"Why are you dressed like that? Didn't I say we're going to the shooting range as my father requested?" Jonas Li's question sounded intimidating, his eyebrows almost meeting as he looked at his wife's attire. To him, she was wearing a simple dress, but it seemed like she was almost naked in front of others.
Chelsea's steps halted on the stairs when she heard Jonas's warning, and one corner of her mouth lifted before she continued walking down to the last step. She hadn't expected Jonas to be waiting for her on the main floor. She had seen him pacing back and forth without saying a word, and she didn't think he was waiting for her to finish getting ready.
"Shooting range?" Her eyes darted left and right, then back to Jonas. "Did I agree to that?"
"You didn't agree, huh?"
"I agreed, but I have another engagement, so I'll be late to the shooting range. I can call my mother and explain the situation."
She took out her phone, but Jonas suddenly grasped her wrist. "What engagement do you mean?" His expression remained cold and unyielding.
"You're really curious, aren't you?" She smiled mockingly, then stood on her tiptoes and whispered something in Jonas's ear. "I'm going on a date with my driver."
She stepped back, freeing her hand from Jonas's grasp, and walked away without looking back, intentionally playing with her husband's patience. Chelsea started to think that playing cat and mouse with Jonas was quite enjoyable.
Since waking up in Jonas's office and finding his black jacket covering part of her legs, she realized that Jonas still had some concern for her, even if his reason for doing so made her want to laugh. "A fly was buzzing around you, so I covered you up."
Chelsea wasn't a five-year-old who would easily believe such a ridiculous excuse, especially since Jonas's office was very clean and it was unlikely that a fly would appear there without any sign of decay.
"Are we still going to the opera house?" Daniel Jiang asked as Chelsea approached, standing beside the car and opening the door for his employer.
"Yes, I promised to come. Those little ballet dancers are too adorable to miss."
She sat down in the passenger seat, while Daniel remained standing beside the door. "Is everything okay, Uncle?"
"Nothing, just a feeling." He quickly got into the driver's seat. "Is your little boy watching his wife from there?"
Chelsea rolled down the window, confidently waving her hand and smiling broadly at Jonas Li, who was standing on the porch. Then she laughed as the car left the yard.
"What's funny?" Daniel asked.
"Jonas's attitude. I deliberately made him annoyed by saying I was going on a date with you."
"And did he react?"
"Who knows?" She shrugged. "Besides, Jonas Li only cares about his ex-girlfriend. He won't look in my direction."
"But, time can change everything. I even feel like he doesn't like me as your driver."
"It's not a problem. Besides, Uncle Jiang works for you, and Jonas's parents brought you to meet me. He won't be able to do anything about it." Chelsea simplified the situation, whether Jonas liked or disliked the people around his wife, it didn't matter to her as long as they were beneficial and could help her, and opinions of Jonas were not an obstacle or something that needed to be heard.
"I don't care either, because that boy doesn't understand anything yet."
"So just relax, Uncle. Consider Jonas as a speck of dust that's hard to disappear on your car windshield, and he's just entertainment for me."
"But, Chelsea, are you serious about watching ballet?"
The woman was momentarily still, before Daniel Jiang asked about the same situation, Chelsea had thought about it thoroughly. "Yes, it's fine. That dream hasn't visited me in a long time."
Chelsea seemed nervous when their eyes met after looking at the rearview mirror above Daniel's head, Chelsea immediately looked away, as if she didn't believe her own words, her heart suddenly felt uncertain due to the questioning tone.
"Hmm, okay, I hope everything stays fine."
"Yes, trust me."
***
Chelsea successfully sat in a seat in the opera house, among many enthusiastic parents watching their little daughters' performances, she felt like she was an important part of the exciting situation, making her understand that they must be very proud to see the beautiful children there working hard under pressure and supervision all the time, and then giving their best performances to impress many people.
Chelsea smiled sincerely and clapped along with the audience's admiration, it should have been like this for her late parents, right? Suddenly, Chelsea's eyes welled up with tears, even though she had tried to hold back and protect her heart as strongly as possible, but the strong wall that had stood for years was still defeated by painful memories that came floating back into her mind.
"Damn!"
She cursed softly when tears fell, clapping her hands to give a simple appreciation to the little ballerinas who had finished their performances, Chelsea continued to cry.
"Miss, you must be very moved, aren't you? I have tissues if you need them."
A young mother next to Chelsea offered a box of tissues, making the woman pull out a few sheets.
"Ah, yes, I'm really touched by their performances, thank you very much." She tried to act normal while wiping away her tears with the tissues, but Chelsea's heart was racing, she realized something was happening.
"Are you an outsider, or here to see your daughter or niece?"
"An outsider. I just love ballet since I was little."
"You must have performed like them, right?"
Chelsea was still, she stared at the woman without blinking, then shook her head. She immediately stood up because the discomfort was getting too much for her.
"Excuse me, I need to go to the bathroom."
"Please do."
Chelsea quickly left the grand room, but instead of looking for the bathroom, she went outside and kept walking to find the main door leading to the porch with a dozen steps.
"Damn!"
Chelsea's chest felt heavy, the feeling of suffocation returned, she realized she was too careless in simplifying the situation from the start, she should have understood that the trauma that had taken away her childhood didn't really disappear.
"It hurts so much." She pressed her chest without stopping crying, she kept walking down the stairs, but suddenly felt extremely weak and collapsed, bending over. "It's so tight, am I going to die here?"
Chelsea's breathing was rapid, her heart felt like it was being squeezed very tightly, making it hard to breathe properly, sweat fell on her forehead, dizziness and nausea dominated the uncontrollable situation that had been absent from her life for a long time.
Just then, Daniel Jiang immediately stepped on the brake, he got out and ran to Chelsea, finding her with her body shaking violently. Daniel's body language and expression showed infinite panic that greatly affected him.
Daniel immediately hugged Chelsea and apologized repeatedly. "I should not have been careless in letting you visit this place. I should have kept forbidding you and stopped being naive."
"Uncle Jiang." Chelsea's voice was soft and trembling, excessive anxiety returned to her life when she thought she had fully recovered, or was just ignoring the prolonged traumatic feeling.
"It's okay, let's go back to the car. Luckily, before going to China, I got some medicine from your psychiatrist. The master and mistress were always worried about leaving you alone here, so they pressured Doctor Anneliese to give me some extra medicine."
Chelsea nodded, her body was still very weak, making it hard for her to stand, Daniel took the initiative to carry Chelsea on his back.
However, the man's steps were momentarily halted when he saw Jonas Li watching them from inside his car, which was parked right across the street.
Although the situation was very awkward, Daniel tried to ignore the annoying moment, bringing Chelsea back to the car to take her medicine was the main priority.
Jonas's expression was hard to read, he had been there since Daniel got out of the car and rushed to Chelsea in panic, he saw their interaction—Daniel hugging and trying to calm Chelsea, then carrying her on his back. Jonas had intended to get out of the car when his wife suddenly collapsed on the stairs, but her personal driver acted faster.
Maybe Jonas was overthinking, he didn't even understand what was happening. The reason Jonas appeared in front of the opera house was to pick up Chelsea to go to the shooting range, his family had gathered and was waiting for her arrival. He knew Chelsea was here from a ballet show ticket lying on the surface of the dressing table in the main bedroom. Chelsea had two tickets, she only brought one of them.
***