Despite lying sick in bed, Lawrie still had the strength to argue with Larry, on the matter of their age. Arms crossed in front of his chest, Larry retorted, "I was told that I'm four months older than you, so yes, I am older! You're the kid!" Lawrie fell silent. What should he do? Indeed, that fellow who barged in suddenly made sense. Lawrie had no way to refute. Larry continued, "I'm the big brother here, Lawrie! I'm older!" Lawrie was unhappy to be the younger kid, but he did not know how to refute. He could only turn to Vanessa for help. "Mommy, I don't want to be the younger kid. I want to be a big brother too." "Lawrie, seniority is decided according to the order of birth. You can't change that. Since you're four months younger than Larry, you're technically the younger brother," Vanessa ruffled their heads and said with a gentle smile. A child's world was simple and full of amusement. They bickered about who was older for a long time as
Larry held the glass up and gulped down the water. Once he finished, he wanted to go to the bathroom. He told Karen Joy, "Mommy, I want to pee." "Larry, why are you so troublesome?" Although she found it annoying, Karen Joy still took him to the bathroom. After he was done, she brought him back to the room and asked, "Larry, come on. Tell us who you met today." Larry knew that he was very important to the family. Every time he was present, he would be the center of attention. However, he was now given attention for a different reason. It was not because of himself, but because of whom he had met earlier. He felt slightly unhappy, knowing that someone else had gotten more attention than him from his family members. He said, "Grandma, Grand Aunt Mia, Mom, don't you love me anymore?" Karen picked Larry up and said, "Larry, you are the loveliest baby in our family. How can we not love you?" Mia poked Larry's head and said, "Just answer our question, kid."
The family had become more ruthless than herself, and so Mia noticed her gradually lowered status within the family. Alas, if she had known this would happen, she would not have sent Levi to the army. Now that she had no one to bully, she felt extremely displeased! Without Levi around, all she had left was Neil. After returning home, Mia sat in the living room and waited for Neil to return home. After he finally got home, she yelled at him, "Neil, it's all your fault!" Neil was baffled. "What did I do to annoy you?" Mia said, "Return my son to me." Neil said, "Levi?" Mia asked, "Besides him, do I have other sons?" Neil said, "I have told you to rethink this but you insisted on sending him to the army. Who's to blame?" Mia asked, "Then why didn't you stop me?" Knowing how she was, Neil did not want to prolong his conversation with her. He turned and walked towards the bedroom. Mia immediately got to her feet and followed behind, "Why
Mia demanded, "Brat, what are you talking about?" Levi replied, "Mrs. Brown, I am asking you to give me some rat poison." It was true. It was better to consume rat poison than to taste his mother's cooking. Mia replied, "We don't have any at home. If you want some, I'll get that old Neil to buy them for you immediately." Levi replied, "Okay, hurry up and get it. I'll wait. I was an unplanned child anyway. I don't mind leaving this world by accident. Then, I won't have to suffer any longer." Mia smiled and said, "My dear, come on. I know I'm in the wrong. I've asked you to come home to apologize to you. You're a forgiving man. Please forgive me." Levi quickly took a few steps back, putting some distance between him and Mia. He looked at her warily and asked, "Mrs. Brown, what exactly do you want me to do?" He was kidnapped home from the army and now, Mia was apologizing to him. It was a miracle he could not believe. No matter how Levi pondered a
For the next few days, Julien did not visit the hospital. Despite this, the hospital did not neglect taking care of Lawrie. Larry was brought to the hospital to keep Lawrie company every day as well. Larry had been a really good boy who did not cause any trouble, and who just patiently chatted with Lawrie. Vanessa was touched that Lawrie had such good company, but she just could not bear to let a child visit the hospital every day. During lunch, Vanessa said to Larry, "Larry, you don't have to come to the hospital to accompany Lawrie tomorrow." Larry had been eating his favorite oatmeal when he was suddenly told not to come by the hospital tomorrow. He frowned and quietly asked, "Did I do something that made you unhappy, Vanessa?" Vanessa took a paper towel and wiped the oatmeal from the corner of his mouth. "You are lovely and so mature. How could I be unhappy with you, Larry? It's just that this is the hospital. If you come by every day, you might catch a viru
Twenty days... It had been twenty days.... Twenty days flew past since Vanessa last saw Julien. Larry also had not come by the hospital to see Lawrie after that day. Even the rumors about Vanessa online had gradually faded away. The netizens were interested in other news now and no one paid Vanessa any attention anymore. Vanessa's life was as peaceful as it used to be. It was as if the things that had happened to her in the past few days had never happened at all. Before this, Vanessa still had a bit of hope that Julien would occasionally come to the hospital to visit Lawrie and herself. However, as the days went by, she slowly gave up on this idea and told herself to stop hoping. Before the incident, she had already mentally prepared herself for this - that sooner or later, Julien would leave her. However, now that it was actually happening, she was troubled by sadness. After all, Julien was the man she had once loved wholeheartedly. She once thought of spendin
Everyone knew how hurtful words could be. However, most of them still choose to believe in rumors and make their own judgment on who to blame instead of listening to those directly involved. In Vanessa's view, people like this were most detestable and hated. It was because of people like this who fanned the flames... And her mother committed suicide from depression. Fiona was well aware of the power of public opinion. Back then, despite being the homewrecking mistress, she made the first move to get the unknowing public on her side and defeat those who opposed her. Fiona emerged a victor with such a strategy, and was now using the same old tactic to hurt Vanessa. Since Vanessa had already known that Fiona had something plotted, she would not let Fiona succeed. While everyone was gossiping, Vanessa pointed at some people behind her who had just appeared at the scene. She glared at them and as she questioned, "And you, what did you see? Do you know what happened?"
