"You're a friend who's very dear to me. I hope you can be happy, even without Quinton as the reason." Renee looked at Joanne, and sounded very sincere. "So, stop overthinking. Relax and stay here. Margaret is a great physician. She'll help you get better. Once you get better, you'll have the energy and confidence to do whatever you want, including being a teacher. Am I right?" "Ms. Everheart…" Joanne looked at Renee in a daze. Her eyes grew redder because she was quite touched. "You're a nice person. No wonder Mr. Hunt likes you. You guys are really very kind." "Well, I'm not that good either. I'm not nice to everyone. I like you, so I'm nice to you. Plus, it's written in the stars for us." Renee sounded casual, as she refused to make it very melancholic. Honestly, she didn't find herself a kind person. She was nice to Joanne simply because she wanted to make it up to the latter, for Quinton's sake."This…" Hurriedly, Renee handed the plate of s'mores pops to Joanne. "They'r
After a brief silence, Joanne finally spoke up. "They don't taste like the ones I had when I was young… The ones I had when I was young were very sweet. But this isn't that sweet. It's a bit sour, but… There's a sweet aftertaste.""Ha, ha, ha! That's great. Well, it's bad if the s'mores pops are just sweet. I like them sour and sweet. It's more challenging." Renee made some meaningful comments, and started having one s'mores pop too. "Mm… It's good! I've got to say that Quinton cooks well. I feel like getting him into catering." Renee had never tasted such delicious s'mores pops. She had a few of them at one go, and smugly started talking about Quinton again.But Joanne was no longer that repulsed. She even chimed in, "Yeah, you're right. He's good at cooking. He was always the one who cooked when we were young.""Is…that so?" Renee was speaking carefully. She held her breath for fear that Joanne might regain her wits and start hating Quinton again. At least, she could tell from J
For the subsequent few days, Joanne found it hard to resist Renee and Margaret's enthusiasm. Hence, she chose to stay in Everheart Manor.Renee purposely had a long chat with Quinton to ensure Joanne could stay there with peace of mind. She prohibited Quinton from appearing in front of Joanne without permission.Luckily, Quinton seemed to have come to his senses. He obeyed that rule, and never barged into Joanne's room again. He didn't even approach the second floor. At the same time, he took charge of cooking. He used different tricks to cook nice food every day. He was the image of a nice gentleman.Margaret went to all the herbs markets nearby, and finally gathered the herbs to help Joanne get better. She meticulously prepared and cooked the herbs for Joanne every day.After a few days, Joanne got better. Even her cheeks seemed plumper.Renee was relieved to see everything moving in a good direction in an orderly manner. She knew Joanne was worried about the school. Hence, sh
Exhausted, Renee finally understood how helpless a parent would be when their children reached the rebellious stage. The current Quinton acted like a rebellious child. The different thing was, a rebellious child would at most talk back. Quinton, on the other hand, would put them into action. It was a dilemma."I think… Is it because of Stefan?" Quinton watched Renee's expression, and hit the nail on the head.Stunned, Renee pursed her lips and pretended to be ignorant. "What… What do you mean?""You're so eager to settle that issue. I guess it's not only because of Joanne and me. You're afraid of burdening Stefan, aren't you?" Quinton continued pointing out the reason she wanted to go to the school. Besides, he knew that his guess was right based on Renee's reaction. He was an impulsive man who was prone to anger, but he was no fool. When Renee spoke up, he would know her thoughts. Besides, they were twins who were very close to each other. "No, I'm not!" Renee smoothed her
The crowd was agitated, and kept rebuking and slandering Stefan."So, it was the president of Hunt Enterprise who pulled strings here! No wonder the principal made such a bold move!""Tsk! Rumor has it that Stefan's the local tyrant. He can do whatever he wants. Well, that's not wrong…""We can't have a guy like that in Beach City! He must answer to the law!""I heard he's always cruel and heartless. He even targeted his first wife and abandoned his family just because of his mistress. What a scumbag!"Renee covered her face when she heard their rebukes. She was afraid of being burdened when others recognized her. "Excuse me!" She took a deep breath, and tried to walk forward among the agitated parents. She even became worried about Stefan. The issue seemed trivial, but it created a domino effect. One single mistake caused a lot of consequences. During the recent two years, the image of Hunt Enterprise suffered a great blow because of Stefan and Renee's divorce, the resentme
Surprised, the secretary asked, "I heard Ms. Garcia has no family. Isn't that right?""No, I'm her family. I can call her right now if you don't believe me." Renee fished her phone out to prove herself."That's unnecessary." At that time, the principal's voice came from the office. "Harmony, let her in."Harmony Cyan, the secretary, nodded and replied, "Okay, Mr. Porter." Then, she let Renee into the office.Renee smoothed her looks, and took a deep breath. She politely knocked on the door of the office before entering it carefully.Dale Porter, the principal, was working hard in the office, his head lowered. Although he was in his fifties and had gray hair, he looked energetic and was in good spirits.Renee walked to the office desk, and gently introduced herself to Dale. "Mr. Porter, hello. I'm Joanne's sister, Renee Everheart." "Renee?" Dale frowned and tried to recall who that was. Suddenly, he looked up and asked in surprise, "So you're Mrs. Hunt?""No!" Renee hurriedly w
