“It is getting late. I must make a move first. You two please talk to each other. Who knows, you two will have some common interests?” Summer changed the subject.Kayla furrowed her brow. This sounded so awkward. Was this a blind date? Dean’s situation was no better. He watched Summer leaving and was anxious to leave.Summer could not help laughing. “She won’t eat you for lunch, Officer Singleton. Why are you so nervous?”She patted Dean on his shoulders a few times, then left the two to themselves.……At nightfall, Raine was heating milk in the kitchen. She had been having insomnia for the past nights. So she gave up coffee, which could make her problem worse.As the milk was done, she poured it into a glass and carried it out of the kitchen.Just then, she saw Mark walking up the stairs with a cosmetic box in his hand.Who did he buy cosmetics for?Her heart started pounding as she watched him disappearing from her sight.Who else would he give the cosmetics box to if not
When Mark suddenly spoke, her hand reflexively clicked on the ‘hit’ button and got the king, which meant she burst.She turned around and glared at him. “Look what you did to me! Don’t suddenly speak behind me!”He should not have told her this and that while she was focusing on the game. Mark smirked. He took the tie off his burgundy shirt and sunk into the settee. “It is just a card game. Why do you have to get so serious?”She finally paid attention to him—not because of the cosmetics, but the goddamn card game.“Isn’t it just a card game? Do you know how difficult it is to achieve a total of twenty-one? You should not have disturbed me while I am focused on it!”She was still fit to be tied. She had played ten games and lost nine. When she thought she could make it all back in this game, he screwed it up for her. She lost almost all her tokens.“Wasn’t the mouse in your hand? I was just cheering for you. It was you who hit that damn button.” She glared at him. ‘Cheering?
Sitting in front of the dressing table and glancing at the cosmetic set, Summer instantly knew that it was high-end stuff.Mark gave it to her?The corner of her mouth turned up in a sneer. She wondered why he gave her this cosmetic set.Was it because she was his wife, or was he just showing affection in front of outsiders?Could it be also that he realized he had used harsh words in front of her, and so this was a gesture of apology?Of these three possibilities, she figured, the last possibility was almost zero.She fiddled with the cosmetic box for a while before she unpacked the packaging. Everything inside was written in Korean, which she could not understand a bit.Mark emerged from the bathroom. He smelled of orange—fresh, natural, and pleasing fragrance.He whisked open the quilt and climbed in, then looked at her from behind.Summer squeezed some lotion on her palm and gently and evenly patted it on her cheeks. She was instantly bursting with radiance and enchanting.
Yvette looked at Raine, her eyes flickering. “I almost forgot about Raine. Do you want to join us, Raine?”“I have a gathering with my friends in the afternoon. So I am afraid that I can’t join you guys.”Raine said with a clean and tactful smile, her eyes involuntarily glancing at Mark.Mark did not seem to notice her glances. He sipped his coffee and glanced sideways at the woman beside him.Summer ignored the conversation between the two of them. She ate her oatmeal and occasionally talked with Jazz in a voice that only the two of them could hear.Mark narrowed his eyes a little as he kept an eye on the two.“Well then, we will leave in a minute,” Yvette said with a smile.After eating breakfast, the three of them headed out, leaving only Raine and Jazz in the living room.Jazz looked at the time and lazily stretched, then got up from the settee. “I am leaving, Aunt.”“Where are you going?” Raine pulled her mind back and asked in puzzlement.“My part-time job, of course. I
Raine was shocked by herself. She could not understand why she had become like this, as if something had bewitched her, and she had lost control of herself.Reason told her she should turn around and then go downstairs right now.But her feet seemed to have been glued on the spot; she could not move them.‘No one is here in the house. So why not go in and have a look? No one is going to find out if you touch nothing in the room. Go now!’The inner voice won, and she inserted the key into the keyhole and pushed open the door.After closing the door behind her, her eyes scanned around.The furnishings of his room had not changed a bit compared to three years ago. The only change was the added feminine vibe.Also, there were two quilts on the bed. It was obvious that the two share the same bed.Her heart ached at the thought of it, as if a knife stabbed into her heart.When she moved forward further, her body stiffened when she saw the opened cosmetic set on the dressing table.
Summer frowned with her expression slightly changed. Not that she did not want to pay Yvette’s bill. It was just that her credit card might not have enough credit limit to pay.Yvette’s spending on clothes was humongous, and Summer did not expect this.But since things had come to such a pass, she had no choice but to pick up the tab.She forced a smile and took the items from Yvette. There was a fur coat and a leather skirt.She weighed the coat in her hand and frowned. This leather thing felt heavy, and she expected it to be anything but cheap.She did not want to ask Yvette about the price. She just put on a smile. “May I know where the checkout counter is?” she asked a sales staff.“This way. Please come with me.” The sales staff led the way with a polite smile.While carrying the clothes and following the sales staff, Summer peeked at the price tags.The fur coat was $100,000, and the short skirt was $20,000. That added up to $120,000. But her credit card limit was only $1
He lifted up an apricot coat and handed it to her, "Try it on."Upon hearing this, Summer was stunned. She froze in place, thinking that she had heard wrongly what he had said.Yvette's expression changed slightly, but reverted as she thought about something else.'It is a good thing that Mark's attention is diverted from Raine. There's no reason for me to stop him,' thought Yvette.When the salesgirl reminded Summer, she snapped back into reality and went into the changing room to try on the coat.The colour of the knee-length apricot coat that she put on matched her skin, giving off an elegant vibe in addition to her fair and delicate cheeks."We'll take this. Please wrap it up." Mark was stunned initially, then nodded satisfyingly after.Even Yvette complimented, "This coat's not bad."Holding the coat in her hand, Summer was still a bit zoned out. She couldn't believe that the coat was for her.Without any delay, the three returned to the Valentine mansion.Back at the ma
Summer did not wait in the living room but went straight to her room. She switched on the TV and waited for the New Year gala to begin.This was the first time that she did not celebrate New Year at home. She could not get used to it and felt a little lonely.Usually, her family of five would gather around the TV to watch the New Year gala. It was a very lively occasion; they even had fruit dessert.They would only go to bed after the gala had ended. What made it more exciting was the activity where they exchanged New Year presents.However, this year, she sat alone in the spacious room and stared at the huge LED TV. Although the view was clearer, it lacked the lively atmosphere of the usual years.Mark walked into the room holding a document file and noticed her slim figure on the sofa. She was simply tapping on the remote control; her face was full of loneliness.Moved, he sat beside her and asked, “What are you watching?”“Waiting for the New Year gala to begin.” She glanced