Anne, Shylock, and the others stayed in this lovely red house for two days,
After Christmas, they returned to London.
Watson and Mary had reconciled. Anne and Shylock were not surprised at all.
Sometimes, life needed some setbacks,
Because such an experience was like the rain of a whip. It could wash everything more thoroughly and reveal the truest feelings inside.
It was like a flood passing through,
Either they were washed away, or they hugged closer and more intimately.
Anne was very happy. Watson and Mary belonged to the latter.
Before returning to London, a small episode happened.
It was during breakfast,
Anne's phone on the dining table rang.
Shylock, who was sitting next to her and reading the newspaper,
Lowered his head and casually glanced at it.
Anne took it,
She saw a short message:
"You didn't come to run today. - E "
"Who is E?" Shylock asked.
Mcauliffe, who was sitting opposite him, didn't know why, but his hand that was holding the teacup paused,
His eyelids lifted slightly,
He glanced at Anne,
Then he lowered his head and drank his tea as if nothing had happened.
Anne didn't notice. She didn't realize that the two Holmes at the dining table had already screened all the people she knew with the letter "E" in their minds in the blink of an eye.
"A friend I met when I was running in the morning." She clicked on the message,
She answered Shylock's question, "She's very nice."
Mr. Holmes grunted vaguely. In her eyes,
Everyone was very nice.
"Sorry,
Spending Christmas with my family in the countryside. - Anny "
Anne replied to the message seriously,
She continued to eat this warm breakfast.
Anne didn't know that on an isolated island she had never heard of, the person she called a "friend" looked at the word "family" on the phone screen and laughed softly.
..
Back at Baker Street, only Mrs. Hudson was in the apartment at 221B. Doctor Who was nowhere to be found.
Anne was not too worried. Her "Santa Claus" was Doctor Who. This name was the best promise and guarantee.
Therefore, three days later, Anne was not surprised at all when she met the doctor at the intersection of Baker Street.
He was still wearing the tweed jacket and a beautiful bow tie. His hands were in his pockets as he leaned against a blue police booth. The smile on his face had the vitality of a young man, but also the calmness and restraint accumulated over a long period of time.
That police station was the TARDIS, the doctor's time machine.
It seemed that he had fixed it.
…
When Anne turned her head, she saw Shylock.
He was wearing a black coat and looked very thin. He was quiet and looked at her silently across the road.
Anne looked at him and did not move. After a few seconds, Shylock slowly crossed the road and walked towards her.
Shylock stopped in front of her. He did not look at Doctor Who and the conspicuous and strange blue police station next to him at all.
He just stared at Anne with his beautiful eyes.
Anne often felt that his eyes were as clean as the most precious gemstones in the world. He always appeared so cold and ruthless, but his eyes contained the purest and deepest feelings in the world. Every time Anne was looked at like this, her mind would go blank and she would involuntarily want to agree to all his requests.
But this time, Anne only wanted to reach out and cover his eyes.
"Now," he said, "don't you have anything to ask me?"
Annie felt as if her heart had sunk in by an inch.
"Shylock …" Anne gritted her teeth so hard that she almost stopped breathing. She was so depressed that her eyes turned red. She whispered in her heart, can you?! Can you?!
But she couldn't say it out loud. That would be too selfish … Because she knew, even when she secretly asked in her heart, she only dared to use a very low voice, like a thief who was infinitely nervous about committing a crime for the first time.
"Yes." Shylock suddenly said one word.
Anne looked up at him suddenly.
Shylock locked his eyes on her and repeated, "I said, yes. Anne, did you hear me clearly?"
The expression on his face was very calm, and there was a restrained light in his eyes.
Anne looked at him, and her tense nerves still couldn't relax.
He agreed, but … how could he? His …
"Leave it to me." Shylock responded to her heart accurately again. "Everything you're worried about, Mcauliffe, my parents, John, Mary … leave it to me."
Anne still didn't say anything.
Shylock held her pale face with his slightly cold hands.
"Anne," he said, "we both know that your brain capacity is limited, so you only need to use it to remember what I said to you. Can you remember it? " He gently shook the little golden head resting in his palm. "The words I told you?"
