Chapter 207: Chapter 207: She’s Not Worthy
Finn thought it was Tess Thompson crying.
After all, she had just returned to the Hawthorne family and wasn’t familiar with the place or the people. It was only natural for her to feel lost and afraid.
But as he drew closer, he saw it was one of their maids kneeling on the floor, crying. Tess Thompson, on the other hand, was quietly curled up in an egg chair, holding a cup of milk tea.
A thin blanket covered her calves, and one of her legs swayed gently with the chair. She looked cozy and completely at ease, without a hint of the awkwardness or anxiety one would expect from someone just returning home.
"What’s going on?"
Finn strode over.
Tess Thompson looked up, and when she saw Finn approaching, her eyes lit up with a smile. "You’re here."
She didn’t answer Finn’s question. Instead, she held up the milk tea in her hand, gave it a little shake, and asked, "Want some?"
Finn frowned.
He said, "No," and turned to the kneeling maid, asking in a cold voice, "What are you crying about?"
The maid wiped her tears and looked up. Just as she was about to speak, Tess Thompson cut her off—
"I wanted some milk tea, but this maid insisted that store-bought milk tea is unhealthy and I shouldn’t have it. She also said she’d have the kitchen make me a ’healthy and nutritious’ one instead."
Tess Thompson noticed Finn’s gaze on her. She smiled at him and continued, "I’ve lived a hard life for over twenty years, so I couldn’t care less whether something’s healthy. It just felt like I wasn’t being respected, like I couldn’t even make a simple decision for myself to have a cup of milk tea. When she saw I was angry, she apologized and even knelt down on her own. I told her to get up, but she refused and just kept crying. I’m starting to wonder if she’s doing it on purpose. You know, deliberately trying to make everyone think I’m unreasonable and malicious right after I’ve come home."
Finn’s temples throbbed as he listened.
He looked at the maid kneeling on the floor. "Is it as my sister says?"
The maid looked at Finn, then at Tess Thompson, and finally, slowly lowered her head, swallowing all her humiliation and embarrassment. She replied, "It was my fault for upsetting the Second Miss. I shouldn’t have overstepped my bounds and defied her wishes."
Finn withdrew his gaze. "Go find Uncle Preston, he’ll settle your wages. Then get out."
The maid gave a stiff nod and slowly got to her feet. Her knees ached from kneeling for so long that she was unsteady, forced to stand with her back slightly hunched.
Once the maid was gone, Finn sat down on the bench opposite her and crossed his long legs. "Did you really have to give a maid such a hard time?"
He might not be the most perceptive person, but he wasn’t so blind that he couldn’t figure out what had really happened.
But his sister had just come home. Right or wrong, he had to have her back, so he didn’t expose the lie.
"How was I giving her a hard time?" Tess Thompson tugged at the thin blanket on her lap. "Didn’t she overstep her bounds? She admitted it herself. I hate people who try to control my life."
Finn gave Tess Thompson a long, hard look, but ultimately decided to act as if he hadn’t seen a thing and dropped the subject.
He glanced around, not seeing his mother. "Where’s Mom? I heard she was keeping you company."
Tess Thompson took a sip of her milk tea. "She had to take a very important phone call. She’s not back yet."
Finn nodded, his gaze falling to the milk tea in her hand. "Who bought it for you?"
Tess Thompson replied, "They wouldn’t buy it for me, so I had to order takeout."
Finn stared blankly for two seconds, then suddenly let out a scoff. ’No one has ever ordered takeout to the Hawthorne Residence before. Today’s the first time, but I’m sure there will be countless more to come.’
"Do you miss your old life?" he asked.
"I wouldn’t say ’miss’ it!" Tess Thompson swirled the milk tea in her hand. "But after twenty-plus years of poverty, some mindsets become deeply ingrained—being cheap, insecure, timid... those things don’t just change overnight."
Finn raised an eyebrow, not disagreeing.
Some habits are formed over years, carved into your very bones. Because they’ve been a part of you for so long, they can’t be changed overnight.
At that moment, a ripple of sympathy finally stirred in his otherwise calm heart.
"It’s okay. Mom, Dad, our older brother... we’ll all be by your side from now on." Finn stood up and walked toward Tess Thompson.
He stood before her and leaned down slightly, his gaze fixed on her. "The Hawthorne family will give you unimaginable wealth and luxury. Everything you’ve lacked, everything you’ve never had, we will make up for it all."
Tess Thompson was very calm. "Really?"
"What’s there to be unsure about? You’re Evelyn Hawthorne, the Second Miss of the Hawthorne family." Finn just assumed she asked such a hesitant question because of her deep-seated insecurity.
Tess Thompson leaned back, sinking into the egg chair as she continued to sip her milk tea. "But I get the feeling... you don’t seem very happy that I’m back."
At her words, an impatient expression crossed Finn’s handsome face. "When did I ever say I wasn’t happy to have you home?"
"You didn’t say it," Tess Thompson said, her expression growing complex. "It’s just a feeling... I can feel that you’re not happy I’m here."
"That’s ridiculous."
Finn’s patience had finally run out. He didn’t want to stay a second longer.
He wasn’t the type to coddle anyone, and he was in no mood to start with a biological sister he’d only met a few times. His current irritation was as strong as the longing he’d once had for her return.
He shoved one hand in his pocket and turned to leave.
Tess Thompson’s voice followed him. "I shouldn’t have come back. That way I wouldn’t be an unwanted, annoying burden."
Finn stopped in his tracks.
The sound of soft sobs reached him. He turned back and saw that Tess Thompson was actually crying, her eyes red as she looked at him with an incredibly wounded expression.
But for some reason, Finn didn’t feel a shred of pity. On the contrary, he just felt more irritated.
’Right. He hated it when women cried.’
But the person crying now was the very sister he had waited over twenty years to bring home. He couldn’t remain completely indifferent.
Finn walked back over. "Don’t cry."
That only seemed to upset Tess Thompson more. She threw off the blanket, abandoning her milk tea, and started to walk away. "I’ll leave. Then I won’t be such an eyesore."
Exasperated, Finn grabbed her arm. "What are you making a scene about? Is there something about the Hawthorne family you’re not satisfied with?"
Wiping her tears, Tess Thompson said, "You’re not happy that I’m back at all."
Finn felt wrongly accused. "When did I ever say I wasn’t happy to have you back?"
Tess Thompson looked up at him. "See? Even your tone of voice is impatient with me."
"Me?" Finn let out a laugh of pure exasperation. "You know you just got back. We haven’t seen each other in over twenty years. Don’t you think a brother and sister need an adjustment period? Or did you expect me to cling to you like a puppy? Would that make you happy?"
Tess Thompson laughed too, but her laugh was pure sarcasm. "Is that so? Because I heard you cling just like a puppy to some woman with the surname Yu."
Finn’s expression instantly darkened.
He violently flung her arm away, causing her to stumble and twist her ankle. When Tess Thompson looked up, she saw Finn’s face, dark and simmering with what looked like torrential rage.
"Tess Thompson, you’ve crossed the line!"
’He couldn’t even bring himself to call her Evelyn Hawthorne.’
’It felt like that would be an insult to the name itself.’
’Because to him, the name ’Evelyn Hawthorne’ had always been the most beautiful thing. Only the sister he truly accepted deserved to be called by that name.’
’And the person standing before him, he felt, was not worthy of it!’
