Love Contract
Chapter 135 The First Encounter (Part Two)

He stood at the door of the apartment with the key on his hand, regardless of his discomfort. He had hoped that when he opened the door, Mary would be on the other side waiting for him! "You're back? Where have you been?"

Perhaps, she would be waiting for him on the sofa as usual.

Maybe she was watching TV again.

Maybe she was eating snacks...

Crack!

The door was opened and William took a step inside.

The TV wasn't on, there were no snacks, no Mary...

"Mary!" William shouted hysterically as tears fell down his cheeks.

He took two steps forward and swept his eyes across the empty room. His heart felt colder than the temperature.

"Ring... "The phone rang again, and William picked it up almost instantaneously. "Hello? Mary, is that you?"

"Boss..." Kevin was stunned. He stared at the letter he just received and said, "I just received Mary's resignation..." "Bang!"

The phone slipped down from his ear and fell to the ground with a loud thud.

He rushed to Mary's bedroom.

The bed was neat and the floor was spotless. It seemed that she had just left for work and would come back in the evening. Mary, you had cut off all contact with me.

William staggered to the bed and saw a box on it.

He opened the box with his trembling hands.

A red dress, a photo album, and a wedding ring.

"This ring...Who bought it?"

He remembered that when he gave her the ring, Mary asked expectantly.

"Kevin did. Why do you ask?" he answered.

"Oh. Nothing, it's just...I think it's pretty." Mary lowered her head. A hint of disappointment flashed through her eyes.

It turned out that he had already noticed the disappointment in her eyes, but why did he choose to be so indifferent?

The ring was held tightly in his hand, as if it was going to be embedded in his palm.

Seeing the photo album in the box, William took it out.

It was their wedding photos.

He opened it. Mary looked so majestic in her phoenix coronet and robes of rank. She looked like an empress in a beautiful painting.

In the photo, there was a smile on the corner of his mouth. It was so obvious that he didn't notice it at that time.

He turned over page by page, like looking into the memories in his heart.

He remembered the first time he had met her. It all seemed like it just happened yesterday.

On a night in midsummer three years ago, the top floor of AJ Group.

The top floor had always been a place for William to relax after work. He could go up to have a cigarette, and watch the cityscape at night.

The same thing happened that day. But when he reached the last step, he suddenly found a girl sitting on the bench on the top floor. He could only see the side of her face, and her long hair dancing with the wind.

In the dim light, William looked at his watch. It was already eleven o'clock. Was she not afraid of being all by herself here at this time of the night?

A gust of hot wind blew, and a faint smell of instant noodles suddenly lingered in the air, which made him displeased.

He stared at the girl who was gobbling up the noodles like she was eating something really delicious.

"Is it that delicious?"

He was never one for small talk before, but he initiated the conversation anyway.

Maybe it was because that girl was the first person to go to the top floor except him. Maybe it was because there were only two of them in the company. Or maybe it was because of some unknown reason... "Ah!" The girl was obviously startled. She stood in attention and looked at him like a frightened deer. "You... Who are you?"

"I... I'm also a member of this company." With his hands in his pockets, William slowly walked towards the railing. "You, don't get too close to the railing," said the girl. "This is the thirty-second floor. It's very dangerous."

"Why are you here?" William didn't answer her and asked a question instead.

"I stumbled upon it by accident," the girl said in a somewhat timid voice. "It's too suffocating in the company, so I came out here to eat. Am I bothering you?"

William paused for a second. "No." Somehow, he changed the word "yes" into a "no".

"Okay," the girl nodded. "I'll go downstairs after eating."

"Why are you working so late?" William raised an eyebrow. Why didn't he know that there was such a hardworking employee in the company before?

"I..." The girl wanted to say something but stopped on a second thought. "No reason."

"Mary..."

"How... How do you know my name?" Startled, Mary raised her head and looked at him.

Her eyes were bright and expressive, and it felt like his heart was hit by something.

"Your name tag says that you are the assistant of the Public Relations Department." William spoke in a monotone, trying his best to suppress the rapid beating of his heart.

"Oh," Mary nodded and smiled. "I forgot about that!"

For a moment, neither of them said anything.

In the distance, there were many cars, and lights in the high-rise buildings. On the top floor, the two of them, one was eating noodles, and the other was looking at the ethereal scenery, without interfering with each other.

"I'm done." Mary stood up and said to William, "The office will be closed soon. You have to remember to hurry down or you won't be able to get out!"

Of course, he knew that. But did the girl in front of him have no idea who he was?

"I'll be heading downstairs first," Mary added.

William turned his head to look at her. "Okay," he replied.

Then she walked away without saying anything else.

As he looked at her back, a feeling that he had never had before surged into William's heart. Like a feather gently touching his heart.

When he went downstairs and passed by the Public Relations Department, he saw that Mary was still in the office. There was a dim yellow light on her desk, and she had fallen asleep.

Later, he never saw her on the top floor again, but subconsciously paid attention to her.

She often clocked in at the last second. She always worked late and smiled at everyone she interacted with.

Soon, his father forced him to get married. He forgot how he got the idea of contractual marriage. At that time, someone's image popped up in his mind, and that person was Mary...

He had checked her information. He knew that her father abandoned her and her mother. He knew that she had to sleep in the company for a period of time because she couldn't afford the rent. He knew that she had several part-time jobs at a time...

He suddenly made up his mind to sign a contract with her. He thought that in this way, her life wouldn't be so difficult.

He still remembered that when he proposed this agreement for the first time, she was frozen in shock.

As he looked at her eyes, a little disappointment was written all over his face. How could she not remember him?

Perhaps, the moonlight was so dim that night that she barely saw his face? But he remembered her... her long hair, her bright eyes, and every detail of her face.

Coming out of the memory, William stretched out his hand to touch her face on the photo album, as if he had lost all of his strength.

It turned out that he remembered every detail of their relationship so clearly.

Scenes of what he had ignored resurfaced.

He looked around the apartment. The living room and sofa where she would always watch TV. The kitchen where she was cooking clumsily, and the bedroom where she relaxed every time she felt stressed. She had left her shadow on every inch of this apartment.

But now, she was gone.

Three days had passed. She didn't go to hospital, the apartment, the company, and even her hometown...

'Where on earth have you gone, Mary?'

A tear dropped from the corner of William's eyes and fell on the photo album.

He never realized how important Mary was to him. It wasn't until the moment before boarding the plane that he panicked.

It turned out that Mary had quietly walked into his heart long ago, but he stubbornly kept the contract, unwilling to forget the past, and took responsibility to indulge Frank... When Mary was still by his side, he didn't feel anything, but once he realized that she was no longer by his side, he felt like his arm had been suddenly cut off.

There would be no more of her here, no more of her pleasing, triumphant laughter, no more of the warm eyes that lingered on him. It would never happen again.

"I paid for it. I can do whatever I want!"

How could he say such thoughtless and inconsiderate words!

And when he slapped Mary, he exerted all of his strength. He didn't hold back at all! William stared at his right hand and thought, 'If I cripple my right hand, will Mary forgive me?'

But she couldn't see that anymore. She couldn't see his regret, his chagrin, his tears...

"Mary..." William held the photo album tightly in his arms as if she was holding Mary. "Please show up... I was wrong... Please don't leave me..."

His heart felt like a bottomless and empty void.

William didn't dare to think about the days without Mary for the rest of his life. He almost went crazy when he couldn't replace her in only three days. This kind of pain was a hundred times more painful than when he lost Sansa.

"Ding Dong, Ding Dong... "Just then, the doorbell rang in the lonely apartment.

Candy Q