Chatper 518


    At three o’clock in the morning, in a dimly lit room, the person on the bed tossed and turned, unable to


    fall asleep. After struggling for an hour, it was just hard to drift off. The scene that had happened


    downstairs invaded her mind like a virus. It kept ying on a loop. Christina suspected that she was


    feeling lustful.


    “Ah… Sigh, I’m going crazy.” Christina, driven to the edge by her insomnia, sat up. Her legs were bent,


    and her hands were propped on her legs as she covered her face.


    She turned on all the lights, getting ready to read. Actually, the night is the best time for a puzzle, but


    she did not bring the unfinished pce puzzle.


    Meanwhile, in the presidential suite, Joseph sat in the living room, holding a document that contained


    information that Ethan had looked into two hours ago. He was seriously reading it word by word.


    Previously, when Joseph was abroad and coborating with Christina and investing money, he was


    curious and casually looked into the Yamin family, focusing particrly on Christina. However, he did


    not investigate the reason behind her unmarried status.


    Joseph had always been meticulous. When he met Christina’s eyes in the evening, he could repeatedly


    detect her deepest concerns and nervousness in her eyes. Logically speaking, a woman who was so


    direct at work should not have such conflicted emotions.


    Christina had mentioned that Joseph wasmitted to a life without marriage. Initially, he did not take


    her words to heart. He thought she was just saying it casually to use it as an excuse to reject men. But


    in the evening, after repeatedly noticing the sense of hesitation in Christina’s eyes, he had no choice


    but to delve into it and address the issue at its core.


    Ethan, who was asked to look into the matter, was puzzled. He thought, “Where am I supposed to


    investigate in the middle of the night?” He could only ask Pat for help. Meanwhile, Pat, who was far


    away at Athana, ced his hopes on Frank.


    Pat did the right thing by cing hopes on Frank. Indeed, as it turned out, Frank, who was close to


    Chris, did know the reason Christina remained unmarried. However, Frank was notpletely certain.


    If he wanted to be certain, he had to pull Chris out of bed and ask him.


    And Frank had indeed done so. The document that Joseph currently held was the result of Frank


    waking up Christe in the night for a one-on-one interrogation. The uracy was quite high. The


    information known by family members was more urate and reliable than what circted as rumors


    in the outside world.


    “As expected, these are the reasons,” Joseph said in a low voice as he looked at the document.


    He thought, “All of these aren’t problems. They can be solved. The most challenging part is that


    Christina has a slight fear of marriage. She is afraid that the state of marriage may decline.”


    Frank was quite free, and he was quite meticulous too. In the end, he asked Ethan to make a note of


    the reason behind Christina’s fear of marriage and add it in parentheses, fearing that Joseph might not


    fully grasp the situation. Inside the parentheses, it was written that Angie had been giving Christina


    lessons on the rtionship between a mother-inw and a daughter-inw.


    Joseph was left speechless. He thought, “What reason is that?”


    Frank kindly gave Joseph a suggestion. At the bottom of thest piece of information, he asked Ethan


    to write a message. “Treat her sincerely” was the message.


    It was like seeking advice from a pastor at a church.


    Meanwhile, in one of the rooms of the Roberts family’s vi in Athana, the temperature was


    continuously rising, creating a stark contrast with the outdoor temperature. The highest state of deep


    An hourter, Avay in bed in a lethargic manner. Her hands were tired, so much so that she did not


    even want to move her hands. Her eyes were unfocused, and both sides of her cheeks were flushed,


    as if they had been applied with rouge. She said weakly, “I won’t be able to get up tomorrow.”


    Frank sat on the edge of the bed to deal with the aftermath. He was about to go to the bathroom to get


    water to help Ava wash her hands. “If you don’t want to get up, don’t get up then,” he said. “You can


    sleep as long as you want.”


    Upon hearing this, Ava waved. Her eyes were sparkling. Her slightly hoarse voice could be heard in the


    room. “Will you sleep in with me then?” she asked.


    Frank replied calmly, “Yep.”


