All Chapters of A Dance of Substitutes with Mr. Vanderbilt: Chapter 61 - Chapter 70

There was no deeper meaning behind this fake medal. - That night, Justine stayed with Sidney again.The next morning, the doctor came in for rounds and mentioned that Sidney's recovery had exceeded his expectations.Hearing this, Justine felt much more at ease.Sidney, aware of how busy Justine had been with her performances recently, felt guilty for keeping her there.That afternoon, Justine got into Leon's car. Before they headed back to her residence, they decided to visit Kitty at the orphanage.Charitas Home had since been taken over by government-appointed personnel, and Kitty's medical expenses were now fully covered."Justine, you've changed the lives and future of 127 children," Leon said, his voice filled with admiration and pride as he looked at her.Justine thought about it for a moment before honestly signing, "It was my ex-husband who saved them, not me."She wasn't naive.An orphanage that big, with so much wrongdoing happening within, couldn't have gone unn

"Madam Aurora, when I was younger. As I grew up and entered my rebellious phase, I sometimes called her by name," Justine explained with a faint smile, recalling the times she would cheekily refer to her foster mother as "Aurora" or "Sis".Whenever Aurora was in a good mood, she would jokingly correct Justine, "You little rascal! I'm your mother, not your sister!""So, you never actually called her 'Mom'?" Leon asked, his tone more serious than usual.Justine shook her head.Leon hesitated, then spoke gently. "Before you passed out, you softly called out 'Mom'."The sudden revelation made Justine's eyes widen in disbelief."Me?" She pointed to herself.Leon nodded, his expression soft but firm. "Yes. The memories you described earlier—those flashes of scenes—they likely relate to your biological mother. Justine, I believe you're ready now. Ready to begin true healing."Justine's fingers instinctively touched her throat, softly rubbing it, as though testing if any words might es

"Ashie, you're finally awake!" Jenny burst into tears and threw herself toward Ash's chest.Before Jenny could reach him, Sidney, who had been by Ash's side the whole time, let out a piercing shout. "Ash!"Startled, Jenny froze in her tracks.Sidney, sitting in her wheelchair, clung to Ash's arm and sobbed dramatically. "You're finally awake! I was so worried!"Ash did not acknowledge Sidney. Instead, he pulled his hand away from Jenny's grasp and scanned the room.Martha stood in the corner, her eyes red from crying as she looked at him. Other than her, no one else was there."Where's Justine?" he asked.Sidney's sobs, conspicuously dry of any real tears, came to a halt. "Justine? She didn't come."A wave of confusion washed over Ash. "She didn't come?"But he was certain he had seen her by his side in his feverish haze—he had even heard her humming a tune to soothe him."Ash, you must have been delirious from the fever and imagined things," Sidney said, casting a sidelong g

With that, Sidney darted out of the doorway, terrified that her brother might explode in anger."I was worried that Ms. Vanderbilt would become despondent after her injury, but it seems she handled things quite well," Martha said, then fell silent.What she actually thought but did not say out loud was, 'For someone who has lost the use of her legs, Sidney is surprisingly agile, though she looks a bit pale.'She then turned to Ash. "Mr. Vanderbilt, if you want to see Ms. Thorpe, I can give her a call."Ash remained silent for a long time.Even Sidney did not fully understand what was going on with him, and frankly, neither did he. He wanted a divorce, but he never intended to keep Justine as a secret lover.Yet, the constant disregard from Justine—each instance more dismissive than the last—was something he could not stomach.After what felt like forever, Ash finally spoke, his words ice-cold. "I don't want to see her. No need."Martha had assumed he would not respond at all by

When Justine was young, she was always an obedient child, just as her mother had told her to be. Even though her mother never returned and that memory had faded, she never forgot her mother's parting words.And that was the root of her mutism.When Justine awoke, an overwhelming pain tore through her heart, and she sobbed uncontrollably.Leon said nothing, simply staying quietly by her side.By now, the therapy session had run over. The next patient in line, Allan, stood outside the treatment room, listening to every sob with startling clarity.Leon's assistant whispered to him, "Perhaps you could wait in the lounge, sir. The previous session is taking longer than expected."But Allan, with his usual swagger, settled onto the sofa just outside the room, crossing his legs and folding his arms."I'll wait right here," he declared.The assistant, too cautious to argue, reached for his phone to contact Leon."Don't you dare disturb that session," Allan warned, his sharp eyes narro