Mr. Warner, Your Wife is Running Away Again!-Chapter 728: The Way Vanessa Sterling Looked When She Was Still Alive
The film being shown was a suspense crime genre with a touch of humor and comedy.
Lana Holloway herself really enjoyed this kind of movie, watching intently, occasionally laughing along with the film’s plot, and sometimes softly discussing with Justin Jewell about who the final culprit was.
Justin Jewell was always quite the gentleman, never using the darkness as an excuse to grope Lana Holloway; there was no physical contact at all.
Moreover, he was always gentle and patient in conversation, speaking with elegance yet without creating a sense of distance.
This made Lana Holloway increasingly relaxed within the movie’s plot, less tense than before.
In contrast, Norman Sutton never seemed to focus on the film, hearing the uproarious laughter of others in the theater without knowing what they were laughing at, simply stealing glances at Lana Holloway seated beside him.
The flickering screen light cast dimly across her face, and watching her smile, Norman Sutton felt as if something were blooming in his heart, an indescribable feeling.
But before he could savor this feeling, he saw Lana Holloway turn her head and say something to Justin Jewell.
Seeing them whispering like that, Norman Sutton suddenly felt as if something were blocking his heart, shoving a handful of popcorn into his mouth in a fit of angry frustration, and then purposely putting his elbow over toward Lana Holloway’s side, almost touching her arm.
Lana Holloway turned her head and glared at him, not saying a word, just silently shifting away from Norman Sutton’s hand, and then continued to look up at the screen.
Norman Sutton continuously made small disturbances, either turning on his phone’s little flashlight, bending over pretending to search for something by Lana Holloway’s feet, or using his nearly empty soda cup to loudly slurp through the straw.
Lana Holloway ignored him the entire time, enduring this "ill-mannered" person to finish the movie, leaving the theater right after the end credits without even watching the post-credits scene, pulling Justin Jewell out with her.
Justin Jewell drove Lana Holloway home, with Norman Sutton’s car following behind, and he watched from the car as the two exchanged a few words downstairs, then Lana Holloway waved goodbye to Justin Jewell and quickly headed for the elevator.
Because she had already noticed Norman Sutton outside, fearing he would follow her up, she hurriedly got into the elevator, feeling relieved as the elevator doors closed and the numbers began to rise.
She originally thought Norman Sutton would probably come knocking soon, and she was prepared not to open the door for him.
But after waiting for quite a while, she heard no noise from outside. Feeling somewhat puzzled, she sneaked to the balcony to peek and saw that he had apparently left; the spot where he had parked was already empty.
Lana Holloway let out a deep breath, unsure of what exactly Norman Sutton wanted to do, always displaying such strange behavior.
Could it be that because she had damaged his beloved computer back then, he’s still holding a grudge?
He just didn’t want her little life to be comfortable?
But she had worked jobs to repay the money for breaking his computer, he had no reason to still be upset about that, right?
It’s really hard to understand what goes on in the mind of such a young master.
...
Nine o’clock at night.
The neon lights on both banks of the river reflected colorful fragments in the water.
Miles Sterling stood by the floor-to-ceiling window, watching the bustling traffic and nightlife on the bridge.
The cigarette clutched between his fingers quietly burned away. When he raised his hand to bring the cigarette to his mouth, he realized it had already burned out.
He lowered his dark eyes, turned around, went back into the room, and tossed the cigarette butt into the ashtray on the coffee table.
The ashtray was piled high with cigarette butts and ash, obviously having not been cleaned for a long time.
"Meow!" Blackie circled around his feet, looking up at him with bright eyes.
Miles Sterling looked down and locked eyes with Blackie for a moment, as if reminiscing something through Blackie.
He bent down and scooped Blackie up from the floor.
Back when Vanessa Sterling first moved to the villa, Blackie was still a rather petite cat, but now it had grown into a round-faced fluff weighing nearly ten pounds, yet its clinginess remained unchanged.
Every time he came home, Blackie would appear at the door, then stick close to his feet, purring affectionately.
This was the cat she had raised, so he felt that... perhaps this cat was the only thing here still emotionally connected to her...
Maybe Blackie wanted to know why she hadn’t returned after so long...
Miles Sterling reclined emptily on the sofa. As time passed, it seemed like any traces of Vanessa Sterling’s presence had faded away, leaving the place growing increasingly cold and desolate...
He wanted to forget, yet unconsciously he kept remembering.
He took out his phone, scrolling through those few pictures he knew by heart, his eyes gradually reddening and moistening.
Unable to resist, he opened Cynthia Ramsey’s social media, scrolling through the videos she had posted.
He had asked Cynthia Ramsey to mimic Vanessa Sterling’s appearance.
No heavy makeup, she returned to long black hair, a white dress covering the tattoos on her arms...
Attempting to deceive himself, tricking his mind into believing Vanessa Sterling was still alive.
He saw a video showing Cynthia Ramsey in a wedding dress, a video shot before he knew her, back when Cynthia Ramsey hadn’t yet altered her appearance to resemble Vanessa Sterling.
Normally, Miles Sterling avoided watching old videos or photos of Cynthia Ramsey, as those elements unsuitable to Vanessa Sterling would shatter his illusions.
But this time, he stared at the video thumbnail for several seconds before reaching out to play the video.
It was a montage of Cynthia Ramsey wearing a wedding dress, filming with a male model at the seaside, her makeup delicate and natural to match the white dress.
Wearing the wedding dress, she laughed brightly under the seaside sun...
Maybe this is how Vanessa Sterling would look in a wedding dress...
However, that smile seemed foreign to him.
The photo of Vanessa Sterling smiling on his phone was from her middle school award ceremony.
After he made her drop out, he hadn’t really seen her again.
He took a deep breath, watching that video loop several times, seemingly unable to tire of it.
Amid fleeting thoughts, he suddenly noticed a few seconds in the video’s background, there was a girl painting on an easel...
He immediately dragged the progress bar back and paused the video.
The characters in that section of the background weren’t blurred, clearly highlighting the girl’s presence, though her face was mostly unseen.
But for some reason, an excitement welled up inside him, leaving no time to calmly consider how irrational and reckless this feeling was, as he hurriedly sent a screenshot to Cynthia Ramsey, asking her: Where was this shot?
