"That''s right! I''ve known your mom since she was twenty-something. She had a bit of baby fat at the time and wasn''t as thin as she is right now. She has always been pretty, though," Mike said. "Dad is handsome, too."


    "Haha! Do you like your dad that much?"


    "He is nice to me," Ivy said without hesitation.


    "Well, your dad isn''t so bad. He started to grow on me ever since he stopped fighting with your mom." Mike no longer despised Elliot as he had in the past, and the two had not argued for a long time.N?velDrama.Org owns this.


    "Your mom is the reason why I''m alive right now. She saved my life," Mike said. "After she cured me, I was determined to stay by her side no matter what. It''s a good thing that I made that decision, or God knows where I would have ended up!"


    "Uncle Mike, what did you work as in the past?"


    "I was a hacker."


    Impressed, Ivy said, "So you are really good withputers?"


    "Of course! I was your older brother''s teacher, you know?" he said smugly. "Of course, he got even better than me."


    Ivy was in awe.


    "Do you know that the things we see on the inte are just the tip of an iceberg?" Mike asked.


    Ivy shook her head. "No. No one has ever told me that."


    "It''s good to not know, I guess. Some knowledge just doesn''t do you any good. You just need to enjoy your life." Mike smiled endearingly. "Forget about everything that upset you in the past. This is your real life now."


    Mike had a rough childhood that haunted him for years, and he was worried that Ivy would be brought down by her suffering in the past eighteen years.


    "It''s hard to forget the past, though." Ivy knew that her life as Irene had ended, but struggled to forget what she had been through as Irene.


    "Think about the happy stuff, then."


    "That, I can do." Ivy smiled. "Uncle Mike, I didn''t juste here to see auroras, actually. There''s someone who has been really kind to me who studies here." She immediately regretted saying it as soon as the words were out of her lips.


    Uncle


    Mike, please don''t tell Mom and Dad about this."


    Her family wished for her to cut off her past to avoid trouble. She was a different person and was no longer on her own; Ivy understood her family''s concern, and, since she did not wish to cause them any trouble, she obeyed and did not reach out to anyone she knew in the past.


    Mike studied her face and nodded. "Don''t worry. I won''t tell anyone. Not even Uncle Chad."


    "Thank you! You are the best." She heaved a sigh of relief.


    "It''s nothing. Everyone has their secrets. I''m d that you decided to share yours with me," Mike said. "Who is this person who was kind to you?"


    "He is a little older than me. I used to


    work for his family, and he took care of me. I had this really ugly scar on


    my face the past and no one


    I


    would speak to me, so I didn''t have any friends... But he never looked down on me because of it. Ivy said hesitantly.


    She had never mentioned any of this to her family as she did not want them to feel sorry for her.


    "Do you want to see this friend of yours, then? I can take you to him without telling anyone else," Mike offered.


    "I don''t know where he is, though. All I know is that he is studying here."


    In truth, Ivy was not ready to see Lucas. She did not know what to say when she saw him; he was studying in Edelweiss, and she would return to Aryadelle soon, so they might not see each other again. "Oh, so you lost touch, huh?" Mike understood the situation. "Do you want to know which university he is studying in? I can find out."