Chapter 126: They Are Not Alike
“These fingers are incompetent after being injured. I can’t do anything with them other than accelerating the rhythm. I hope you don’t mind if I play another way.” He exchanged his left and right hands and played the episode with a much faster rhythm. This time, he played very smoothly and beautifully. The crowd was first shocked, but then they applauded Vince loudly. Lady Johnson clapped for a long time, her face covered with a smile.
“How did he get his fingers injured?” Arianna asked.
“Because of that accident. Didn’t you notice that he uses his left hand to write?”
Arianna’s heartbeat ramped up. She asked, “A car accident? When did it happen?”
“His car crashed into the cliff, and he disappeared. Later Rebecca found him in a small hospital. When he was in a coma, I had sworn that I wouldn’t investigate this accident if he could wake up.” Lady Johnson said, “Hey girl, Vince must be very happy if he knows that you care about him so much, right?”
Arianna was silent. In fact, these days, she tried to dig up the truth about Vince’s accident from many people, but those people either didn’t know anything or kept their mouths shut, and she got nothing.
Lady Johnson said, “I know what you want to know. Yeah. His accident location and time were very close to the other child that you know. I learned this a long time later. Perhaps the fate of the twins is really similar?”
When Arianna left the old lady, her footsteps were a bit unstable. She was scared because what she regarded as unrealistic wild guesses became clearer. The fascinating, unfavorable, and uncertain expectation hidden in her heart was much more terrifying than simply desperate toward life.
In the afternoon, Arianna went back to York’s house to sleep. Then she dreamed again. In her dream, Vince lined up a row of gleaming stones like a magician, patiently explaining the names of the stones to her, “This is green crystal, this is diamond, this is the Czech meteorite, and that piece is the tourmaline.”
His fingers were slender, beautiful, just like a pianist’s fingers. He reached out his fist and asked, “Guess what’s in my palm?” Then he opened his palm, and it was her lucky buckle lying in his palm.
Arianna said, “This is mine. Why do you have it?” She reached out to take it back. The man said, “This one is mine.” The jade lucky buckle disappeared in his palm. Arianna looked up in surprise, and she saw him become transparent and then disappear.
Arianna woke up in cold sweat. She knew at first that she dreamed of Vince, but then she mistook him for Travis.
****
In the evening, Arianna was woken up by Claire. Claire said that there was a barbecue at the lakeside and that she could stay at the lake for one night. Claire looked forward to seeing Arianna there with her because York wouldn’t allow her to spend the night outside alone.
Claire didn’t expect Arianna to agree so quickly. Arianna looked so tired and weak, but she just nodded after she asked about the participants of the activity.
The barbecue dinner was held on open ground by the lake. Under the sunset, the lake in the dust reflected the crimson clouds and distant mountains, and the heat of the day was gradually dissipated.
Twenty more people joined the barbecue. They were very young. Besides Vince, his two cousins, and Rebecca, there were many faces strange to Arianna, but Claire could call their names one by one. The ingredients were prepared in advance. Young ladies and gentlemen from wealthy families gathered in a circle, talking. Servants walked around them to provide services.
Vince was undoubtedly the core of this group of people. Everyone was polite and respectful to him, even if Vince was suffering from memory loss and not ideal body condition. Even Vince’s two playboy-looking cousins became respectful and disciplined in front of him. They talked about astronomy, geography, history, and politics and rarely mentioned the past.
Arianna paid attention to the expressions of those people. Everyone looked at Vince normally, as if he used to be like this. But he looked clearly like Travis in Arianna’s eyes. He was indifferent, brief, and only spoke more when the topic aroused his interest. When he was staring at something, he was actually distracted. When he looked down casually, he might be listening carefully to others. Arianna was scared herself that she suddenly realized she knew Travis so well.
A woman named Maggie was talking about her travels to County C last month. She even tried to learn some local dialects.
Vince repeated Maggie’s words in his own tone of Country C’s dialect.
Someone laughed out loud while Arianna’s heartbeat ramped up.
Maggie asked Arianna, “Miss Jenkins is from Country C. Do you think Vince’s dialect sounds legit?”
Arianna said, “Has Vince been to Country C?”
“He hasn’t been there!” Rebecca interrupted.
Someone else said, “He is more talented than the average person in language. When he was bored, he even learned both Braille and Dumb.”
Vince’s younger cousin said, “My proposal to set up a factory in Country C was opposed by the second uncle. You will stand on my side, right?”
“The second uncle was right. There are some problems with your plan. You can’t use your experience here to build a factory in Country C.”
“I went there to negotiate. They are willing to give us the most superior conditions because they urgently need funds and technology. Their city is one blooming with prospects and favorable policies from the government. I don’t want to miss this opportunity.”
“Less developed countries had less developed rules and old-fashioned forces. The time and depth of your investigations are not enough. My advice is to not act casually until you understand their rules.”
“Why, it’s like you have set up a company there.” The younger cousin of Vince turned to ask Arianna, “Miss Jenkins, is the economic environment in Country C really so bad?”Nôvel/Dr(a)ma.Org - Content owner.
Arianna couldn’t say anything to Vince’s younger cousin, whose name was Victor, but looked at Vince instead. Vince looked at her calmly and then said to Victor, “Stop. The lady is not interested in that kind of thing.”
The new face, like Arianna, took their attention. They raised many personal questions about her, and Arianna was busy answering. Then the crowd sighed, “Claire does look like Arianna.” Another one said, “I think Arianna looked exactly like Claire when she was in her teens.”
Vince, who had been quiet during the previous discussion of Arianna’s biography, suddenly said, “They are not alike.”