    While Frank was investigating, Ava was fully engaged throughout, and she had learned about her


    brother’s strategies to pursue her beautiful future sister-inw. She turned andy prone on the bed,


    saying, “Frank, do you think my brother can eliminate the inner fears of my beautiful future sister-in-


    Frank brought a basin of water over and helped her wash her slender hands. Then, he wiped them


    clean with a dry towel and said calmly, “Yep. He can.”


    He thought, “Joseph is such a scheming person. He has many tricks up his sleeve. There is only one


    oue for Christina. She will sumb to him. It’s only a matter of time.”


    Frank thought to himself about this. He did not say it out loud.


    Ava’s hands were very fair. After exerting effort for so long, the area between her thumb and index


    finger had turned red. Frank felt a mild sense of sympathy. He said, “Baby Ava, let me apply some


    ointment for you.”


    Avay t on her back and raised her hand to look at it. She refused, saying, “It’s fine. It’ll disappear in


    a bit.”


    This time, her period came a few days earlier. Her menstrual cyclested for six days, which was


    rtively long. Adding a three-day recovery period, it amounted to nine days in total. She had to go


    back a few days before the start of school. She could not let Frank suffocate to death.


    “Such benefits still have to be given asionally,” she thought. “Otherwise, it would be so pitiful.”


    Frank picked up the basin and walked toward the bathroom. “Baby Ava, go ahead and sleep first,” he


    said. “I’m going to take a shower.”


    “Let me go to the toilet first,” Ava said. “It seems like there may have been a leak.” Ava quickly got up.


    Just as she turned over, she stretched out too much while lying down. It seemed like there might have


    been an overflow.


    Frank smiled and said, “I told you to slow down. Do you need me to help you get your close-fitting


    pants?”


    “I’ll go check if it got dirty first,” Ava said. “You can get it for meter.” With that, she was already off to


    the bathroom, wearing her slippers. She did not even close the door.


    As expected, it was a little dirty. Ava, thinking that Frank was by the bed, called out loudly, “Frank, help


    me get a blue one.”


    “Is it the blue one?” asked Frank, who was waiting at the door.


    Ava, who was in the bathroom, said with certainty, “Yes. The blue one. It’s already early in the morning.


    The lucky color for today’s horoscope is blue.”


    Ava had many pairs of underwear, each in a different color. She believed in horoscopes. She would


    match her underwear ording to the daily prediction and instructions for her horoscope.


    The white underwear was thrown into the trash can. Ava mostly discarded the ones stained with blood.


    This was rtively wasteful. The main reason was that bloodstains on pure cotton underwear were


    difficult to clean.


    Ava took the underwear that Frank handed to her and said, “I’ll wash it ande out of the bathroom.


    Wait for me… Wait – for me for ten minutes.”


    “There’s no hurry,” Frank said. “Take your time.” Frank stepped out of the bathroom and helped close


    the door.


    Eleven minutester, Ava came out of the bathroom, walking carefully. As she stepped out of the


    bathroom, she noticed that Frank was sending a message. “Frank, are you messaging my brother?”


    she asked.


    “No,” Frank said. “I’m messaging Grace, asking her to buy you a white one tomorrow.” Frank put away


    his phone and tossed it onto the bed.


    “Oh,” Ava said. “It’s okay. How about I go shopping with my mom and Grace tomorrow, and you can go


    have fun with your father and the others?”


    “Whatever makes you happy,” Frank said. “Go to bed now. It’s already half


    “Okay,” Ava replied.


    past


    four.”


    The next morning, the person who had insomnia the previous night did not wake up early and was still


    sleeping soundly in bed. As for Benjamin, who had made a mistakest night, he was in a worse state.


    He was still sweeping the steps, hunched over with a thick coat, looking just like a snow sweeper.


    His back looked a little lonely and pitiful.


    From N?velDrama.Org.


    Ethan felt a bit of sympathy for this young man, so he said, “The hotel warehouse has snow-melting


    agents and salt. Use your brain.”


    When Benjamin heard this, he immediately stopped sweeping the snow. He thought, “Jeez, what kind


    of people are these people?” Then, he said, “Fuck you. There’s this stuff, but why didn’t you tell mest


    night? I was like a street sweeper all night.”


    Ethan said, “Are you brainless? We use those things to melt snow every year.”


    8


    Benjamin was left speechless in response, unable to say anything.