"No, you got me wrong!" Renee immediately denied it. She looked awkward, as if she had been seen through. "I just want to minimize the negative impact. I'll still do this even if this issue has nothing to do with Stefan." "Fine." Dale nodded without getting to the bottom of it. "I wanted to take full responsibility for this. After all, I'm going to retire. But since you're willing to step forward, I won't reject your offer. My pension is very important, too. If this issue gets bigger, my family will be humiliated. Plus, I might not retire peacefully. It's horrible just thinking of it.""I'm sorry, Mr. Porter. In short, I should be held responsible for this. Thank you for giving Joanne this working opportunity too. She cherished this very much, and kept saying that being a teacher was like a second chance in life," Renee apologized to Dale sincerely, and thanked him. She knew the issue wouldn't be that serious if not for Quinton's craziness. Hence, she felt that she should step for
Dale broke out in a cold sweat, as Renee's attitude had changed all of a sudden. She was telling a different story now.Renee kept a gloomy face, and wanted to leave once she was done. However, Stefan gripped her wrist. "No rush, since you're already here.""I came to do my business, and so did you. We don't have to get our issues mixed up." Renee kept a cold attitude, and insisted on leaving. But… It seemed like she was just trying to run away."Are you that afraid of me?" Stefan watched her with an intense but complicated gaze. There was even some disdain gleaming in his eyes as the more superior one.Certainly, Renee couldn't accept to be inferior. She immediately became competitive. She gnashed her teeth and swung off his hand. "No, I'm not. Let's talk, then."She looked at Dale, and suggested, "Mr. Porter, didn't you book a private room in The Crane? Stop standing there. Let's go now. I'm hungry.""Okay, let's not waste time. We'll take a special path," Dale suggested eage
"What's that?" Justin frowned and said with disdain, "That's something to fool naive women like you. Only lovestruck fools will believe that." As a materialistic person, he never believed in things like horoscopes and fortune-telling. At most, they were mixed with some psychology. They weren't trustworthy at all.If Renee wanted to use those things to talk about their relationships and destinies, it would seem very childish. "Don't be so extreme. Those things are real and logical." Renee acted like an experienced salesperson and gradually eliminated Justin's prejudice. She said patiently, "If you believe those things, they can guide you and help you to see things through. If not, you can use them to kill time. Just try to get to know them. Isn't that nice?"Finally, Justin was convinced. He had some milk and asked her leisurely, "Fine. Tell me what kind of relationship we have based on those things." "I learned that our relationship is a declining friendship based on our birt
"I…" Renee paused. For a moment, she had no idea how to answer that question."Don't put yourself in a difficult position. Just follow your heart," Justin said calmly. "If you want to stay, my family will still welcome you readily. If you want to leave, I'll come up with a way to help you leave smoothly."After listening to Justin, Renee answered honestly, "Maybe it's better for me to leave, though I know this choice will hurt you."She could choose to stay to protect Justin's dignity and give Austin a good explanation. It would be more relaxing and steadier for her. However, Renee knew that it could only last briefly. She would cause Justin greater harm. She might as well be decisive and stop the damage in time. "Don't say that." Justin cracked a bitter smile and said with relief, "I've stopped taking things too seriously. If you like me, you won't stop loving me even if we're apart. Similarly, you'll think about another man if you don't like me, even though you're always b
Austin was having breakfast in the dining room. When he saw Justin and Renee walk over intimately, he finally believed that they had slept together. They seemed like a real couple."Good morning, Grandpa Baldwin!" Renee obediently greeted Austin just like before. She acted normally."Good morning." Austin nodded, unable to suppress his smile. After sizing them up, he calmly said to Renee, "We know how apologetic you are after you toasted to us last night. We'll forget about the past. You're still a part of my family." "Grandpa!" Justin interrupted Austin; he was very protective of Renee. "She's a woman, and we're not married yet. Please don't say that. A woman's reputation is the most important thing.""You…" Austin wanted to refute Justin, but their conflict was just resolved so it would be bad to pressure them more. He shook his head and said, "Fine. You two always have a bland romance. Finally, you've made some progress. I'll let you two decide what to do next.""Got it, Gr
