Mrs. Boebert was shocked. She could not even find the words to refute them. “W-Why you—”Suddenly, a steady rhythm of footsteps approached them. Declan King’s jocular tone sounded. “Whoa! What’s going on here? Are you guys having a party here?”Deirdre clenched her fists instinctively. She could not help but be worried. Kyran could not possibly be with him, right? If he were… Bobby might suddenly switch his target and name Kyran, the culprit. Then, because the young man was mute, Mrs. Boebert would bulldoze him even harder with a one-sided argument!To Deirdre’s relief, Declan added, “Okay. Why does everyone look so intense? Is this because I’m crashing the party or something?”He said ‘I’, not ‘we.’ Declan was alone this time.Mrs. Boebert had seized the chance to slink away from the fray with Bobby in tow. Maybe she was afraid of taking up Deirdre’s medical costs after all. Either way, the rest of the crowd broke off soon enough, leaving a slightly nonplussed Declan with Deirdre
No, it was not because she had the compassion of the Virgin Mary. Nope, it was definitely not because her heart bled for the pitiful and destitute. She only agreed to join the party as a form of thanks. Yeap, definitely as a form of thanks for those two times Kyran helped her. Deirdre had received Tobey’s call by the time she got out of the vehicle. Standing by the roadside, she could not help but note the fatigue in Tobey’s voice, no matter how gentle he was. “Going to a dinner tonight with my mom, Dee?”Deirdre was not surprised that he knew. Madame Russell must have told him. “Yeah.”“Okay. Be careful, please. Don’t drink. If I recall correctly, you aren’t exactly a drinker. Just tell them you’re allergic to alcohol, and they will definitely leave you alone in fear.” Tobey quipped. “Go home as soon as it’s over, please.”“I know, Toby. I know.” She chirped. His voice was reassuring—the way a kind-hearted big brother’s was. “Don’t worry. I’ll make sure your mom won’t drink too
The stairs proved themselves to be almost a little too fancy. Sometimes it was a wide, flat platform. Sometimes, it had a series of narrow steps. And that was not counting the twists and bends, too!Deirdre was hopeless against the stairs’ unpredictable aesthetics. She finally miscalculated and missed her step. Before she fell, though, she felt a firm hand holding her tightly by her waist. It was warm and strong, and it helped her regain her footing. Deirdre immediately knew it belonged to Kyran.Eilis panicked so hard that her face turned white. She only sighed in relief when she saw Deirdre was all right. Patting her chest, she cried, “Thank God you’re here, Mr. Reed! Thank you! She could have seriously hurt herself if she fell from here!”Declan snickered. “Well, it’s not like Kyran’s famous for being seriously meticulous and observant… Or that he’s been quietly guarding Miss McKinnon’s six… Or that he’s readied himself to catch her the moment she trips, right?” he teased.D
A villager thought he was familiar with Deirdre and impolitely stuffed a glass of beer into her hand. “Come on! Let’s make a toast. If mountain tourism booms, and we build some kind of resort, our Village Alnwick will become famous! With this, we shall celebrate!”Deirdre was put in an awkward situation because she couldn’t drink.Because Eilis wasn’t around, Deirdre hesitated. It took her a while before she finally decided to ask, “I’m sorry. I can’t drink. Can I replace the beer with tea instead?”“Replace the beer with tea?” The man grimaced as he insisted, “How can you not know how to drink when you’ve been out of the village for so long? Are you trying to despise me for refusing the drink I offer?”“No, I don’t mean it!”“Drink if you don’t mean it!” demanded Archie. “What are you afraid of? It’s just half a glass of beer. Moreover, no one would molest you if you were drunk.” Archie scoffed.Archie ended up bursting out into such boisterous and contagious laughter that the o
Deirdre picked up the pastry with her hand. When she was about to put it into her mouth, a sudden force hit the pastry on her hand, making her heart skip a beat.Eilis was stupefied. “What’s the matter?” Kyran didn’t say anything when he took away the plate of pastries.This incident, however minor, had attracted much attention.“What’s happening?” asked someone.Even Deirdre was dumbfounded. It was obvious that Kyran didn’t want her to have that pastry, but she didn’t understand why.An inexplicable sense of suspicion gushed out from the bottom of her heart.Everyone grimaced at the interlude and jokingly said that Kyran loved that pastry so much that he took them all away.“Nah, do you think Mr. Reed is like you?” A man jeered. “Did you see the watch on his wrist? It’s a watch that costs hundreds of thousands of dollars. How could such a person be interested in that low-cost pastry? I think he simply wanted to get the waiter to change to another dish just because he saw no o
At the end of the dinner, Deirdre went upstairs and rummaged through her bag for her allergy medicine while enduring her discomfort. However, she hadn’t brought the allergy medicine because she never ate yam.Therefore, she could only endure the nausea and dizziness. While lying on the bed, she felt pain. Even at that moment, she was afraid to be seen by Madame Brighthall and covered herself with a blanket.At that moment, she suddenly heard the sound of the door being opened from outside, and Brendan’s unhappy voice followed it.“Deirdre, do you think that I’m taking you here to rest? Get out!”Seeing that Deirdre didn't respond, he lifted the blanket coldly and saw Deirdre’s skin was covered with rashes. She was lying curled up, panting as if she was on the verge of death.“Deirdre!”Brendan was shocked. He dropped the blanket and grabbed Deirdre’s shoulder as he said with panic in his eyes, “What’s going on?”Deirdre held back her sadness as she tried spitting out words. “A
The answer was obvious to Deirdre.Otherwise, Kyran’s act of taking away the yam pastry she was allergic to would be inexplicable.However, she couldn’t explain why Brendan would stand by her side like a stranger and do nothing else…Therefore, she went to the restroom and washed her hands repeatedly until she was calm. She followed the wall and walked out of the restroom. Someone who followed after saw her. “Deirdre?”Deirdre turned in the direction of the voice and recognized the voice as the village chief.“Deirdre, what’re you doing here?”“I’m here to take some rest.”“Really?” The village chief pondered. “Anyway, it’s great that you happen to be out here. I’ve been wondering how to talk to you in private.”Hearing the village chief’s tone, Deirdre had a hunch that something was wrong. She paused before asking, “What is it?”“Did you argue with Mrs. Boebert earlier today?”Deirdre nodded and tried to explain, “It was because—”“Deirdre, I don’t want to know the reason
Deirdre was blind, while Kyran was mute. Hence, superficial judgment wouldn’t work.Upon return, Deirdre suddenly asked Eilis, “Madame Russel, what does Kryan look like?”“Why?” Eilis was startled, as if her future daughter-in-law would be taken away. Following that, she sighed resignedly. “Well, I can’t stop you from being together with Kryan anyway. Although I’ll miss you, I can see that he’s truly good to you.”“No, I just feel that he’s like someone I know,” explained Deirdre. She hadn’t expected that Eilis would misunderstand her.“Someone you know?” Eilis was spreading the blanket on the bed and couldn’t get Deirdre’s meaning. “What do you mean? Why hasn’t he told you anything if he is someone you know?”“Perhaps it’s been so long that he’s forgotten. But I need to confirm whether he’s a local because I owe him something.”“Oh, I see.”Eilis had been seeing Deirdre as a good child all this while, so she didn’t think Deirdre would lie to her. She only thought Deirdre was me