The night breeze blew gently and lifted the strands of hair on Stephanie’s forehead that she hadn’t pinned up when she rushed out.
Maxwell looked at Stephanie beside him and remembered that night at Moon Manor, when she looked so thin and afraid of the cold.
He reached out to fix her hair, but she stepped back and looked at him warily.
“Your hair’s messy.” Maxwell said, frowning a little, his eyes full of endless darkness.
Since when did she become so wary of him.
“I’ll do it myself.” Stephanie said, and did her hair on her own.
The two walked along and finally came to the car.
Maxwell opened the car door and let her go in first.
The two sat down in the back seat.
Then there was a long silence.
Outside the car window were dim streetlights, and all around were silent woods.
No one spoke.
Just like that, time passed by, second by second.
Didn’t know how much time had passed, but finally, Maxwell spoke first.
288 Vouchers
“I see.” he said, looking at the woods ahead, “about your car accident.”
Stephanie nodded and said, “Yeah.”
“That day in the stairwell, I didn’t mean it.” Maxwell said, even though he knew explaining was useless, he still wanted to tell her.
“That day was a mess. I wanted to hold McKayla back, stop her from fighting, and separate her from Roxanne, but they kept moving.”
“They got really worked up, so I had to try even harder to make it work, and then…“.
“I didn’t know what happened either, anyway, in the end. I pushed you
over.”
“I wanted to reach out and grab you, but everything happened so fast, you already fell.”
Maxwell didn’t look at Stephanie, he kept staring at a spot in the woods ahead.
He didn’t know what Stephanie would think if she heard all this.
But he thought he needed to explain.
And Stephanie.
After he finished talking, Stephanie just said “yeah.”
Then, it fell silent again.
It’s just that, where Maxwell couldn’t see, Stephanie’s fists were clenched so tight they were shaking a little. Her nails dug into her palms, and it hurt a lot.
She tried to keep calm on the outside.
21.10%
288 Vouchers
Tried not to think about that lost child, not to think about those painful. days and nights.
She kept telling herself in her heart, it’s all over, I’ll be fine, everything will be fine, I still have Belinda, Belinda and I will be happy.
As long as she held on, got the divorce certificate smoothly, then won “The Ethereal Voice” championship, and then used that contract where she’d set up a backdoor for Maxwell to negotiate, she could get back the old team of the Shelton Group.
Everything was going to be okay.
Even though she had lost two kids, she still had Belinda.
Another few minutes of silence, then Maxwell spoke again.
“How’s your injury… doing?” This time, Maxwell finally looked at her. Looked at Stephanie’s body that still hadn’t gained the weight back.
From this angle, he could see her collarbones sticking out, the hollows under them sinking in deep, and her arms, really thin, like they’d break if you bent them, looking so fragile.
“It’s done,” Stephanie answered.
Maxwell nodded. “That’s good.”
“Sorry, I didn’t visit you when you were in the hospital,” he went on.
Stephanie didn’t answer this time.
“Will you… blame me?” Maxwell asked, his eyes slightly downcast, looking at her beside him.
Stephanic really wanted to force herself to say “no,” just to get all this
288 Vouchers
over with and let him marry her smoothly tomorrow.
But when she thought about the child she lost, the Tanzanite he took, and how she once gave her heart to the wrong person, she just couldn’t say it.
How could she not blame him?
Her emotions swung wildly, she almost couldn’t control herself. “Steph.” Maxwell called her name again, “Answer me.”
Maxwell’s eyes were a little red and he asked, “Will you blame me?”
She took a deep breath and turned her head. There was a bit of moisture in her eyes.
Stephanie looked at Maxwell in front of her. He still looked pretty much the same as before, sitting in the car. His eyes, at some point, seemed to have shown some guilt..
“Steph…”
Stephanie’s emotions were churning. Her fingertips dug hard into her palm as she tried her best to look calm on the outside.
She steadied her voice and said, “What do you think?”
Just three words, but they really hit Maxwell hard.
He opened his mouth to say something, but no sound came out.
He looked at her, her eyes wet.
In the end, he lowered his eyes a little and avoided her gaze.
“Blame me,” he said.
288 Vouchers
Chapter208