Chapter 657: The Feeling of a Broken Heart
Chapter 657: Chapter 657: The Feeling of a Broken Heart
Breeder Fletcher used food to attract Felicity and Joy’s attention, letting Hope play on the kiddie ride alone.
Henry Stark glanced at his watch and turned to ask, "What other animals do you want to see? We have to leave in an hour."
They had already bought high-speed rail tickets back to Zenvia for the afternoon.
Renee Jennings wore a mask today, so she wasn’t recognized again. They managed to visit several animal houses within an hour.
As soon as they got back to the car, Michelle Fuller held up her phone and asked, "How about this place for lunch? I saved it last night. The food looks pretty good."
Renee Jennings was starting to feel hungry too. "Okay, let’s go there. It’s my treat."
The restaurant averaged a thousand yuan per person, so the meal for the four of them cost over four thousand yuan.
On the way back, Zachary Conway was noticeably quieter than he had been on the way there.
The more he thought about it, the more he felt he wasn’t good enough for Michelle Fuller.
While his family was financially comfortable, they weren’t so well-off that they would spend several thousand yuan on lunch on an ordinary day.
If he were with Michelle Fuller, his salary would only be enough to treat her to a few meals. He wouldn’t even be able to afford gifts.
Dejected, Zachary Conway buried his face in his backpack. He felt a faint ache in his heart, and a wave of misery washed over him.
At 7:30 PM, the high-speed train arrived in Zenvia.
It was dinnertime, so Michelle Fuller suggested they eat together. "I’ll treat everyone to barbecue! It’s super, duper delicious!"
"Um..." Zachary Conway raised a hand to scratch his head. "I’m not feeling well, so I’ll skip dinner with you guys. I’m going to head off."
Before anyone could ask what was wrong, he had already turned and hurried away.
Renee Jennings watched Zachary Conway’s retreating back, her brow furrowing slightly. She said softly, "Zachary seems a little strange."
"Yeah," Michelle Fuller chimed in. "I thought something was off with him on the train earlier."
Henry Stark, who had a vague idea of what was going on, said, his thin lips barely moving, "It’s fine. Let him go home and rest. I’ll treat you to barbecue."
Michelle Fuller protested, "Hey, don’t steal my thunder! I already said it was my treat. You can get it next time."
After the barbecue, Michelle Fuller and Renee Jennings went back to Eastgate Villa together, since Ginny was still there, after all.
Back at the villa, the first thing Michelle Fuller did was take a shower before throwing herself into her soft, warm bed.
She lay on her stomach, propped up on her pillows, and scrolled through the photos she had taken over the past two days, planning to post a Moments update. As she swiped through them, she suddenly came across the pictures she had taken of Zachary Conway.
Remembering he had said he wasn’t feeling well, she hesitated, wondering if she should send him a WeChat message to check in.
Zachary Conway was also looking at photos. He had secretly taken many pictures of Michelle Fuller.
He was hiding under his covers, crying as he looked at them.
After some time, there was a knock on his door. "Zachary, your father wants some dumplings. Do you want some too?"
Zachary Conway sniffled and cleared his throat before daring to speak. "Mom, I’m not hungry. You guys go ahead and eat."
Outside the door, Mrs. Conway’s brow tightened with worry. "Okay. If you get hungry, come out and eat."
"I know, Mom."
Listening to her son’s voice, Mrs. Conway couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong.
She walked over to Mr. Conway, who was still reading the newspaper, and sighed. "What do you think is wrong with Zachary? His eyes were all red when he came in earlier."
Mr. Conway adjusted his reading glasses, replying nonchalantly, "Maybe some sand blew into his eyes."
Mrs. Conway: ...
She shot her husband a sidelong glance. Seeing him unfazed, she snatched the newspaper from his hands. "Are you going to stare a hole through that newspaper? You should be paying attention to your son!"
Mr. Conway took off his reading glasses, amused. "Our son’s a grown man. Why would he need me to watch over him?"
"So you do realize he’s grown up?" Mrs. Conway huffed. "Well, he’s never had a girlfriend. Aren’t you worried about that?"
"What’s the use in me being worried?" Mr. Conway began massaging his wife’s shoulders to comfort her. "Kids have their own minds. As parents, we shouldn’t interfere too much. All that matters is that he’s safe and healthy."
At this, Mrs. Conway sighed heavily again. "Even being safe and healthy is hard. Look what time it is, and he hasn’t even eaten dinner."
"I think you’re having a flare-up of your occupational hazard, Director Conway," Mr. Conway said, his tone teasing. "Zachary isn’t one of the kids at your kindergarten. Skipping one meal won’t kill him."
Mrs. Conway: ...
’That actually makes a lot of sense.’
Mr. Conway chuckled. "Alright, don’t overthink it. Go get some rest."
"Fine," Mrs. Conway said, finally getting up to go back to her room.
In his room, Zachary Conway turned on his desk lamp and sat down at his desk.
He opened his journal, gripping the pen with tightening fingers. Stroke by stroke, he wrote down his innermost thoughts: ’Today was a wonderful and unhappy day.’
’I saw the girl I like the moment I woke up, but by evening, I realized I’m truly not good enough for her.’
’This feeling of heartbreak is so painful.’
’My heart hurts so much I can barely breathe.’
...
After an unknown amount of time, a tear fell onto the page, instantly smudging the ink and blurring the words.
Zachary Conway sniffled, wiped his tears messily with his sleeve, and patted his cheeks.
"Zachary Conway, get a grip. Can you please stop crying?"
"Can’t you be a man about it?"
As the words left his lips, he covered his face and began to cry, his muffled sobs contained within his palms.
After crying for a while, he pulled out a few tissues to wipe his tears. He picked up his pen, intending to write more, but then he glanced over and saw his phone screen was lit up, displaying three unread WeChat messages.
Worried it might be something from his team, Zachary Conway quickly grabbed his phone, unlocked it, and checked.
Unexpectedly, all three messages were from the same person.
Michelle Fuller: [Zachary, how are you feeling? Are you any better?]
Michelle Fuller: [Should I send you the photos I took of you these past two days?]
Michelle Fuller: [Bear-knocking-on-door.jpg]
Zachary Conway stared at the three messages, stunned, for a long time.
By the time he snapped out of it, five minutes had passed.
Zachary Conway, pen still in hand, looked down at what he had just written in his journal.
He pursed his lips and drew a large X over the dozen or so lines of text.
He turned to a clean page and, with great solemnity, wrote one sentence, stroke by stroke: ’Today was truly a wonderful and happy day.’
’The girl I like is worried about me.’
’Does this mean she cares about me, even just a little?’
’She even took a lot of photos of me. It feels like I exist a little more in her world now.’
’My heart is starting to flutter for her all over again.’
After writing all this, Zachary Conway realized ten minutes had already gone by.
He quickly replied to Michelle Fuller: [Michelle, I’m feeling much better after getting some rest at home. Is there any way to get the photos besides WeChat?]
Michelle Fuller was on her phone and replied almost instantly: [I could also AirDrop them to you in person.]
The corners of Zachary Conway’s mouth slowly turned up. [Okay, you can AirDrop them to me when we meet up then. And we can make up for the barbecue I missed tonight.]
Michelle Fuller: [That works.]