Leia knew the doctor was right—Renee was seriously ill. "I understand you, Ren." She walked over and held Renee's hands, then hugged her tightly. "I know that you're sad and stressed, but don't feel guilty. If you think being with us is stressful, then we won't disturb you. You can have some peace. When you're feeling better, I'll come and take you home." Leia finally believed Jovan's words. Jovan hadn't forcefully locked Renee up—it was Renee who didn't want to go home. Although Leia didn't understand Renee's reasons, she respected and supported her decision. "Do you want me to go? Will it make you feel better?" Leia whispered."I don't want you to go, but I'm in a very bad state. Your being here will just stress me out even more. I don't want you all to see my bad side, so..." Renee bit back a sob. "Give me some time. I'll go home once I'm better.""You're saying that you still want to stay in Jovan's manor? You don't want to see us?" Leia asked, sounding disappointed. "I won't s
"Thank you for understanding," Renee said emotionlessly as she stood there. She knew she was probably ill. In the past, she was an enthusiastic, straightforward, and bright sunflower, but now… she had become like moss that only grew in the dark. She was indifferent even when faced with others' love and goodwill. At last, Leia left the hospital without Renee.Xavier had been waiting at Everheart Manor, and was confused to see Leia come home alone. "What happened? Where's Renee?" He had thought that Leia would be able to bring Renee home, but things didn't look that simple now."She didn't want to come back." Leia walked into the manor listlessly. "See! I told you—she wants to be with Jovan. You can't just force her to come home." Xavier smirked and held his hand out to Leia. "You lost the bet, so tell me… How should I punish you?"Xavier and Leia had made a bet a week ago. Xavier felt that Renee didn't want to come home since she had not contacted them for a while, but Leia had i
"Symbiosis and the host," Xavier answered."Symbiosis and the host?" Stupefied, Leia questioned, "Is that some kind of sci-fi thing? I only heard such terms in crazy cartoons.""I heard that if a person's organ is transplanted to another person, the donor will infest the patient. Their actions, behaviors, characters, and preferences will merge. It's as if the patient's soul is snatched away." Xavier had read about it in books and sounded convincing. "So, you’re saying that the master of Ren's new eyes has infested her? Is that why she's changed so much?" Leia asked hesitantly."We can't rule it out!" Xavier continued, "Let's talk about Jovan. Don't you think he's more tolerable after he started using Renee's eyes? He doesn't seem so annoying. Even Stefan became smarter and more cunning after he started using Jovan's eyes. They had shown the symptoms of symbiosis and the host." "It seems true when you put it that way..." Leia touched her chin and nodded in agreement. Stefan, Jov
"We'll know once we find the owner of the eyes," Xavier muttered, putting his hands in his pockets. He felt that it was easy to find such a person, but it was odd that they hadn't found anyone at all even after a worldwide search… and Jovan had found them instead. "It looks like we have to ask Jovan." Leia decided she needed to speak to Jovan. After such an eventful day, she was tired and wanted to head upstairs for a rest. As she was halfway up the stairs, she recalled something and turned to Xavier. "Is there any news about Stefan?" "Not yet." Xavier sounded hopeful as he said, "But no news is good. I believe that Stefan has a plan." "I hope so." Leia clenched her fists and said angrily, "He'd better have a good explanation for my bestie! Ren needs him the most right now, but he's not here. I'm sure Ren won't forgive him, and neither will I. If I see him, I'll beat him up!""I hope you'll have the chance to do that..." Xavier's gaze was unreadable as he said softly, "We'll kno
After Leia left, Renee snuck past the nurses and hurried away to find Briar. She smoothly left the hospital and headed to Hunt Enterprise, then cautiously waited behind a flowerbed in a corner. Leia was right—since Briar was a shareholder and member of the board of directors of Hunt Enterprise, she would probably visit the company often. Hence, Renee figured she would be able to meet Briar if she waited at Hunt Enterprise.Renee waited for over an hour, and the night breeze grew colder. Renee was feeling cold because she had only put on a thin cotton coat. "Achoo!" She sneezed and wrapped her arms tighter around herself, feeling miserable. Time passed by, and though Hunt Enterprise had a culture of working overtime, most of its employees had already left."What's going on? Did she exit through the back door because she knew that I was waiting for her?" Renee wondered, hesitant to enter the company to search for Briar.Suddenly, a young woman came from behind and tapped Renee's shoul
"Mr. Hunt, I gave the blanket to Ms. Everheart. It looks like she needed it." "Of course. It's so cold out there, but she's waiting there like a fool. She'll easily catch a cold!" Jovan had noticed Renee hiding behind the flower bed ages ago, and could guess why she was here. He was quite happy to observe her from his office, looking adorable in her pink attire as she looked out for Briar like a spy. It warmed his heart."Go and see if Ms. Desrosiers is in her office. If she is, tell her that we don't have a habit of working overtime here. Ask her to go home." Jovan turned around and instructed Sage Avey, his secretary who had delivered the blanket to Renee. "Okay, Mr. Hunt..." Sage nodded. When she noticed Jovan staring at Renee tenderly, she suggested, "Why don't you invite Ms. Everheart upstairs? Isn't the view of the flowers nicer from up here?""No, that's unnecessary." Jovan refused firmly. "She doesn't want me to know she's here, so why should I ruin her mood? Just let her
"Of course, it's..." Briar wanted to tell her the truth, but changed her mind when she saw how much Renee cared about it. "Didn't you say you weren't interested in others' business? That was my intimate moment with Stefan, so why are you asking so much about it?" "Of course it's important to me! Now cut the crap, I don't have the time to listen to your nonsense!" Renee grabbed Briar's collar and demanded fiercely, "When did you take those photos?""What's this? Do you want to hit me? Am I obligated to tell you what happened?" Briar wasn't afraid of Renee's threat, and scoffed, "This is Hunt Enterprise, and I'm a shareholder and a member of the board of directors here. How dare you come to my territory and try to rough me up? That's pretty arrogant of you." "Arrogant?" Renee sneered. "You haven't seen the worst of it." Then, she opened the lid on her cup of milk tea and poured the sticky liquid on Briar's head."Ah, you... What are you doing?!" Briar didn't expect Renee to behave
That was why Briar had done so many things. After all, Stefan was missing, and no one knew if he was alive or dead. Briar was the one who had the final say regardless of the truth."Hmph! Do you think I'll believe such a lousy lie?" Renee rolled her eyes. "If Stefan wasn't satisfied, he could always find a more attractive woman. Why would he go for a woman like you who is ugly both on the outside and the inside?" "Why do you ask me if you don't trust me? Isn't that contradictory?" Briar approached Renee, smirking. "You spent so much effort to come here and wait for me. You even scolded and humiliated me, meaning you know what's going on… but you're just deceiving yourself. You just don't want to face reality."Renee was speechless. Yeah, she wouldn't have made a scene if she was indifferent to the whole matter."Everyone has a dark side that's not always understandable. Maybe you don't truly know your so-called Prince Charming." Briar's tone was smug. She knew her words were messi