"It doesn't hurt. Really," John teased, seeing the grim look on Tina's face.Annoyed, Tina shot him a glare and pressed on the cotton bud.John gasped, "Oof…"Tina promptly withdrew her hand but still scoffed. "I thought you said it didn't hurt!""My bad!" John promptly apologized—he simply could not be harsh on her.Still, Tina became even gentler then as she worked meticulously.At the same time, Tina's phone kept jingling with text messages, all of which were from Henry, who kept apologizing.However, she only picked up her phone after disinfecting John's face and did not read a single text as she blocked Henry.John then led her to the main bedroom, where the sheets were already changed.He really was attentive as ever.Nonetheless, Tina was really spent. "Goodnight.""Goodnight," John replied and lit some scented candles to help her sleep, while Tina lay under her warm sheets.Outside, the rain was getting heavier.She thought she would stay wide awake after the night
"I need some rest, Rory," he said, his tone a little cool. "I'll drop by later to visit. Just go home and get some rest."It was meant as a warning to Linda as well, to discourage her from using Rory to bridge the distance between them ever again."Daddy…"However, it was the first time Henry was being that cold toward Rory. Before he could reach her, Andy stopped her, "Please, Rory—Mr. Barnes is really feeling ill and needs rest. If you really care, you should listen instead of bothering him further."Rory pursed her lips as she stood at the doorway, her tears welling up in her eyes as she leveled a doleful look at Henry.However, as Henry closed his eyes and she could not get anything from him, she left, looking back every other step.She was very much panicking—was Henry really angry at her this time?And if Henry did not love her, then Linda would not either.What could she do at that point?Nonetheless, she got downstairs and got into a car parked outside.And seeing h
Rory was crouching at a corner of the office building, her clothes soaked through and her tiny form curled up.She was trembling in the cold as she looked at Henry."Rory!" Henry's eyes widened and he hurried over, catching some of the rain as his bodyguard could not keep up with him.Still, Henry could not care less as he rushed to Rory's side, taking off his suit jacket and wrapping it around Rory, and then scooped her stiff little body up in his arms.As he did, he felt her hands too—they were as cold as ice, leaving his heart tightening.Her large eyes were filled with tears, and she was not behaving like before.After all, whenever Henry picked her up, she would always hug his neck, calling him 'Daddy' sweetly as she leaned her cheeks on his chest.In the winter rain, the chilling winds cut to the bone.Even though Henry had realized that something was wrong with Rory, he did not ask her immediately, but instead strode into the building with her in his arms and took the el
Henry nodded. "Good."After Andy left and Yancy arrived, Rory already changed into fresh clothes, hugging Henry's arm as she sat beside him on the couch, leaning on him with an utterly clingy look.Yancy went over and examined her before concluding, "She's lucky you found her in time and didn't catch a cold. But you have to be more careful—she's still recovering and wouldn't survive an infection."And with those instructions, Yancy left.The rim of her eyes reddened, Rory knew she was in the wrong and apologized, "I'm sorry, Daddy. I should have behaved instead of making you worry. It won't happen again.""As long as you understand. Don't do something like that ever again," Henry rebuked her, but his tone was gentle.Rory nodded repeatedly and threw herself into his arms As Henry still had work to do, he was going to ask Andy to take her home, but she refused. "It's been two weeks, Daddy. I'll stay with you a little longer. I promise to stay in a corner and read my books withou
Linda told Rory that Sophie was Henry's real daughter.Because they were connected by blood, if they spent more time with each other and bonded, Rory would become unimportant because she was not really Henry's daughter.There was no way Rory would let Sophie take her daddy away, so she agreed to let Linda make her sick.Then, Linda waited until Henry was on the way to the amusement park before calling him, to make sure Henry would walk out on Sophie.After that, Linda told her that Sophie had stupidly waited for half a day at the amusement park and died.Sophie was really stupid—she knew that Henry did not love her, but she still thought she could steal Henry away from Rory on her birthday!However, because Sophie died, Henry never took her to the amusement park last year for her, even though he had promised to do it every year.Still, seeing that Henry was silent, she promptly played the mature daughter and said, "It's alright, Daddy—I was just asking. It's okay if you just spe
Rory was endlessly confident that she mattered most in her daddy's heart.However, Henry usually arrived very early on her birthdays. When he did not show up by eight, Rory called his number, but no one answered.Still, she was afraid to keep calling and instead texted him.[Daddy, when are you coming?]Once again, there was no answer—he did not pick up as she tried to call later too, and nor did he show up as noon arrived.Even as she felt disheartened, she peered at Linda with the corner of her eye.Linda had gone the extra mile to look pretty, as she had promised to persuade Henry so that they could celebrate her birthday together.She quickly tried to call Henry as there was no sign of him, and they continued to wait all the way to the evening.Meanwhile, Linda had already received the message that Henry had gone to Sophie's grave first thing in the morning and never left since.Furious, she steered her wheelchair and rammed into Rory, knocking her to the floor, all whil
