Such a Rude and Noisy Woman

Rachel had run out of options. She would use every good advice she could get right now. She leaned closer as she listened to her. Was there really a better solution? "I would love to listen to your idea, ma'am," Rachel said to the woman.

The woman giggled. She had gone through a lot of things in life and it showed through the lines on her face. She was no longer obsessed with relationships like Rachel was. Thus she could see things from a very different perspective. "Stop running from him anymore. You're not the only one who is suffering from this. Your husband and your children are also suffering from your absence. They need you. Your family needs you. Why not think about another solution?" Eager to know the answer, Rachel said anxiously, "Don't keep me guessing, ma'am. What's the other solution? Tell me, please! I'm the player in this game and I can't see the most of it as you do. I'm in such a mess. Could you please tell me what you have in mind? Is there a better way to fix this?"

Seeing Rachel anxious, the woman burst into laughter and slowly said, "You silly girl. Of course, there is a better way. There are many ways. But hiding is not one of them. Hiding will only worsen the situation. As I can see, it already has worsened. Things will be better if your husband could understand why you're hiding from him. But if he couldn't, the problems between you and him will only grow bigger and it will be hard to solve.

What I am trying to tell you is that you must let nature take its course. If he finds you again, don't run away and just face him. Try to calm yourself down and talk to him. Tell him your stance. Let him know what you are thinking. And if he really cares about you, he will wait for you until you are ready to go back home instead of forcing you to go with him.

Besides, what if he is smart enough to come up with a better solution? You won't be able to know that if you keep running away from him. Anyway, hiding is the worst way to handle your problems."

Rachel nodded as she listened thoughtfully.

Admittedly, what the woman said made sense. It was just that... now, she had become so afraid to face him.

She no longer had any confidence at all to look him in the eye.

"Thank you, ma'am. That was very helpful. I will think about what you said, since I still have a few stops until I get to mine." Rachel thanked the woman. She was a blessing from heaven.

The woman sitting in front of her, looked at Rachel, smiling. "You know what? You young people are too impetuous. But that's exactly what young people are, ha ha. When you grow to our age, you won't do crazy things like this any more.

No matter what your final decision is, I will understand you, child. I won't judge you for it. I live in L City. If you don't have any place to stay, you can come to mine. My daughter works in another city and she doesn't live with me, so I have a spare room. You're always welcome to visit!" The woman said.

Rachel gave her a smile before she looked outside the window. The trained zoomed past beautiful green fields alongside the tracks.

Back in North Sea City, outside the train station, "President Rong, the train Rachel took is heading for L City. It has eight stops and Rachel's destination is L City. But I'm not sure whether she would get off at any other stops!" Marlon ran to Hiram, with a report of the latest developments of the search.

Marlon hadn't been so tired his whole life. He absolutely wouldn't do such thing if Hiram wasn't going to save the family business.

"Chad, help me check whether we have branches near these stops. If we do, send Rachel's pictures to them and ask them to go to the station to wait and look for her."

Hiram slowly said. He was calm and he got things arranged in an orderly way. He got into the car quickly. "Carl, let's go to L City!"

Hiram was pretty confident that he would find Rachel this time!

Hiram would remain restless as long as he thought of himself sleeping alone and Rachel was out there wandering alone, where danger lurked at every corner.

No matter what happened, Hiram was determined to find Rachel this time.

On the train, the train began its final slowdown. It would be arriving in L City in a few minutes.

Rachel was still in a mess, still unsure about what she should do next. When the train passed the curve entering the city, she staggered to her feet, swaying a little. Then out of nowhere, an apple rolled to her feet. Rachel bent down and picked up the apple. She then saw a little girl waddling to her. She stretched out her hands and wanted to take the apple from Rachel.

"Auntie, my apple." With a black bob hairstyle, the little girl lifted her head and smiled at Rachel.

Rachel wiped the apple with her clothes before she gave it to the little girl. "Here you go. Hold it tightly and don't drop it again, okay?"

The little girl nodded, careful not to drop the apple again. She held it tightly with her chubby little hands as she walked away and went back to her mother. Rachel was afraid that the little girl might trip and fall so she watched the little girl until she got back to her seat.

When Rachel saw the little girl's mother, she was surprised.

The little girl's mother seemed to notice her too. But she just grabbed her daughter's hand and looked somewhere else, pretending to not have seen Rachel. It was a surprise to Rachel that Shirley had a daughter.

How time flies! It still felt like everything happened just yesterday, just like when Rachel was pregnant and Shirley did all those things.

"Mommy, I want to eat my apple!"

The little girl walked to her mom, holding the apple. She hadn't grown enough teeth to bite off the skin of the apple, so she asked for her mother's help.

"If you can't bite off the skin, then don't eat. Stop bothering me, okay?" Shirley was impatient on her own daughter. She tidied up her clothes irritably and looked around.

"But I want to eat this apple, mommy." The little girl pouted, begging her mother.

"Jesus! You're so annoying. Stop bothering me, okay?!" Shirley pushed her daughter away and knocked down her apple.

The little girl burst into tears. She was too young to realize that what she was doing was annoying to the other passengers on the train. Crying loudly, she bent down to look for the apple, not knowing where it fell to.

The passengers felt sorry for the little girl, shaking their heads at Shirley who was being mean to her child. The little girl was cute, but her mother was so impatient and cruel. What a pity!

The woman, who was sitting right across Rachel, was so angry that she kept leaning to look in Shirley's direction. "Adults shouldn't take their frustrations on their children. Children are innocent and sensitive. They are easily threatened and cry immediately. We shouldn't yell at them like that."

Rachel sighed as she took a clean apple from her handbag. She stood up and walked towards the little girl who was crawling on the ground to find her apple.

"Come here, baby. I have an apple here. Come and eat this one." Rachel said gently as she smiled at the little girl.

The little girl stood up from the train floor. With tears in her eyes, she looked at her mother, seeming to ask for her approval.

Shirley stood up, grabbed her daughter's hand and pull her into her arms, ignoring Rachel's kindness.

However, the little girl stretched out her hand, wanting to take Rachel's apple. Her eyes were staring at the apple, eagerly wanting to eat it.

Rachel was afraid that the little girl might not be able to bite the apple. So she went to the restaurant on the train to ask the train stewardess to help her slice the apple since she wasn't allowed to bring a knife on board. Afterwards, she walked towards the little girl and gave her a slice.

However, Shirley threw away the slice the second she saw it in the little girl's hand. "Nadia, what's wrong with you? Remember what I told you? You can't take food from strangers, okay?"

Seeing her apple being thrown away again, the little girl started crying again. And yet she was still hugging Shirley, with her hands around Shirley's neck.

"You're being too mean, Shirley. What she wanted was just an apple. If you said yes to her at the very beginning, all of this wouldn't have happened." Finally, Rachel couldn't put up with Shirley's behavior anymore.

Rachel had heard that Shirley was sent back to her rural hometown where she got married. But Rachel had never seen Shirley since then.

Rachel didn't know that after all these years, Shirley was still the same. She hadn't changed...

At all.

Rachel couldn't help but wonder why Shirley would take a train with her child without any help.

"I'll tell you what! This is my own child. How I take care of her is none of your business. If I'm happy, then she can eat her apple. If not, then she gets nothing. You hear me? Stay out of my business!" Shirley said coldly.