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
"Yes, Corinne?" said Anya as she turned.Corinne raised her eyebrow and said, "If he's thirsty, I'd highly suggest you bring him some water instead of a soft drink. Soft drinks aren't that thirst-quenching, and two, he doesn't like them."A hint of hatred flashed across Anya's eyes. "Is that so? But Jeremy specifically asked me to bring him some soft drinks. If I didn't know any better, Corinne, I would've thought you don't really know him that well at all.""Alright, then. Don't say I didn't warn you," said Corinne with a smirk after sipping her juice.Anya hated how Corinne always remained unfazed by her insults; it was like throwing punches at the air and did nothing to assuage the anger in her heart. Anya scoffed and left with the soft drink in her hand.Seeing this, Lucas glanced worriedly at Corinne before he got up and followed Anya upstairs.Jason immediately sat on the seat Lucas just vacated. He then picked up a plate of cut oranges and offered it to Corinne. "Here, Cor
Jeremy looked at Lucas with surprise. He never thought that Lucas would do something like that for him or Corinne."Are you sure?" Jeremy asked.Lucas walked over to the bed to check on Joey. "Yes, I'm sure. After all, this kid is my family's responsibility. In fact, we should be apologizing for causing you so much trouble."Jeremy narrowed his eyes in disbelief. 'Wasn't he the one who asked me to spend more time with Anya? Why the sudden change of heart?'"Lucas, what are you doing here? Umm…shouldn't you be down there drinking with your friends?" Anya asked with a frown.Lucas threw a glance at Anya and said meaningfully, "Jeremy should be the one doing that since he's the star of the night."Anya was speechless. She knew what Lucas was trying to tell her, but d*mn if she was going to let Jeremy go down to be with that b*tch!"Lucas, Joey really needs Jeremy right now. His temperature has finally just come down, and I'm afraid that it'll go up again if Jeremy's not here," said
"I know it was wrong of me for not taking good care of Joey…but please don't give him away. I promise I'll be a better mother to him from now on!" Anya pleaded tearfully.The sight of her was enough to give Lucas a headache. He pinched the bridge of his nose and said, "Fine… Just look after him now while I go out to take a call."He then fished out his vibrating phone and turned to leave the room, but before he could even take a step, Joey shakily grabbed Lucas' hand. "Uncle…don't go…" he said weakly.Joey wanted to tell Lucas he was scared of being left alone with Anya, who would turn into a monster when no one was around, but he could not.Lucas had no idea what Joey was thinking, so he simply stroked his cheek and said coaxingly, "Be a good boy, Joey. I promise I'll be back in a jiffy, okay? And in the meantime, your mommy will stay here with you.""Uncle…don't go… I…scared," said Joey fearfully. He looked like he was about to cry.Lucas immediately became suspicious of Anya w