Cecil was only half asleep and was quickly awakened by the sudden movement.She immediately caught a hint of the familiar scent of cologne, which helped her identify the person.Uncle Cleo?Why had he suddenly charged into the room to kiss her?She was thrown off, and before she could even react, she heard Cleo’s raspy voice followed by the heat of his breath beating on her skin. “Amelia…”She felt herself tense up at the name.The accompanying smell of alcohol helped her decipher the situation swiftly.Cleo was drunk and mistakenly thought she was Amelia.While she was still processing it, she felt Cleo’s hand creeping downward.She started to panic upon realizing what was happening. She reached for his hands to stop him while attempting to push him away.“Uncle Cleo, you’ve got the wrong person! It’s Cecil!” she cried out frantically.Cleo must have been too drunk to understand what she was saying. If anything, he seemed to have become more excited by her actions.He ki
There was a wave of controversy on the internet about a certain artist plagiarizing from another fellow artist.The artists in question were none other than Cecil and Amelia, who were holding an exhibition on the same day.Cecil looked at the illustrations made by the netizens on her phone. It was a side-by-side comparison of two similar paintings, along with a reference that indicated how similar the composition and color chart were.It did not take long before the topic “Cecil Miller is an imposter” became viral and went to the top of the trending topic list.Her friends crowded around her, all of them as anxious as the other.“How could they accuse you of plagiarism? The shirt you are wearing in this picture is from our high school! Are they stupid?”“That's right! This is Cecil herself! We can vouch for you!““Amelia is the one who is plagiarizing your art. How shameless!”Cecil stayed calm and rational the entire time. The first thing she did was rush back home to coll
He did not pick up the first time.He did not pick up the second time either.Cecil called again and again, and it was only at the ninth call that Cleo finally picked up.She could hear his heavy, rhythmical breathing from the other end of the phone. She suddenly recalled a similar incident when she was in high school and was also accused of plagiarism. At the time, she felt ostracized and helpless, and that was when she decided to call him for help.He had assured her immediately after picking up the call, “Don’t worry, I have your back.”But now, she was the one who started the dialogue with a swift accusation, “Were you the one who gave Amelia my first draft?”Cleo confessed without a second thought.“I did.”The response from Cecil was a long, heaving sigh.“Why did you do it?”After a brief silence, Cleo answered.“That painting should have never existed in the first place, especially not with your name attached to it. What part of this don’t you understand?”So th
After Cecil was done, she dragged her exhausted body back home.Cleo got home before her and was sitting on the couch in the living room. He called out after her as soon as he saw her.“Stop!“Why were you working in a place like that? Don’t I give you enough money already?”Cecil braced an arm against the doorway while she changed her shoe. “I’m bored at home, there’s nothing to do, and I figured I should experience other dimensions of society.”Cleo’s anger seemed to have visibly deflated, but his tone was still very icy.“You’re not allowed to go to places like that again in the future.”Cecil was not going to go anymore anyway.She nodded faintly, then went back upstairs with her head down.Over the next few days, Cleo was rarely home at all.If anything, Amelia was the one who constantly bombarded Cecil with pictures.Pictures of rings, their wedding shoots, giant bouquets. Every picture was filled with joy and enthusiasm for their upcoming wedding.Cecil did not r
The broadcast system at Augen Airport announced the arrival of a certain passenger flight.From a distance, Cecil could see Aunt Dianne and her family waving fervently in her direction.She went up to them, and when she saw three sets of radiant smiles greeting her, all of the pent-up gloom inside her vanished instantly.“Aunt Dianne, Uncle Jonathan, Reya!”This was the first time ten-year-old Reya Vilberg was meeting her cousin. She had heard Dianne talking about how pleasant Cecil was, so she threw herself into Cecil’s arms the moment they met.“Hello, Cecil! Are you tired from the flight? Let me massage you!”Jonathan went to collect Cecil’s luggage while Reya began to massage Cecil’s legs with her plump, fleshy fingers.Cecil felt like she was going to melt at the sight of her adorable cousin. She hoisted the little girl in her arms in one swift gesture.“It’s fine, I’m not tired. You must be the one tired since you’ve been waiting for two hours!”“I wouldn’t be tired
Cleo heard voices coming from the hotel room while in the shower.“Did anyone call just now?” he casually asked as he dried his hair.Amelia suddenly grew nervous and brushed it off quickly.“It was just a scam call. I just told them off before I hung up, that’s all.”Cleo nodded and did not think much of it. He grabbed the clothes on the couch to put them on.At his gesture, Amelia felt her heart lurch in her throat. She reached forward and grabbed his hand.“Our wedding is in two days. Aren’t you going to stay with me tonight?”A look of irritation appeared in Cleo’s eyes as he dismissed her.“I told you from the beginning that this is all just an act. Is there anything you don’t understand about a contractual marriage? Let go of me!”Amelia was taken aback at the sudden change in his demeanor and quickly pulled away.“I understand. I'm sorry, Mr. Emerson.”After getting changed, Cleo grabbed his phone and left right away.He got into the car and instructed the driver