After Henry found out that Tina was the real Orange, watching the footage of Sophie only made him regret even more.He really wanted to go back to seven years ago and beat his past self up violently.Even as he looked tearfully at Sophie—the child of her and Orange's love, so cute and pretty on the screen—he thought she should have grown up pampered as the happiest princess.And yet, he had scorned her even before she was born and treated her with utter insignificance after she was born.Just thinking about how she looked at him, yearning for her fatherly affection, left his heart feeling like it was being stabbed a thousand times over."I'm so sorry, Sophie! Can you come back to me?" he asked, gently brushing his finger against her photo on the gravestone.However, there was no answer to his question, and he felt like he was stabbed again as he kept watching the video alone in the cold winter night.When the video was finished, his tears covered his face.The more Sophie loved
As Henry opened the door, he was left staring in shock as Rory knelt before her own bed, her young, dainty face contorted with sinister malice that did not suit her age.Just seeing that left Henry wondering if this was still the sweet, disciplined Rory whom he knew? He just could not connect that other Rory with the one he was looking at now.As she held a tiny straw doll in one hand and a long needle in the other, cursing Sophie's name while stabbing the needle repeatedly into the straw doll, it was clear that the straw doll was meant to represent Sophie.A fire flared inside Henry's mind—Sophie's death had always been an agony to him, and he owed her plenty and wanted nothing less than to give her a better afterlife.More than that, he yearned for the day that Tina forgave him, and then they could have another child.With that, Sophie could reincarnate and become their daughter once more, so he would have a chance to make amends.When he yearned for those things so much, how
The instant Tina tapped on the notification, she found Henry kneeling outside her door, motionless.She swiped through her phone and saw that most notifications were from Henry, with the first of many being sent at three in the morning.That meant Henry had driven straight to her place after leaving Rose Garden and knelt outside her door for almost four hours.But Tina remained unaffected.Remembering the video John had sent earlier, she had a hunch that Henry was outside after he became aware of Rory's true nature.She soon tapped out of the notifications and kept chatting with John since she found herself in a good mood first thing in the morning.When John said he had yet to have breakfast, Tina could read between the lines and did not play dumb, telling him that she would cook extra portions for him when he came over.John replied: [Already on my way.]Tina could not resist a smile. [Drive safe. See you soon.]After putting down her phone, she went about her daily routine—
It was an especially long night, and every passing second was especially gruelling as Henry stayed on his knees outside Tina's door, like his heart was being stabbed.-When Tina woke up, she noticed that John had just texted her a minute ago.[Are you up?]Tina smiled ever so faintly as she replied: [Mornin'.][There's a video you should watch.][Okay.]While waiting for the video to be sent to her phone, she noticed many notifications from her alarm system.It was the first time this had happened since she moved in, and she was about to tap on it when John's file was downloaded.Tina tapped on the video first and immediately recognized that it was taken outside Rsoe Garden when she tapped on it.A familiar car was outside Linda's villa—it was Henry's.Tina's gaze cooled as she looked on.Yesterday was Sophie's death anniversary and also Rory's birthday.And given how much Henry doted on Rory, it was not hard to see that he went to the Rose Garden after visiting Sophie's
As Henry's car soon disappeared in the night, Rory was left behind and too exhausted to give chase.She lay sprawled on the ground, watching as Henry left her, and her body's warmth slowly faded.Her gaze was endlessly horrified and helpless.Was he really going to leave her?-After leaving Rose Garden, Henry drove straight to Tina's apartment, having paid a hefty sum to buy the adjacent units to hers after finding out that she had moved there.He drove into the car park but stayed downstairs.The apartment complex was very quiet as it was three in the morning, but his heart could not quiet down at all.After all, he had been horrified since the moment he exposed Rory's two-faced nature.It was so obvious, but he just did not see it!He really was too overjoyed from the reunion when Linda showed up, passing herself off as Orange.The delight of the lost and found was just too much, and he cared even more for Linda when she told him that Mama Orange was dead, and how much su
