned his head and took a gander at the huge villa. His eyes were filled with suspicion as he frowned.
At the living room of the villa, Wilson patted Landen's shoulder and asked sternly, "What are you going to do next? Don't tell me that you haven't planned anything? You can lie to others but not me."
Landen spaced out for a moment and then replied, "Work hard. I'll leave the company to you for now."
"Damn! I knew it! For now? Is that a few days or years?" Wilson scoffed.
Landen's earlier gentleness had diminished in the blink of an eye.
"I don't know," he answered frankly.
After a brief pause, he continued, "It depends on her."
Landen had made himself clear.
Wilson knew that he wanted to pursue Layla.
He sighed. "I knew it. But don't you think this is unfair to Layla? She has lost that portion of her memory and doesn't know you anymore. Maybe she'll be moved by your kindness and eventually fall for you. However, this is totally against her intention before the hypnosis. I believe she did not want to be with you at all. Otherwise, she would not have asked to be hypnotized."
Wilson's words were unsparing.
He felt obligated to tell his best friend the truth to prevent future suffering. "What if she wakes up one day? I bet she'll blame you. What are you gonna do then?"
Landen looked outside of the window for a long time before he said, "I don't want to pursue nor be with her. I only want to find her and watch her find her own happiness. When she finds the right partner for herself and gets the happiness she deserves, I'll come back."
Landen looked at Wilson earnestly. "I've never respected her in the past, but I won't
do it anymore. Since she has forgotten about me and has given up on me, I won't go against her wishes. All I want is to be a little closer to her so that I could look at her and breathe the same air as her."
That was all Landen said before he added one last thing, "I'll leave the company to you." He then headed upstairs in exhaustion.
Wilson looked at Landen's back and realized for the first time that the latter was capable of being fragile too. The man was so fragile that all he had was his body and nothing else.
Wilson never expected that Landen could be so self-effacing and let Layla find her new happiness.
Wilson sighed once more.
After Layla left the Shillings' residence with her daughter, she started planning for her parents' and relatives' return.
In a blink of an eye, an entire afternoon passed.
At night, Layla brought Nessie to the rooftop of the Stones' residence to stargaze.
With similar personalities, neither of them spoke much.
...
However, it was romantic and comforting enough when the two of them leaned against each other and admired the beautiful night view.
"Mom," Nessie muttered, breaking the silence.
"Yes?" Layla slanted her head and raised an eyebrow.
"Do you still remember..." Nessie trailed off. She then shook her head. "Nothing. I just wanted to call you."
She could not drag her mother back into the pain again. Since Layla had moved on and had forgotten the painful memories, it was best to leave it that way.
Nessie leaned closer to Layla.
Layla looked intently at Nessie, then faintly shifted her gaze and glanced toward the stars above them again.
"Shooting star!" Layla abruptly patted Nessie's shoulder. "Quick, make a wish!"
She placed her hand over Nessie's eyes. "The stars will grant your deepest wish."
Layla could feel Nessie's eyelashes fluttering under her palms.
Then, she watched Nessie put up both hands and began to make her wish silently.
"Mom, I've made my wish," said Nessie.
Layla retracted her hand and smiled. "It will definitely come true."
"Really?" Nessie's eyes lit up.
"Yes."
An inexplicable trace of determination shone in Layla's eyes.
When Nessie tried to look closer, it vanished.
Layla's phone rang.
It was a message from Freya, asking her whether it was all right to leave the next day.
Layla knew Freya was worried that she wouldn't be able to fly in her health condition.
Layla quickly replied:
On the other side, as soon as Freya received the message, she had an intuition.
When Declan returned to the bedroom after he was done with work, he saw Freya frowning, seemingly in deep thoughts. "What are you thinking about?" he asked,
raising his hand to smoothen her furrowed brows.
Declan had been handling work matters for an entire day. He even had his lunch and dinner in the study.
Not wanting to disturb him, Freya hadn't been to the study either.
Seeing his return, she was ecstatic and hugged his waist affectionately.
At that moment, she felt that there were too many hours in a day.
As her feelings for him grew stronger, she seemed to be increasingly clingy too.
Freya loosened her hands around Declan's waist and distanced herself. "Nothing, just a weird thought. But I'm not telling you. It's about Layla. It's a matter between women, so you don't need to care about it."
Declan was not interested to know at all. He touched Freya's nose affectionately and wrapped his arm around her waist to hold her.
He then bent over slightly and rubbed his chin against her shoulder.
Declan used his actions to tell Freya that she wasn't the only clingy person--he was, too.
Freya giggled and snuggled into Declan's arms. "You're tickling me!"