"Come on," Grayson Lewis said, "sit down."Serenity took a seat and bluntly asked, "Where are you going to move my mother's grave?""Let's talk about that later," Grayson waved his hand. "Let's talk about what's going on between you and your sister. I'm going to be the peacemaker for both of you today. No matter what happened, you're still family, you know. As the elder sister, you should always protect your little sister.""All I want to know," Serenity insisted, "is where you're going to move my mother's grave."Grayson grew impatient."Didn't I tell you we'll talk about that later? Let's settle this problem between you and your sister first.""Sis," Aria spoke up in an apparently earnest voice, "please forgive me if I've ever done anything wrong. I'm truly sorry."This only made Serenity put her guard up even more. The more Aria acted this way, the more she could tell that there might be a problem.And just as she suspected, the next thing Grayson said confirmed her fears an
"All you ever think about is your mother!" Grayson growled. "You never thought about your sister at all! Fine! Let's see what a good daughter you are to your own mother!"He then stomped into his room and reemerged shortly after with a photo album in his hand.Serenity froze. That photo album... was her mother's! It contained the only photos she had of herself and her mother together!The next thing she saw was her father pulling out a lighter, which he then lit up and held under the photo album."Since you never thought of your own sister, I have no reason to give you this album! Even your mother would never want a traitorous daughter like you!"The photo album caught fire, and Grayson tossed it as it burned onto the tiled floor.Serenity shrieked before pulling down her sleeves to beat out the fire with all her might.She would never let the photo album burn no matter what! Never! It was the only memento she had left of her mother! It contained her memories! She would never le
Had Serenity been disfigured by the fire, it would have saved her a lot of work. At the very least, she knew that Lucas would never take a fancy to a deformed woman.What a pity!***Serenity had no idea how she got downstairs. All she felt was that each step she took seemed to be exhausting all of her strength. The two hands that were clutching the photo album kept trembling because of her flustered emotions. At the moment, she did not even have the courage to look through the album to see how many of the photos were damaged. These were all her memories—her memories of her mother!When she finally teetered her way to the gate of her apartment, a figure walked up to her, and suddenly, an anxious voice laced with heavy concern sounded above her head, asking, "What happened to you?"Serenity felt as if she was enveloped in a shadow, and following that, a pair of arms swooped up and supported her frail wobbly body. Who was it? Who had just held her up?She slowly looked up, and
There was not a peep out of Serenity the whole time. She was perfectly still and silent, almost as if lost in her own inner world until the doctor tried to take the photo album in her hands. She seemed to come to her senses suddenly and clung tightly to the photo albums, yelling, "No!""No one's taking it away," Jackson assured her gently, "but the doctor needs to examine your hands. Give it to me, Sis, and let the doctor take a good look at your hands, okay?"As soon as Serenity heard him call her Sis, she finally looked at him and murmured, "Jack...?""Yes," he replied, "it's me. Tell me, what happened to you exactly?"Her lips trembled, and the tears that had been suppressed all this while gushed straight out as she told him in a choked-up voice, "It's burnt! The album with photos of me and my mother! It's burnt!"As she spoke, her curly eyelashes seemed to bring forth more tears from her eyes with their every fluttering movement. Jackson was astonished. So, that half-burnt a
Her nose tingled. The tears that had only just stopped flowing moments ago began to gush out again."If you really want to cry," he said, his fingertip caressing gently against her eye, "then just let it all out, Sis."Him calling her ‘Sis’ was like a key that unlocked all the pain and misery that had been suppressed and sealed up all this time. Unable to restrain her emotions any longer, she yelped and finally cried her heart out.How long had it been since she last cried her heart out like this? How long had it been since she had to resign herself to the fact that no matter how loudly she cried, no matter how many tears she shed, it would all be useless because she could rely on no one else but herself because her tears were useless?Yet the moment she heard him call her ‘Sis’, she thought of her mother, she thought of the baby in her mother's womb who would have been her little brother, but who never even had the chance to call her ‘Sis’.If her mother and little brother had ne
Lisa was flabbergasted. She never expected to hear the voice of a man answering the phone, especially when it sounded like..."Are you... Jackson Valor?""Yes," was the short reply she got before the call was swiftly ended.Lisa stared at the phone in her hand and was in a daze for a few seconds before she came back to her senses. If Serenity was already asleep... Why had Jackson answered her phone?! Did that mean that he was by her side?And if she was not at her place, where else would she be staying right now?!Lisa's gaze shifted from the phone to the door to Serenity's rented room, which was closed shut. Could it be that... she was staying with Jackson Valor?!Could something so outlandish even be possible?Meanwhile, Jackson put Serenity's phone away and very carefully carried the woman who was sleeping in his arms out of the car. Worried that she might get cold on the way, he took off his coat and laid it over her body to keep her warm.All the servants who saw them alon
No... No!Give her back her mother! Give her back her little brother!She desperately tried to shout, but no sound escaped her throat. Just then, the sound of a bell rang, pulling her out of the nightmare...Serenity slowly opened her eyes, only to hear an alluring voice ask her, "Are you awake?"Her eyes, still disoriented by slumber, were greeted with a strikingly handsome face with shimmering eyes that shone with indescribable tenderness."Yeah..." she answered blankly, still half-asleep. It was as if the world of her dreams and reality intermingled with each other, overwhelming her mind."Answer the phone, then," he said, then held up the phone to her ear.Serenity listened vacantly to the phone, then suddenly heard a familiar voice from the other end of the line asking her, "Serenity? Is that you? Are you awake?"The voice jolted her awake, and she instantly came to her senses."Lisa!""Yes, it's me! Where are you right now? Are you staying with Jackson Valor? I called
She spoke almost hysterically. That photo album contained the most cherished memories in her life, after all.Jackson frowned without him realizing it as he asked her, "Were you going to throw your life away just for that photo album? You were lucky yesterday because only your fingers were blistered, and they were not that serious, but what if the flames had consumed more parts of your body?""But that photo album is very important to me!" she insisted."More important than your own two hands?" he countered, his voice deepening. "Were you really going to sacrifice your hands just to protect that photo album?"Serenity took a deep breath and said, "It's important enough to me that I'd protect it without any hesitation, even if it means sacrificing my hands."To her, this was not just an empty wish, but it was her conviction and resolve, because the album contained the memory of the purest and most genuine love she had ever received, and it was also the happiest period in her life.