Both of them were shocked to see each other.Renee had conflicting emotions regarding her former mother-in-law. On the one hand, Renee hated her, and on the other hand, Renee sympathized with her for having lost two sons in a row.But Francine also had conflicting emotions regarding her former daughter-in-law.From her initial dislike and disgust of Renee, to appreciation, and later on, to hatred—it was enough to write a novel that was millions of words in length!“Good evening, Madam Francine.”Renee swallowed awkwardly and greeted Francine, "Fancy... running into you here.”“Someone told me the light in my son's room was turned on so I rushed over to check, but turns out it's just you...”Francine's eyes were filled with both hatred and sadness, which gradually turned into gloom. She lowered her head and said, "Sure enough, there are no miracles in this world.”Renee was a mother too, so her chest tightened hearing that. She comforted Francine softly, "My condolences. Don't b
Upon seeing Renee's reaction, Francine's eyes brightened. She excitedly pulled Renee's hand and asked, "Did you think of something? Tell me, quick!”“I knew my son wouldn't die so easily. I knew he left clues for you!”Renee shook her head. Her helpless expression seemed sincere. "He didn't leave me any clues, but if even you, his mother, can't be sure if he's dead, then I'm even more uncertain... At least, so far, I've only learned about his death from other people.”“Since you've already chosen a grave for him, surely you must know where his corpse is?”Francine's bloodshot eyes were sad as she said, "Stefan's father said he had an accident and died in the hospital. Apparently, the way he died was horrible. His father was worried that I might not be able to take it if I saw him, so he was cremated overnight. We chose the grave together, but I still don't believe that he's dead. I think they must be planning something in secret, so I turned a blind eye and went along with their ac
But her mouth was still as vile as ever. She kept spouting various unpleasant words, challenging Jovan's patience.Fearing that something more serious was going to happen, Renee immediately stepped forward to stop them. "Jovan, let go of her. She's your aunt. This is disrespectful.”“Hmph, have you ever seen such a cruel aunt? If she doesn't respect me, why should I respect her?...”Jovan had no intention of letting Francine go. His eyes became increasingly cruel, as if they contained decades of accumulated anger. He looked like he was going to break Francine's hand!“This woman is the most arrogant and snobbish woman I've ever seen. In her eyes, everyone else except for her two precious sons is trash. Even though she humiliated me for years, I never thought of getting back at her, but she just had to insult my mother... I'm not venting my anger, I'm teaching her a lesson on my mother's behalf!”“Aah! My hand! You little bastard! You immediately start to retaliate the moment you g
Renee quickly left the villa, giving Jovan and Francine no chance to catch up to her.In her opinion, those two were just as bad as each other. When they get crazy, they were both pretty terrifying. She would leave them alone and keep her distance so that she wouldn't get hurt in the crossfire!Renee returned to the apartment. Her children were already sound asleep.Margaret was not asleep yet. She was organizing the items and materials needed for the two children's first day at school tomorrow.Renee was deeply touched when she saw Margaret still working this late at night.“Margaret, it's already so late. Don't overwork yourself. Go get some rest. I'll take care of it.”Margaret turned around and smiled kindly at Renee. "Ms. Ren, what are you saying? This is just simple work. You, on the other hand, have been working until now. You need to pay attention to your health and not overwork yourself. If you collapse, what will happen to the two children?”“Don't worry, Margaret. I k
“That may be true, but when you need a man, you need a man. For example, when I filled out the enrollment information just now, there was a column that asked for the name and occupation of the children's father. What are we supposed to write there?”The reason why Margaret started nagging Renee again was that she faced a dilemma when she filled out the enrollment information earlier.It made her realize that, be it Renee or the two children, they all needed a man in the house.“Just write “none”. There are plenty of people who lost their spouse or their father in this world, so why can't we be in that situation too?”Renee continued to paint, her mood not affected in the slightest.The moment she decided to divorce Stefan and leave Beach City for Sun Island, she had already anticipated these situations and had accepted them. She did not think it was a big deal.“We can't do that!” Margaret was a bit agitated. "Ms. Ren, you're too carefree. Nowadays, kindergarten teachers treat ch
