All the pain, the excruciating pain. All the blood and close-to-death experience could not erase him from her heart.For the past year, she had lied and told herself countless times that she thought that she really did not love him anymore.She told herself over and over again that a man as selfish as Carson was not worth her love. She told herself that he loved no one but himself. His affection was only for show. She had fallen for it once, and she could not fall for it again.She truly thought that she did not love him anymore to the point that she almost fooled herself.Had it not been for this encounter, had she not returned to the country; if only she did not learn about the past and allowed herself to indulge in his affection….Without those flower pots that came falling upon her, she would never have realized that she had been surrounded by her own lies.She felt as though she had been in a dream where she did not love him. However, when she woke up alone and gazed up at t
Everly refused to look at the tablet, so Austin grabbed her face to force her into looking at it.There was no turning back for him anymore.From the moment he decided not to tell her the truth, there was no turning back for Austin.Though he knew that the Whites merely appeared alright on the outside, he still had to motivate her. Even if he knew that Carson had never stopped loving Everly, Austin simply could not give up.On the flight back to the country, he ordered his secretary, "Make another video for me like last time. Find someone to alter the content to make Oliver appear more miserable. Edit some of the grandest moments of the Whites and compile them all into a video. Send it to me as soon as I get off this flight."Austin remembered the shock on his secretary's face at the time, who responded with a question, "Mister Samberg, what are you going to use that for? I'm going to need an angle to work on that. Aren't we going back to the country now? I feel like it's best for
However, Austin agreed to the Logans' plan back in Strandia. If Austin truly had romantic feelings towards her, why would he agree to their plan?Everly shook her head and told herself to stop overthinking. Austin treated her as a friend and took her away out of pity for her."You are shaking your head? What does that mean? You don't agree with me?" Austin could no longer think properly and could only read her by her expression.Austin's mind was filled with only one thought, 'If Everly intended on getting back together with Carson, then he would have to let go of her.'He took the tablet over again and pointed at it. "Haven't you seen him for what he truly is? Everly, what have the two of you been doing during the days I was gone?"He stared at her, red-eyed, and shouted, "What did he do that got you all wrapped around his fingers?"Everly stared at the video that was on replay and closed her eyes before whispering, "Austin, will you let me be alone for a while?"She needed tim
The boat was in the middle of the lake; she was forced to spin along with it with nowhere for her to run."Everly…"Someone seemed to be calling her name, and the boat started moving steadily toward the voice calling out to her.The boat hit the shore, and she heard his voice."Everly."She got up from the boat and saw him standing by the shore.It was Carson Baxter. It was still him.He reached his hand toward her and with eyes as deep and calm as the ocean, and said, "Come to me."She took his hand and allowed him to help her out of the boat and into the fog where she could not see what was ahead.They walked past flashes of lights. All the scenes from the past, the good and the bad, were hidden within the light. She felt sad.They soon reached the end of the road. She looked away from the light to look at Carson, only to find that he had disappeared from her side without her knowing.She instantly started panicking, but there was nothing she could do. She tried to shout h
Everly understood that Annie was trying to enliven the mood, but there was no possible way she could do so with Austin standing beside her wordlessly. Everly also understood that Austin had helped her on countless occasions and that his feelings must be hurt for being mistaken with Carson when she woke up just now.It was inevitable.Everly opened her eyes and looked at Austin. Without any words, both Austin and her knew what this meant."You are weak right now and I don't want to get angry at you." Austin said while staring at her, "But I hope that you think it through. There are decisions that you can't reverse once they are made."Everly lowered her gaze and nodded. "I understand. Austin… thank you, for everything so far."She paused for a moment to steady herself from the dizziness and continued, "I know you mean well, but my thoughts are all over the place right now… I want to think about everything, so give me some time, okay?"Austin stared for a while until finally noddi
"Carson?" Austin stared at the closed door and said, "Where are you right now? I think… we need to talk."…Under the dimmed light in the private room of the Dawn Bar, Carson sat quietly on the couch with a glass of liquor in his hand. The door to the private room opened, and Austin walked in.Carson's hand froze on the glass for a brief moment, but he did not look up. He hid his face under the shadow cast by the dimmed lighting so that his expression was hardly noticeable.Creak!Austin closed the door but did not walk over immediately. Instead, he stood still and stared at Carson from afar.It had only been a few months since Everly returned to this country. It was merely a short period of time to Austin when he dealt with family issues. However, everything seemed to have changed drastically.For as long as he knew, Carson's status in their community had always been incomparable. Everyone, including Austin himself, had never thought of holding a candle to Carson's status. All
