True Love Waits

Sheffield was stunned for a moment, and stared at Evelyn with a complicated look in his eyes. He now understood why she was suffering from depression. "What happened to your fourth boyfriend?" "We broke up, just before I came here. The phone calls earlier were from him." Calvert Ji, Evelyn's fourth boyfriend, was pressured by his family to break up with her.

"Why did you break up?" Sheffield dug. 'Was that guy afraid that he'd get killed?' he thought.

Evelyn took a deep breath before continuing in a self-mocking tone, "He's the only son in his family. So naturally, they are afraid that I'll bring bad luck to him too and kill him someday. I'm a jinx in their eyes. Of course, that's not the only reason. You already know by now that I'm kind of weird, cold and unapproachable. We had a lot of problems getting along."

She was hoping to frighten Sheffield away by telling him about her horrible past. Who in their right mind would want a girlfriend that would bring bad luck to them?

"I see." After silently cursing her ex-boyfriends in his mind, he told her with a relaxed smile, "That's not a big deal. I don't believe in jinxes. And you know what? My dad has been married thrice. And I have a bucket full of half-brothers. Besides, my dad doesn't like me very much. He would be glad if I got killed. So, Evelina, I'm not afraid to be with you."

He flashed a mischievous smile and spread his arms again, waiting for her to throw herself onto him.

Evelyn sighed inwardly.

A part of her wished he was being serious.

"Stop kidding around." After dropping those words, she avoided his stretched arms and continued to walk on. The scenery became more breathtaking as they walked along the banks of the brook running through the woods. But Evelyn was immersed in her own sorrows.

Although Carlos had tried his best to block any news about the mysterious deaths of her ex-boyfriends, still, the shocking information reached many prying ears. Evelyn knew how they talked about her behind her back. She was considered a jinx who brought deaths to her boyfriends. On the surface, she didn't care about what people said, but deep down, she was devastated.

Now that Sheffield knew her story, he could fully understand why she had turned down his love.

On one hand, they had only met yesterday. It was perfectly normal that she didn't believe him. On the other hand, she had just broken up with her boyfriend, and the deaths of her three ex-boyfriends had cast a dark shadow in her heart.

Everything about her reaction made sense now.

Sheffield trotted towards her and grabbed her hand. "Just ten days, please? Let's try to get along for ten days."

Evelyn silently looked at their intertwined hands. She wanted to say yes.

of elephants made its way through the jungle some distance away from them. Evelyn stopped and watched them, a blank look in

he never stopped pestering her and even kissed her without her consent. But, she didn't hate him for

say yes, the thought of bringing bad luck to him stopped her from accepting his

you really are a jinx, it's impossible that

She remained silent.

hands. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't press you.

to say, but

rare to find a

"Mm hmm."

Valley was filled with mysteries. Sheffield led her through the jungle, climbed up a hill and found a spot with the best view. They looked down at the brook. Seven huge elephants were

so lucky. This trip has been worthwhile. Many tourists leave this

online before coming here. Most of the tourists wrote comments saying that they didn't find any elephants. She didn't expect to be lucky enough to see

was pointing at, and

the peacocks were a few macaque monkeys climbing and jumping on the trees happily. When she looked a bit further, she found

safe for humans to be so close to these animals. Evelyn asked, "Even Tayson wouldn't dare bring me here by himself. Why are you so confident that I'll be safe with you? If you

something from his pocket. "Because I have this. I can

scalpel. When he unsheathed it, the sharp

of the nephrology department? Do you

deputy director is only in name. Most

to ask, "Then why do you have a titular position in the

on my way to that position. It's

You got a promotion before being officially transferred to the nephrology

me to quit my job, so he gave me a promotion first," Sheffield said in a sarcastic tone. There was more to the

saying the whole story, but she didn't probe into it.

few blissful hours at the Elephant Valley, they began to

your plans for tomorrow?"