"What do you think?" Leia looked dispirited. "I thought you couldn't make up your mind and were a ladies' man, but now I see that you're really a passionate and loyal man. Shirley is the only woman you ever cared about, and I was just a clown for you to make a fool of!" It wasn't easy for Leia to say those things about herself, but it was the reality she had to face. The fact that she could say those things now made her happy—it meant she was moving on. "You really see me as a despicable person." Xavier's expression turned frigid. "No, you're not. I said that you're loyal and passionate. Isn't that the best possible compliment for a man?" Leia argued, unsure why he was so dissatisfied. "Why are you trying to forget the love we had?" Xavier ignored all propriety and grabbed Leia's wrist, staring at her desperately. "Look at me… Didn't you ever notice my feelings for you when we were together?" "What are you doing? Let go of me! We're in public, and people are looking at us!" Lei
Leia was silent for a while, then decided to be honest with herself and nodded. "Yeah, I hate that you can't make up your mind. I don't care what others think—to me, love is exclusive. If we're a couple, your body and mind should only belong to me!" She knew that Xavier was physically loyal to her when they were a couple, but she didn't know if his heart had been hers entirely. "Do you remember the one question I asked you repeatedly before we became a couple?" Leia watched Xavier, her eyes watery. "I asked you if you were sure that you had moved on completely and if you truly only cared about me. You hesitated at that moment, and that was when I knew. Maybe that was the beginning of this tragedy." Back then, she had been infatuated with Xavier's good looks and just wanted to have some fun. If things went wrong, they could break up and go their separate ways. Unexpectedly, her spontaneous fling turned into infatuation, and it hurt more than when she broke up with her scumbag first love
Leia felt like a clown performing for everyone's entertainment. Humiliated and awkward, she kept her head lowered as she walked toward the entrance of the hall.However, Xavier kept looking for her onstage. Finally, he shouted, "Leia!" Immediately, everyone turned to look at Leia. Leia was struck dumb. She could neither leave nor turn around, and cursed inwardly. "A wedding proposal is a very important affair to me—it means that I'll give up every other woman and focus on only one. I don't know if I can be loyal forever, but I still want to try. So… can you please not go?" Xavier said sincerely as he stared at Leia's back. Leia's cheeks burned and she covered her face in embarrassment. That jerk! He could have just proposed to Shirley, but he insisted on humiliating Leia like this. Did he think she was a pushover? When Leia didn't move, Xavier became more confident. He smoothed his tie and straightened, then got off the stage. "Xavier!" Shirley knew what was going to happe
Undeniably, Shirley had raised Xavier's biggest concern. He knew what kind of person he was; If he acted on a whim and hurt Leia, he wouldn't be able to bear it. Time passed, and everyone was waiting for Xavier's next move... But in the end, he didn't say a thing."What a coward!" Having lost her patience, Leia swung open the door and left. She went to the washroom and splashed some cold water on her face. She looked at herself in the mirror, angry at the emotions in her eyes. She slapped herself fiercely. "You're a fool, Leia Osborne! You fall for the same trap over and over again!" After calming herself down, she turned around and exited the washroom.A familiar figure was standing outside, and he smiled gently at her. "Lei, it's been a while."When Leia saw the man, her eyes widened in delight. "Mr. Dalton, you... you're finally back! That's great!" Previously, their relationship had been progressing towards something more than friends, but she hadn't paid attention to it because
Leia felt much better after hearing that. She checked the time and was disappointed to see that the ceremony was far from over. If she left now, she would seem like a coward… but she needed some courage to return to the hall. She wrung her hands, wondering if she should stay or leave."What's troubling you?" Santiago instantly noticed Leia's anxiousness and said softly, "Tell me if you need my help.""Ah, it's nothing. You don't have to worry about my petty problems," Leia waved him off and said casually. She knew that she was a fool in love, and she was too embarrassed to tell Santiago about it. Besides, he had once told her that Xavier was unreliable, and yet, she was still letting Xavier mess with her head. It would be embarrassing to bring it up again."What do you mean by people who don't deserve it?" Santiago lowered his head, looking like he was trying to suppress his emotions. "You know, I thought I wouldn't come back here so soon. I've been working at The Footstars for the
Santiago stared at Leia intently, and the atmosphere became tense. "What?" Leia never expected the solemn and calm Santiago to ask her something like that, and her cheeks turned red like a girl who had just fallen in love."You don't have to be shy. I'm not asking you to make me your man. I'm just curious about my position in your heart." Santiago tried to lighten the atmosphere so Leia wouldn't feel awkward."Oh, I see..." Leia's features instantly relaxed and she scratched her hair as she thought about it. "You don't have to doubt it, Mr. Dalton. Surely, you're still my first love! You might not understand it, but a first love is something special. You'll always have that position in my heart!""Does that mean that I'll always be your first love?" Santiago got closer to her, feeling moved. A lot of his fans loved him, but it pleased him to no end knowing that he was Leia's first love. "Yeah, you always will be!" Leia nodded generously. She would always admire him as his fan.