"She hates you!" Austin shouted, "She doesn't even want to have anything to do with you! Do you think that she came back to look for you? You are wrong! She only wants Oliver's custody! She doesn't think anything of you! She remembers all details about how you have hurt her, and no matter what you try, you won't be able to heal your wounds! You will never understand the pain she has suffered through, so there's no hope for you ever to be forgiven by her!"Austin stared at Carson, red-eyed as memories of how Everly behaved earlier appeared in his mind. Instantly, it felt as though his heart was set aflame.'Why? How could she still love Carson after all the things he did to hurt her? What about me, then? Can she not see all the things I've done for her so far? Why doesn't she love me? Am I not worth it?' he thought.Carson was still drinking the liquor, one glass after another, with no apparent change to his expression, while Austin was enraged. He reached out and snatched the glass
It was bucketing down in Cannesville to the point that almost the entire city could sink into water.Following the sound of the keys turning in the door, the door to the Baxter residence was pushed open. Carson stepped into his home, drenched from head to toe."Sir!" The butler hurried over when he heard the noises and was startled when he saw the state Carson was in. He immediately had the servant bring dry towels over while he went over to help Carson. "Sir, what happened to you? Why are you all drenched?"Carson shook his head in silence and continued to walk inside."Here, Sir, dry towels. You need to dry yourself. I've started a bath for you. Get a good hot bath and don't catch a cold!" The servant came back with the dry towel, but Carson ignored him.Instead, he slowly walked through the long corridor and into the screening room at the end. He switched on the projector and sat alone to watch the footage over and over again without a word.The servant and butler could only s
Everly wondered, 'Why does he look so pitiful? Is he going to ask me to be with me as he did before?'Meanwhile, Carson moved his eyes from her to the sunset on the horizon and said, "It's late."She looked across at the sea and the sky. The glorious declining sun gilded the sky.The salty sea wind swept over them.They gazed at the sunset until the fish suddenly struggled and startled Everly.It had been quietly staying in her hand for a while. She had forgotten that she was holding the fish. Thus, she subconsciously let go of the fish and shook Carson's hands off.The fish flopped back into the water and waved its tail to flee away."Oh, no. The fish has escaped. Dad, hurry up and catch it!" Oliver yelled. He had been squatting on the side so as not to disturb his parents. Carson and Oliver then chased after the fish.Everly slowly got up and stood there. The father and the son in white T-shirts were surrounding the big puddle. Everly felt strange while watching them.She wa
She was a little embarrassed. After all, they hadn't been so close to each other for a long time. She felt a bit uncomfortable.So, she found a random topic. "Oliver still hasn't come back?""Maybe he couldn't find the bucket," he said, his chest vibrating. Not knowing how to pick up the conversation, she just looked at him. "Put the fish down," he said again after about three seconds. "But it will slip away," she blurted out. He paused, nodded, and hummed.Actually, she could place it somewhere dry rather than in the water... Then it couldn't slip away...She found herself so stupid. But she couldn't take back her words...She wondered, bit the bullet, and awkwardly held the fish. Should she say anything to defuse the awkward situation?She thought for a moment and asked, "What's your plan? I mean your career.""I haven't laid it out yet," he replied frankly. "I've been working for too long, and it's time to take a break. In the past, I didn't have time to hang
Everly immediately put the crab into the small bucket.At this time, the bucket was filled with many crabs. Oliver looked inside and wore a bright smile."Wow! We got a lot of crabs today! My bucket is almost full!" Oliver said and looked back. When he saw the bucket in his dad's hand, Oliver took it and dumped all the crabs inside his own bucket into it. He then pushed it to Everly and said, "Wow. Aunt Violet caught so many crabs today. You are awesome!"Everly froze. She looked at Oliver's smiling face and understood what he meant.Oliver wanted her to take all the credit for catching those crabs."Oliver...""Aunt Violet! Look over there. There are bubbles coming out of that small hole. Let's go over there. There must be something in there!" As he said, Oliver carried his bucket and a small shovel and trotted over in his slippers. He ran to the hole and exclaimed, "Aunt Violet, come on! It is a big fish!""Go ahead. He likes playing with you," Carson said to Everly when she w
"How do you know if they have contact in private?" The man asked as their car was waiting for a green light. The man's consecutive retorts annoyed Lisa. She looked in the rearview mirror at the man with chill eyes. "What do you mean? Are you trying to deliberately piss me off?" "No." The man replied. Then he paused for a few seconds and changed the subject. "So what are you going to do next?" 'Let Everly crash down to the hell!' During these days all their tactics were covert. They only took some subtle moves to test Carson, to see what was in Carson's mind. Now that Lisa had learned about it, then the next step she was up to was to put Everly through hell! "What's going on with Violet's studio now?" Lisa asked. "According to the information we got, it won't be long before Violet Studio and Baxter Group's collaboration on 'The Angel' is finished." The man replied. Before Lisa was about to respond, suddenly, her phone vibrated. Buzz--Lisa picked up her phone to check t
Everly, Carson, and Oliver were playing on the beach. Meanwhile, Lisa came out of her villa to a car and talked to someone on the phone.She got into the passenger seat, smiled at the man in the driver's seat, and said, "I've just heard that the opposition faction of the Baxter Group changed their minds. They want to get Carson back."The man started the car without speaking. Lisa made up her face, smiled contentedly while looking into the mirror at her delicate figures, and continued, "I knew that the Baxter Group couldn't do well without Carson and that they would give in!"The car's tires squealed.The man suddenly braked."What are you doing?" Lisa growled at the man with a frown, hurriedly grabbing something to steady herself."Lisa, what the hell do you want?" the man said resignedly, "didn't you say that you just wanted to help your family out of trouble? I don't understand what you're thinking. Do you love Carson? Are you proud of him?""What's the problem with this?"
