Chapter 883

Felipe felt his heart pause as he took the item from the box.

He would never forget this red string.

When he met the little girl with the dimpled smile years ago by April Hill’s beach, she had been the ray of light that pulled him out of the dark. She even gave him a rainbow shell.

In return, he gave her a red piece of string.

That day of that year marked his innocent meeting with the energetic and warm Vetty. It was love at first sight.

When he grew up, he found out that the girl was Madeline.

That was why he did everything in his power to make Madeline his.

However, why was the string he had gifted Madeline in Cathy’s hands? Not to mention that it had been kept so safely.

Felipe’s mind was filled with questions that could not be answered.

Not that meeting Madeline by the seaside back then mattered to him anymore.

The moment Cathy was shot, it dawned on him who he truly had feelings for.

Perhaps he should have known the moment Cathy jumped into the river because of him. Perhaps it should have dawned on him with how reluctant he had been and how his heart had hurt for her when he lost her.

Yet, it never crossed his mind to sit himself down and understand his feelings.

Instead, all he did then was torture the woman who had engraved herself into his heart.

Felipe closed his eyes at the agony his heart screamed with.

Suddenly, someone came to report that Madeline had arrived.

Felipe’s red and glistening eyes snapped open as he stared at a picture of Cathy. Standing up, he recollected his emotions before he descended the stairs.

Madeline had come alone. Standing in the living room, her features and figure were still otherworldly.

However, Felipe no longer felt passion or a ripple in his heart despite the figure that reflected in his eyes.

Madeline looked up when she heard footsteps approaching and was met with Felipe’s elegant but emotionless and hollow features. Something felt wrong, but Madeline’s priority was on Cathy.

“I’m here to find Cathy, Felipe.”

His eyes flashed at the mention of her name.

Staring at Madeline, Felipe brought out the red string instead of answering her question.

“Did you give this to Cathy?” he asked.

Madeline stared at the vintage-looking string calmly. “I’ve never seen this string before.”

Felipe’s heart leaped at the answer. “You’ve never seen… What do you mean you’ve never seen this string before? I gave this string to you myself on the beach of April Hill back then.”

Madeline remembered how Felipe told her that they had met by the beach when they were young, but Madeline kept to the same reply. “Jeremy’s the only friend I made by the beach back then, Felipe. I may have been young, but I can promise you that I wouldn’t remember this wrongly.

“I’ve already told you I’m not the girl you met by the beach back then. You’re the only one who keeps thinking I am.”

‘You’re the only one who keeps thinking I am.’

The sentence pierced into Felipe’s heart, stunning him into a stupor.

He gripped the string in his hands as memories of that innocent smile surfaced in his mind.

“Come over here.”

“Will you be my friend if I play with you?”

“Here, this is for you. Mommy says that rainbow shells bring happiness. You need to be happy, okay?”

Her crescent-eyed and dimpled smile swirled in his mind.

While in a daze, the memory of the little girl’s smile overlapped with the memory of how Cathy used to smile.

A thought he dared not delve into surfaced in his mind.

‘Cathy. Was Cathy the…’

Not daring to think deeper into it, Felipe turned and walked out.