After Reynold gave his gift to Lilia, he looked at his goddess with gusto. Then he wrinkled the corner of his mouth timidly and planned to turn around and return to his seat.
When the old man saw his movements, he immediately frowned. "Reynold, what about Mellisa's gift?"
Reynold stopped walking.
'I'm so dead!'
He only thought about giving a gift to his goddess, but he forgot about his other niece!
Reynold stood dazed and confused. The whole Mayer family feared Caleb the most.
When his father stared at him with his sharp eyes, Reynold was beyond terrified.
"I, I…" Reynold hesitated for a long time and finally he turned his head to look at Mellisa. His voice was flat as he said, "Mellisa, I wish you good health."
A freaking blessing as his most sincere gift?
Reynold finished speaking and Mellisa laughed. "Uncle, thank you for the sincere blessing. It seems like my health has been worrying everyone some times ago, so thank you for the reminder and prayers."
Mellisa had not had much of a chance to interact with Reynold before, but judging by the situation this afternoon, that boy must have prepared the gift for Lilia with all his heart. This was quite understandable to her.
She had never followed the entertainment world, but Mellisa could see clearly how obsessed the boy was though there wasn't much difference between male and female fans in admiring their idols.
And on top of everything, she did not return to the Mayer family house with Lilia to receive gifts.
At this time, Lilia was carefully keeping the notebook that Reynold had given her. After sitting back down, she looked at Caleb's direction. "Grandpa, this little uncle's gift is very nice and I can feel his sincerity in both gifts."
Mellisa also responded at the right time. "Grandfather, no matter what uncle gives us, we are both happy."
The sisters didn't want their grandfather to lash out his anger towards his son. It'd be too embarrassing for Reynold. Even Dennis couldn't help but speak up. "Dad, I think this little brother's gift is more memorable than what I gave them. Like Lilia said, what was most important was sincerity."
"Please don't be angry, shouldn't we have fun at this banquet? Anyway, is it just me or Reynold is really a fan of Lilia?" He continued asking.
Reynold nodded as soon as he heard his older brother helping him.
After such a scene, Caleb, who wasn't very good at reprimanding gently, waved his hand in disgust. "Now sit down and eat your meal. After that, hurry back to your room to do your homework!"
"Oh..."
...
This dinner banquet was probably the most heartwarming day after Lilia and Mellisa found each other.
Even Lilia didn't think that her real family would treat her in the most gentle and humane way.
No question, no pressure, everyone accepted her existence sincerely. Even her uncles from the main family members were caring and cherishing her.
At this time, the family banquet had ended. As Dennis said before, he immediately brought Jean, Leonard, his second and third brothers to his study to chat.
Lilia, Mellisa and the relatives of the extended family also sat in the living room and talked to each other, Stefani was in charge of entertaining them.
"Mellisa, Lilia..." At this time, Janice appeared quietly at the entrance to the living room.
She didn't know how to talk to her two children, but her eyes were a little lighter. Then she whispered while looking at their silhouettes.
Stefani turned her head first, smiled and waved. "Janice, come and sit down. These kids are telling interesting facts from the entertainment world. Let's listen to this story from Lilia together."
Janice blinked but didn't answer. "Auntie, can I speak to them for a moment?"
"Of course!" Stefani naturally knew what happened at the Irwan family house that day. Now that everyone in the Mayer family was here, Janice didn't have much to say. Stefani then nodded her head and said to the two girls in a friendly manner, "Then, I'll take my leave now. I don't want to disturb, I want to give space to a mother and her two children to talk things out in private."
Melissa glanced at Stefani when she stood up, there was no expression under her eyes. Then she then lifted the corners of her mouth to a faint smile and pulled Lilia towards Janice.
...
The light illuminated the living room brightly. The three people were sitting on the sofa in the side hall, no one spoke for a while.
Janice was sitting on the opposite side looking slightly tense. She curled her fingertips, surveyed the dark night outside the window, and asked after some thoughts, "Do you like living in this house?"
Lilia raised her eyes to look at her. After days of not seeing her, Janice's eyebrows and the corners of her eyes were worn with wind and frost. Even though her posture was still graceful, her eyes looked nearly dead as a fish and she looked very tired.
She pursed her lips, but before she could speak, Mellisa had asked her first question, "Yes, especially since we have a grandfather who loves us both."
Mellisa answered straightforwardly, her eyes fixed on Janice without the slightest calm.
It was clear that they were both mother and daughter, but because of their nature, they ended up in an awkward situation.
Mellisa didn't think there was anything wrong with that, but she did feel bad, no wonder her parents didn't like her.
However, when she returned from the serious injuries she had suffered, Mellisa did not receive the slightest bit of love and care. On the other hand, her biological parents still showed concern for Leila's evil deeds, which made her fully believe that her parents hated her.
Too many times they treated her unfairly and indifferently. And before she realized, her emotions were bottled up and became a thorn that was hard to remove from inside her heart.
For Lilia, Janice Irwan might be more of a stranger who happened to share the same blood as her.
At this moment, these two sisters had different moods, but their behavior towards Janice was almost the same.
When Janice heard Mellisa's answer, her breath stopped for a moment.
Her eyes were red, and she muttered in a trembling voice. "Mellisa, Lilia, are you still blaming me? At that time..."
The words were already on the tips of her lips, but they were hard to say.
Janice had lived for so long and never found it so hard to show her heart.
She didn't open her mouth and wiped the corners of her eyes with her thumb. Before finishing her sentence, she heard Mellisa speak. "Mom, you're thinking too much. We don't blame you."
Hearing this, Janice's eyes widened. "Is it true?"
Mellisa looked at her with a rage in her eyes and pulled her lips into a faint smile. "If we blame you all the time, our life will not be peaceful."
Janice's eyes suddenly dimmed as she froze at her daughter's sentence!
Mellisa looked at her, then took Lilia's hand and rubbed it on her palm. She sighed and said, "Mom, you don't actually need to be like this. You like Leila, there's nothing wrong with that. Everyone does have a child they favor more than the other."
"If you said we keep blaming you then that's not true. I just feel that you really are reluctant to know the truth, so I would rather continue to pretend to be dead and live away from you," she added.
Then she delivered her last blow, "Come to think of it. If Leila really killed me that day, wouldn't it be hard for you to mourn since you were only losing a child you didn't like?"
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