Juno had painted it recently.At night, the family had dinner in the dining room downstairs after Rue finished cooking.Juno, Adaline, and Rue would be staying on the first floor while Adrian and Samantha would take the room on the second floor.After dinner, the night was warm and the sky was lit up by bright moonlight. Samantha and Adaline changed into their bikinis and headed to the outdoor pool on the third floor’s sky garden for a dip.Adrian and Juno followed them as Rue stayed downstairs to clean up. The old woman felt her heart flood with happiness as she listened to the sound of laughter radiating from the rooftop garden.A mother’s biggest joy was to see her children happy.In the sky garden, Samantha and Adaline were soaking in the outdoor pool in their bikinis. There was no better way to cool down on a hot summer evening.The sky was already dark. However, the sky garden was brightly lit.Juno sat on the man-made beach and watched Samantha and Adaline swimming like
The few of them stayed in the pool for a long time.Adrian helped Juno to train her leg coordination. The training was effective, of course, and her legs steadily grew stronger.By the time they got out of the pool, it was already very late at night. They dried themselves off and changed into their pajamas.Adaline and Juno returned to their room to hit the hay.After sending Juno back to her room, Samantha and Adrian made their way to the room upstairs.Samantha was exhausted from the long swimming session on top of the move today. She planned on engaging in some pillow talk with Adrian but she fell asleep as soon as she hit the bed.After she was sound asleep, Adrian walked out of the room and headed to the viewing deck in the sky garden.Swallowston was a busy city, especially at night. It was brightly lit by dazzling lights. He could see the whole of Swallowston from the viewing deck.Adrian lit a cigarette and thought about many things as he stood there quietly. He thought
Adrian smiled at her. “The problem doesn’t lie in buying the house but in me. I can’t sleep because every time things grow quiet, my mind fills with scenes of the battlefield and my comrades covered in blood.“I abandoned them,” he said forlornly.“Is it because you’ve retired from military service?” Samantha asked.Adrian did not answer.Samantha said, “There’s a saying that one will bear responsibility as huge as one’s capability. Men aspire to travel far and make their mark. Are you only this way because of me?”Adrian lowered his head and looked at Samantha. “Why would you think that?”Samantha replied, “Even though we haven’t been together for a long time, I figured that we’re bound as husband and wife. You don’t want to disappoint me, yet you don’t want to leave the battlefield.“You feel torn that you’ll have to choose to disappoint me or your comrades if a war breaks out in the future, am I right? You can tell me the truth,” Samantha said softly. Adrian had not expecte
Adrian and Samantha returned to their room.The next morning, Samantha woke up early. After having breakfast prepared by Rue, she hastily left for work due to some pressing company matters.Adrian sent Adaline and Juno to school.Samantha received a call on her way to work. It came from Tiffany.There was no telling how Tiffany got her number, but Tiffany said as soon as the call was picked up. “Hello! It’s Samantha, right? I’m Tiffany. Do you recognize my voice?”Samantha recognized Tiffany’s voice from the start. However, she did not understand Tiffany’s personality at all.“Hey, Samantha. You’ve been doing well in life and can even afford One Jewel Road. Our university alumni are organizing a gathering today and would like to extend an invitation to you.“You won’t decline us, will you?” Tiffany pouted.Samantha knew Tiffany’s character well. There was no telling what Tiffany’s plan was but Samantha was eighty percent certain that the gathering was a trap. She answered, “I’m
Hence, Samantha felt more at ease now that Adrian was here.“Let’s go inside,” Adrian said to Samantha.She nodded and both of them walked into the hotel.Meanwhile, Tiffany and Kai were already in the hotel lobby and chatting with a few fellow alumni.“Tiffany, you’re doing very well these days huh? You’re dating Kai now.”“That’s right, Tiffany. You and Kai are doing very well in life. I really envy you guys!”“I’m so jealous of you, Tiffany.”The crowd chattered away as they surrounded Tiffany and Kai.Tiffany was delighted and was happy to bask in the alumni’s envious gazes. She enjoyed being the object of others’ envy. Today was an alumni gathering, but in truth, Tiffany was just finding an opportunity to show off and bring Samantha down while she was at it.This was not hard to deduce because the alumni Tiffany invited today were the ones that did poorly in life. She had not invited any who were well off because they would just dim her light.Tiffany smiled and humbly s
“What?”Tiffany and Kai were stunned for a moment while the other alumni looked over in succession.They watched as Swallowston’s richest man, Mr. Donald, who seldom showed up in public, walked into the hotel with the president of Swallowston Bank, Mandy, the director of Nine Kings, Liam, and the director of Swallowston Jewelers.The hotel’s manager came to welcome them in person.Donald was the only person who was acquainted with Battle Warrior Lucas. He was Lucas’ friend. However, Donald had always kept a low profile and almost never got involved in any scandals. He seldom showed up in public too.“It really is Mr. Donald. I didn’t expect to see him here as soon as Kai mentioned him.” The crowd of people could not help feeling amused to see Donald’s arrival.Meanwhile, Tiffany narrowed her eyes and looked at Adrian sarcastically. “Adrian, didn’t you say that you’re acquainted with Donald? Why haven’t you gone over to say hi?”“Hahaha!” Kai burst out in laughter as well.He ha
A few women surrounded Adrian and exclaimed in surprise, “Wow! Samantha’s husband, you’re really impressive. You’re actually acquainted with Swallowston’s richest man, Donald Kushner. Moreover, he treats you with so much respect!”“That’s right, you must be someone very important, right?”A few women surrounded Adrian and inquired eagerly.Adrian shrugged. In truth, he had not expected to cross paths with Donald here either. However, he could tell that Tiffany and Kai were completely at a loss right now. They stood by the side, red in the face.They were planning on being the main characters today, drawing out the envy and flattery from their fellow alumni today. Yet, they were being ignored now. Tiffany enjoyed the feeling of being the center of attention. Otherwise, she would not have invited just the alumni who did poorly in life to today’s gathering. She was afraid that those who did well in life would steal her limelight yet she had not expected…Meanwhile, a chubby man sud
Kai was now in a great mood. He waved his hand to command the others because he assumed that Adrian was only acquainted with a fake Donald.The rest of the people refused to lower themselves to Kai and Tiffany’s level because they knew these two people enjoyed showing off since they were in university. Moreover, Tiffany and Kai were the types of people described as cowards who enjoyed bullying the weak.They would spare no effort to suck up to a wealthy person and would regard a poor person as worse than an animal.It was very apparent that everyone was aware that Tiffany invited them to the gathering so they could watch the show she put on for them.As for what type of show it was, it was apparent that they were there to witness Tiffany and Kai showing off while victimizing Samantha’s husband.***Soon, the crowd arrived at the private room Kai had reserved.He took a seat and behaved like a generous host. “Please take a seat, everyone!”The rest sat down while Adrian took a s