Chapter 13: CONFRONT HIM

Sarah began to question herself. Did she still wish to be the owner of Charles' heart? She laughed at herself, suddenly smiled, and cried again. Noticing the gaze of passers-by, she lowered her head, wiped her tears, and left quickly. Just after turning the corner, she felt someone grab her by the wrist. Turning around, Sarah found that the person who'd stopped her was Charles. He appeared to be anxious, and his eyes gave away a sense of anger. "Didn't I tell you to wait for me at the entrance?" Charles said sharply, "Why are you leaving alone?" After pausing for a while, he realized that Sarah was crying, so he softened his voice, "What's wrong? Why are you crying? What's the matter with you?" Sarah shook her head, "Nothing." She didn't want to say anything. Although inside, she felt terrible, she still didn't want to let him know. Holding her shoulder, Charles stared at her for a while and asked gently, "What happened? Tell me, I can help you. I can protect you if you're in trouble." Sarah wiped her tears and said helplessly, "You couldn't help me solve this, Charles. If you were able to solve it, I wouldn't be feeling like this at all." "What?" Sarah paused, trying to think of an excuse, "Nothing. You can't help me." She sighed silently, "It's your sister." "What else can you tell me? I can't help you if you don't tell me anything. Why are you so sure that I can't help you?" After thinking for a moment, Sarah finally argued, "Even if I tell you, are you sure you can help me?" Charles looked at her, shocked. Assertively, Sarah said, "Don't ask me any more questions; give me some space." Finally, Charles stopped questioning her. They walked along the road. After what felt like a very long time, Charles said, "Sarah, why don't you trust me? Sometimes, even when I'm with you, I still feel that I can't get close to you." Sarah looked at him and answered, "It is not because I don't believe anything you say, I just want to protect myself. I have been hurt before Charles. If I can't be sure that you love me, how can I possibly trust you with all my heart? Besides, Charles, you don't exactly treat me sincerely!" "Why are you so angry today?" Charles retorted. "Well, can you honestly tell me whether there is another woman in your life?" Sarah stared at Charles. Her words made Charles laugh. He didn't know why she'd asked this, "Why are you saying this? Do you think I'm cheating on you? I told you, I haven't been with another woman since we started dating. Why don't you believe me?" "Whether I believe you or not is not important. I have no way of knowing whether what you say is true." What's the matter with you today? Are you trying to anger me on purpose?" Charles looked into Sarah's eyes. Sarah stared back at him silently, and then asked, "Charles, do you have a sister?" "What?" "I heard that you had a sister. But why have I never seen her? Is she the girl in that photo in your wallet?" asked Sarah. At that moment, she noticed Charles's expression changed. He was trying to hide something as he answered, "Why are you asking me this?" "If she is your sister, then you can just tell me, Charles." "She is my sister, but she was adopted by my parents. She is living with them now." Trying hard to repress her sadness, Sarah forced a smile and asked him, "Well, you must love her a lot. If not, why would you put her photo in your wallet and look at it every day?" She had noticed all of his unnatural behavior. His uneasiness to discuss his sister proved to her that their relationship was abnormal. Lowering his head, Charles coughed and asked, "Why are you suddenly so interested in my sister? What do you want to know?" Sarah forced a smile, "I just want to know how deeply you love your sister. Tell me about her, and I'm interested in finding out more. "Regarding my sister, I have nothing to say," Charles replied, coolly. Sarah lowered her head, "You have never said anything about your family, whereas I have told you about my sister, my childhood, even my dead parents. Why do you never mention your family? Charles, you are not honest enough." She raised her head and looked at him softly. Charles paused for a while and then answered, "We'd better move along from here, and then we can talk in a quieter place." As soon as he'd stopped speaking, he began to walk away. Staring at his back as he walked off, Sarah suddenly felt as though he was still hiding something. What's the matter with him? Why did he protect that girl so much? He wouldn't even talk about her in front of his own girlfriend. Sarah suddenly recalled the mistress's words. If Charles loved someone, he wouldn't let anyone else know because he wanted to protect her. He would only publicly date women that he didn't love, making sure that everyone knew about her so as to distract them from his beloved girl. Sarah was exactly that, a distraction! Charles clearly wasn't trying to protect Sarah. If he had, she wouldn't have been bullied by his mistress. That girl who never seemed to show up and was cherished by Charles, lived in peace, no one disturbed her or bullied her. Charles simply didn't love Sarah enough. Although she was upset, when Charles called her to get in the car, she followed because she really wanted to know more about that girl in the photo. Charles drove the car down to the seaside. The coast at night seemed like a different world to the city, where only a few flickering lights could be seen in the distance.