Andrew followed behind Claire who was galloping up the stairs with a terrifying expression. The man repeatedly opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something, but he finally closed it again. Claire seemed to have forgotten that it was James who told them to stay in the hall until he returned.
The man sighed and tried to calm his wife. "I know, this is all my fault. Walk a little slower, okay? I'm afraid you will fall because of these high heels you wear." Andrew persuaded.
But Claire ignored the man. She arrived on the third floor and headed straight to the bedroom occupied by the young couple. Claire took a brief breath before knocking on the door.
"Lilia, are you still awake? This is Claire," the woman called in a steady voice. She didn't want to wake Lilia up when her sister-in-law was asleep.
Claire and Andrew waited in silence. Several minutes passed, but there was no answer from behind the door. Claire thought that the two of them were asleep and turned to leave. Just at that moment, the bedroom door swung open.
Andrew raised his eyebrows in surprise, but he didn't speak his mind. If they weren't asleep, then why did it take them long enough to open the door?
When Lilia opened the door, the woman's cheeks looked even redder than usual. "Sister Claire? What's wrong?" she said in surprise as she subconsciously adjusted her clothes. "Is the dinner over?"
Claire was so anxious that she missed both Lilia's blushing face and slightly swollen lips. The woman grabbed Lilia's hand and pulled her into the room before Andrew could stop her.
"Lilia, are you okay?" Claire asked worriedly as she examined Lilia from head to toe. "I just found out that you had an incident like that! If it weren't for my husband, I wouldn't have let Sara Hartanto show her insolence to you!"
"Ah... yes ... thank you for worrying about me, Sis." Lilia answered in an ambiguous tone. Her eyes repeatedly glanced at the bed, as if checking to see if everything was in order.
Relief colored Lilia's expression as she made sure that the bed looked smooth, as if it had never been slept on. Her gaze shifted around the room until she saw Jean's figure through the glass door. The man was smoking alone on the balcony.
Lilia turned her focus back on Claire, who was still chattering about how she wouldn't forgive Sara. She cleared her throat and said, "Sister Claire, I'm really okay. You don't need to worry too much. I can solve a small problem like this."
Hearing that, Claire crossed her arms and wore an angry expression. "Of course I know you can solve this problem!" she said with confidence. "But tonight Sara was there as the representative of the Hartanto Family! Even so, she still dared to cause trouble for you at the Widjaya Family dinner!" Claire grunted.
"Don't worry, your sister here won't just let that woman off the hook! I will definitely make her regret offending you!" Claire promised. The Widjaya family was not an ordinary family. No one could insult them and get away with impunity!
Claire's words brought warmth to Lilia's chest. She stepped forward and hugged the woman tightly. After being neglected for so long by the people she thought were her own family, Lilia finally understood what it meant to have one. She felt loved and defended by her new family, no matter what happened.
As Lilia and Claire exchanged stories, Andrew slipped away from the room. He went out to the balcony to accompany Jean to smoke. The two men leaned against the balcony railing while smoking in silence.
Andrew watched his wife and sister-in-law talk intimately in the room. Suddenly, Jean spoke, breaking the silence between them.
"Did you tell Sister Claire about that?" Jean asked in a low voice.
The man didn't say what he meant, but Andrew got the point clearly. Andrew was silent for a moment, then finally he shook his head.
"No, Claire doesn't need to know about this. She had never met Mellisa in person. That accident happened before Claire came to my life."
"…I see." Jean replied short. He turned back to focus on his cigarette and said nothing more.
Andrew returned his gaze to his wife. Lately, he hadn't heard anything about Mellisa, so he had almost given up on trying to reach her.
Then he thought of something, which made him immediately think about Mellisa's relationship with her family.
"What are you going to do next, Jean?" asked Andrew. "If Aunt Jenny had a chance to meet Lilia, I'm sure she would have come to the same suspicions as me. The Irwan family will know that Lilia has a similar face to Mellisa."
Jenny was Simon Irwan's eldest daughter who married into the Hartanto Family for the sake of running their family business. That woman was Mellisa and Leila's aunt. Jenny's position was solid both within the Hartanto family and in the Irwan family.
Andrew was sure— no, to be precise, he knew that Jenny was already starting to suspect Lilia's identity. It was only a matter of time until everyone in the Irwan Family found out about it.
But Jean was completely unfazed by Andrew's words. He exhaled his cigarette smoke before answering, "… I won't do anything about them. I will deal with the Pangestu Family."
Andrew raised an eyebrow, but he didn't protest. He also overheard Mellisa's conversation with Lilia once. So he found out about Leila and the Pangestu Family. Andrew agreed that they needed to find out Robert and Sylvia's motives for doing this.
The man dropped his cigarette butt on the floor and stomped it until it went out. Andrew was only about to return to the room when Jean called him one more time.
"Bro, find me someone who can take care of the Genesis branch in Jakarta as my replacement."
Andrew's steps suddenly stopped. He turned his head in disbelief. "Huh? What did you say? Wasn't that branch recently opened?" Andrew smacked his brother-in-law. "Shouldn't you be taking care of that new branch? Then why do you want to leave it to someone else?"
Jean stared back at Andrew in surprise, as if it was this man who had gone mad. "Of course because I want to be with Lilia." Jean replied with confidence.
Andrew looked away with a bitter expression. That kind of romantic answer wasn't what he wanted to hear! He didn't want to know how much Jean spoiled his wife!
Jean's brother-in-law sighed and said, "Humans really can change. When I met you for the first time, I had the impression that you were as cold as a chunk of ice. But now, you are willing to do anything for your wife."
Jean shrugged with an expression full of confidence. "What's wrong with spoiling your wife?"
Andrew wanted to tease Jean even further, but his laughter vanished as he compared the man's situation to his. Andrew was actually as bad as Jean when it came to loving his wife.
The man even pretended to be a man in a wheelchair in the name of love. Andrew stayed in a wheelchair for almost a year just so he could melt Claire's frozen heart. That man had no right to mock Jean!
Love didn't discriminate.. It happened to the rich and the poor alikes, and they all could do stupid things for that love.
The source of this c𝐨ntent is freewe(b)nov𝒆l