The Pampering CEO: Don't Mess With My Secretly-Married Sweet Wife
Chapter 190 Strange Land

It was a drawing of late autumn with red maple leaves blowing in the wind.

Two young children were playing under the tree.

The children were drawn as two silhouettes viewed from the back. Their faces could not be seen but she could roughly predict that it was a boy and a girl.

If the drawing was shown to another person, perhaps the person would not replace anything strange with it.

However, a mighty torrent surged in Susan Shelby's heart involuntarily.

There were two stone stools by the side of the tree and also a lake that could be seen indistinctly in the distance.

The scene was simply too familiar for her.

This was the secret base between her and Little Leaf, right?

Susan could not refrain herself from taking a glance at the man. "What gave you the inspiration to draw this? Have you been to the place in the drawing?"

The man smiled. "I did. I lived there for a while when I was a child."

He looked at the drawing with a gentle gaze. "The little boy in the drawing and the little girl is precisely my friend during childhood. What a waste that twenty years have passed and I can't even remember her facial features anymore so I can only draw the outlines vaguely."

Susan could feel that her heart was trembling even." Your friend during childhood?"

"Yes," the man nodded. "She is a very important friend to me. Back in those years, we agreed to reunite at the location in the drawing twenty years later. What a waste..."

The man heaved a sigh.

"What a waste what?" Susan could not refrain herself from asking.

The man forced a laugh. "My family was wealthy when I was a child. We lived in a villa, drove around in luxury cars, and we had a bunch of servants with us at all times. Yet, my family declined... and now, I'm just a nomadic artist. If we meet again and she sees me in my unkempt condition, I wonder how disappointed Little Flower will be. It's better for us not to meet rather than that."

So it turned out that this was the case.

Susan could not help being entranced.

Little Leaf did not forget his promise, but he did not have the courage to come meet her.

Why was he such a fool?

Susan turned her head to look at the man and attempted to search for her past memories in his appearance with great effort.

However, just like how the man did not remember how she looked, she was incapable of replaceing his shadow in her mind either after twenty years.

Yet, the scene in the drawing and the monikers that only they would know could not be wrong.

"How would you know that Little Flower will surely mind about these things?" Susan could not refrain herself from saying that.

"I can't handle it." The man forced a laugh. "Rather than letting her see me now, I might as well let her memories of me stay in our childhood in eternity."

As he was speaking, the man gazed at the drawing board attentively with a gentle gaze.

Susan looked at him and her heart softened slowly as well.

She was under the assumption that she would never see Little Leaf again anymore.

Yet, she did not expect that heaven would let her encounter a coincidence like this.

In a strange city and a newly-moved in neighbor, who would have thought that this would happen?

He was her best friend during her childhood.

After a long time, the man removed himself from the train of thoughts triggered by the drawing. He could not help apologize, "I'm sorry for dragging you along into a strange conversation. You must be bored huh."

"No, thank you for reaching out to me." Susan stuck out her tongue then extended a hand. "Little Leaf, I'm Susan Shelby, also known as Little Flower. It's been ages."

The man was stunned at once.

He looked at Susan incredulously. "You... You..."

"It's me." Susan nodded smilingly. "The ugly doll that you gave me when we were young, I still kept it until today."

The man was stunned for a moment, then he began packing up swiftly in preparation to leave.

"What's going on?" Susan tugged at him in slight confusion.

The man did not turn around but he only spoke with a slightly deep voice, "I'm sorry, the way I look now...is really..."

Susan suddenly realized the situation so she could not help cracking into a faint smile. "We are friends. Regardless of our statuses and identities, it won't change our friendship. Little Leaf, I'm going to get angry if you run away again."

"Uh..." The man hesitated for a moment, then he turned around and looked at Susan helplessly. "It seems that I can't run anymore. Little Flower, it's been ages since we last met."

"Pleasure to meet you again." Susan could not help smiling.

The incident between Julian Shaw and Isabelle

Shelby broke her heart. She left to ease her mind and yet she encountered her childhood best friend as a result. Was this considered heaven's compensation to her?

Susan was too lazy to go back to her home to prepare dinner anyway. She placed her stuff aside and went out for dinner with the man.

It was a simple street food stall. Both of them chatted about past events while they ate with a joyous smile on their faces.

"Hey, I told you earlier that I'm Susan Shelby. What's your name then?" asked Susan with her head tilted to the side. "Wayne Lewis," said the man.

"Wayne." Susan repeated again then she said smilingly, "So, let's use juice in place of wine to celebrate our reunion. Cheers."

The glasses clinked. Their smiling faces were reflected on the surface of the glasses.

That night, Susan and Wayne chatted for a long time a t the street food stall and had only returned to their homes late.

They returned to their own homes but they were neighbors actually.

Wayne invited her to head to outside for a portrait sketching tomorrow and Susan agreed.

Susan was in a rather good mood when she returned to her room.

Little Leaf was slightly different than her imagination. However, it had been twenty years since then. It was normal for him to change. Most importantly, they were reunited once again.

Susan sipped on a cup of plain tea and calmed her emotions before she turned on her laptop and began drawing her design sketch.

She was still the head designer for the resort project. The different parts of the project were already assigned to different individuals earlier. She should be able to complete the tasks assigned to her after one more month.

After she got into the car, she sent an email to apply for leave from the company. She explained that she would send the completed sketch to the company when she completed her part.

Susan worked for a few hours before she stretched her body and tidied up the place. She was planning to send the design sketch to Mr. Reed every day so Mr. Reed could guide her to make amendments. However, due to the unique situation currently, she had already informed her teacher in advance that she would not be sending her design sketch for the time

being.

Susan washed up and got into the bed after she was done bustling about.

Susan could not fall asleep in the bed that felt unfamiliar to her. She stood up and walked to the window so she could look out to the starry sky outside. Today...was the rare occasion that reunited her with Little Leaf.

She thought that she would be very happy about that.

It was true that she was in a rather good mood when they were at the street food stall earlier.

Yet, the scene of Julian hugging Isabelle began to emerge in Susan's mind when she was alone again..

She could not help forcing a smile as she looked at the speckles of stars that adorned the sky.

'I still can't forget and I still can't let it go.'

'Julian, I'd rather you just be with Isabelle fully. This way, perhaps I will give up hope sooner.'

Susan stood by the window alone for a very, very long time. The moonlight was as gentle as a slow-flowing river that cast a shadow that covered the ground.

It was empty and lonely.