Anne looked down and said something softly. Her voice was too soft for Shylock to hear clearly.
"What?" he asked.
"I remember," Anne said softly. "But you forgot once."
Shylock knew that she was talking about the time he disappointed her. When he proposed to her, he said that he was willing to protect her for the rest of his life. That had never changed, but those feelings were too strong, and they even scared him …
"I'm sorry, Anne." His beautiful pupils quivered slightly in his eye sockets. "But that kind of thing won't happen a second time, I promise."
Shylock leaned over and kissed her lips, then he opened his arms and hugged her.
Anne's cheek was pressed against his chest. She didn't say anything, but Shylock could feel that her body was trembling.
The weight that had been piling up on her chest didn't disappear because of Shylock's response. She didn't expect him to really agree …
"Dr. Hope's police station is big enough." Shylock rubbed his cheek against her soft blonde hair. "You know, I won't be surprised if Watson and Mary ask to go with us. Oh, and Mrs. Hudson. "
Anne wrapped her arms around his waist and hugged him back tightly. The man she loved the most had just given her the most important response and promise. She was really happy, but the image of Mrs. Holmes appeared in front of her eyes.
The old woman with white hair looked at her with a gentle smile and said, "… Thank you, Anne. You know, I've always been worried about Shylock the most. He's like a willful child who never wants to grow up. I can see that you love him very much, and he loves you too. I'm really happy for you. "
But now, she selfishly wanted to steal her child away forever.
Anne closed her eyes sadly. Why did it have to be like this? Why did there have to be parting and sadness?
Suddenly, a question popped into Anne's mind.
That was, before Christmas, on the night of the bonfire, her injury and near-death scare Shylock. Anne believed that at that time, Shylock even thought of letting her leave him for her safety.
It was at that time, before she went to that abandoned building to find him, that she had already seen Doctor Who and knew what it meant.
At that moment, she had a chance to minimize the damage to Shylock. She could follow his will and really disappear from his life, returning to the 19th century, giving herself absolute safety and preventing him from having to face a choice like he did now.
Yes, that wasn't a good idea either, but at least it was much better than the current situation.
But she didn't do that. She almost didn't hesitate to get him back and keep him.
She couldn't avoid her selfishness. She couldn't imagine really losing him. She couldn't lose this man who was more important than her life. At that time, that was all she could think of.
And that Christmas gift. Of course, she was willing to give him any gift as long as he liked it and was happy. But she chose such a time to give it to him. Didn't she have any shameful selfishness?
She wanted him to see her feelings clearly. She wanted him to be moved. She hoped that he couldn't leave her and chose her in the final multiple-choice question.
Can you go with me? This was the question that lingered on her lips, the question that she had always wanted to ask.
She couldn't ask it, but everything she did, all her thoughts and words, were closely centered around this question. And she strongly hoped to hear an affirmative answer.
In the end, she got it.
But she felt terrible. She hated herself very much.
Anne believed that she would never meet another person like Sherlock Holmes again. Meeting him was the most magical thing in the world, and liking him and falling in love with him was the easiest thing in the world.
Because he was Sherlock Holmes, one of a kind, one of a kind.
But he didn't belong to her alone, and he wasn't unique to her. Anne loved him, but she didn't dare to look down on other people's feelings. She knew that his family loved him no less than she did.
She had no right to take him away and monopolize him.
He agreed to go with her and was willing to go with her. This was really great. She was very happy.
But she couldn't.
She had already tasted the pain of losing her family and friends, and twice. She didn't want him to experience this kind of pain. Although he always appeared to be cold and heartless, and even seemed to be cold and disdainful of the feelings of ordinary people, this was not the case. He was the purest and most sincere child in the world.
He didn't even ask her the same question, whether she could continue to stay.
She made the decision from the beginning because her family needed her more. So she threw the question to him and let him choose.
Just because he loved her, he had to make a choice. Didn't she always say that she loved him? But when it came time to do something for this love, she did nothing.
Strictly speaking, this was the second time she had given up on Shylock. The first time was when they left the 19th century, and she chose to let him go. This time, she wanted to go back, and she would make the same choice.
