His eyes lit up beneath the mask. Although he was intentionally making these seductive remarks, it didn't seem like he was fooling around. On the contrary, he seemed to mean every word he said.In that instant, Renee was nearly convinced. When their gazes locked, Renee felt a jolt of electricity coursing through her body. She instantly came to her senses and sighed while she shook her head. "Tsk, tsk. Look at you. You're very professional, and you know the right things to say, but… At the end of the day, it's all fake. My ex-husband died. Even if you looked like him, you'd only look like a dead person."The man's stiff lips curved upward. He was smiling playfully. "You seem very sad. You must have loved your ex-husband a lot. Were you devastated by his death?""Not quite!" Renee burped. She then lay down on the couch and looked up at the ceiling. "I just feel… That it happened too suddenly. It's like finding out the author had stopped writing just as you arrived at the most interest
The next day, Renee woke up with a terrible headache. 'Damn, being hungover is awful… I'm too old for this! I shouldn't drink so much next time.'Renee stretched a little, threw her blanket off her, and got out of bed. A flash of yellow caught her eye, and she turned to see a bouquet of sunflowers, her favorite flower, next to her pillow. There was a card beneath it, and she picked it up curiously."Good morning, sunshine. I hope you felt better after last night. You're always welcome to come see me again… XOXO, your confidant."Confidant?!Renee could only remember bits and pieces of last night, but even those few memories made her blush.She knew she had a lot of alcohol, and had a fantastic time with Leia. In the end, Leia paid for a male escort for her, and she happily accepted her friend's gift. They'd kissed, and…Renee's cheeks turned red, and she shook her head vigorously. She didn't dare think about it anymore.She quickly looked down, and upon realizing her clothes wer
Leia gripped Renee's shoulders, staring intently at her. "Unless you forcibly slept with him, what you're worried about couldn't possibly have happened… So tell me, did you sleep with the escort? If you did, I'll probably have to pay him more than seventy thousand!"Renee's cheeks turned red. "I-I don't think so." To be honest, Renee wasn't sure if they slept together or not, but the kiss definitely happened. She knew it because she felt the same way when Stefan kissed her!Despite being in her twenties, Renee had only ever kissed and had sex with one man - Stefan. That's why she wasn't sure… Was that how all kisses felt?"What do you mean?" Leia instantly felt something was amiss. "Did you really sleep with him after getting drunk? If you did, I'll believe you've truly moved on from that scumbag!"Renee had no choice but to come clean. "To tell you the truth, I think we kissed while I was drunk. It felt like I was kissing Stefan—it was so familiar…"Renee stared at her best frien
The moment Renee saw the man's face, she felt a great sense of loss.He was definitely attractive. He had soulful eyes, a pointy nose, sexy lips, and a defined jawline… Everything about him was perfect. Although he looked like Stefan in almost every aspect, he wasn't Stefan. She really had hallucinated him! Renee wanted to laugh.She should be glad that Stefan died because it saved her a lot of trouble. On top of that, she no longer had to worry about her children being taken from her. She probably only hoped he was alive because she was drunk!"Thanks for making me feel better last night. It really helped." Renee smiled politely at Isaac, then turned to Leia. "Let's go.""Huh? Are we leaving already?" Leia asked in surprise. Her friend was so unpredictable sometimes! A second ago, Renee had insisted that the man felt familiar and gave her a sense of security. However, when she was in front of him, she tried to run away. He was almost as handsome as Stefan, so what was the issue
Renee felt warmth bloom in her chest when she saw her son waiting for her. She bent over to hug Aiden, but he took a step back and put his hands on his hips sternly. "Mommy, you didn't come home last night. You misbehaved. Tell me the truth! Where did you go?""Umm, about that…" Renee felt a little awkward and didn't know what to say. She couldn't tell Aiden that she got drunk at a bar and spent money on a man, could she? Aiden would definitely lose all respect for her!"I finished work late, so I spent the night in the office. Sorry for making you worry, Adie." Renee picked up Adie and muttered an excuse, feeling a little guilty. After all, Aiden wasn't exactly gullible. As expected, Aiden took a deep breath before taking a few sniffs. His eyes narrowed suspiciously. "Mommy, you're lying. You reek of alcohol! You went drinking last night, didn't you?"When Leia heard this, she immediately came clean about what had happened. "That's right! I asked your mother out for a drink las
Aiden pouted and said firmly, "From now on, I'll do my best to find Mommy a husband. He'll share Mommy's workload, love her, and protect her!"Renee felt her heart warm when she heard this, and she couldn't resist kissing Aiden's cheek. "Adie, you're the best, but work isn't that tough, and I have you to love and protect me. That's more than enough, so you don't have to find someone for me.""It's different!" Aiden clenched his fists, trying to get his point across. "I'm your son, not your husband. What you need now is a husband, and that's why I need to find you one."Renee stared at Aiden, at a loss for words.Leia burst into laughter, and grinned at Renee. "In my opinion, you should just let Adie find you a man. If he does find you a knight in shining armor, he'd also be finding a father for himself. Wouldn't that be killing two birds with one stone? I'm sure Adie's judgment is better than yours; whoever he chooses can't possibly be any worse than a certain someone, don't you th
Leia wholeheartedly believed that life should be lived to the fullest, without stress or misery. That was all she wanted for her best friend. At the very least, she didn't want Renee to give up on romance at the young age of thirty all because of a selfish scumbag!"Isaac has another performance in a few days, so why don't we go back then and have a good time? Also, I heard that The Blue Inn hires handsome new performers every few days or so. They always fight for the top spot, so if you get bored of Isaac, we can always find you someone else. You know, I think we should try to view relationships the way men do. We should only care about their appearance, and never get emotionally invested. That way, we'll never get hurt, right?"Renee chuckled, her eyes gleaming with mirth. "Leia, what happened to you? In the past, all you talked about was undying love; you'd even pray for a man who loved you with all his heart. How did you come to this sudden realization?""Well, I guess it was wh
The person on the other end of the line was none other than Jovan, the madman who had been making headlines in the business realm as of late.In the past, Renee used to think that he was an idiot who relied on his status in the Hunt family to live a lavish lifestyle. However, after that incident, her impression of the man changed.Anybody who came from a rich family and managed to carve his own path in the cutthroat field of business couldn't possibly be an idiot. In fact, people like him who pretended to be fools were the hardest to deal with!Renee didn't want to waste her time on him, and ended the call without saying a word.As usual, she browsed financial websites to check the latest financial news.To her surprise, Stefan, who used to be the business circle's favorite subject, was now the person everyone hated. Comments like 'Hunt Enterprise's CEO, Stefan Hunt, is suspected to be dead. What lies ahead for Hunt Enterprise?', 'Mr. Hunt is having a good time out there while Hun
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