The candle that spelled out the number 21 had burned out.The icing of the cake had melted and dripped down the surface of the table. It eventually caked all over the gift box underneath it.There was also a bank card set on top of the box. It was Cleo who had given it to Cecil when she moved into the Emersons’ residence.There was another card pinned underneath. The design of the card indicated that it was meant to be a birthday card, and there was a line of text written on the card in familiar handwriting.The first sentence alone was enough to make Cleo clench his teeth in anger.After he read the rest of its contents, he had become so infuriated that he was laughing. His cynical voice was filled with spite at this point.“So this is the first thing you do as soon as you turn twenty-one!! Wonderful! How wonderful!”He looked at the red box containing the wedding gift Cecil had gotten for him with a searing look in his eyes.Then, he grabbed the box and smashed it into
Vinland?If memory served him correctly, Cecil's aunt, Dianne, had migrated to Vinland.Suddenly, he thought about the phone call roughly half a month ago at the banquet.He recalled the look of horror that flashed across Cecil’s face at the time and began to feel like he was close to deducing what happened.All the accumulated worry, anxiety, horror, and severe pain he had gone through had instantly turned into anger.He took the bank card and held it firmly in his palm before walking out angrily.His secretary followed behind him and asked cautiously.“Sir, where are you going?”Cleo frowned and hissed out the words between his teeth.“Vinland.”At Cleo’s words, his secretary quickly booked the earliest flight to Vinland.Cleo never got any shut-eye throughout the entire flight.His mind was in disarray. Countless scenes flashed across his mind, mingled with all kinds of conflicting feelings.When he was playing with six-year-old Cecil in the park, he remembered being
Although the Wrights were not part of the business elite in the city, they did pretty well for themselves, owing to their influence as intellectuals.In the present generation, Amelia was the only heir of the family. The family had raised her with class and invested many resources so that she could one day secure a good future for the family.That was also why the family had specifically employed the most famous painter in the country to give Amelia painting lessons ever since she was a child. She managed to make a reputation for herself in the industry by leveraging her title as the direct disciple of the famous painter Gregory Armstrong.It was through Gregory that she came to know Cleo.When the news of their marriage broke, her family was overjoyed at the prospect of the increase of their social status.It only took a month for their hopes to be dashed by the news of Amelia getting kicked out of the house. The news went viral all over the city.The Wrights reacted as well
After the opening ceremony ended, Cecil walked with Aunt Dianne’s family out of the university before heading back inside by herself.As soon as she went past the entrance, she looked up and was greeted by a familiar pair of eyes.Ever since she moved on from Cleo, she would be filled with a strange sense of guilt whenever she saw him. She could not explain why she felt that way.It was the same kind of feeling she had when she was caught stealing her mother’s necklace and then gave it to a classmate in the past.Was the source of it a kind of reverence for the elders?Now that they were right in front of each other, she could no longer pretend that she had not noticed him. She greeted him politely.“What brings you here, Uncle Cleo?”Cleo felt another stab of pain in his heart when he noticed the way she was avoiding his eyes.Despite that, he forced himself to suppress the raging emotions and remain as calm as he could.“I came to see the opening ceremony.”Cecil nodded
Ever since finding out that Cecil had not run away from home but had moved abroad instead, the housekeeper's brows had been permanently furrowed.In the past, whenever any staff member in the house made a mistake, Cecil would be there to defend them.Without her around, there was nobody to shield them from Cleo’s wrath, regardless of how minor the mistake was.With Cecil gone, everyone working in the household had to suffer as a consequence.For some reason, not only was Cleo very grumpy the past few days, but he was also prone to picking out any flaws.When the chef did not make porridge in the morning, it looked like he was going to lose his temper. The chef frantically ran into the kitchen to make the porridge while muttering to himself. Cleo had never been fond of porridge, and since Cecil was not around anymore, what was the problem with making soup?Then, when the gardener pruned two of the trees in the yard, Cleo immediately deducted two months' worth of his salary.