Just as Vanessa was distracted, the crowd had already started to disperse. Julien walked to her side and gently held her thin and frail body in his arms as he said, "Vanessa, let's get married." Julien wanted to support her and protect her from being harmed by anyone. This time, Julien had said it so directly and sincerely. Such simple words, yet they had struck the deepest nerve in Vanessa's heart. She bit her lip and tried to keep her tears at bay. "Do you know what you're talking about? Do you know how fatal these words are? So many women in the world want to marry you, don't you know that..." Vanessa desperately wanted to say yes, but was afraid that Julien would learn about her past. She was afraid that he would look down on her if he had known. Julien replied indifferently, "True, but the only woman I want to marry is you, Vanessa Love!" Julien had given each other time to think things over during the past few days he had not come t
...... Eight months later. Adrienne had given birth to a daughter, gathering the entire Yard family in Chatterton Town. Everyone was in high spirits but Jefferson had a sour expression on, as if that was the worst day of his life. Sierra found a moment and went over to Jefferson. "Hey, Jeff. Adrienne just gave birth but why do you have such a long face on? Did you want a son instead or something?" Jefferson responded rudely, "It doesn't matter to me whether it's a boy or a girl. That little girl is our daughter, and I'll love her no matter what." Sierra continued, "Why do you look so upset then?" "Must I have a reason for that?" Well, he was angry at himself. Adrienne had almost lost her life in the labor room earlier, but he hadn't been able to offer any help. Throughout Adrienne's pregnancy, Jefferson had done an enormous amount of research and found out that a C-section birth was relatively safer. Hence, he'd insisted that Adrienne und
...... Johan was still clamming up. Maxtor was so anxious that he couldn't stand still. "Johan, what happened between you and Sierra? Can't you at least explain the situation to me?" After a long silence, Johan looked up and out of the window. "There have been so many fights and misunderstandings between us in the past years and it seems that the past was a time that we can never go back to." Upon hearing this, Maxtor seemed to have put his finger on the crux of the problem. "Did Miranda make Sierra misunderstand you?" Maxtor said earnestly, "Johan, I've told you before that woman has a twisted psyche and you need to stay away from her. You pitied her for being an orphan, but look at what she has been up to." "It has nothing to do with Miranda. It's me. If I..." If he had explained everything to Sierra back then, she wouldn't have felt that insecure about their relationship. He knew everything, but he still got mad at her. Maxtor continued, "He
...... On the first day of school, Miranda was once again met with an unpredicted truth. She found out that Sierra was the top scorer in the entrance exam. She was the overachiever that every university was dying to recruit. Not only did Sierra come from a good family, but she was smart and beautiful to boot. Sierra possessed everything she could have in life. Miranda couldn't figure out why she had to take Johan away from her when she already had so much. What made Miranda even more disappointed was not her inferiority but Johan. On the first day of school, she was over the moon to see that Johan was at the gate to receive her. However, when Johan took her luggage from her and she was wallowing in her excitement to see him, He said to her, "Miranda, that is the girl I like, Sierra. She will be your sister-in-law in the future. You should get on well with her." She didn't want to be nice to her. Instead, she hated her. Mirand
...... Johan's words frightened Miranda so much that her face turned pale. "Johan, Mrs. Silas adopted me. I would have died a long time ago if it weren't for her. How could I have nothing to do with the Silas family?" Johan's face was somber, and his voice chilled Miranda to her bones. "You know that my mother was the one who took you in, but look at what you've been up to all these years?" "Johan, what-what did I do?" Miranda said, trembling with fear. Miranda was an expert at feigning a pitiful appearance and reaping sympathy from others. She even managed to tear up and gazed heart-wrenchingly at Johan at that very moment. However, Johan did not buy into her ploy at all. Not only did his eyes demonstrate her no pity, there was also a trace of disdain that Miranda had never seen before. He loathed her. Upon realizing that, Miranda's heart was broken. Johan had been her dream for those past years. She had worked so hard to do so many things in