"Hey, Haze! What are you doing? Get off of me!" Renee struggled in confusion."Hush!" Justin gestured and stopped her.In a while, someone unlocked the door of the room."Mr. Baldwin, let me help you and Ms. Everheart change your clothes." A kind middle-aged woman walked into the room casually. When she found them sleeping together intimately, relief washed over her. "Oh, you guys are still sleeping… Fine, I'll leave you be." Then, the woman exited the room.After that, Justin stopped hovering above Renee, looking awkward. "I'm sorry. It happened all of a sudden. If I hadn't done that, they wouldn't let us go. I just did a small thing to resolve the issue." Justin was fully aware of Austin's thoughts. Although Austin was still angry at Renee, he was satisfied with her and wanted to see her get into a real intimate relationship with Justin. If that did not happen, Austin might tie them up together since the drug had failed. Justin could only act with Renee to avoid the in
Renee grinned, satisfied after a long rest. "Why didn't you sleep a bit longer? This bed is comfortable and fluffy." While talking, she behaved like a fish as she extended her limbs and rolled around in bed childishly. In comparison to her calmness and ease, Justin behaved gingerly and did not dare to move as he lay in bed."Do you have any idea what had happened? We aren't dreaming. We're lying in the same bed," Justin said.He was certain that Renee was not fully awake. It explained why she was that composed. Otherwise, any normal woman would get out of bed with a start and keep screaming if they found herself lying in a man's bed."I know!" Renee said. After having a great time rolling around, Renee faced Justin with her head on her arm while lying on her side. "I wanted to drink wine to say sorry to you guys last night, but your family drugged the wine. You drank the same wine when you tried to stop me. We were controlled by the drug and were locked up in this room. T
Renee instantly understood what Justin meant by that. It turned out that the incident was just a part of the Baldwin family's plan. If she left, the Baldwin family would not easily let her off the hook.Justin still cared about her at a time like that, which moved her. "Thank you. You're great." Renee cried; she had no idea how to repay him. "You don't have to thank me. I'm not so great, either. I just hate that they always pester me." Justin purposely sounded relaxed. He finally calmed himself down as he casually grabbed some bandages to bandage his wound. Then, he lay in bed.He slept on one side of the bed and said to Renee, "It's late. You should rest early. This bed is large enough. If you don't mind, you can lie in bed too."The bed was large. It was more than enough even if Renee and Justin lay there."I…" Renee hesitated briefly before she finally got in bed. She trusted Justin. If he wanted to do something indecent to her, he would have long done that. He would no
"I don't know how to tell you. I'm sure you can understand." Renee could not bring herself to say more because it was a humiliating privacy. She might as well keep it to herself."Let me guess…" Justin's gaze grew sharp as he went straight to the point. "The man in your story is Stefan, isn't it?" Silence washed over Renee as she kept her head bowed. It was a silent approval.Justin burst into reckless laughter, which was scary. He looked down at his cut wound and laughed pathetically. "This is why he could make you fall in love with him, and I couldn't. I'm too cultured compared to him.""Don't say that, Haze!"Seeing how defeated Justin was, Renee became uneasy. "It isn't written in the stars for us. Plus, I've fallen in love with Stefan a long time ago before I even got to know you. I also rely on him physically and psychologically. I can't control my feelings. It's not something we can change. We…" "Stop!" Heartbroken, Justin pushed away everything in front of him and s
Time passed by. Gradually, the pain knocked some sense into Justin. He no longer wanted to take advantage of Renee."Let me get you some water." Renee had no idea what she could do for Justin. After some contemplation, she got to her feet and poured him a glass of water.Finally, she studied the room closely and found that it was a wedding room as Justin had mentioned. Everything was set up according to her preferences, which she had occasionally mentioned to Justin. For example, she loved keeping some ceramic ornaments on the bedside cabinet and hanging some seashell wind chimes at the windows. The entire room was painted in beige and green, which were her favorites, too. Beige gave a sense of warmth, while green gave a sense of gloominess. All of those details became the perfect wedding room for Renee.If everything went on smoothly, she would spend most of her time there, and he would be her life companion. Unfortunately, there were no ifs in the world.Renee handed the gla
Renee covered her lips, her tone filled with disbelief. "I…cut myself." Justin leaned against the corner and frowned deeply. He was in deep pain."Why did you cut yourself?" Renee was scared out of her wits and grew more sober. In her panic, she threw herself at him and tried to stop his bleeding.Justin reacted aggressively as he waved his dagger and warned fiercely, "Get away from me! Don't touch me!" "I…" Renee paused, too afraid to act recklessly. She pointed at his wound and said, "I'm just worried about you. You're bleeding. It must hurt a lot. Why did you hurt yourself?" "It's better to be in pain!" Justin gnashed his teeth and said in agony, "The pain will knock some sense into me, so I won't act like an animal and lose control of myself.""I see…" Stunned, Renee was moved to tears. She understood why he cut himself. Surprisingly, he wanted to stay sober and not be controlled by the drug in the wine.He could have used her to satisfy his desire, and she would never b