“He's... he's dead?”Margaret was shocked. She struggled to process the sudden news.How could a person who had everything like him die just like that?!“Yes, he's dead. If I'm not wrong, he probably died because he tried to save me.”Renee spoke with difficulty, her expression heavy.Although Francine believed there was foul play in Stefan's death, Renee still felt responsible.If he didn't hurt his leg trying to save her, his life would not be in danger, and the people who wished to cause him harm would not have an opportunity to take advantage of.“For real?”Margaret found Renee's words hard to believe.Stefan was a heartless beast. He caused Renee a lot of pain. There's no way he would sacrifice himself to save Renee. There must be some sort of misunderstanding.“I'm not sure if it's true either, but from the information I gathered, I might not necessarily be the direct cause of his death, but I do have to bear some responsibility. I feel... a little sad.”Renee lowered
Renee felt much better after Margaret consoled her. She wiped away her tears and commanded herself to stop feeling depressed. She had to stand back up!For the first time in a long time, she slept soundly without any external assistance such as hypnosis or piano.When she woke up, it was already past seven o'clock in the morning.Today, she and Margaret were going to send Aiden and Abigail to the Monte Perry Kindergarten together.Because it was the first day and the two kids were transfer students, there would surely be a lot of procedures they had to go through.Renee decided to get there early.Therefore, she immediately got up from bed.The two kids also woke up one after another.While Renee was thinking about what healthy and delicious breakfast she should make for the kids, the doorbell rang.Renee opened the door and saw the errand runner from the other day.“Hello, Ms. Everheart. Your breakfast is here. Enjoy.”Before Renee could ask any questions, the errand runner
Abigail chewed the cake slowly like a kitten. Then, her big round eyes instantly enlarged and shone bright like stars in the sky. She said excitedly, "Wow, what a delicious cake! It's the most delicious cake I've ever had!”“Really?”Renee and Aiden exchanged glances. They were still afraid to taste the cake due to their trauma.“Adie, why don't you... give it a try too?”Aiden shook his head and said, "Mommy, of course I should let you go first. I'm a filial son after all.”Renee's smile was awkward. "Yes, you sure are.”She slowly picked up a slice of cake and licked it tentatively.Surprisingly, it did not taste as “exciting” as the previous breakfast. In fact, it was quite delicious.Renee quickly finished a slice and immediately started on a second one.Seeing that, Aiden also picked up a slice and tried it out.“It's good. Looks like that guy put in a lot of effort to improve. Not bad, not bad at all.”Aiden nodded while eating. His opinion of Mr. Q improved by ten poi
Justin smiled and described the children's experiences, acting like a stepfather. When he talked about the children, he made it sound like they were his biological children. Stefan didn't look so good. He felt that the glass of wine was getting bitter."Well, I'm sure kids will find everything new and exciting when they go to a new place. But they'll get bored with it when time passes. They'll love their real home better." Stefan had wanted to act relaxed and casual, but he could not stop himself from refuting when he heard Justin's provocative words. "Mm?" Leia sat beside Liam and leaned against his arm, and whispered, "What are they doing? This is weird. Are they going to fight?""It's just a competition between men. They won't get into a fight." Liam kept eating and watching the fun. He merely found it amusing. As expected, Renee was greatly admired. Although she remained silent, she would always be in the limelight. Liam was amused to see people like Stefan or Justin
"How dare you!"Stefan's words instantly made Leia speechless. She had wanted to rebuke him, but he snatched the chance from her and struck her dumb.In short, he was an utter scumbag.After a moment, Leia finally managed to comment, "How shameless!" Justin had kept silent all the while. He looked at Stefan with a scrutinizing and mocking gaze. "Mr. Hunt, I admire your honesty and self-awareness. If that's the case, let's stop being reserved and have fun together!""Yes, let's have fun together. I'm shameless, too!" Liam joined in the effort to mock Stefan. He swayed his glass of wine and faked a smile. "I've known her a long time, so of course I know what shameless things Mr. Hunt has done. I think I'd better grab this chance to tell you all of them since everyone is here today."Standing at the door, Renee was worried that Liam might say more indecent things. She hurriedly stopped him. "Pipe down, Liam!" "Got it." Liam shrugged helplessly but obeyed her.Although he yea
"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