Evelyn looked at her sister-in-law, listening to her words. A strange feeling settled in her chest.
Do you really like someone enough to let them go? Don’t you want to fight for them?
Maybe only now did she truly understand that saying— There aren’t that many excuses for love. If you don’t end up together, it just means the love wasn’t deep enough.
“Some problems are just in our heads,” Isabella said with a smile. “They might not even exist.”
“Thank you, sister-in-law,” Evelyn said sincerely. “I’m not thinking about the past anymore. I’m focused on the present and the future. Alexander and I will work hard. Our life will only get better.”
Isabella nodded. She didn’t say anything else. She picked up her tea and sipped it slowly.
Life was long, yet short. Sometimes it was just a glance back. Sometimes it was full of ups and downs. But it should be cherished. Felt with the heart.
Evelyn cooked a whole table of food today.
When Alexander came home from work, he handed his briefcase to Lily Thompson. He asked out of habit, “Where is the young lady?”
Lily smiled. “She’s preparing dinner in the kitchen, sir. She wants to surprise you.”
“Is that so?” Alexander replied. He turned and walked toward the kitchen.
He stood at the kitchen door. He saw Evelyn’s busy figure in front of the marble counter.
Alexander walked in. He wrapped his arms around Evelyn’s waist. “What’s good to eat?” he asked.
“Mixed mushroom soup,” Evelyn answered.
“You’ve been loving this soup lately,” Alexander said with a laugh.
“I read that nutritionally, four legs aren’t as good as two legs. Two legs aren’t as good as one leg. One leg isn’t as good as no legs. And mushrooms belong to the ‘no legs’ category. They’re almost at the top of the nutrition chart,” Evelyn replied with a smile.
“What’s the ‘no legs’ one?” Alexander asked curiously.
“Fish,” Evelyn answered.
“Well then, let’s eat fish every day,” he said.
“No, we need balanced nutrition,” Evelyn said. She turned to look at him. “I don’t think you need to eat fish. You’d better stick to four legs. How about that?”
Alexander smiled. “I’m already this treacherous. If I keep nourishing my brain, my brain cells will develop even better.”
Evelyn didn’t miss the chance to tease him. “Even if your IQ is two hundred, it becomes zero in front of the person you like.”
“No wonder you’re always so dark in front of me,” Evelyn said intentionally.
“No, I’m obviously mentally retarded in front of you,” Alexander laughed at himself.
“No, you’re not.”
“Because when you’re in front of me, your IQ is zero.”
“Stop being so narcissistic,” Evelyn said. She glanced at him, then looked away. She lowered her head to wash the fresh mushrooms. But she couldn’t help the smile that tugged at her lips.
Finally, she shooed Alexander upstairs to take a bath. Then she came down for dinner.
In the evening, Alexander held the baby. He walked in the garden with Evelyn.
“I came up with two names for the baby,” Alexander said. “Which one do you like better?”
“Okay,” Evelyn replied.
“One is Alexander Sterling Jr. The other is Evelyn Sterling. Which one do you prefer?” Alexander smiled at her and asked.
Evelyn rolled her eyes directly. “Don’t joke about the baby’s name.”
“No, I think both names have good meanings. And they’re easy to call,” Alexander said.
“Try again,” Evelyn said concisely.
“Do you have any better suggestions?”
“No.”
“You can’t just reject my ideas without offering any improvements,” Alexander said helplessly.
“I thought of one. But you can’t laugh.”
“I promise I won’t laugh. Go ahead.”
“Evan.”
“What? Evan?” Alexander thought he had misheard.
“Forget I said anything,” Evelyn said, embarrassed.
“No, no. I think it’s very good. Why did you choose this name?” Alexander changed his tone and said encouragingly.
“Don’t you think the name is easy to remember? Evan. It sounds simple. People will remember it after hearing it once. Besides, the meaning of the name is very good. Evan means ‘young warrior’ or ‘well-born.’ It’s simple and effortless. Life should be simple and easy. Very good,” Evelyn explained.
“That’s intentional,” Alexander said. He wanted to laugh again. But to avoid making his wife angry, he held it in.
Later, Alexander and Evelyn’s eldest son was named Evan Sterling. It meant he would live a relaxed and comfortable life in the future. That was Evelyn’s wish for her child.
In fact, she didn’t want her child to achieve great things. As long as he could live in peace and ease, she would be very satisfied.
Later, when the eldest son went to kindergarten, he came back one day to protest. He said he didn’t want the name.
Evelyn learned about the situation. She found out that a child had been mischievous that day. The teacher had asked him angrily, “Did you do that on purpose?”
Evan, who wasn’t paying attention in class, stood up when he heard someone call his name.
“Evan, what are you doing?”
“Teacher, didn’t you just call me?” Evan asked innocently.
The children all laughed.
“Teacher, Evan didn’t mean it,” the little girl beside Evan spoke up for him.
The children laughed again.
Evelyn asked Evan, “What name do you want to change to?”
“I don’t know,” he said.
“Then go discuss it with your father,” Evelyn suggested.
So Evan went upstairs. He knocked on the door of his father’s study. He asked to change his name.
Alexander held his son. He sat on the sofa and asked why he wanted to change his name.
After understanding the reason, he discussed it with his son. “It doesn’t matter if you don’t want to be called Evan. We can change it to Alexander. The name is much harder to write than Evan. Or we can keep it as Evan. But there are more words. When you think about future exams, people will finish writing two words. But you’ll have to write four words. You’ll waste exam time.”
Evan looked at his father thoughtfully. After a long time of inner conflict, he said, “Then I’d better keep calling myself Evan.”
A few days later, Evan came over and said proudly, “Actually, I can just write ‘Evan’ as a single horizontal line.”
“Sorry, son. You only had one chance to change your name. You used it last time. So now you have no chance to change your name again.”
“I didn’t use it last time,” Evan emphasized.
“Yes, you did. You came to me that day and said you wanted to change your name. Then I gave you some advice. Finally, you decided not to change it. Don’t you remember?” Alexander touched his son’s head and explained patiently.
“But I didn’t change it in the end,” Evan pouted and said reluctantly.
“Yes. Because you finally decided not to change it. So the chance to change it was used up.”
“…” Evan pouted. He walked away disappointed.
Little Evan’s IQ wasn’t fully developed yet. He couldn’t fight his treacherous father. The name change ended just like that.