Xavier was used to being a kiss-ass, so he was blind to the fact.Leia walked out of the room. The other celebrities had caught a lot of mudfish and returned to the house already.Santiago was the last to come ashore. When Leia was not around, he kept to himself and spoke to no one. He showed everyone a sullen face and maintained his image as the aloof top actor. "Mr. Dalton, what did you get? Let me help you!" Leia ran to the shore enthusiastically and extended her hand to Santiago.Santiago's gaze softened, and he smiled warmly. "Are your eyes okay?""Well, yeah. I just got a bit of mud in my eyes.""I'm sorry about what happened just now. At first, I wanted to..." He trailed off, feeling defeated. He had wanted to help her wipe her eyes but Xavier beat him to it and carried her off.Xavier had obviously been trying to challenge Santiago, and the other celebrities had watched curiously.He wanted to fight Xavier at that moment, but held himself back after much consideration.
Xavier's fierce demeanor made the enthusiastic onlookers hold their breaths."Uhm... Is he going to get the firewood ready? He looks like he's going to set someone on fire instead!" Leia scowled angrily. "Getting firewood ready? You live like a prince. Do you even know what firewood looks like? You want to help, but you shouldn't waste others' time!"At first, Leia planned to get the fire ready for Santiago while he prepared the fish, so they could cook together later and deepen their relationship. But before she could say that, Xavier came out of nowhere and ruined all her plans. She could not figure out why he liked to meddle in her affairs. He had meddled earlier when she wanted to ride in the pickup with Santiago, and did the same when she wanted to catch mudfish and cook with Santiago. He was the big shot of a large entertainment company; did he have nothing better to do?"It's none of your business. After all, we have a shameless person here with us, don't we?" Xavier put
Leia was no fool. She knew that Shirley was plotting something since she insisted on talking alone with her. However, it concerned Quinton's life, so even though she knew that it was a trap, she had to soldier through it. "Fine. Come to my room. Let's talk alone," Leia muttered and went to the room where she stayed with Xavier temporarily.After Shirley's assistant helped her into the room, she left and closed the door for them.Shirley looked around. There were holes in the ground, the roof was leaking, and the bed was extremely old. Shirley's expression turned gloomy, and there was a hint of envy and disbelief in her gaze. "Don't tell me you stayed in this room with Xavier for a night?""Yeah, this place is pretty good. The bed is soft, and the air is fresh. What's so hard to understand?" Leia could not understand why Shirley asked her that. Leia and Xavier had only slept in this bed for a night, but he had stayed with Shirley for the rest of his time. Why would Shirley feel jea
"I didn't say that. Anyway… I'll leave you to your thoughts." Shirley smiled and said vaguely, "That's all I can say. If you want to know the truth, you'd better find the culprit."Leia was speechless. She clenched her fists and stopped asking any more questions. The answer was obvious. "Also, you'd better stay away from Xavier. He's Stefan's best buddy. He'll always take his buddy's side. If not, Stefan wouldn't know about Quinton having surgery so soon and even happen to have the doctor's contact." When Shirley noticed that Leia had fallen for her trick, she continued making matters worse.However, the truth was that the accident had nothing to do with Stefan. It was related to Stefan's significant other, so she felt that it was related to Stefan too. Shirley felt that she hadn't lied by saying that. "I knew that scumbag Stefan was a cruel villain!" Leia felt that Stefan was the mastermind behind it because of Shirley's words, and figured that Xavier must have helped Stefan.
