Renee inevitably became nervous under his powerful and intense gaze. With a tinge of anticipation, she tried to sound him out and said, "Why do you think I treat you in a special manner?" She did not know if he had regained his memories or was purposely playing dumb here. If that was true, his acting skills could have won him an Oscar. How perfect and exceptional! "The only reason why a woman is willing to sacrifice unconditionally for a man is because she loves him too much. So, can I guess that you treat me in a special manner because you love him very much?" Instead of beating around the bush, Stefan raised the question that had been troubling him for nearly half a year.It was because the experience he had at Greenwood Sanatorium was indeed very unique. Even if he was slow, he could feel how deeply Renee cared about him.Holding that kind of doubt, he returned to the sanatorium again afterward. It was also at that time he learned that she used her blood as an ingredient fo
He was indeed very talkative and hard to fool.If she knew that he would pester her, she would never come out to chat with him, no matter what. For a moment, awkwardness engulfed them. "It's late. I'm going to rest and leave you to your thoughts."Renee forcefully pushed his hand away and got up to leave."I won't let you go if you don't make it clear." Stefan held her wrist. His voice was full of pain. "To be honest, these doubts have been troubling me for half a year. I'm going to marry my fiancee soon. If I don't make it clear, I'll feel that I've wronged her." "What do you want to know?""I want to know why I hold special feelings for you. What kind of… past did we share?" Stefan was such a smart person. Of course, his sensitivity and perception were exceptional. After his brain surgery and having his first contact with her when he woke up, he could feel a magical connection between them. Besides, a lot of people were hesitant and unwilling to talk about her. It
Just when Renee was about to speak, a soft but weak voice interrupted them."Stefan, here you are. I've been looking for you for a very long time. I even thought that something had happened to you." Seraphina was wearing a hospital gown. Her face appeared frail, and there was an IV tube injected into her body. She appeared at the entrance of the rooftop. "Seraphina, why did you come here?"Stefan furrowed his brows deeply before he hurried forward to support her. His handsome face was full of worry. "You just recovered a little. Why are you so wilful?" "No, I'm not. If you're gone, it'll no longer be important if my body is healthy or not." Seraphina coughed twice before she leaned into his arms feebly. She even acted coquettishly. "I had a nightmare just now that you were snatched by someone else. I was startled before I woke up. As expected, I didn't see you around. So, I acted instinctively and ran to the rooftop to look for you. I got so tired from walking, and I feel tha
He realized that he had gone a bit out of control tonight. It was like playing with fire. He would certainly ruin himself if he was not being careful regardless of how good his reason."Really? You gave me your word. If you see her alone again, I… I'll jump off the building here and kill myself, and you'll regret it for the rest of your life." Seraphina pointed at the dark stairs and made a joke. She sounded slightly serious. "Okay, don't be mad. Let's go back. It's too cold here. I'm afraid you'll catch a cold." After Stefan said that, he carried Seraphina in a very macho manner. They left just like that without saying another word to Renee again. They did not even uphold basic civility and bid her goodbye. Renee was at a loss for words.Looking in the direction they left, Renee was struck dumb. She did not react for a long time."Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!"After that, as if she had gone completely insane, she burst into uncontrollable peals of laughter. 'How ridiculous! Ste
Stefan's tall and sturdy body was hidden behind the window. He watched the car for a very long time until it dropped out of his sight. "Stefan, what are you looking at? You're so absorbed."Seraphina flipped through the magazine in boredom. When she saw Stefan look out the window all that while quietly, she became alarmed. "A bird." Stefan replied lightly."A bird?" Seraphina found it weird. She stretched her neck out to look out of the window. "There's nothing outside. What bird?" "A bird that flew away, but I think its wings aren't that strong. It won't fly far."Stefan averted his gaze before he sipped his coffee and said with profound meaning.The bad premonition in Seraphina's heart grew stronger.It seemed that the bird he mentioned was not a simple bird. After pondering it, she pretended to ask casually, "Stefan, did you see Miss Everheart again these few days?""Didn't I tell you that I won't see her alone again?"Stefan's expression was slightly serious. "I
Seraphina maintained her calm and combined bits and pieces of some incidents before she debated right and wrong with Stefan. "Is… Is that so?"Stefan's deep-set eyes flickered with a mix of wrath, unwillingness, hatred, and doubt. This truth vastly differed from the truth he had imagined. For a moment, he couldn't accept it. "If you trust me, this is the truth. If you don't, you can ask her about it."Seraphina stated with absolute certainty.Her statement was flawless. Even she was almost convinced of its truth, let alone Stefan. Besides, she had Francine as a witness who confirmed those things."That'll be unnecessary…"Stefan slowly clenched his fingers and said coldly, "She had long admitted to it, but I was just unwilling to believe her."He stubbornly thought that there must be some secrets in it. Why would such a wicked woman take her blood to use as an ingredient for his medicine? Now, it seemed the truth was just that simple. She simply tried to atone for her s
The car stopped before an antique shop.Renee wanted to push Jovan into the shop, but she was turned down."Wait for me in the car. The driver can push me into the shop." He did not want to expose the surprise he prepared for her in advance, or all his efforts would be futile. "Okay, I would like to see what kind of trick you will pull."With deep curiosity, Renee watched the driver push Jovan into the antique shop.She leaned against the back seat in slight boredom. When she checked the time, it was coincidentally afternoon at Beach City. The two children might have gone home from school by now, so she gave her brother a video call. His brother always answered her calls within seconds. But strangely, today, he did not answer her calls at all. She tried repeatedly, but it yielded the same result."What's the matter?" A crease soon formed between her brows as a bad premonition overwhelmed her. She immediately called Margaret, and the latter picked it up just as quickly.
