Unfortunately, Cedric had already gotten into the car, which then drove away from the home that had made him feel such sincere love and affection. His expression showed exhaustion and despair.
Clara ran after him. “Dad! Don’t leave me all by myself! Dad!”
“Dad, take me with you! Dad!” Clara kept screaming as she tried to reach her father’s car, which continued speeding away.
“Sir, Miss Clara…” The driver glanced at the rearview mirror, worried about Clara but also afraid of his master.
The driver’s unfinished words made Cedric understand what was happening, and he immediately turned around. His eyes widened in shock when he saw his only child chasing after him with her short little steps. Suddenly, Clara fell, and Cedric flinched, almost ordering the driver to stop the car.
But when he remembered Jasmine, he abandoned the idea and simply adjusted his sitting position without saying a word. The driver fell silent as well.
“Dad.” Clara got back up immediately, ignoring her bleeding knees and hands. She ran again, only to fall once more.
After trying three times and continuing to fall, Clara finally gave up. She sat down in the middle of the road, sobbing and wailing. She tilted her head back and stared at the sky, as if showing God how utterly broken she was.
She had been living in a harmonious environment, always surrounded by profound love and affection, and then suddenly she had to lose everything in an instant. Not just one person, but two. The two most precious people in her life had left her without hesitation.
From that moment on, they never came back. They forgot Clara as though the little girl had never existed.
This incident became Clara’s deepest wound and trauma. Every word her parents had said that day became etched in her memory, leaving her haunted by the fear of losing someone.
When she met Alfred, he immediately treated her with a sweetness that was nevertheless polite, even though it was their first meeting and had happened by accident. Clara remembered it clearly—the way that warm smile had been directed at her. It was a sincere smile, the kind she hadn’t received from anyone in a long time.
From then on, they often ran into each other by accident. And on their fifth meeting, Alfred invited her to a nearby café.
“My name is Alfred.” He introduced himself right away.
Clara answered hesitantly, “Clara.”
“Sorry if this seems rude, but do you have a boyfriend?” Alfred asked afterward.
Clara’s wariness heightened at once. She was even prepared to call the police if anything bad happened to her.
But Alfred followed up with something she never expected. He asked her out if she was still single.
It was a ridiculous beginning, and their relationship seemed anything but romantic, yet it ended up leading them to an unexpected marriage. Once they officially became husband and wife, Alfred’s attitude changed completely. He always put Clara above everything else.
Clara was deeply touched by all his kindness at the beginning of their marriage. Her love for Alfred grew stronger, as strong as his love for her. But the kinder Alfred was to her, the greater her fear became.
The trauma from her adolescence kept her from entering this marriage with a light heart. She even had to take sleeping pills in an attempt to forget all her fears. Just as she was now.
She thought that maybe if they parted amicably, before he could say something like what her mother had said back then, everything wouldn’t be so frightening. But now, as she imagined being left alone again, she felt overwhelmed.
And perhaps because their love was so strong, in another part of the country, Alfred felt restless. He kept staring at his phone, desperately wanting to call Clara and ask how she was doing.
“Alfred, come on!” Alfred’s friends called to him from the door. They were getting ready to go somewhere.