Chapter 221

Time flew by in the blink of an eye. Ten years had passed since Shermaine married Joshua at twenty, and this was their tenth Valentine's Day together. Now Shermaine was thirty, and Joshua was forty-one.

At forty-one, Joshua still looked youthful. Apart from the maturity that came with age, the years had only added to his charm, making him even more attractive than he’d been at thirty.

These days, they lived a peaceful, leisurely life together, but Joshua never forgot to make their special occasions feel meaningful.

As soon as the clock struck midnight, he pulled Shermaine close and kissed her slightly damp eyelashes. “Happy Valentine’s Day, Sheary,” he whispered.

At thirty, Shermaine had grown even more stunning than she’d been at twenty. Her natural sensuality and proud confidence deepened into something truly captivating. She lay against him now, her shoulders barely visible in the dim light, completely relaxed in his arms and looking utterly content.

Even at forty-one, Joshua still couldn’t get enough of her. She stretched lazily and murmured back, “Happy Valentine’s Day.”

Joshua nuzzled against her neck and whispered in her ear, “Sheary, I love you.”

When it came to expressing feelings, Shermaine was never good with words. In their ten years together, Joshua had said “I love you” countless times, but she’d never once said those three words back to him.

That didn’t mean she didn’t love him. On the contrary, over the past decade, she’d grown more and more dependent on Joshua. She’d always seek him out whenever she had free time, and when she couldn’t find him, she’d throw little tantrums.

In the end, she’d become the spoiled one in their relationship, taking his love for granted.

“I know,” Shermaine said softly.

“I want to hear you say those same three words.” Joshua knew Shermaine loved him, even though she’d never said it. But he still wanted to hear it.

“You know I can’t say it,” she replied softly.

Joshua would be lying if he said that didn’t hurt. He leaned down and bit her lip gently, then began kissing her with renewed intensity, drinking her deeply.

After a long while, the room finally fell into peaceful silence.

Shermaine pressed her cheek against his chest and drifted off to sleep, where she found herself in the strangest dream.

In her dream, she traveled to the future where she was eighty years old, a white-haired grandmother who had become a legendary figure revered by countless people around the world.

What people didn’t know was that despite her towering achievements, the eighty-year-old her had been spoiled like a child by the man at her side.

But at eighty, she no longer had ninety-one-year-old Joshua by her side.

“Where’s your father?” she would ask her daughter every morning, the first thing she did when she woke up.

“Mom, you forgot again. Dad’s gone,” her daughter, Gracelyn York, replied gently.

“That’s impossible. Your father promised he’d always stay by my side. He would never leave me.” The elegant elderly woman’s voice rose with frustration, her refined demeanor cracking under the weight of confusion.

Gracelyn patiently coaxed Shermaine along.

Ever since Joshua passed away, Shermaine would often forget that he was gone. He had died in the summer of his ninety-first year.

“Mom, you haven’t eaten anything all morning. How about some oatmeal?” Gracelyn asked.

“I want your father to feed me,” Shermaine replied. Whenever she felt unwell or didn’t want to eat in the past, Joshua would always lend a hand.

“Mom, Dad would be upset if he saw you like this.”

Shermaine fell silent.

“How about I play Dad’s recording of ‘Sheary’ for you?” Gracelyn asked.

“Okay,” Shermaine said. Then Gracelyn took out her phone and tapped on the recording of “Sheary” she had saved earlier.

The piano music began to play, and memories of all the years they’d spent together came flooding back like a tide. Shermaine’s eyes reddened as she whispered, “There’s still so much I never got to tell your father.”

Later, at eighty years old, Shermaine had become docile. She no longer demanded to see Joshua, but she would often talk to the empty air beside her, as if Joshua were right there with her.

Even though Gracelyn had inherited Shermaine’s remarkable medical skills, she was helpless when it came to her mother’s delusions.

She still remembered the day Joshua passed away. Shermaine had been so composed–no tears, no hysteria. She’d simply told him to go peacefully. But now, after just a few days, she’d become like this.

Everyone had always thought Joshua loved Shermaine more, but it turned out they were equally devoted to each other. Neither could live without the other.

Watching this scene unfold, thirty-year-old Shermaine felt her heart clench with pain. She knew this was just a dream, but even in a dream, she couldn’t bear to see it.

When she woke up, tears still warm on her cheeks, Shermaine immediately reached for Joshua. But the other side of the bed was empty—no trace of him anywhere.

She threw back the covers and jumped out of bed, not even bothering to put on her slippers as she went searching for him.

Joshua couldn’t sleep, so he thought he’d step out for a quick smoke before heading back to bed. He never expected Shermaine to wake up, but when he turned around, she was looking at him with teary eyes.

“I told you not to smoke, didn’t I? Have you been sneaking cigarettes behind my back?” Shermaine’s eyes grew even redder.

Joshua couldn’t understand why she was reacting so strongly. He hurried over to comfort her. “No, Honey. I just couldn’t sleep and thought a smoke might help me relax.”

“Promise me you won’t smoke anymore. It’s terrible for your health.”

“Okay, I promise.”

Shermaine had never cried in front of him before, but now her eyes were welling up with tears. Joshua pulled her into his arms and asked, “What’s wrong?”

Shermaine wrapped her arms around Joshua’s neck and said, “Before we went to sleep, you asked me something.”

Joshua gently ran his fingers through Shermaine’s hair, and when she brought up his earlier question, his expression grew more serious. “Sheary, do you love me?”

Shermaine whispered in his ear, “I love you.” She had witnessed her eighty-year-old self in that dream, regretting every day after Joshua’s death that she had never told him she loved him.

She would talk to empty air, saying “I love you” over and over, consumed with regret. Thank God it was just a dream, not reality.

Joshua, deeply moved, kissed her lips gently. “I want to hear it again.”

Shermaine vowed, “I love you so much. You have to keep your promise and grow old with me. I won’t let you leave me. You can’t leave me.”

Joshua kissed her, and they kissed their way back to the bed with increased intensity, as if he wanted to merge her into his very bones, to be eternally intertwined through sun and moon, in life and death.

Later, Joshua finally understood the reason behind Shermaine’s strange behavior. He smoothed her hair and thought that if his death would turn her into that broken woman from her dream, then on the day he died, he would take her with him.

“Good night, my love. Happy Valentine’s Day.”