Chapter 5

Amanda fell in love with Eric and even agreed to marry him.

My brother Eric had never been willing to share the details of his love life with his younger sister, so to that day, I had no idea what he did during their supposedly fake courtship to win Amanda’s heart.

At that time, I had told Eric to swallow his pride and play along until the development project was secure. Once Dad could no longer use the funding as leverage against him, Eric could end the relationship.

I never imagined that Eric would play the part so convincingly. Amanda might have been brilliant, but when it came to love, she was innocent and trusting. Somehow, Eric made her fall in love with him and agree to become his wife.

They had not been together very long. After a little over a year, they began discussing marriage.

The path to their engagement was neither smooth nor honorable, because Dad apparently forced Eric’s hand. He used both the development project and Tiffany’s education and future career as leverage against him.

In the end, Eric gave in and agreed to marry Amanda. Amanda knew nothing about any of it.

That suddenly reminded me why Tiffany had said we had met before. It had been at Eric and Amanda’s wedding. Just as the bride and groom were exchanging rings, I had received a call from security.

The security guard sounded deeply uncomfortable as he spoke with great caution. “Ms. Wilson, there’s a young woman here who says she is someone from Mr. Wilson’s past.”

A good sister knew when to quietly clean up her beloved brother’s messes. I slipped out without attracting anyone’s attention.

At that time, I did not know Tiffany’s name. The woman was distraught. Her face was streaked with tears.

She clutched my sleeve and demanded to know how Eric could possibly be marrying someone else. I was impatient with her. I gave her the contact information for my personal business manager and told her to call.

She would receive a very generous payment for her emotional distress. Then, I walked away.

My manager called me later to confirm the arrangement and made a sizable payment on my behalf. After that, I simply put the whole thing out of my mind.

Besides, at the time, I did not believe Eric had been completely forced into marrying Amanda. At the very least, he did not seem to dislike her nearly as much as he pretended.

One particular memory from after their wedding reinforced that impression.

Mom and Dad were very traditional people. They believed a home should be filled with the warmth and bustle of family life.

Dad had a firm rule that no one in our generation could leave the family estate and establish a separate household while he was still alive.

Even someone as rebellious and independent as Eric had no choice but to obey. Naturally, Amanda moved into the family home after marrying him.

Amanda and I got along fairly well in those days, mostly because there were very few people our age in the house whom either of us could talk to.

Whenever Eric was away overnight on business, she would sometimes come to my room clutching a pillow and ask to spend the night with me.

Once, I asked her what had made her want to marry Eric.

Lying on her stomach, she still had the guileless innocence of a girl, softened by the bashfulness of a young woman in love.

She showed me a photo album. The exact date was written beneath each photograph. The pictures had been arranged chronologically according to their dates.

The first photograph had been taken during a beluga encounter at an aquarium. Amanda and Eric were crouched beside the pool as a beluga surfaced between them, sending droplets of water into the air.

Amanda had rested one hand on its head and beamed directly at the camera. Eric was crouched on the other side without much expression. Instead of looking at the camera, he was watching Amanda.

The next photograph had been taken at an amusement park, with a towering Ferris wheel in the background.

Amanda wore a headband with long bunny ears and held a vanilla ice cream cone in one hand and an animal-shaped balloon in the other.

There was still a dab of ice cream at the corner of her mouth, but her smile was as radiant as ever. Eric stood close behind her. Even more surprisingly, he had an ice cream cone of his own.

There was a faint smile on his face.

Amanda ran her fingertip over the faint smile on Eric’s face, a note of affectionate reproach slipping into her voice.

“Your brother is so mean. He saw the ice cream on my face before the picture was taken, but he didn’t tell me. He even laughed at me when we got the photograph.”