Chapter 520
520
Third Person’s POV
Asa glanced back at the rabbit doll, her gaze locking onto it for a while before she remembered to respond to Paisley.
With a modest smile, she said, “Oh, not really. It’s just a bit of fun.”
The Sunbrew Café offered a wide variety of exquisite pastries. Even a simple honey pancake was sweet without being cloying, soft and delicious.
Paisley took a bite and said with a smile, “When I was little, I loved these sweet pancakes . Our family chef didn’t make them, so my brother would sneak out to buy them for me. We’d hide under a tree and enjoy them.”
She looked out the window as sunlight streamed in, illuminating her face , which was filled with smiles and memories.
She continued, “It was often such a beautiful autumn day back then. But in September, it wasn’t as cool as in the capital. Sometimes it was even hot. Sunlight filtered through the trees, and my brother’s face would be bathed in it too.”
As she spoke, she reached out and touched the rabbit doll beside her.
With a gentle sigh, she said, “But I haven’t seen my brother for a long time.”
Asa was stunned. Images of the scene Paisley described flashed through her mind, and her gaze remained fixed on the rabbit doll.
For some unknown reason, her chest tightened as if something was blocking it, making her extremely uncomfortable.
“Paisley, is this a rabbit doll?” she couldn’t help but ask.
Paisley nodded and said with a smile, “Yes, it is. My brother made it for me. That year, I was confined to the house by my mother after falling from a tree and wasn’t allowed to play outside. So my brother made this rabbit doll for me. It’s pretty ugly, isn’t it? I didn’t like it either and threw it on the ground. Look at the ear–it was broken when I smashed it in a fit of pique.”
She pushed the rabbit doll toward Asa. “Take a look.”
Asa looked at the doll pushed in front of her–an ugly rabbit doll.
Sounds seemed to echo in her ears!
Then, out of nowhere, images flashed in her mind.
“You actually climbed a tree? Who taught you? Did it hurt? Are you crying? If you cry again, I’ll forbid you from joining us at the celebration.”
“Don’t cry. Don’t you want a rabbit doll? I’ll make one for you.”
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I don’t want it. It’s too ugly. This isn’t a rabbit doll at all. I don’t want it, I don’t want it.
Clang
“Poly, this is my first try at making something.”
“I don’t want it, I don’t want it…”
The sound of a girl’s crying filled her ears.
Asa jerked her hand back. Her jasmine pheromones trembled violently with the sudden surge of emotion. Unknowingly, tears had streamed down her face.
Her wolf ears drooped against her hair, heavy with wordless hurt.
Taking advantage of the moment when the Aurora outside hadn’t noticed, she quickly wiped away her tears. Her fingertips turned slightly pale from the panic, and her light jasmine struggled to calm down but still quivered like petals in the wind.
Her heart felt like it was being pricked by needles, with layers of subtle pain emerging.
Bitterness seeped into her pheromones, and even her breathing shook.
Paisley watched her, reaching out to take back the rabbit doll, but Asa instinctively guarded it .
She suddenly hugged it to her chest and said in a choked voice, her voice wrapping with the whimpers of a young wolf, “It’s mine.”
She rose and walked to the window, which faced the port. The wind was strong, driving the river waves to crash against the docked ships.
Taking a deep breath, memories flooded in like waves–light jasmine rippled with broken ripples, sometimes clear, sometimes vague.
The rabbit doll and what Paisley had said tore open a wound, releasing the memories buried deep in her heart.
She didn’t remember much.
The circus manager found her when she was near death.
She was left in the little hill outside Fairfax County, her body burning with pain as if on fire, but it was raining heavily at the time. In this memory, light jasmine became scorched and faint, as if still holding the searing pain of that day.
Her only memory then was hearing the circus manager say, “There’s still a breath left. Whether you live or die is up to fate.”
Her wolf claws instinctively curled in her palm, as if still feeling the chill of near death.
She survived in the end, but a high fever caused her to forget many things.
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She vaguely remembered being thrown off a vehicle because of her illness.
Light jasmine sank like waterlogged silk, carrying the dull ache of abandonment.
She thought she had been abandoned by her family, so she never considered looking for them and naturally couldn’t remember them.
Her pheromones were wrapped in a thick cocoon, shielding the scars she dared not touch.
Now , she recalled being kidnapped while playing in the alley that day.
Her wolf ears perked up sharply, her pupils dilating slightly with the sudden images.
She was thrown into a car after being kidnapped, along with another child.
She didn’t remember the child’s name, only that she was slapped twice as soon as she got in the car – it hurt so much. She couldn’t recall what happened after that.
The pain from the slaps still lingered on her cheeks, her pheromones shrinking into a sharp ball.
But some memories before the kidnapping, faint and vague, were beginning to surface.
A hint of light gradually emerged in her light jasmine, like a sealed treasure finally seeing a ray of light. The shadow of her wolf tail swept gently under her skirt, carrying a dazed anticipation.