Love Never Wilts in a Moment

Bertha did not reply to Simon. Disgust crept through every part of her body. She could no longer feel warmth in Simon’s arms, only coldness.

He was such a good actor.

She had witnessed with her own two eyes how he cheated on her. If she had not, perhaps she would have believed him after he worked so hard to explain himself to her. But there were no what-ifs in the world, were there? The sight of his tears just disgusted her, and she found the entire situation ironic.

She pushed Simon away and smiled at Luna.

“Thank you for working so hard to take care of me all this while. Since you’re here, you might as well have a seat and eat with us.”

Simon could sense that there was something off about Bertha, and he signed timidly, “Bertha, are you still mad?”

Bertha shook her head and looked at the beach again.

Simon clapped, and the entire ocean of flowers lit up. A server then pushed a cart over. When he lifted the lid, Bertha found that the tray was not filled with food. Instead, it contained a set of emerald accessories.

Simon had spent a few hundred million dollars on the emeralds during an auction in Paris last month, simply because Bertha had said that she liked them.

She looked up and saw the burning love in Simon’s eyes.

Whenever she saw such gifts in the past, she would be surprised and weep. But all she did in the present was stare at him calmly.

“Bertha, do you remember the first gift I gave you? I gave it to you in this restaurant as well. When I first confessed to you, I gave you an emerald too. I spent half a month researching what you liked. Everyone told me that I would never win your heart and that I was an idiot, but I knew that you were worth the effort.

“When you said that you liked them, I bought them and hired someone to turn them into accessories. Our names are carved into the backs of each one. Once words are carved into something, they won’t disappear, just like how my love for you won’t disappear.”

Luna cast her an envious gaze.

“To think that after all these years, your relationship with Mr. Zimmer would still be so good, Mrs. Zimmer.”

Mockery flashed in Bertha’s eyes. Simon had indeed sworn to love her forever, and he had declared that his love for her would never disappear. All these things were a subject of envy for others, but only Bertha knew that their love had rotted away long ago.

She allowed Simon to put the accessories on her. The emerald made her skin even more radiant, and she supposed that she really did love emeralds. However, emeralds shattered easily, just like love.

While they ate, Simon busied himself cutting steak for her, but she noticed that he would occasionally reach for the car keys beside his hand.

She had never seen those keys before. Each time he pressed down on it, she would hear a faint buzz, along with a faint moan.

Right before her eyes, she saw Luna’s cheeks slowly turn red. Luna gnashed her teeth, as if enduring something. Just when things were about to go out of control, Luna trembled, and her glass of red wine toppled over. It accidentally spilled on Simon’s shirt.

Simon frowned before giving Bertha a troubled look as he signed, “Bertha, I need to clean myself up. I’ve cut your steak for you. Go ahead and eat it.”

He then left.

Soon after, Luna received a call. With the excuse that she had surgery in the hospital, she left the restaurant too.

As for Bertha, she did not eat her steak as Simon had asked. Instead, she got up and went to the other side of the restaurant. Through the floor-to-ceiling window, she saw Luna running strangely toward the car Simon had parked by the road.

Bertha got down quietly. The car window was partially rolled down, and it revealed the people inside. Simon and Luna were pressed flush against each other as they kissed.

Soon, the car started shaking.