This man had ended up in this state solely because of her. If she left after manipulating him, she could not live with herself. "Oh, gosh! What should I do?"She closed her eyes in a dilemma. She was in deep pain. At that time, she heard a bang. A giant noise came from the antique shop before the whole shop collapsed abruptly. There was fire everywhere."Ah! It’s on fire. Hurry up. Save them!"South Street was considered the liveliest street in that whole town. Besides, this antique shop generally had a lot of guests. When the explosion occurred, a good number of people were in it.Endless screams of shock and horror could be heard from everywhere. People held their heads as they ran helter-skelter in a panic, fearing they might get burned by the raging flames. Renee was rendered speechless by the horrific sight.With a wide-eyed gaze, she stared at the antique shop that was on fire. She was struck dumb. She only managed to regain her wits after a long while."Jovan… Jova
Jovan called Stefan to sound the latter out. Anyway, it would be convenient for Stefan to rush over since they were both at the same spot. "I'll be right there," Stefan said. Then, he hung up.For a moment, silence washed over everyone, as if something terrible was about to happen.After taking in the new information, Leia said indignantly, "What's going on? Why does he want to come? Isn't he too shameless? How dare he come?" Although everything wasn't discussed openly, everyone knew why Stefan and Renee broke up all of a sudden, despite how lovey-dovey they were. The reason was that Stefan had cheated on Renee.Even if the adultery was faked, it was still the cause of their breakup. If Stefan were shameful or guilty, he wouldn't have agreed to come. He was going to face Renee there with their friends and family around. Certainly, it was embarrassing. "Hmph! Why not? He impersonated me, seized my business, and snatched away my woman. Plus, he led a steady life, got married
Jovan's words made the atmosphere quiet and bizarre. "Are you out of your mind, Jovan? It's already very annoying to have someone like you here. Do you have to get another annoying guy?" Leia frowned, crossing her arms. She kept scolding him.Initially, the atmosphere was considered harmonious. It was still considered fine even if there was an annoying person like Jovan. Unexpectedly, he wanted to call another, more terrible person to come here. Things would certainly go wrong. "Ms. Osborne, you're famous for talking harshly, too. You're just like me. I love it." However, Jovan was not mad at all. He grinned while waiting for Stefan to answer the call. Generally, Stefan would not answer Jovan's call. Surprisingly, he picked it up that time."What's the matter?" Jovan purposely put it on speaker mode. Stefan sounded aloof and emotionless.Jovan sounded wicked as he calmly asked Stefan, "Do you want to join a gathering, Stefan?""I'm going to hang up if you don't say anythi
In the past, Jovan had always regarded Stefan as a coward. Stefan couldn't forget about Renee, but he kept pushing Renee to another man. It seemed like Justin was more responsible, considerate, and gentle. Of course, Renee would lead a very happy, steady, and comfortable life with such a man. At the very least, Jovan felt that he could not be that meticulous and considerate. He would only drive Renee mad just to get her attention. "Hmph! Are you trying to humiliate me or yourself?" Justin didn't find that a compliment. Instead, it sounded like smockery. Jovan made it sound like Justin was a nice guy, but would not be picked by Renee. Usually, people like that had to suffer and would not end up well."I'm praising you." Jovan was helpless because of his reputation as the villain. Although he had said a lot of annoying things, he did want to compliment Justin. His love was probably as deep as Justin's, but his and Stefan's ways of loving Renee were much inferior to Justin's.