    At 12:30 noon, the snow had already stopped falling. A ray of sunlight after the snowfall seeped


    through the gap in the curtains and fell onto the snow-white nket.


    The


    person in bed stretched out her smooth arms and yawned. She opened her sleepy eyes and raised her


    hand to ce it on her forehead, tousling her curly hair. “No wonder Ste likes to sleep in,” she said.


    “Naturally waking up is indeed morefortable than being woken up by an rm clock. One will


    enjoy it.”


    She straightened the nket, sat up, and yawned again. She lifted the nket and ced her feet on


    the floor, searching for her slippers. Christina had a quirk. She could not find her slippers when she


    woke up in the morning, forgetting which side of the bed she left them on before going to sleep.


    She tied her hair up haphazardly, walked into the bathroom, and looked at her reflection in the mirror.


    She noticed that her face appeared somewhat fatigued after staying up all night. She turned on the tap


    and started freshening up, applying various skincare products from bottles and jars.


    Once women reached the age of twenty-five, they would gradually start aging. Staying upte was


    indeed a catalyst for aging.


    Thirty minutester, after washing up and putting on light makeup, the person in the mirror looked


    alluring and captivating with delicate features. Christina felt that she was not old. She still looked quite


    young. It was just that she was somewhat


    more mature.


    However, Joseph was not young. He was almost thirty years old. At least she was a little younger, not


    yet at the age of thirty.


    She was wearing an off-shoulder sweater, a long fishtail skirt, and a white down jacket. After packing


    up, she wondered if Joseph had woken up.


    What Christina did not realize was that the number of times she thought about Joseph was continually


    increasing, but she waspletely unaware.


    Opening the curtains revealed a vast expanse of white below, extending to the roof as well. The white


    color provided a sense offort but also conveyed coldness. She took a closer look down below.


    This made Christina unable to resist opening the window and stuck her head out to look. She


    discovered that it was the familiar and friendly driver who was sprinkling something on the steps, while


    one of the employees nearby was exining something to him.


    The floor was too high, and she could not hear what they were saying.


    Christina had a guess in her heart. She just wanted to go downstairs and verify her guess,


    The people downstairs were still chatting enthusiastically. Ethan was supervising and directing. It could


    be said that he was not helping at all. It was as if Joseph had sent him to supervise the work. He was


    very dedicated. “This way, and this way,” he said. “If you want to rework, just underwork.”


    Benjamin was furious. He said, “Couldn’t you help mest night? Mr. Turner is really too much. I merely


    interrupted his –kiss. Is there a need to punish me like this? Can’t he just kiss Ms. Yamin again? Ms.


    Yamin looks pretty easy to get along with.


    She’s not a petty person who won’t let people kiss her.”


    Ethan nced at Benjamin expressionlessly and said, “Shut up. Do more work and talk less.”


    “I didn’t sleep all night, and now I’m not even allowed to talk,” Benjamin said. “Why don’t you suffocate


    me to death?” As he spoke, he swept the snow. After sweeping, he sprinkled snow-melting agents and


    salt. It could be considered a doubleyer defense.


    Ethan and Benjamin did not notice the person behind them at all. “Are you guys talking about me?”


    Christina asked.


    Christina smiled faintly, the corners of her mouth curled up, but this smile was a little meaningful. Ethan


    instinctively lowered his head and prepared to leave. “Wait a moment,” Christina said.


    Ethan, who had just taken a step forward, was stopped. Christina had been staring at Benjamin, who


    was about to knock his head on the steps. “Lift your head for me to see,” she said. “Is your hand


    healed?”


    Benjamin covered one side of his face and struggled. Christina made him abandon the thought of


    escaping. “Stop covering it,” she said. “I’ve already seen it. Take it down. It’s quite tiring.”


    “Haha, Mrs. Turner, what a coincidence,” Benjamin said as he smiled, trying to please her. He looked a


    bit silly.


    Addressing Christina as “Mrs. Turner” was inadvertently giving oneself away. Ethan was already silently


    cursing this fool. He thought, “Ms. Yamin, being such a smart person, must have guessed the reason


    immediately.”


    Ethan muttered inwardly, “Oh no. When we face punishment shortly, I’ll definitely not be able to escape


    it.”