Xavier made himself very clear. He didn't care about Santiago's background, but he would not let him off the hook if he tried to approach Leia with ulterior motives. "Hah! So, people can live a carefree life after hooking up with a rich, young lady? Isn't that just like what Shirley did? After she hooked up with you, she was always promoted and supported." Santiago snorted. "How hypocritical. I don't even want to argue with you about this."The pot was steaming, and the fried mudfish was finally done. There were some pickles and chili too. It was a sour and spicy meal, which Leia liked.Xavier wanted to say more but Santiago left the kitchen, carrying the freshly-cooked meal. Xavier was left alone in the kitchen, crying because of the smoke.He had lost this round. "Food is ready. Let's eat!" Santiago called out politely.Leia came to the table absently, looking dazed. She tried her best to force a smile but failed. Santiago noticed that something was troubling her, so he put
Adam looked stunned, and immediately tried to persuade Leia, "Oh no, please don't. We'll stop pairing you guys up. After all, Santi doesn't like it either. We're just joking. Don't leave." He was trying to imply that the others were responsible for trying to put Santiago and Leia together, hoping that Xavier would stop glaring at him."It's not because of that..." Leia looked at Adam apologetically. "It's my personal reason that I must return to Beach City. I'm still very interested in this show, and I'll be honored if people see me and Santiago as a couple. It's more than I can wish for. Of course, I'm not scared.""Hmph, how superficial!" Xavier said suddenly, gulping down his wine.Adam averted his gaze when he saw that Leia had made up her mind. He added, "How about this? If you're busy, you may leave. But I happen to have a dating variety show coming up soon. Can I invite you and Santiago to be on it as guests?""Sure!" Leia agreed to it immediately for the sake of shooting
Xavier lifted his chin and said arrogantly, "I'm her boyfriend." When he made that statement, everyone was in an uproar. It was shocking to see a big shot of the entertainment circle admit to a relationship so openly.Leia was confused. She didn't expect that he would reveal this, and snarled at him angrily, "Xavier, are you out of your mind?" Why did he announce their relationship to others at that moment? He even did it before her idol. He merely wanted to stop her from dating her idol. Damn it, how could he do such a cruel thing? She could not accept it at all!"Did I say something wrong? We're indeed a couple. If not, why would we sleep in the same bed in the same room the first day we got here? I think anyone with a brain would get the idea." Xavier smirked, happy that Leia was so affected by him. At least she wasn't fawning over Santiago, and was focusing on him. "I..." Naturally, Leia was at a loss for words. She knew that people would scold her regardless of what she sa
"Umm… Is the person you're talking about... that scumbag Stefan?" Leia asked carefully.Renee smiled bitterly and answered, "Who else could it be?"Leia frowned contemplatively, wondering if she should tell Renee the truth. Stefan was the most suspicious person in this accident because of his history with Quinton, Shirley's statement, and connections. However, Leia didn't have concrete evidence, so she couldn't accuse Stefan of it. Besides, it would only make matters worse by hinting at it; if both parties involved got into a fight again, they would all suffer great losses.But… What if he did something bad again?"Ren, you know how shrewd Stefan is. I think you'd better not trust him too much…" Leia said finally, hoping Renee would pick up on the hint."Yeah, I know. There are too many obstacles between us. Quinton's accident is enough for us to be enemies forever, so I don't want to have anything to do with him. I just want to thank him for helping with this surgery." Renee glan
"Do you want to leave?" Stefan saw Renee. He was calm, indifferent, and distant. His behavior stung Renee. Renee could easily recall their lovey-dovey memories. They had both risked their lives for each other and vowed to be together forever. They had two children, too. Yet, they ended up as strangers.Although Renee was heartbroken, she became competitive. She smoothed her hair and said in a similarly cold manner, "I'm going to the washroom." "Okay." Stefan did not have anything to say. He nodded and walked past Renee before heading to the dining table. "Hmph! I didn't expect you to come so boldly," Quinton sneered.At the sight of Stefan, Quinton subconsciously clenched his fists, acting like he was about to fight Stefan. On the surface, he wouldn't act aggressively because he knew Renee would stop him. "It's not easy for the few great families to get together. It's good and meaningful for us. If I refused to come, it would make me seem heartless."Stefan kept his co
Having said that, Renee lowered her head, about to leave. She didn't even have the time to bother about Adie and Abby, and told Quinton to take them home later. Her strange behavior filled Quinton with displeasure. He blocked Renee and said solemnly, "Are you afraid? Do you want to run away? People might think that you're guilty and have cheated on your husband!""No, I'm not!" Renee refuted him loudly, then explained seriously, "I'm busy. I need to handle something right away. Plus, I'm not guilty. I did nothing wrong. There's no reason for me to feel guilty." Quinton went straight to the point. "What are you afraid of since you know you're not guilty? Why do you want to run away? He should be afraid instead!""I told you. I'm not afraid of him. I'm just…" "What?" Quinton crossed his arms and looked at Renee coldly. He wanted to get to the bottom of it.Renee came up with a ridiculous yet normal excuse. "I… I recalled that the dessert shop that I want to head to is about to
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