It was such a horrible sight that Henry eased his foot off the gas pedal before he knew it, and his car clearly slowed.To Rory, it was a ray of hope—just as she thought, he loved her and could not really bear to leave her.He must be heartbroken to see how much she loved him and chased him until she got hurt.With that thought, her utterly discouraged spirit was once again soaring.So what if Sophie was his real daughter?! She was dead! And all a dead person could do was lay six feet under, unable to do a thing!But Rory was different—even if she was not connected to Henry by blood, she was alive.That meant she could sweet-talk him, whispering nice words to cajole him.And what could dead Sophie do about that?Hence, Rory found renewed strength despite being exhausted and started crawling toward Henry's car, bawling as she did.She had a clear objective and did not care that her hands and knees were scraped through."Daddy… Look at me… It hurts so much… Daddy…"As Rory g
Henry paused as he turned and suddenly turned toward Rory.Despite her leveling a miserable look at Henry with her eyes swollen from tears, he was still not relenting.In fact, he was endlessly cold as he glared at her with a cool look that cut to the bone."I'm telling you one last time—don't call me Daddy, you hear?"Rory had only seen him give Tina and Sophie that look before and had never expected him to look at her the same way now.She was left trembling endlessly, her lips parting as she really wanted to call out to him and sweet-talk him like she always did.But that icy glare left her speechless, and she could only watch as Henry turned and strode off, his footsteps soon fading into the distance.Did he really hate her now? Was he leaving her?Even as the thought struck her, she shook her head repeatedly!No! Henry could not leave her! She could not lose him! "Daddy!" She finally called out again as she leapt out of bed and started running without putting on her sho
However, was Rory really innocent?Henry might have believed Linda if he had not seen what Rory did with his own eyes—how malicious she looked when she cursed Sophie, and how vile the words she breathed were!Just remembering the sight left him shuddering.Not even a normal adult should have been capable of such vile words, and Rory was only seven!But what frightened Henry the most was how she was once again the good girl Rory as soon as she turned and saw him.She could switch between her personalities as if it was second nature, just like what Linda always did behind his back.The phrase 'the apple doesn't fall far from the tree' really came to mind!Why could he not just see that from the start?!Rory had grown up by Linda's side, and Linda was a mother who was so immaculate with her pretensions.With such influence, would Rory have been all that different?"Adopt Rory, you say?" Henry breathed so quietly that no one could tell what he was really feeling just then.But s
Linda already had some choice words in mind for Rory after Henry never showed up today.So, her eyes were flaring in annoyance when she opened them, as Rory made such a loud ruckus past midnight, waking her up.She was ready to give Rory a beating as she moved from her bed to her wheelchair and headed to the next room.That was when she heard Henry's voice.She did not rush inside, however, and eavesdropped outside, cursing Rory's incompetence when she realized what just happened! Rory could not even do one thing right and had to let Henry catch her cursing that brat!At this point, Linda was well aware that any chances she had of getting back together with Henry depended entirely on Rory, so she must not let Henry become disappointed in Rory.Rory was her trump card. And if she lost her trump card, she had no shot of getting Henry back.And how could she accept something like that?!She had stayed by his side, putting up an act for years! How could she just allow herself to
It had never crossed Henry's mind that Rory was lying.He was prejudiced and had absolutely fought with Sophie, insisting endlessly that Rory would never lie.But was Sophie lying just because Rory did not?At this very moment, Henry did not even dare to think about how many lies Rory had told him over the years.And because he had absolute faith in Rory, how many times he had glazed over the facts and blamed Sophie!"Daddy…" Rory was truly terrified now, clutching her cheek where Henry slapped her in disbelief while her tears welled up in her eyes.In truth, Henry did not hit her that hard—he was holding back, compared to the times her mother had slapped her.But her heart hurt.Her daddy… The daddy she loved so much, the daddy who spoiled her so much and never raised his voice at her, slapped her because of Sophie!He did not just forget her birthday because of Sophie—he even struck her now!But she did not blame him.It was all Sophie's fault—and she hated Sophie even m
Rory asked, "Daddy? Is that my birthday present?"At the same time, she knew very well that if Henry saw what that straw doll really was, he would be absolutely furious.That was why he must not let him see at any cost.However, Henry was still glowering as he threw the gift aside, taking a step forward and glaring at her menacingly. "Show it to me!""Daddy…"More tears gushed from Rory's eyes, as if Henry terrified her.And yet, she gingerly reached out, tugging on the hem of Henry's shirt, chirping sweetly, "Daddy, you're scaring me. Don't look at me like that."At that moment, she was once again the Rory that Henry was so familiar with.Mature and obedient.Kind and innocent.Guileless and harmless.But Henry could not forget about the Rory he saw just now.And seeing that she kept trying to manipulate him, he lost all patience and pushed her aside, while reaching for the blanket with his other hand."Daddy! Don't look!"Rory cried as she lunged over in a panic to stop