Meanwhile, Renee had arrived at the place for the children's kindergarten graduation photos. It was a beautiful island, and they needed to ride on speedboats to get there.The children were very excited and could not stop talking during the journey. They happily discussed how to spend their two days and one night there. Adie and Abby had grown up on an island, so this place felt like home to them.Adie held Renee's hand and said confidently, "Mommy, you and Abby should just enjoy yourself. I'll catch some fish and prawns so I can make a seafood feast for you both." "Okay, I look forward to it!" Renee touched Adie's head and said gently. Both Adie and Abby had great survival skills because they had grown up on an island. They were good at swimming and diving, and were probably even better at it than many adults. The kindergarten children and their parents reached the island in batches, and Renee, Adie, and Abby were among the last to arrive. The island was large, and didn't seem t
However, it was too late to regret it. Renee shook her head and decided to stop being pessimistic. "Okay, Adie. You can find food and set up the tent while Abby and I go look for treasures. Let's see if we can nab the mystery prize!""Okay, Mommy. We'll work hard!" Adie carried the fishing tools to the beach to catch some fish and prawns.Renee smiled, her worries fading when she saw how enthusiastic Adie was. Adie had always been a smart kid, and Renee knew he would be fine since he even managed to get to Beach City from Sun Island on his own."Let's go look for treasures, Abby!" Renee watched Adie briefly, then held Abby's hand as they set off to look for the treasures. Based on the map they were given, the treasures were hidden in a small karst cave on the island, and it was quite a hike to get there. Renee squatted down to Abby's level and asked gently, "Are you scared, Abby? If you're scared, you can stay at the campsite and wait for me. I can do this on my own too." Renee was
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
After a long while, Quinton turned around. He looked at Renee, who was across from him, and heaved a long sigh."We're about to go home soon. Why do you look this gloomy? What's wrong…? Are you reluctant to part with this place?" Quinton said. "No, I'm not." Renee poured herself a glass of orange juice and sipped it. She frowned and dwelled on it before she said, "I feel empty inside. I don't know if I made the right choice.""Empty?" Quinton asked curiously."I think I've said goodbye to a steady life since I decided to leave. Maybe I'll keep on wandering from now on," Renee said melancholically. The reason why she chose to give it a try with Justin because she was tired. She was exhausted from leading a wandering life and wanted to settle down with someone. Others could not give her the sense of security like Justin. When she saw him, she inexplicably wanted a home. At that time, she thought she could forget about everything and start a new life with him. Unexpectedly, she
Adie was still a child, but he acted like a smart person and could see through a lot of things. He could guess why Austin took them to the Baldwin residence. He had also heard the servants of the Baldwin family rebuking Renee in secret. After combining various situations, he learned about what had happened between Renee and Justin. Despite everything, Justin could forgive Renee under such circumstances. He also treated Adie and Abby nicely. It proved that he was a very compassionate man. A small regret gripped Adie. He wondered why Renee didn't date Justin right from the start. If Renee were with such a kind man, she might be very happy. She wouldn't have to suffer through so many hardships either. "No, you don't know me. I always sweat the small stuff."Justin was displeased since Adie had claimed that he was a good guy, like Renee had. He heaved a long sigh and said, "But it's useless even if I sweat the small stuff, so I stop trying. It all comes down to fate. We can't forc