"That's unnecessary." Justin stood in front of Renee, his face cold. He said firmly, "She's unwell and can't have wine." "Is she unwell? I didn't see that." Jovan sized Renee up before he sized Justin up. Then, he sneered, "And who are you to her? You can't stop her from having wine.""It's none of your business who I am to her. I said she can't have wine." Justin always kept peace with others, but at that moment, he was dominant. He didn't always want to control Renee, but she had drunk a lot of wine that day. It might have hurt her belly. Hence, he felt it better for her to abstain from wine lately. However, Jovan was unaware of that affair. He simply found Justin purposely showing his ownership over Renee, which disgusted him."Waiter, get her a glass of milk. She only wants that," Justin instructed a waiter, showing his consideration for Renee. "It's okay. I can have a little wine. Plus, I'm rather good at drinking. It's not easy for everyone to get together tonight. I do
They danced for around ten minutes. Renee danced to the song heartily. Her initial gloomy mood also improved.Renee drank some water and took a few deep breaths. Then, she sincerely praised Leia, "Alright. Your welcome ceremony is bizarre, but it helped relieve my stress. I like it very much!"She could tell that Leia had painstakingly prepared that gift for her. After all, it was not easy to ask the Zambawi people from primitive tribes to sing an English song. "I'm glad you like it. I did this because I wanted you to relax and stop taking things seriously. You need to stop being so hard on yourself and get rid of all the pressure!" Leia said honestly. The Zambawi hand-drum dance came with the charms of a primitive dance. Its goal was to set people free. Of course, it was suitable for Renee to relieve her stress."Yeah, your stress is relieved. From now on, you'll start afresh. This is for you. I'm sure it'll be one of your happy memories." Liam handed the previous Polaroid to
"This is your welcome ceremony. This hand-drum dance is to help eliminate bad luck." Leia held Renee's arm, satisfied with her arrangement. She said happily, "Listen to their song! It's a great song!""Is there a song?" Renee frowned; she felt that Leia was always doing bizarre things. She wondered how Leia could come up with such a preposterous welcome ceremony."Mm, listen carefully! It's English. You can understand it." At that point, Leia said to the Zambawi people, "Put on your microphone. And sing louder."The Zambawi people gave their cooperation. They used their typical Zambawi singing to sing the English song. While listening to the song, Renee found it very familiar. "The flowers will bloom in spring, and the birds are free. I'm still waiting, waiting for my love to come back. Hurry home!""Isn't that Spring Flowers by Curtis Harrett?" Renee finally recalled what song it was. It was a song with a happy beat. It could make people happy. The Zambawi people made th
"I don't know, either. All I ever remember from when I was young is that I led a very painful life. I once tried my best to make the Garcia family accept me. I did all the dirty and tiring jobs. I went out to work at an early age to get money for them. I also did all the house chores. "But my foster parents were never nice to me. They would always beat me up or scold me. My elder foster brother also saw me as an eyesore. He always tried to get me killed…" Quinton calmly described his past. He no longer seemed to be in pain. All that was left in him was numbness, as if he were talking about someone else.However, Renee was always in pain whenever she heard him talk about his past. She felt like she had returned to his past with him and experienced those painful things. It was normal for her to feel that way because they were twins. A lot of their thoughts and feelings were synchronized. "I suddenly recalled that I would inexplicably become gloomy many times when I was young. I
"I'm sorry." When Renee heard that from Quinton, she realized the conflict between him and Stefan had yet to be resolved. It was temporarily put aside because of her. She occasionally saw him and Stefan talk to each other and drink together, but they merely put on a show to ease her mind. Their hatred for each other hadn't been eliminated. Instead, it was growing secretly. If Renee were Quinton, she might never forgive the person who had snatched away her beloved and seized her identity. That person even ruined her face."Why did you say sorry to me? It's the resentment between him and me. It has nothing to do with you. Plus, I didn't know he was my brother-in-law then. If I knew, I wouldn't have fought him." When Quinton recalled those affairs, he realized that people were nothing but the sport of fate. If there had been no resentment between him and Stefan, Renee might not have broken up with Stefan. Their families might even get closer. "Stop bringing up the past. It's
During these days, Renee was under pressure because of her affairs. She had no chance to ask Quinton about it. Now, the long flight gave them a chance to have a deep conversation. They could talk about their woes and seek consolation."Me?" Quinton lowered his head and shook his head helplessly. "I'm still the same old me. Nothing is troubling me. I've been busy with Carmine Pawnshop. I have no time to think about other stuff.""You have no time?" Renee touched her chin and smiled naughtily. "Then, you must have been dwelling on other stuff. Let me guess… Is it the thing between you and Joanne?" "Stop asking so much." Quinton did not deny it but refused to talk much about that. "It looks like I made the right guess. You fell out with Joanne, didn't you?" Renee knew Quinton well. Generally, his work would not affect his mood. The only person who could affect his mood was Joanne, who shared a complicated relationship with him. Before Renee left Beach City, she had created a l