Williams MansionManhattan, New York, US. 11 PM"Mike?" Josephine gasped when she saw Mikael walking down the hall of the Williams mansion.Mikael stopped.To be honest, he was reluctant to talk to anyone because his purpose in coming to this mansion was to pick up Claire. However, he couldn't avoid Josephine and ignored her after he called him."Goodnight, Mom." He greeted, forcing a brief smile."You're home?" Josephine tightened her sleeping kimono and walked closer.Mikael nodded, "yes, I'm home." He turned his head and then looked back at Josephine, "Is Claire in her room?"Josephine stared at him for a moment, then she shook her head, "she… sleeps in your room."Mikael was a little surprised. However, he did not show any reaction.Claire's room was on the first floor because when Claire first came to this house twenty years ago, Mikael refused to sleep on the same floor with her. Even though his parents had shown their annoyance at Mikael's attitude, in the end, Claire was still
Michael's CarManhattan, New York, US. 10 AM"Michael," Claire muttered under her breath as she looked at Michael doubtfully."Yes?" Michael looked up, “what is going on now? Are you trying to force me to take a shower and call me smelly?” He grunted in annoyance.Claire feels guilty for what she said to Michael last night. However, she had no choice but to say so.Last night Michael came back from Italy without telling her. Michael gave her a surprise, and she was very surprised.However, something strange happened…She felt that Michael was very smelly. It felt as if something had happened to Michael to make his breath stink and make her sick.She had tried to restrain herself as best she could, but in the end, she couldn't, so she told Michael everything in the hope that he wouldn't take offense at her."I apologize." She lowered her head and held her hands together—trying hard to hold back nausea when she had to be in the same car with Michael.God, this is a suicide mission!Mich
RestaurantManhattan, New York, US. 7 PM"Don't be cold to him even though I know you don't like him," Claire said while holding his hand.Mikael turned and looked at her from the side.Claire moved closer and rested her head on his shoulder—making him hold his breath when he felt the soft touch of Claire's arm.Tonight they were meeting someone very important to Claire—her biological father.Well, Mikael was indeed a bit surprised when Claire told him about her biological father a few weeks ago, but he didn't really respond to her because he still doubted the existence of her biological father. However, this afternoon Claire was back talking about her biological father, and Mikael couldn't refuse when Claire asked him to come to see her father for dinner.So, here he was—sitting with Claire in the car to come to see Claire's biological father.He didn't know how Claire ended up in an orphanage and became his parents' adopted child.When Claire came to his house 20 years ago, he wasn'
Michael's MansionManhattan, New York, US. 10 PMClaire stepped hesitantly into Michael's room. His room looked… very chaotic.Her eyes stared at Michael's back, who was standing at the end of the room's balcony. He looked at the backyard of their mansion which is adjacent to the swimming pool.Claire stopped walking and closed her eyes to endure her nausea.Oh God, not now. She was willing to endure nausea all day tomorrow, but not now. There was something important she had to do… and she wouldn't be able to do it if she couldn’t stand around Michael.She knew something happened when Michael met Anderson. However, she did not have the chance to ask.Michael looked completely taken aback when he met Anderson—as if he had seen a ghost in front of his face. His eyes flashed with anger—hatred so obvious that Claire could see it clearly. However, Michael didn't say anything.They sat together for two minutes, but Michael immediately took her home without giving any explanation.Claire rea
Mikael's MansionManhattan, New York, US. 4 AMMikael almost swore when he heard a knock on his bedroom door in the middle of the night—disturbing his sleep when he could only close his eyes about an hour ago.He heard Claire groan uncomfortably as he moved to break free from her hug. "Calm down," he said while stroking Claire's cheek gently.He stepped off the bed and walked quickly to the door before opening it roughly. "How dare you disturb my sleep, Lionel!" Mikael closed the door and let Claire sleep peacefully in their room.His eyes flashed angrily at Lionel who was standing in front of his bedroom door. "Can't you wait until morning?""No," Lionel looked worriedly, "I'm afraid we'll be late if I wait until morning."Mikael frowned, "what happened?" His eyes narrowed suspiciously.Before Lionel could answer, he heard footsteps and quite a loud commotion on the first floor.Lionel turned his head, and then he looked back at Mikael. "He's coming," he said calmly.Mikael snorted a
Manhattan, New York, US. 17 Years AgoClaire opened her eyes slowly… stared at a light coming from the door.Faintly she heard the sound of approaching footsteps, followed by the sound of throwing plates made of aluminum."Eat!" A man's voice boomed through the darkness of the room.Claire stared at the plate along with the food strewn across the dirty floor.Same. The food was still the same as the food she had eaten for the past few days. However, that was not the problem, but again, she was only getting food…no drink.Claire raised her hand—trying to grab the hem of the man's clothes even though she knew that her strength wouldn't be able to reach him, “please…” her throat was dry—her voice was barely audible because it was too low. "Help me…""Eat if you don't want to be punished," the man let out a deep breath, "or you want to sleep without eating like yesterday."She shook her head.Punishment…She had received a lot of punishment over the past few days. And… she couldn't imagin
Venice, Italy. 17 Years Ago"Leave me, Lionel," Mikael turned and looked at the suitcase Lionel was carrying.Lionel looked up, then frowned, "is there anything you want?"Mikael shrugged, "you don't need to help me," he said while taking the suitcase from Lionel's hand, "if you want, you can go back to the United States.""What?" Lionel looked at him in surprise. Then he took a deep breath, "come on, the car is waiting outside the airport."Mikael stopped his steps, "are you going to drop me at my uncle and aunt's house?"Lionel turned his head and then stepped back, forcing Mikael to follow him."Not only am I dropping you off, but I'm going to live here with you."He stared at Lionel in surprise. “Why do you have to be here? Weren't you just ordered to accompany me?”Mikael vaguely recalled the incident this morning when he fought with John.Oh, how John hated him so much that he arranged for him to go to Italy during the day so that he would be in a foreign country by night.Well,
Claire's ApartmentManhattan, New York, US. 7 AMClaire felt immense emptiness with every step she took from the lobby to her door.Her hands stopped moving when she remembered the password on her apartment door.Michael's birthday...Or maybe from now on, she would remember the password as Michael and Mikael's birthdays.A 'bib' sound was heard when Claire pressed her password button. Then the apartment door opened and revealed the main living room.Her apartment wasn't a luxury apartment like… Michael's. However, she always felt comfortable here—in a place that she managed to buy after one year's hard work.She has many memories of this place.When she first walked in and celebrated her new apartment with John, Josephine and Michael. As they had dinner here, laughing all night. The time she and Michael shared their first kiss… even when they stayed up until midnight preparing for the wedding.Then… everything fell apart without a trace.Claire lost everything. There is nothing left