Lily looked around as she exited the car. It was not far from what she had imagined. With Cameron’s identity, it was not a good idea for him to live too extravagantly. Hence, he stayed in an ordinary, two-story bungalow which looked elegant from the outside.After entering the house, a maid served Lily some tea and desserts. “Ms. Rollins will be down soon.”Lily nodded, and the maid left to do her work. The house was spacious, and because there was not much furniture and appliances around, it made the space look even more prominent. She could see almost everything in the living room at one glance.There were not many luxurious or expensive things here, and it appeared that Cameron was just as Alexander had described. Cameron was a meticulous man in many aspects.There were a few decorative items in the living room as well. A few pots of bonsai were in sight, and the pots which contained them looked plain. While looking around, Lily heard slow and heavy footsteps coming from the sta
“I wouldn’t mind that.” Lily noticed Anastasia looked weak and appeared tired after saying just a few words. “Do you get tired easily?”With a pillow under her head, Anastasia nodded, her gaze lowered. “Yeah. I’m fat and lazy, so I get fatigued easily.”“Are you lazy? You’re not,” Lily pointed to the few bonsai pots in the corner. “You managed those plants, didn’t you? How could you call yourself lazy when you could care for and prune those plants so well.”Upon hearing that, Anastasia looked toward the plants. They had a lush appearance and were well-maintained. The most exciting thing about them was that Anastasia had pruned them into the shapes of cartoon animals.“How did you know I was the one who pruned them?” Anastasia smiled. “Why didn’t you think the maids did it?”Lily shook her head. “They wouldn’t have pruned the bonsai into such cute shapes if it were them. Only someone as innocent as a child would do something as such.”“Innocent…” Anastasia repeated the word softly
It was different from anything in the past. This time, Anastasia was not repulsed by those questions. There was no mockery in Lily's eyes. She could tell Lily was not asking her all those questions because she wanted to gossip or laugh about it, but because she was genuinely concerned. Anastasia eventually got the impression that Lily wanted to assist her in solving her issue after she patiently probed her about her illness.“Mrs. Russell, do you know how to cure an illness?” Anastasia asked out of the blue.Lily was surprised, and after two seconds of silence, she shook her head. “No, I don’t! I’m a perfumer, not a doctor.”“Oh.” Anastasia appeared to be disappointed. “I thought you were a doctor because you might be able to help me that way.”“How could I be…” Lily laughed. “It’s best for you to get a consultation from the professionals.”“I’ve met many of them and tried every possible way. Maybe because I’m lazy, but I’ll puke every time I exercise. Later, I had to give up on
“Of course. There’s no need for you to fight against your body. You need to communicate with it and compromise with each other.” Lily’s voice seemed to have a power that could calm anyone down. Anastasia sat up straight, staring at the desserts on the table while swallowing her saliva. She looked like she really wanted it.“Have a try?” Lily offered, seeing her desire. Slowly, Anastasia reached out for a piece of cake. When she moved the cake closer to her nose after picking it up, it appeared as though she was inhaling the aroma of the food. Desire filled her eyes, but at the same time, dilemmas and conflicting feelings were part of it too.“Have a piece. It’s fine. Eat slowly.” Lily encouraged.Anastasia slowly opened her mouth and treated the cake with caution, like it was a treasure. She stared at it for a long time and slowly sent it into her mouth. Just as she was about to bite it, a raging voice came behind her. “What are you doing?”The man’s roar made Lily tremble in
When Lily arrived home, she realized that Alexander was already back and that he was playing with their son in the living room. He looked like… he was going to head out soon.“Do we have dinner plans later?” Lily had been too busy lately, so she was unsure if she had forgotten something.“Nope, I just wanted to bring the both of you out for dinner,” Alexander answered. “You don’t have the time for that?”“I do, but why didn’t you call me and ask me to come home earlier?” Lily checked the time. Fortunately, it was not too late yet.“I’m not in a hurry, and I know you’ve been busy with many things lately. I can wait.”Galen stumbled toward Lily and opened his arms, wanting a hug from his mother. When his fingers almost touched her clothes, Alexander let out a cough that stopped Galen’s movement. He was still young, but he appeared to have understood what Alexander meant by that cough. He turned to look at his father, frowning as he thought for a moment before he spoke again. “Mama
“I know that,” Alexander said casually, not reacting much to it. “Everyone in Kingsland knows about that. Secretary Rollins had spoiled his daughter too much. She’s overweight and has a weird temper. The other girls in the circle don’t really hang out with her.”Hence, he found it strange when he learned that Lily was in contact with Anastasia, and the latter had even gifted his wife something costly. However, Lily was different from the other women anyway.“Spoiled her too much…” Lily repeated this phrase and sighed softly.“You don’t think so?”“Perhaps he loves her, but in the wrong way,” Lily elaborated.Alexander could tell she had many emotions from her trip to Cameron’s place. “What did you see?”“It’s nothing. I just want to ask you something. What if Gale becomes as fat as Ms. Rollins in the future? How would you treat him?” Lily asked while pointing to their son sitting in the baby chair.Subconsciously, his gaze followed her finger’s direction. The little boy had no i
“How long do you think humans can go without eating?” Lily asked seriously.Without hesitation, Alexander said, “There’s research data on this. People can go about seven days without eating anything.”Lily nodded and continued, “A human body consumes energy even if they don’t do anything. If humans were to consume their energy every day without eating anything to compensate for that, how could their bodies take it in the long run?”Alexander seemed to understand it, but perhaps not entirely.“Think of humans as robots. If you want the robots to lose weight or do anything, you’ll need to give it something to move.” Then Lily paused for a moment before continuing, “Anyhow, she’s losing weight the wrong way now, and it’ll be difficult for her to do so like this. Also, her mental health will worsen if this continues.”Lily wanted to tell Alexander that Anastasia’s mental health was already on the verge of crumbling. Anastasia’s resistance toward food had reached a limit, and she would
Cameron was strict about Anastasia’s diet, but he still encouraged her to socialize and hoped she would have friends. However, Anastasia was always reluctant to do so, perhaps due to her low self-esteem.Alexander was speechless. ‘It turns out Lily just wants to use my name to do something, and she even said she didn’t need me at first! I’m still useless, even more so than that punk.’He turned to look at Galen, who returned a bright smile as if to mock him for being useless to his wife when he was such an influential man in the business world. Alexander just stared at him. ‘What are you laughing at? You’re just a tool!’Lily did not realize the eye contact between the two and assumed that Alexander had agreed to her request. “That’s settled then. If Secretary Rollins asks about it next time, just tell him what I said earlier.”“Okay…” Alexander hummed, slightly upset.…Maria had waited outside the institute for two days but caught no sight of Austin. It made her doubt herself.