...... Sierra wasn't able to refute because what Miranda said was the truth. It was indeed true that many could never compare with her background. However, although she was born privileged, that didn't spare her from putting in effort for her own future. Prestigious universities wanted her because she was the top scorer in the entrance exam but not because of her family background and connections. All of a sudden, Miranda smirked sinisterly. "I know you like Johan, and you want to be with him. Sierra, I like him too, and I want to be with him. You have everything so why do you still want to take my man away from me?" "Excuse me? Who took your man?" Displeased, Sierra said, "Miranda, you were the one who told me that you two were siblings, and that there was nothing going on between you guys. And mind you, you were also the one who encouraged me to go after him." Miranda shouted in a low voice, "Sierra, if I hadn't told you that, would you have remained fri
...... Averting her gaze, Sierra turned around with difficulty. However, just as she had taken a step forward, Miranda's voice sounded from behind. "Sierra, I didn't expect you to come to the airport to pick me up. Imagine my delight to be able to see you on the first day of my return." "You've misunderstood, Miss Attwood. I'm not here to pick you up." Sierra did not conceal her hatred for Miranda as she could not even be bothered to dole out the niceties at her. Miranda chuckled. "I haven't seen you for so many years, but you're still so adorable." It seemed that Miranda couldn't sense the despise Sierra had for her. She approached Sierra with a smile and wanted to give her a hug. Sierra stared at Miranda's outstretched arms and quickly dodged her. A single glance at Miranda and her eyes would be sullied. Sierra thought that she would even throw up should her body come into contact with Miranda's. Miranda was never good at reading between the
...... Stopping her car, Sierra quickly got off to check the situation. No sooner had her feet been on the ground that four men got off from the car in front of her and surrounded her. One of them pointed at her and barked, "Don't you f*cking know how to drive? If you don't, then don't drive. Say it, how much are you going to pay for the damage!" Sierra was driving in accordance to normalcy, but the other party had, so suddenly, cut into her lane without a signal. As hard as she had stepped on her brake, she still collided with the car. They were supposed to be the ones held accountable for the collision. However, they got out of the car and shouted at her, extorting compensation. Sierra suspected that these men had done so deliberately to scam her. She took out her mobile phone and was ready to call the police. However, before she could even unlock her phone, one of the men had already wrenched the phone away from her. "We have something important t
...... In the middle of cleaning the table, Rosie said, "He doesn't only come here to have meals, but he would also get one to go every time. No jalapenos on the one to go. He says that you can't take spices because your stomach doesn't handle it well." Sierra did have a stomach problem, but it wasn't till the point that she couldn't take spicy food at all. Moreover, Johan had never brought any tacos back for her. Sierra figured that he was probably getting it for someone else so she asked, "What did he say to you when he asked you to pack it?" Rosie smiled and said, "He said that he was going to bring it for his girlfriend. He's obviously talking about you, isn't he?" "Oh, his girlfriend." Smiling, Sierra did not put forth any more questions as she knew that Johan had never regarded her as his girlfriend. For him, she was nothing more like a leech that he couldn't shake off. Rosie looked at Sierra and said earnestly, "I know you two fought tod
...... "My ability to act coy?" Sierra said inwardly. She had no idea from where did his temper sneak in again. However, she knew that somehow everything she had done seemed to piss him off. If he didn't like her, then why did he come looking for her? Did he have nothing else better to do? She smiled and said, "Mr. Silas, since you don't like being around me, then let's not meet anymore in the future, nor have any meals together. I'm afraid your appetite will take a nosedive when you see me." "You shouldn't say that, Sierra." Rosie handed one of the plates to Sierra and said, "Every couple gets into fights, but you must know your boundaries. Some words are too hurtful, and you shouldn't just say everything that comes to your mind." Sierra didn't make a sound. She wasn't a fan of others poking their noses in her affairs. Besides, she was not close to Rosie either so she found her rather meddlesome. Rosie didn't seem to register in her mind that Sierra was d