After Cleo landed in his home country, the secretary whose resignation letter had been overturned came to the airport to pick him up.After the traumatic incident, she learned a valuable lesson and told herself that she would dedicate herself fully to her work. She had to serve her boss and the woman who had saved her career.Over the last two days, she received countless messages on her phone asking about the foiled wedding. The entire time, she wisely kept her mouth shut and never revealed any confidential information to anyone.Now that the boss was back, she felt like the pressure was finally lifted off her shoulders, and she was in a relatively better mood.The only problem was that Mr. Emerson, on the other hand, did not seem to be in a very good mood. She conveyed her report more mildly.“Sir, the wedding has been canceled, yet Miss Wright refuses to drop the matter. She brought her belongings into the villa last night and insisted on moving into the room Miss Miller
Dianne did not speak. All she did was stare at Cleo.Cleo was starting to sweat from the intensity of her gaze.He was beginning to wonder if Dianne did not hear him and was about to repeat the question when Dianne finally spoke.“Cecil told me you were going to get married today. Why are you in Vinland? Why isn’t the groom at his wedding?”She spoke in a relatively calm manner, but it still affected Cleo significantly.Put under the intent focus of her interrogation, his sense of reason suddenly came back to him.“The wedding is canceled.”“Why was it canceled? Was it so you could come to see Cecil? Does your father know about this?”Dianne did not give him any breathing room and barraged him with her questions. Cleo felt like he was getting pummeled with the constant attacks.It was only after a few minutes of silence that he finally strained a reply."I canceled it before I came here. It has nothing to do with Cecil. I was just worried about her being all alone and figured
After Cecil left with Reya, Cleo sat all by himself in the private room until it was dark outside.It was only when the waiter entered and politely told him that they were closing for the night and that he had to pay for the damages that he came to. He settled the bill and walked out of the restaurant, still feeling beside himself.Streetlights lined the road and illuminated the street at night.When he turned on his phone, he saw more than a hundred missed calls and unread messages.Some of them were from Amelia, others a combination of messages from his parents, friends, and even the host.The host?Oh, right. It was his wedding today. He had completely forgotten about it.Still, it did not matter anyway.The wedding was a sham. It was an agreement he made with Amelia to get Cecil to give up on any romantic ideas about him.Now that he got what he wanted without even having to put in any effort, there was no need to keep up the song and dance anymore.He thought about h
Dianne wondered if they had run into Cleo that day. It would explain why they got home so late.She was surprised but could not help herself from asking more questions.Soon, Reya told her everything that had happened that afternoon.When she talked about how Cecil almost drowned, Dianne was horrified.Then, Reya began to recount the conversation between Cecil and Cleo at lunch. She could not remember everything they said, but she managed to quote several phrases they mentioned and mimicked the way Cleo looked when he spoke.“When Uncle Cleo asked Cecil if she really did not want to see him again, it looked like he was about to cry. “Then he said something about how he was only ten years older and that they were not related by blood. After that, Cecil wished him a happy wedding, and that was when Uncle Cleo flipped the table! It was so scary!”Reya had not meant anything by it since she was a child, but Dianne managed to connect the dots.She had always found it strange that
“All things considered, none of the resentment between us matters anyway. She is going to spend the rest of her life with you, and I will never have to see her again.”Every word she spoke jabbed at Cleo's heart like the tip of a knife. He was having trouble catching his breath.There was a sorrowful look in his eyes, and his voice was wrought with pain.“What about me? Don’t you want to see me again?”“Why wouldn’t I want to see you again?”If her previous sentence was a sort of tranquilizer, the following remark came across as a poisonous dart.“After all, you were the one who raised me. I will make sure to send you a greeting during the holiday season, Uncle Cleo.”She spoke in a very respectful manner.Cleo scrutinized every part of her expression and realized he could no longer spot any mark of devotion.She had simply come to regard him as an elder and nothing more.It was a foregone conclusion by this point. Whatever hope was left inside him had been completely vanquis
Cecil tried to come up with an excuse to leave after changing out of her wet clothes. That was when Reya mentioned she was hungry.Cleo carried her in his arms and went straight to the restaurant without another word.Cecil had no choice but to trail after them.As soon as the three of them sat down, Cleo's phone started to ring.He took his phone and looked at the display briefly before hanging up.Cecil read the display from the corner of her eye. It was Amelia.That was when she suddenly recalled something important. Just as she was about to ask a question, another call came again.This time, Cleo activated the flight mode setting on his phone.He had done it so promptly that Cecil was taken aback by it.Two minutes later, it was Cecil’s phone that started ringing. It was an international call.As soon as she answered, she was greeted by a series of angry outbursts.“Cecil! You damned fox, where did you take Cleo?”“How did you get my number?”Cleo was seated close