She didn't choose him once!
At this moment, Anne felt that she didn't deserve Shylock's precious feelings. She accused him of disappointing her, but what about her? What did she do?
… …
The psychological pressure of the past few days completely crushed Anne, and Shylock agreed to go with her without hesitation, which almost made her fall into a complete self-loathing, because she couldn't find a way to solve all this without hurting anyone.
In this kind of situation, she really couldn't do anything. She couldn't blame anyone, she could only blame herself. She didn't want to hurt anyone, she could only hurt herself.
Shylock hugged her and felt her tremble more and more in his arms, as if there was an uncontrollable emotion tearing her body, as if she would be completely torn apart in the next moment.
Shylock let go of her a little and looked at her worriedly.
His gaze made Anne realize that she should really make the right decision. This was almost the only feasible choice.
In this world, everyone seemed to be an independent individual, but in fact, it was very difficult for people to live completely for themselves, because they had family and friends. They couldn't completely remove themselves from society and live in a complete vacuum. Even Shylock couldn't.
In fact, Anne knew what to do from the beginning, but she just didn't want to face this moment.
Annie slowly calmed down. She smiled and touched his cheeks and hair. She was really surprised that at this moment, she could still have a smile on her face.
"Shylock," she said softly. "You said that your brain is like a hard drive, and you can delete useless things from your brain, right?"
Sherlock was taken aback by this sudden question. When he came back to his senses, he stared at her without moving and didn't answer.
"Then can you …" Anne paused for a moment, but she still finished her sentence. "Can you delete me from your brain's hard drive? … "
From the first sentence, Shylock had already known what she was going to say, but when she really said it, he still looked at her in disbelief.
The heavy shadows of the twilight fell on his pale, thin face.
Anne couldn't look at him.
This was the first time Anne had seen such an expression on this proud man's face. It was such an obvious hurt expression that shouldn't have appeared on his face at all.
As God was her witness, she said that she was willing to agree to all his requests. She said that she would never refuse him.
But she had never done it. It had always been the opposite. He was always willing to agree to all her requests, and he never refused her.
At this moment, Anne felt like she should go to hell. Because she was hurting the best person in the world.
"Are you asking me to erase you from my memory?" He heard it, and it was clear, but he asked it again.
His voice was still normal, but he spoke each word very slowly. It was probably the slowest speed Anne had ever heard him speak.
Before she could answer, he rudely interrupted her and asked the next question.
"So, you put yourself in the category of useless things."
He didn't have to interrupt Anne in such a hurry because she couldn't say a word now. What little sense and courage she had left was only enough for her to finish that sentence.
Her untimely silence was like a tacit agreement.
Shylock retracted his hands and put them in his coat pockets. His expression was cold and calm, but his hands were clenched into fists in his pockets.
"People are stupid because they always like to make decisions that they think are smart …" His mocking voice was almost hoarse.
He seemed to have more to say, but he suddenly restrained himself and stopped. His Adam's apple bobbed violently. Then, he stood up straight and took a step back. He turned around and left in an extremely straightforward manner.
The moment he turned around, Anne realized that it was already late winter. The cold wind blowing on her body was bone-chilling.
Anne looked down at her toes. She couldn't let herself look at Shylock's back. If she did, she wouldn't be able to stand it and would want to chase after him. Then, everything would be back to square one.
While Anne and Shylock were talking, the doctor returned to his TARDIS in order not to disturb them. He didn't come out until now.
Although he didn't know what they were talking about, he could more or less guess from Anne's expression.
Anne felt a little sorry because she had completely forgotten about the doctor.
"I'm sorry, doctor …"
"No, no … You don't need to apologize." Doctor Who waved his hand unnaturally as if he was the one who felt sorry.
Anne smiled with a pale face.
"You know," the doctor said tentatively, "I've been traveling in space —" he paused for a moment to choose the right word, "for a long time."
The corners of Annie's lips curled up again, because this broad description of 'a very long time' was really very long.
The doctor looked at her seriously, as if he was sharing an important secret with a friend, but the other party didn't take it seriously.
Anne knew that he was just trying to comfort her, so she cooperated with him and gestured for him to continue.
