"Yes, she's here." Eloise pulled Renee to the balcony. She wasn't worried that Renee would try to escape or expose her true identity to Jovan; she would have done that long ago if she really wanted to."Where is she?" Jovan asked Eloise eagerly."She's sitting in front of you. Just take your time and talk to her..." Eloise patiently explained.There were two lounge chairs and a small tea table on the balcony. Both Jovan and Renee sat across from each other, tea and fruits on the table between them."Please leave us alone, Elly," Jovan ordered Eloise, who was standing nearby."Just ignore me, Mr. Hunt. I won't disturb you." Eloise wasn't worried about Renee, but she was scared Jovan might realize something, given how smart he was. Letting them meet was already very risky."It's not about whether you'll disturb me or not, I'm just not used to having a third person around if I'm going to chat with someone.""But...""Are you going to disobey me?" Jovan's tone was calm but menacing
Renee's tone was melancholy."Why do you want to sell your most important organ then? You can earn money through other ways, you know. You don't have to do something like this that will ruin your life." Jovan frowned, looking confused.Renee smiled then said solemnly, "It's because I think poverty is more horrible than having one's soul trapped. The worst that could happen if I lose my sight is that I'd feel bored, but poverty can actually kill people!""How much do you need? I can give you the money, then you don't have to sell your eyes to me," Jovan said suddenly."Huh?" Renee's smile froze on her face, and she was caught off guard by his offer."Are you surprised?" Jovan clasped his hands together and said honestly, "I know how it feels since I'm experiencing it. I know how devastating it is to lose your sight, so I don't want anyone to suffer such agony unless they have no other option." Renee cleared her throat and said awkwardly, "I heard that you're pretty aloof, so why
Panicked, Renee pulled her hand back and accidentally knocked over Jovan's cup of coffee."I'm sorry!" Renee hurriedly used a handkerchief to wipe up the spilled coffee, but in her panic, she forgot to modify her voice.Jovan immediately became suspicious and grabbed Renee's wrist. "Who are you?" "Didn't I tell you, Mr. Hunt? I'm Brisa Stone! Don't get handsy with me—I'm just selling my eyes, not my body!" Renee said teasingly as she tried to pull away, knowing she had to stay calm. If she panicked, she would give herself away. "Brisa Stone?" Jovan's gaze was void but his expression was alert. "Is that a name you just made up? Are you really… not my old friend?""Which old friend of yours do you think I am, Mr. Hunt?" Renee calmly asked him."You feel like her..." Jovan frowned contemplatively, then shook his head. "But it's impossible. She should be spending happy days with the one she cares about now. She wouldn't remember a useless man like me." "Don't say that." Renee fel
"I would have come to you ages ago if I was, Mr. Hunt. I don't think your friend would hide her identity," Renee lied, her heart pounding in her chest."No, she might. That's why I dare to hope that... maybe you're her.""You're overthinking—I'm not her. Plus, I'm willing to give up my eyes for money. What would your old friend want if she gave up her eyes for you?" "She..." Jovan trailed off, not knowing how to respond. Renee had children, a successful business, as well as countless possibilities with Stefan. There was no way she would give up her wonderful life to save a villain like Jovan. His expression turned cold again, and he muttered, "Go then; we'll meet again the day after tomorrow. After the surgery, you can tell me how much you want. I'll be responsible for you and your family.""Thank you, Mr. Hunt. I won't have to worry anymore thanks to you." Renee casually patted Jovan's chest and left the balcony.Meanwhile, Eloise was wringing her hands and pacing worriedly down
Renee felt her heart skip a beat, and then her phone suddenly started to ring. It was Stefan calling, and after hesitating briefly, she answered the phone. "Finally! I thought you were dead!" Stefan bellowed through the phone, seething with anger.Renee winced and put her phone away from her ear. "Why did you call me? Are we that close?""No, we're not close..." Stefan chuckled, then said smugly, "We're just friends who slept with each other once. You're right, I shouldn't be acting like a busybody." "Clearly, you have nothing else better to do." Blushing, Renee snapped, "Tell me why you called, or I'm going to hang up.""Wait!" Stefan blurted out, then quickly asked, "Where are you now? Who are you with? Are you safe?" "How is that any of your business? All you need to know is that I'm safe. If I wasn't, I wouldn't have the time to speak to you on the phone, would I?" Renee tried to speak calmly to eliminate Stefan's doubts. "Really?" Stefan was naturally cautious, so he di
Renee wondered why she had poked her nose into Stefan's business. Stefan and Seraphina were childhood sweethearts who loved each other and were going to get married soon, and if they started fighting because of Renee's call, Renee would be a certified homewrecker. She didn't want to ruin someone else's marriage.Meanwhile, Stefan was staring at his phone with a complicated expression. Sitting beside him in the CEO's office of Hunt Enterprise was an expert hacker Elijah had spent a fortune to hire, and Elijah himself."Did you find her?" Stefan asked the young man who was typing vigorously on his laptop."Yes!" The young man adjusted his glasses, his face alight with excitement. "Ms. Everheart's current location is in a forest eighty kilometers away from Beach City based on the signal transmitted by her phone." He quickly gave Stefan the specific coordinates, including the latitude and longitude of her location.Elijah looked up the coordinates online, but when the search results
Seraphina skipped to Stefan cheerfully, carrying a thermos. She unscrewed the thermos, filling the office with the rich smell of the soup, and said, "I made you chicken soup. It'll be good for your stomach, since you have gastritis. You should hurry up and drink it.""Wow, it smells so nice, Ms. Murphy! I didn't expect you to be so good at cooking," Elijah praised Seraphina from where he was.Stefan flipped through a contract aloofly as he sat at his desk. Without lifting his head, he said to Elijah coolly, "Drink it yourself if you think it smells so good." Seraphina gritted her teeth at Stefan's cold tone as she poured the soup for him. However, Elijah was no fool. He immediately waved his hand and refused, "No, I wouldn't dare to. This is what Ms. Murphy made for you, Mr. Hunt, so who am I to drink it? I'll just have some water." Seraphina inhaled deeply to calm herself, then turned to Elijah with a fake smile. "It's alright; I can pour you a bowl if you want, Mr. Young.""
Stefan raised his brows but didn't persist. "Forget it—I'm sure I'll find out whatever you all are hiding from me eventually. I believe in Owen's skills." Clang! The thermos suddenly fell from Seraphina's hand, and she screamed as the hot soup splashed onto her hand. "Ah, it hurts!""Are you okay?" Stefan immediately put down the document in his hands and went to Seraphina."It's okay, it's just a slight burn." Seraphina tried to brush it off, but she looked like she was in pain. "Let me have a look." Stefan took Seraphina's hand and leaned down to study it. When he saw that the back of her hand was red and burned, he frowned deeply. "Take her to the medical room and tend to this, Elijah.""No, it's fine. I'm really okay..." Seraphina trailed off as she looked at the soup that had spilled all over the floor. "But it's a pity… I spent the whole afternoon making this soup for you, and now the carpet's dirty too." "The soup can be made again and the carpet can be cleaned, but I'd
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