Chapter 1015 Elusive Memory
Jin Liwei's protective instinct was triggered by his wife's vulnerability about her two identities in her past and current lives. He didn't expect that his desire to see a photo of how she looked like in the past as Evelina would distress her like this. He felt sorry for upsetting her but he nevertheless didn't regret this outcome.
At least he was able to discover this serious underlying issue before it continued festering in his wife's heart. Now they could start working together to address it before it was too late.
For now, however, he decided not to say anything about his idea of letting her confront her past life without trying to evade it. He instead reminded himself to discuss it with her on another day when she was calmer. It was not a good idea to agitate or stress her out during this period.
Iris tugged his hand. "Are you still mad at me?"
He gave her a soft smile. "No."
"Sorry."
"I know, love. Don't worry about it anymore." He glanced at the scattered photos on the table. "Can I keep these?"
She didn't reply right away and thought about it for a few moments. "Okay. I printed them for you anyway. But don't show them to others, especially the photo of me with my brother. Not many people outside the Vetrovs might know about my existence but Big Brother Nikolai was—is still perhaps the most well-known Vetrov today because of his powerful charisma."
"En."
Even without her reminder, Jin Liwei had no intention of showing these photos to other people. He was planning on framing the first solo photo of his wife and keeping it in his office's desk drawer so that he could take it out and look at it at work. He would instruct Xu Tian first thing in the morning to have a special lock installed on one of his desk drawers.
The second photo of his wife's side profile while playing the piano would also get the same treatment. He planned on keeping it in his bedside drawer.
The third photo of his wife as a teenage girl custom-building a small laptop would also be framed and kept in his home office.
He would tell the butler to install special locks on the drawers of his bedside table and home office desk. Just imagining that he would be able to constantly look at his wife's beautiful photos of her past self on a regular basis was enough to make him happy. It might become his new method of relaxing his tired mind.
However, he still took note not to appear too passionate while looking at the photos or his wife might think that her worries were coming true after all. Inwardly sighing, he kissed the top of her head, trying to convey with his actions that he loved her no matter which face or body she was using.
As for the other two photos, he would just lock them in their hidden personal safe. He wasn't interested in looking at photos of other men daily.
He tidied up the photos and sent his wife to bed while he took a quick shower. While water rained down on him, rinsing the soapy bubbles from his body (Orchidia Beauty body wash from Jin Chonglin's men's line, soon to be released), his mind was filled with Evelina's otherworldly beauty.
The mind was a powerful thing. He was just imagining it but the image of his wife seemed to come alive. Although he never met her in her past life, he could see her talking, smiling, laughing, singing, and hacking in his mind. It was very easy for him to imagine. All he needed to do was superimpose Evelina's appearance that he saw in the photos to her current self.
For him, the two identities were one and the same. He hoped that his wife could resolve the issue of her identity crisis in a similar way. He believed that there was no need to create such a distinct separation between her two identities because she was ultimately still herself deep inside no matter which body or name she was using.
He stepped out of the shower and started drying himself with a towel. Then once again a faint memory of something flickered in the depths of his mind. But like what happened before, it seemed to escape him. He couldn't figure it out.
What was it?
His mind was still preoccupied with this elusive thought when he returned to the bedroom.
"Darling."
"Hm?" He snapped his attention back to the present and approached the bed with only a towel wrapped around his waist. "Why are you still awake?"
Iris sat on the edge of the bed and wrapped her arms around his neck. "I can't sleep," she whispered directly to his ear before brushing her lips along his jaw line.
Something started to harden under his towel. He leaned down and kissed his wife's lips, slowly pushing her down on the bed with his body. They kissed and fondled each other with no rush. However, the slippery memory popped in his mind again, causing him to stop his actions.
She sensed his distracted state and pushed him away with a displeased frown. "What's wrong?"
He straightened his body and sat beside her on the bed. Iris immediately felt empty without him on top of her. Her frown deepened as she watched him. It was clear that his mind was absorbed thinking of something.
"Liwei, are you alright?"
"I'm fine, baby. I just…there's something that keeps on bothering me but I'm not sure what it is."
He told her about the elusive memory. Curious, she momentarily forgot her urge to make love with him tonight and began asking him for more details about the memory. To her disappointment, however, he couldn't remember much.
"Hmm." She tilted her head to the side. "Are you sure that it actually happened to you?"
"I don't know." He sighed before shrugging. "It's a waste of time thinking about it. Wait here, love. I'll just dry my hair and we'll sleep, okay?"
"I'll help you dry."
He let her. They headed to their walk-in closet. He helped her dry her hair earlier and now she was returning the favour. Blow drying his wet hair didn't take as long as hers. However, he enjoyed these short moments of her pampering him.
While she busied herself with drying his hair, she began humming a song. It sounded familiar. He remembered that it was the same song that she sang to him as lullaby while he grieved after discovering for the first time that his Fifth Brother Zihao was dead and the one occupying his sworn brother's body was actually his brother-in-law.
His wife's melodious voice was soft yet still clear enough to be heard above the whirring blow dryer. It just went on to show the high quality of her voice and her top-notch vocal skills.
The Italian aria was supposed to be emotional, yet she transformed it into a comforting song instead. It was like a delicate but still powerful salve to one's troubled soul. Jin Liwei's distracted mind began to clear as he savoured his wife's beautiful singing voice.
Then it was as if lightning struck him. He gasped as the slippery memory finally revealed itself in his mind.
"Liwei?" Iris turned off the blow dryer and looked at him in concern. "What happened? Why do you look shocked?"
He didn't answer because several quick images flashed inside his racing mind. He stood up all of a sudden and carried his alarmed wife before running back to the bedroom.
"Liwei! What are you doing?! Calm down!"
He placed her on the chaise longue, and then grabbed the envelope on the table. He removed the photos inside and stared at Evelina's beautiful solo shot.
"Why are you looking at them again?"
He faced her. "I remember."
"What do you remember?"
"Evelina."
"Yes? Liwei, you're acting so weird right now."
He took a few deep breaths to calm himself before sitting down beside her. The photo was still in his hand but his eyes were focused on her face, intending to closely observe her reaction.
"Have you ever been to my university in Boston before?"
She blinked a few times at the unexpected subject of his question. "No."
He frowned. "Are you sure?"
"I haven't gone to America yet ever since waking up in this body and starting to live as Long Xiulan."
"No, that's not what I mean. I'm asking if you ever visited my university as Evelina."
"Oh." She tilted her head to the side and thought about it. Then her eyebrows rose. "Yes. As a matter of fact, I did visit your university before."
His eyes lit up. "Really? Do you remember when?"
"Hmm, yes. My brother helped me sneak out of our Russian estate and then we flew straight to America. Big Brother had some important business to attend in Boston so he left me to explore the place with his subordinates. Your university is famous so I went there to see what it's like and how it compares to Cross Academy. Why are you asking me this?"
She looked at him in confusion, not understanding at all why he was asking her this question with such a weird expression on his face. Did her outburst from earlier angered him too much that he went cuckoo in the head?
No, that shouldn't be the case. Her husband wasn't the fragile type. He wouldn't break so easily like that. Then why was he acting so oddly like this right now?
His heart jumped and started racing with excitement.
"Evelina, I think we've met before."