While waving at her, Oliver murmured and walked in with Carson.Everly nodded with a smile. With the clothes in her hand, she got into the car and changed her clothes.The clothes were very simple, which were just a big white T-shirt and a pair of casual shorts. Looking at the clothes, she couldn't help wondering what Carson and Oliver would wear.She walked out, with her mind wandering. She saw Carson and Oliver not far away, both of whom were wearing a white vest and a pair of shorts to their knees. The color and style of their clothes were the same, except for the size.They two seemed to be talking about something, with buckets in their hands. Carson held a big bucket while Oliver held a small one. There was another bucket on the ground, obviously prepared for Everly.Noticing her coming, Oliver turned around and looked at her. "Aunt Violet!"Carson also looked up at her.Her heart was thumping faster inexplicably.‘He seems to be closer to me these days.’Maybe it was bec
The shopkeeper felt embarrassed. He looked at Oliver and replied, "What? I couldn’t do that. Don’t talk nonsense."Oliver pouted and didn’t say anything. Carson patted his head and then looked at the shopkeeper.The shopkeeper already understood his meaning. So then he handed three sets of clothes to Everly and Carson, "You can rinse over there.""Thank you." Everly nodded, then they went there together.After lifting the curtain of the outdoor shower, Carson and Oliver both frowned slightly and looked at her at the same time.Everly was a little confused, so she asked, "What’s wrong?""You can change the clothes in the car." Carson opened his mouth.Oliver nodded and explained, "Right, Aunt Violet. This place has some leaks. It’s okay for me and dad, but it's not okay for you, and there’s no mud on you. It's just me falling into the mud puddle."Everly looked at him and then at Oliver, understanding what they meant.She nodded and pinched Oliver's face with a smile, "Okay,
She immediately quickened her pace to rush over and snatched Oliver from Carson's hand."Hmm..."Before Oliver jumped into her arms and complained to her, Carson's cold voice sounded, "Stop. You're covered in mud."Oliver stopped immediately, looking down at himself, then he glared at Carson. Just a few seconds later, he sat down on a small rock and pointed to the big mud puddle beside him. "Aunt Violet, I just fell into it."Everly glanced in the direction that Oliver pointed to. There was indeed a mud puddle and a human shape was still there. Oliver's father just wiped his face. Otherwise, he could not be recognized.Looking at him sitting on that small rock and his aggrieved look, Everly thought he was so cute and couldn’t help laughing out loud, "Puff..."Hearing her laugh, Oliver turned his head. Everly immediately tried to hold back her laughter, but she failed."Ah! Aunt Violet, you laughed!” Oliver directly came down from the rock, sat in the mud, and childishly showed
Yet the meeting room was quiet. No one spoke.If there had been a way to settle the matter, they would have dealt with it many days ago.And if they gave advice but failed in the end, they might have to take the blame."Why do you all keep silent? Didn't you have a lot of ideas at the very beginning?" the leader roared, slapping the table.However, no one answered.After a minute, someone trembled and said, "Then ... shall we find Carson and make him the president again?""What are you talking about?" The leader was even angrier.But another person said, "I think he's right. The share price is falling. We have less and less money. If it goes on like this, none of us can stand it. We'd better get Carson back... When he managed the company, the share price was rising.""You're looking down on yourself and flattering Carson!" the leader growled, "and the share price is falling. Their losses must be bigger than ours. They should be the most anxious!""But..." the person who had be