"Yes! Drink it cross-arm style!" Zeke shouted.Jeremy did not mind that, but to show his respect, he raised his eyebrow at Corinne to ask for her consent. Though shy, Corinne did not want to rain on other people's parade, so after a slight hesitation, she linked her elbows with Jeremy's, and the two of them downed their glass in one go.Satisfied, Annie threw her head back and downed her glass in one go before leading the guests in a round of thunderous applause. The atmosphere in the room certainly reached its peak by then."Jeremy, Lucas prepared a special show for you and Corinne today. Which is so unlike him," said Zeke while clapping, and he smiled. "I can guarantee the two of you won't ever forget tonight."Jeremy looked askance at Lucas. 'This guy must be up to no good…'Corinne turned to look at Lucas curiously.Corinne was Lucas' long-lost sister. He felt like he owed her for the many years he was not by her side, and for…all the misunderstandings that occurred between t
"No, I'm saying even if you have the time to come find me earlier, you still wouldn't have a chance with me," Corinne answered.Jason did a double take before smiling ruefully. "You make it sound like I'm a horrible person…""You could be the best person in the world and I still wouldn't be with you. That's how much I love Jeremy," said Corinne serenely.Jason gazed deeply at Corinne's upturned side profile. "So he makes you happy, huh?"Corinne nodded. "Yes. And I wouldn't have it any other way.""Tell me, do you think he feels the same way as you? Is he not splitting his time with another woman?" Jason asked mockingly.Corinne finally turned to look at him with a frown. With his foxy eyes, Jason gestured for her to look at a place not far away. She followed his gaze and saw Jeremy sitting alone in the empty room with his ear glued to his phone.Only Anya would call him at a time like this."Well, it's not like he has a choice. I mean, Anya did save his life before. It'd be un
After hanging up the phone, Jeremy looked up and noticed Corinne walking toward him. "What's the matter? Don't you like the firework show?"Corinne sat beside him and said nonchalantly, "I do, but it was getting kinda boring. It was just one beautiful explosion after another, so I decided to come in."Jeremy narrowed his eyes and hugged her. "Did something happen? Why do you sound so unhappy?"Corinne was indeed unhappy with him for being on the phone for so long. "Mister, what did Anya say to you?""She wanted me to visit Joey 'cause he's having a fever.""Then why are you still here?" Corinne asked with a scoff.Jeremy could hear the sarcasm in her voice. "Why would I go there? It's not like I can cure him. Besides, I've asked my men to get the best doctor in the city to check on Joey.""Are you sure you don't know how to cure people?" asked Corinne with a sarcastic smile."Yeah. Why do you ask?" Jeremy questioned with a raise of his eyebrow."Well, I'm pretty sure you're th
Jeremy was still hugging Corinne, so he could not hold Joey. Instead, he said coldly to Anya, "Why don't you bring Joey to the guest room? It's not good for him to be out and about when he has a fever."Anya was angered by Jeremy choosing Corinne over Joey. "Jeremy, aren't you going to give Joey a hug? He's been crying for you nonstop. Oh, I get it now. You're worried about Corinne getting jealous, aren't you?"She then turned to Corinne and pleaded pitifully, "Corinne, won't you let Joey have some time with his father? He really needs him right now…"Jeremy was about to say something, but Corinne beat him to it. "Hey, I'm not the one keeping him from Joey. He's a grown man. He can choose who he wants to spend time with, and it just so happens he chose me."She leaned lazily against Jeremy and crossed her legs, treating him like a human-shaped armchair. "You surprised me today, Miss Anya. I've always thought you're a fragile woman, but it took you no time to run over her with Joey
Jeremy remembered how Anya sucked the poison out of his body, how she brought him food and medicine every day, and how cute she looked when she addressed him as 'Mister'.He held a special feeling for that girl ever since. It was not of love but of gratitude for saving his life. Even if he was blinded by the snake's venom in his body, he could clearly remember everything. Everything—except for the girl's look.Later, when Anya came to look for him with the bracelet at hand, he felt something was different about her. Not able to put his finger to it, he just chalked it down as him imagining things.Jeremy felt extremely guilty after learning Anya could not have children nor did her health ever recover from the snake venom she sucked out of his body. He tried to make it up to her ever since—but the one thing she wanted from him, he could not give.After taking a trip down memory lane, Jeremy shoved the bracelet back into Anya's hand. "My promise to you still stands, so take this brac
By then, the firework show had ended and a strong gust was blowing. No one outside the balcony noticed Anya's arrival because of how loud the fireworks were, so they were surprised to see Corinne and Jason talking on the sofa with Jeremy nowhere in sight when they came in.Zeke sat down and asked, "Corinne, where's Jeremy?"Corinne pointed at the stairs with her chin. "He went up to the guest room."Annie sat beside Corinne and asked, "Why did Uncle Jeremy go up there? How could he leave you alone here?"Corinne did not answer and simply sipped her juice.Annie, being the easily distractible child she was, did not think too much of it. She quickly took out her phone to show Corinne the photos she took of the firework show. "Look, Corinne. Aren't they beautiful?"Corinne looked down and saw Annie's firework photos posted online had garnered a high number of likes. She smiled and gave her a nod of approval. "Yeah, they are.""Right? That's what I think, too!" said Annie happily. S
Zeke disagreed with Jason. "Don't tell me you don't find it weird, too? I mean, we all know Lucas thinks everyone is beneath him, so why would he put down his pride in front of Corinne? You know what I think? Lucas might be trying to avenge Anya by stealing Corinne away from Jeremy.""Wow…you should go be a scriptwriter," said Jason sarcastically."Ugh. Talking to you is like talking to a brick wall. This is getting nowhere," growled Zeke.Annie had just finished replying to her friends' comments. She was ecstatic by all the praises thrown at her and wanted to find something else to show off, so she turned on her phone camera and pulled Corinne over."Say cheese, Corinne! I'm going to post a picture of us later so that everyone will know I just got myself a new aunt-in-law!"Corinne smiled helplessly toward the phone's front camera.After checking the photo, however, Annie seemed displeased. "Eww, the front camera is useless. Just look at how blurry the photo is. Let's try again
Just when Lucas was staring at the photo in a trance…"Hey Jason, were you guys taking pictures?" said Anya curiously from behind Jason. She came just in time to have caught a glimpse of the photos in Jason's phone.Jason turned and smiled at her. "Yeah. Do you want to take one with us, too?"Anya shook her head. "No, thanks. I didn't put any makeup on today, so I'll look ugly in the photos.""Nonsense. You're beautiful even without makeup on," said Jason in a gentlemanly manner.Annie rolled her eyes and poked her tongue out at Anya while muttering to herself, "Oh, please. I can't believe she has the cheek to say she doesn't have makeup on when her face is caked with it. What does she think we are? Blind?"Corinne sipped her juice with a bored expression, so used to Anya's theatrics.Anya heard what Annie said. She threw a dirty glance at both Annie and Corinne before realizing Lucas was there, too. "Oh hey, Lucas. You're here too?"Lucas' face darkened at Anya's sudden arriva