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
Joey said with a smile, "I've been here for a while. I'm a little sad that you hadn't noticed." Vanessa quickly poured a glass of water for Joey, "Have some water, Joey." Joey took the glass of water and looked into the room. "Is Lawrie asleep?" Vanessa also glanced over and answered, "Yes, he's been asleep for a while." "You raised Lawrie on your own without help all this while. That must've been hard." Joey looked young, but she was already a well-known psychiatrist in the field. When she talked to a patient, she would adapt to the patient's current condition. Since Vanessa was apprehensive about topics related to Lawrie's father, Joey had to try another way. She did want Vanessa to put her guards down again. "Not really. Lawrie is a very mature kid. Unlike other kids who always cry and cause troubles, he has always been considerate." Vanessa's face lit up with gratitude and joy when she mentioned Lawrie. She was glad that she had insisted on giving birt
Mia revealed, "It's all because of that brat, Levi. Really, I regret giving birth to him. If I hadn't insisted on keeping him back then, such a thing wouldn't have happened. I'm starting to wonder if God had decided to send him to me as a punishment for being too arrogant." Karen asked with concern, "What happened exactly?" "Remember that girl, Vanessa Love?" Mia planned to keep this to herself, but keeping a secret was no easy task. If she continued keeping mum, she would feel too uneasy. She had no appetite and was not even able to sleep well. It was if she had aged a lot in just a short period. When Mia mentioned Vanessa, Karen said helplessly, "Are you unhappy because I told you not to look for Vanessa?" Mia was so anxious that she stamped her feet. "Karen, what are you talking about? I'm talking about Levi, not Vanessa." Karen said, "But you mentioned Vanessa." Mia continued, "What I'm trying to say is... Levi likes her too! Even though Julien h
"He's your brother!" After saying this to Mia, Karen looked at Karen Joy and continued, "And, he's your father! How could you two not care for him?!" Mia and Karen Joy once again said in unison, "It's not that we don't care about him. But we all know that he's only waiting for you." Karen was dumbfounded by their statement. They were right. Being married for so many years, some friction in life was inevitable but usually were just minor issues. Things would be fine as long as both parties each took a step back. Karen understood this well and she could never really be angry with Kevin. After making Kevin a cup of tea, she headed up to the study. Upon her arrival, Kevin placed the book in his hand down and looked up at her. He said in a deep voice, "How many times have I told you not to worry about the family? Why don't you listen to me?" It turned out that Kevin was not really angry with Karen. He was only worried that she would be exhausted after see
Grandpa Kyle laughed, "In my opinion, the company is not the proudest work of the two of you... The little guy sitting between you two is your proudest masterpiece." It was finally Larry's turn to speak. He quickly said, "Great-grandpa, I am indeed their proudest work." Grandpa Kyle smiled and asked, "Larry, I hear that your relationship with your Uncle Julien has improved a little recently?" Larry quietly took a look at Julien and then looked at Grandpa Kyle, speaking in a small voice, "Great-grandpa, it hasn't improved at all. Uncle Julien still keeps a straight face and doesn't like to talk to me." Grandpa Kyle said with a smile, "Then come play with me. I will pamper you." Larry nodded enthusiastically and said, "Okay." Now that he had asked about most of the family members, Grandpa Kyle looked to Julien, who was sitting at the far end of the table. Julien's expression was cold, and he was not paying attention at all to the conversation before hi
The flight took 16 hours before the plane arrived at its destination. As soon as the plane landed, Julien quickly took out his mobile phone and turned it on. Once on, more than a dozen messages from WhatsApp popped up on the notification bar... All were sent by Vanessa. "Julien, why did you turn off your phone?" "Julien, tell me the truth. Are you hooking up with other women behind my back?" "I'm warning you - if you do that, I'll make you suffer." Looking at these messages, Julien shook his head helplessly and muttered, "Silly girl." These were only the first three messages. Half an hour later, Vanessa sent another message. "I'm going to the party. I'll take a picture of me wearing a gown for you to see. I'll show you how beautiful your girlfriend is, so you won't look for other women." Then she sent a selfie in a beautiful gown. The gown was gorgeous, but she had deliberately made a weird, funny face. Seeing this, Julien could not help
Written in the email were many other things that Julien had not known happened. While Vanessa was pregnant, her stepmother forced her to get an abortion. Thus, Vanessa ran away from home, gave birth to Lawrie, and then raised him alone. Lawrie was diagnosed with leukemia when he was a year old. After that, Vanessa spent all her savings, including the inheritance left by her mother for Lawrie's treatment. Lawrie's illness needed a great sum of money for treatment. It was not something a single parent like her could afford. This was the reason why she was with him for the past year. If it was not for the money, she would not be interested in anything else. She had been so terribly wronged, yet he still made things difficult for her and made her life a living hell. Julien could no longer go on reading. He got up instantly. He wanted to see Vanessa. He must see her right away. ...... Lawrie's condition had suddenly taken a turn for the worse
...... 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