The person standing before him was none other than Adie's scumbag daddy.Ugh... but it seemed like he wasn't really a scumbag at all."Why aren't you answering?" Stefan studied Adie intently, then his features relaxed. "Oh, I know. You haven't learned how to talk, have you?"Rolling his eyes, Adie thought, 'Well, there's definitely something wrong with his brain. No wonder he needs surgery. I'm almost five years old, so how can he think that I still can't talk?'"You shouldn't go around alone if you can't talk, or else your parents will be worried..." Stefan reached his hand out to Adie, and ordered softly, "It isn't safe there. Come here." However, Adie glanced at Stefan briefly and ignored him as he bent down and picked up the flowers on the ground."Ah, it seems you're autistic too... You're cute though." Heaving a long sigh, Stefan glanced at Adie compassionately. Although he was usually quite aloof, he had a soft spot for children and furry animals, and would instinctively
"I betrayed her?" Stefan asked in bewilderment, wondering how that statement made sense."Adie!" A voice called out, and Adie turned around to see Justin waving at him."Coming!" Adie grinned when he saw Justin and ran towards him, leaving Stefan standing there in confusion."Didn't your mommy tell you not to talk to bad guys? Stay far away from him." Justin rested a hand on Adie's head and glared at Stefan. He had heard from Renee that Stefan had lost his memories of the twins too, so Stefan had no idea that Adie was his son. Renee had begged Justin to pretend to be Adie and Abby's father to avoid trouble, so Justin purposely tried to sound like he was Adie's father.As expected, Stefan got the wrong idea, and his gaze turned cold as he scoffed, "I would have stayed away from him if I knew that he was Renee's son. It seems like he's just as dangerous as his mother." After that, Stefan shoved his hands into his pockets and left the garden. He didn't want to admit it, but an unexpla
Seeing how Justin was slowly entering his trap, Adie smiled mysteriously but kept Justin guessing. "You should know my mommy well since you like her so much. Why don't you try to guess?""You want me to guess?" Rubbing his chin, Justin nodded contemplatively. "I guess the thing your mommy needs the most is the sincerity of an excellent man like me. It's the reason why I've appeared in her life, because I'm just the thing she needs." "Ugh!" Adie pretended to vomit and complained, "You're so cheesy, Mr. Baldwin; no wonder my mommy doesn't like you. You say you're sincere but isn't that just an empty promise? You should let your actions do the talking.""Haha! You're so young. Do you even know what empty promises are?" "Yes, I do. Empty promises are promises that are never kept while sincerity is the exact opposite." Adie narrowed his eyes at Justin. " Do you want to make empty promises or let your actions speak for you?""Okay, stop beating around the bush. Just tell me what you w
"Huh?" Renee looked confused. "Benefactor, please come in." Adie beckoned Justin in with a finger and said seriously, "I've already discussed it with Mr. Baldwin, Mommy. He'll give you money instead of making you empty promises from now on. Just give him a figure, and you won't have to work so hard anymore.""What?" Renee's jaw dropped, and she stared at Adie in disbelief. What had the little troublemaker done now?However, Justin walked to Renee's bed and nodded sincerely. "Adie's right—I've never really done anything for you. Please let me do something for you now by giving you money, after all... it's pretty much the only thing I have."Renee massaged her aching temples and grumbled, "Stop being unreasonable.""No, I'm being serious. I want to give you money." Justin wanted to show Renee how deep his feelings for her were. He would have banked the money directly into her account if he could. Helpless, Renee said to Justin, "Don't take Adie's nonsense seriously. Plus, I have
Justin only said that because he had noticed bad things happening to his family ever since he started cooperating with the Everhearts. Most of them were attacks on their finances, like Justin's business partner abruptly withdrawing their funds, one of their factories catching fire, and the higher-ups finding fault with him for no reason. However, there had also been physical attacks directed at Justin and Quinton.Quinton found a man-made bomb under his car the day before, and Justin realized that his car brakes had been tampered with when he started his car. Quinton hadn't told Renee about all this because he didn't want her to worry, but Justin felt that she should be aware of just how serious the situation was."That's why I think someone might have caused your fall!" Justin said urgently.Renee clenched her fists and inhaled deeply. "Okay, I'll be careful. Quinton and I just got some time off, and there are already people getting restless." "So, what's your plan now? Do you
Stefan neither admitted nor denied it because he didn't want too many people knowing about it."If you really want to have the surgery... you should remind your surgeon to be careful because someone is trying to plot against him," Renee said carefully, unsure if what Adie had heard was true or not.Stefan stared at her sharply. "What do you know?""Nothing, I… I just feel that people like us should be careful since we've got so many enemies.""Enemies?" Stefan's frown deepened as he asked, "Did you get into trouble?""I'm safe. Plus, those people can't do anything to me," Renee said confidently. She was the world's top killer, so anyone wanting to mess with her was looking for trouble. Even though she was still recovering, she could definitely handle them."You're very sure of yourself, but you have to be careful too," Stefan reminded her gently."You too. Be careful," Renee echoed. It felt like a silent confession of love, a promise that they would both meet again after the sto
Smiling, Billy explained to everyone, "Relax—it is what it is. When we're on the island, the eight guests will be divided into four teams by drawing lots. It's time to see who you're destined to be with... People who get balls of the same colour will be on the same team… That's what 'In The Same Boat' is."The atmosphere became silent. After a while, Skylar complained, "That's so dumb! What if two men or two women get paired up?"Scratching his head, Billy grinned eagerly. "There's nothing wrong with that. After all, our show is called The Choice of Love, so it doesn't always have to be a same-sex couple. People could even become great friends here! The possibilities are endless.""It's obvious that they're trying their best to get viewers, but I'm looking forward to it. We should just try to have a good time while we're here." Leia was quite eager."Yeah, that's right! I don't care who I get paired with, but I'll surely fall for Miss Osborne if I get a cute partner like her." Me
"Damn, enemies really are destined to meet!" Leia groaned when she realized Xavier and her had both picked red balls. Just when she wanted to get away from Xavier, destiny decided to mess with her. If this had been one of his schemes, she would have refused, but it genuinely was a random result. She would only look pretentious and spoiled if she made a fuss, so she resigned herself to silent fuming. "Well, fate has spoken! You can't say no." Smiling victoriously, Xavier tapped Leia's ball with his. "Hello, my boat partner." "Watch it, or I might just kick you off the boat when we're in the middle of the sea," Leia growled under her breath."It's okay, I can catch up to you even if you do. You may not know it but I was once the champion of freestyle swimming," Xavier boasted, completely unbothered by Leia's aloofness. He firmly believed that the law of the jungle was the truth, and would do everything in his power to win. To him, his love for Leia was more important than his dignit
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