"Well," the doctor said, "but I've always adhered to a principle during my journey, a very important principle."
Anne listened carefully.
"This principle is that you can only observe and not interfere with other people and other planets."
The doctor said it very seriously. If Anne hadn't watched a few episodes of the plot, she would have believed it. But the truth was that Doctor Who's kind heart allowed him to provide help to people in need wherever he went. He was probably the most soft-hearted person Anne knew. Just like now, he was feeling sorry for Anne and Shylock.
The doctor looked at her quietly and said, "I've never interfered with the affairs of other planets — unless a noble and kind person is feeling sad."
Anne's eyes instantly turned red. She thought that the doctor was talking about Shylock and that she was the one who made him sad.
But the doctor walked over and patted her shoulder comfortingly.
"I'm talking about you, Anne. You didn't do anything wrong. Only a truly kind person would blame themselves so much and would rather hurt themselves than others when they were struggling. But don't be afraid, have you forgotten your lucky sign? The god of luck is on your side this time. "
"Two people who love each other should be together, Anne. This is the convention of the entire galaxy." The doctor winked at her. "Maybe one day it will be written in the 'Shadow Declaration'."
.
In the afternoon, Anne and Doctor Who returned to Baker Street together. Shylock completely ignored her, perhaps because he wanted her to experience the feeling of being "deleted" in advance.
In the evening, everyone gathered around the table for dinner. Shylock refused to look in Anne's direction. He quickly finished eating and then sat barefoot on his sofa, ignoring everyone.
He was like a child when he was angry. He wanted everyone to know that he was angry.
In the evening, Anne consciously went back to her small studio on the first floor to sleep. She didn't dare to disturb him.
It was impossible for her to fall asleep. She stared at the ceiling with her eyes wide open.
When the bedroom door was pushed open, Anne immediately heard familiar footsteps.
Her heart started beating violently.
He walked all the way to her bedside and looked down at her. Anne also looked at him in the dark without saying a word.
His face was hidden in the shadows. Anne couldn't see the expression on his face, but she could feel his gaze.
No one spoke.
For a moment, Anne felt that he seemed to want to pounce on her and strangle her. He looked like he really wanted to do that — although she couldn't see his expression at all.
After a few seconds, Anne was still alive. Shylock suddenly leaned over, put his hand under her blanket, and picked her up directly from the bed.
He was angry, so he used so much force. Anne's nose hit his hard chest, and she immediately felt sore.
Shylock still refused to speak. He silently carried her back to their bedroom on the second floor. Then he put her on the big bed and lay down beside her.
Anne remained in the position where he put her down. She didn't move until he reached out and took her into his arms.
After a while, he said, "You forgave me once. Out of fairness, I can forgive you once."
It was like a child in kindergarten who finally found a lame reason to make peace with each other.
Annie's tears rolled down her cheeks.
She was proud and willful Sherlock Holmes. What had she done to him?
Anne buried herself tightly in his chest and cried fiercely and silently.
She didn't really want him to delete his memories of her. The things they had experienced together were too beautiful. Even if there was pain and waiting in the past, there was only beautiful memories left. She just knew that he would be angry if she said that. She needed to make a decision.
But Anne never thought that he would forgive her so quickly.
Shylock didn't comfort her. He just said calmly, "I won't interfere with your choice. You shouldn't interfere with mine."
"Mommy and the others will understand. You forgot one thing. Our surname is Holmes. We will always know what the right choice is. "
After a pause, he continued, "Your surname will also be Holmes. But unfortunately, there is no doubt that you will be the dumbest in this family."
That night, Anne didn't remember when she fell asleep. Shylock was like a child who had been treated unfairly. He kept mocking her single and stupid brain. He was also dissatisfied and aggrieved that she wanted to leave him behind. In the end, he even threatened that if she dared to do so, he would really lock her in the small dark room in his memory palace. No matter how much she begged for mercy, he wouldn't let her out …
This threat was very effective. Anne just wanted to say yes.
God knew that she only wanted to say yes from the beginning.
Doctor Who said that she was a "noble and kind person". This praise was too much. She just wanted to be a selfish person.
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