Gabriel went out to give the witnesses a call.Rosie stood up, crossed her arms over her chest, and walked up to Corinne. She then said in a kind and almost-persuasive tone, "Don't think that you can clear your name just because you managed to hire a big-shot lawyer! How dare you hire someone to hurt Anya? Lucas will never allow you to get away with it! My advice? Stop trying to resist and just accept the punishment of the law. You might even be able to get a lighter sentence if you show a good attitude!"Corinne looked up, glanced at Rosie, and could not be bothered to entertain the woman's pointless tirade.Rosie was frustrated when Corinne ignored her, and she was extremely unhappy because her provoking never had the intended effect. It was as if there was never a situation where Corinne would lose her composure, and it seemed that nothing was capable of stirring her emotions. Her ever-calm demeanor made Rosie feel like slapping her out of curiosity to know if she could feel pain
The little boy's belief in his father seemed to have collapsed, and he took a step back with a hurt expression. "Why did you do bad things, Dad? Didn't you always teach me to be a good person? How could you do this? You're not my dad anymore! I don't want a dad like you...""Don't talk to Dad like that, Kenny!" After the little boy came in, a plainly-dressed woman walked in too. Once she told her son off, she looked at her husband with a heartbroken expression and said, "Aren't you going to tell the truth, Chris? Do you want to let our son forever live with the shadow of having a criminal as a father?"Chris heaved a sigh of relief when he saw his wife and son appearing safe and sound. Even so, he felt ashamed to face them too, and he lowered his head to say, "I'm glad that you and Kenny are all right. That's… That's all that matters to me.""Yes, Chris. Everything's okay now. We were saved!" The woman leaned on her husband's shoulder with reddened eyes. "Why did you have to be so s
Before Chris revealed who it was that manipulated him, he bowed at Corinne and apologized guiltily. "I'm very, very sorry for what I did, Miss Corinne. I did it under coercion, and I had no choice but to frame you. I'm sorry that I nearly caused an innocent person like you to be imprisoned."Corinne had an indifferent expression, and she shook her head while saying, "It's okay. You just need to tell the truth and clear my name.""I promise I will, Miss Corinne!"Chris then began to tell the police the true story of what happened."It all started like this. I was distributing flyers on the shore of Yonder River the other day, and I was sitting on a bench to rest for some time because I was too tired. There was this girl sitting beside me in a daze, and I figured I could just hand out a leaflet to her while I was resting."I was doing my best to promote the barbecue restaurant to Miss Corinne that day, and she was kind enough to listen patiently to everything I have to say, unlike m
Rosie stood up in astonishment and shook her head violently. "It wasn't me! You're talking nonsense! Make such statements again, and I'll sue you for defamation!"Chris did not argue with her. He turned around and said confidently to the police officer, "It's her. She asked me to do all this. She followed Miss Corinne from the Lunar Century Manor to the shore of Yonder River, and she chose me to do the job because she saw Corinne talking to me when I was distributing flyers!"She picked up the cell phone that Miss Corinne dropped and used her cell phone to transfer the money to me in advance. She then deleted the transfer record and asked someone else to send the phone to the police station and act as if they came across the cell phone by chance."Each step was carefully calculated by her to make Miss Corinne the prime suspect!"After hearing that, Anya got up from Lucas's arms in shock and looked at her best friend in disbelief. "Rosie! How could you do something like that? I told
Corinne smiled. "Oh? So you insist that they pursue this matter until the end if I was the suspect, but now you're telling me not to pursue it because your best friend is now the suspect? This is double standards of the highest order!"Anya was a little embarrassed. "I... I never thought of pursuing the matter. It was my brother who couldn't accept that someone was out to hurt me, so he..."Corinne's hands were ironically still in handcuffs, and she leaned lazily on the chair as she said, "Sorry, Miss Anya, but I don't want to listen to you talk anymore. Let's leave it to the police to get to the bottom of the matter."Anya lowered her head, but she was still determined to plead on Rosie's behalf. "I'm sorry, Corinne. It was our fault for blaming you, but Rosie is my best friend. I hope you find it in your heart to be more magnanimous..."Corinne ignored Anya outright and glanced instead at the calm-looking Lucas just nearby. "You love your sister dearly, don't you, Mister Lucas? I
When Corinne was gone, Anya came over anxiously and asked, "What'll happen to Rosie now?"Lucas came back to his senses and said solemnly to his sister, "She's an adult now. She can think for herself. It's only just for her to bear the consequences of her actions.""But Rosie's my best friend! We can't just leave her alone...""Enough. I don't want to hear a word of it. You should go home with Sunny."…Inside the police station's restroom, Corinne came out after washing her hands, and Gabriel—who had been waiting for her in the corridor—stepped forward and respectfully handed her a tissue. After that, he handed his cell phone to her and said, "Mister Aaron called. He wants to talk to you."Corinne took the tissue and wiped her hands before answering the call.Aaron's voice came from the other end. "How's everything, boss? You okay there?""Everything's fine. You did a good job of finding the witnesses in time, so you'll get a reward once I'm back."Aaron answered awkwardly, "
Corinne turned around and understood what Jeremy meant when she saw that he was looking in the direction that Gabriel's car left."Oh, he used to be my senior in my alma mater's law department. He's a very friendly guy, and it's all thanks to him that I got out of this mess.""Friendly?" Jeremy stubbed the half-smoked cigarette and stared at her with his bottomless eyes. "Your senior is well-known throughout the entire city as the most difficult lawyer to hire, yet he was willing to help his former university junior. He must have an exceedingly good relationship with you." He was clearly questioning her.Corinne did not want to explain to him because she did not want to reveal her identity, and she could not think of any reasonable explanation at that moment.If she said too much, she might accidentally let something slip, so she chose to remain silent.Then, Annie popped out of nowhere with a small bucket. She dipped a big sprig of sage leaves in the bucket of water and flung the
By contrast, Corinne lived her entire life with no one and nothing to rely on. For every hardship and problem she encountered, she would have to face everything and find every solution by herself. Though her confidence had been tempered by those experiences, she wondered if she would be grateful for the sufferings that made her stronger if she looked back.Her answer to that was a resounding no. Given the choice, not a single person on earth would want to go through suffering.Anya's soft and kind voice drifted into Corinne's ears. "I've already apologized to Corinne for the misunderstanding, Jeremy! It's because of Rosie's moment of confusion that she made such a mistake! She's not an inherently bad person though, and you should know that after being friends with her for so many years!"Could you help me persuade Corinne not to pursue the matter and just let it slide this one time? Please? The police said that Rosie won't be locked up if neither I nor Corinne pursue the matter any