Out of Control: Into Your Everything-Chapter 122: Reluctance

Amidst the bustling airport crowd, Julian Ford, naturally standing out, and Scarlett Shaw, graceful and striking with her delicate beauty, inevitably attracted some amazed glances as handsome meets beautiful.

Scarlett Shaw, a bit thin-skinned, nudged him and shifted the topic, "You’re heading abroad this time, why are you going alone without taking Aaron Carson?"

"I’ll be back soon, bringing him won’t make a difference, plus he seldom gets days off this year so he’s enjoying them."

As Julian Ford finished speaking, he paused for a bit, then suddenly pinched Scarlett Shaw’s cheek.

Scarlett Shaw was stunned: "?"

Julian Ford: "You seem pretty interested in Aaron Carson."

"..."

To clear relations and prove her innocence, Scarlett Shaw disregarded Aaron Carson and said:

"I overheard him before the break saying he felt bored resting and wanted to work overtime, becoming the office king, contributing to the company. And yet, now that he has the chance, he doesn’t show up."

Meanwhile at home, Aaron Carson, being scolded by his mother over a "breakup", was unaware that during this Spring Festival, he was being branded as both deceitful and a traitor to his workplace.

But right now, Julian Ford didn’t pay much attention to Scarlett Shaw’s words.

He simply looked at her and stated calmly, "Leaving."

Scarlett Shaw met his dark eyes and nodded.

However, the moment Julian Ford turned away from her, ready to leave, her eyes warmed slightly, and she instinctively reached out, clutching his coat.

Julian Ford paused in his step, turned to face her almond eyes.

Scarlett Shaw found it incredible herself; even though she really liked Julian Ford at the moment, it’s not the first time they’ve parted ways, yet she felt this new, deep-seated unwillingness.

"When will you be back?"

She asked softly.

Noticing the hint of red at the corner of her eye, Julian Ford brushed it gently, raising an eyebrow and murmured, "Can’t bear to part with me?"

Scarlett Shaw earnestly nodded.

Strictly speaking, they were only on their fourth day of dating, but the tremors in her heart seemed to grow exponentially as time passed, skyrocketing.

Utterly out of control.

Julian Ford gently squeezed her neck, "If you don’t want to see me leave, turn around first. I’ll wait for you to go through and then proceed to security."

Scarlett Shaw’s watery eyes rippled as she gazed at him for a while.

Compared to her evident emotional response, Julian Ford appeared much calmer.

Indeed, to him, it wasn’t something to cause an emotional stir.

Scarlett Shaw pursed her lips and obediently replied, "Okay."

Though aware their moods didn’t fully align, driven by her own emotional needs, before turning to leave, Scarlett Shaw couldn’t help but hold his coat, tiptoeing to sprinkle a kiss on his chin.

All the way into the elevator, Scarlett Shaw did not look back.

Julian Ford’s gaze followed Scarlett Shaw’s retreating figure, calm yet unwavering.

Just as Scarlett Shaw had imagined.

For Julian Ford, airport farewells are mundane and ordinary, stirring nothing inside.

It’s not that he doesn’t care about Scarlett Shaw.

Dispassionately, Julian Ford was indifferent towards life and death from an early age, even to the point of—

Disregard.

In his relationship with Scarlett Shaw, he liked her and wanted to be good to her.

But it stopped there.

Feelings like liking someone, for Julian Ford, never reached deep levels—and if the liking fades, he’d withdraw without thinking of how Scarlett Shaw would feel at that time.

Nor would he consider the possibility of liking turning into love.

Whether it’s his or Scarlett Shaw’s.

Neither.

After all, how could someone who has never experienced love believe they’d be loved?

Let alone learn how to love someone else.

Only when Scarlett Shaw’s figure faded from view, Julian Ford’s cold and deep gaze, devoid of any longing, unnoticeably crinkled due to the faint stabbing pain in his left chest.

...

Leaving the airport, Scarlett Shaw called a taxi to leave.

Not long after the taxi departed from the airport, Scarlett Shaw’s eyelids slightly lifted, her gaze peered out the window, seeing planes flying low, carving pristine white lines into the azure sky.

Wondering if it’s Julian Ford’s plane.

With that thought fleeting by, Scarlett Shaw realized belatedly how around Julian Ford’s departure, her heart remained quietly laden, unspurred by melancholy.

It’s primarily due to imagination looming.

A separation so ordinary led her to ponder what the future holds when they truly part ways.

Previously, she heard that the most tormenting aspect of love is the feelings of gain or loss.

Scarlett Shaw had never felt this way about Ryan Ford.

Unexpectedly, the delayed effect settled in at Julian Ford.

When Aaron Carson’s call came, Scarlett Shaw still wasn’t fully attentive.

"Are you listening?"

Aaron Carson spoke for a while, seeing Scarlett Shaw silent as a mouse, wondered aloud, checking the screen if the call had dropped.

Scarlett Shaw snapped back, quickly said, "I’m here."

"On such a festive day, your voice sounds absent-minded. Surely you didn’t make some mistake and get humiliated at President Ford’s office again?"

Knowing Scarlett Shaw’s usual optimism, only Julian Ford could affect her mood now.

Of course, asking this carried little scheming.

After all, his festive season was rather miserable; finding someone worse-off could restore balance.

Besides, with the repercussions he faced, Scarlett Shaw was the "culprit", she couldn’t ease her through too easily.

Scarlett Shaw’s thoughts hadn’t fully shifted from Julian Ford, unusually not joking with Aaron Carson but asking, "What do you need me for?"

Aaron Carson paused, quickly said, "The woman you asked me to investigate last time, suspected to be your mother Serena Ford, there’s news."

With those words, it caught Scarlett Shaw’s full attention.

"Though that woman isn’t named Serena Ford."

Aaron Carson continued.

"Her name is Anna Ford, residing in Bryland for ten years, married with a child, her husband is Asian-American, and she has a happily six-year-old daughter."

"Anna Ford? Happily married?"

Scarlett Shaw’s mind went blank for several seconds, muttering these incredible keywords repeatedly.

In her years of solitude, working tirelessly, repaying debts while apart, her mother, changed her name abroad to live happily and have another child?

With Benjamin Shaw’s consistent love and protection, Scarlett Shaw was blissfully unaware, even as Serena Ford disappeared for years, she harbored a small hope that her mother had reasons for hiding.

For the first time.

This was her life’s first moment experiencing hatred toward someone.

And that someone was her mother.