“What’s with that look?” Grandma Kristin suddenly spoke up.
Helen snapped back to reality. “I… I’m back, Mom.”
“Yeah, Mom, Helen’s back. You were always talking about her. How come you didn’t tell us you were coming back to our hometown? If no one had called me yesterday and mentioned it, I wouldn’t have known.” John quickly jumped in.
Then, with subtle implication, he said, “Could it be someone’s doing, keeping you from seeing us?”
“Who are you talking about? Why don’t you just say it clearly? Didn’t I teach you better than that?” Grandma Kristin’s sharp eyes fixed on John.
John curled his lip. “I just got back, and you’re already lecturing me.”
“You can leave if you want. I didn’t plan on having you here. You all can go.” Grandma Kristin waved them off, ready to continue watching TV. “Lillian, go make your food.”
Grandma Kristin didn’t seem to care about Helen or John at all.
John looked awkward. “Mom, you just woke up. Don’t listen to others; you should also listen to us.”
“John, I was just unconscious. I wasn’t completely unaware of everything. I could hear what you said and what you did.” Grandma Kristin spoke with disappointment. She stared at him and continued, “When you were little, your dad and I were busy with work, so we sent you to live with the neighbors.”
Grandma Kristin paused for a moment and then continued, “You didn’t have enough to eat, and you weren’t dressed warmly. You started taking things, grabbing whatever you wanted. I knew you weren’t a good person, but I thought, as you grew older, you’d understand people better, that you’d know some boundaries. But I was wrong. As they say, you can tell a lot about someone at three years old. You turned out the way I expected.”
Kristin pointed toward the door. “Leave.”
“Mom! I’m your son! Can’t you at least let me explain?”
Helen immediately said, “Mom, I brought Sophia back with me this time. I mentioned her to you before. She used to look like a little doll when she was a child, remember? You’ve seen her pictures.”
“Sophia, come in.” Helen called out, and Sophia looked around the house with visible distaste, clearly not wanting to come in.
After being urged by Peter, Sophia reluctantly entered the house and pinched her nose. “Mommy, it smells so musty, it stinks.”
Helen motioned for her to keep quiet. “Come say hi to Grandma.”
Sophia glanced at Grandma Kristin and struggled to speak, but no sound came out.
“No need.” Grandma Kristin interrupted coldly. “I only have Lillian as my darling. I don’t know anyone else. I don’t even have a daughter or son. Now you all show up and want to talk to me? I’m just an old woman. The only thing I have of value is this rundown house. If you want to stir up trouble, go find someone else. Don’t come here and get in my way.”
Sophia stamped her foot and looked at Helen. “Mommy.”
“Be good, just sit over there.” Helen sat down and said, “Mom, I know you’re upset with us, but you’ve been in a coma for so many years. If John really didn’t visit you, that would have been impossible.”
Grandma Kristin closed her eyes and pretended she hadn’t heard.
In the kitchen, Lillian chopped vegetables with an expressionless face.
Sophia couldn’t stand the old lady’s words, and she didn’t like the place. However, she was curious about the upstairs.
Taking advantage of no one paying attention, Sophia quietly made her way upstairs.
As soon as she reached the top, she saw Conrad.
His perfect supermodel-like figure, paired with his arrogant tattoos and various wounds on his body.
All his hair was slicked back, still damp, water dripping from the strands.
His sharp features were on full display, and even the cigarette he was casually toying with-though not lit-was mesmerizing.
Sophia felt it for the first time: what it really meant for a man to exude raw masculinity.
She stood at the doorway and greeted, “Hey.”
Conrad turned his head indifferently.
He had heard the noise when Helen arrived downstairs earlier. He had watched from upstairs for a while, not expecting this girl to come up.
Conrad slowly buttoned his shirt.
Sophia, noticing that he didn’t immediately send her away and wasn’t as menacing as before, felt a little hopeful. She straightened her clothes and slowly walked over to him.
Conrad’s eyes followed her shoes as they stepped on the floor of Lillian’s room, and his eyelid twitched.
“My name’s Sophia. Do you remember me?” The closer she got to him, the more she thought about the way he had looked at Lillian. It made her feel jealous.
No wonder Lillian had come back. Because this place had him with her.
What made Lillian so special?
That woman was notorious-she was only a little more attractive, but she wasn’t bad either.
She was also Helen’s daughter. A mixed-race child, praised since childhood for looking like a doll.
“You were so handsome last time. Your marksmanship was so precise. Would you teach me some time, if I get the chance?”
Conrad stared at her without saying a word, and Sophia felt her heart race under his gaze.
She couldn’t help but wonder if her outfit wasn’t good enough for him today.
The people in this small town were so tacky; she didn’t even want her leather shoes stepping on their floors.
As soon as she entered, she had stepped into mud, and it irritated her to no end.
Or was it that her hairstyle wasn’t perfect today?
Sophia hesitated and said, “My cousin, the doctor said she’ll never recover. She’ll be disabled for life. My aunt cries at home every day. Did you go easy on her last time?”
Finally, she was standing right in front of him.
Up close, the man looked even more attractive.
There was an untamed quality to him that she couldn’t put into words.
She really wished she could see him fall for her.
“I really don’t get to see men like you often. I never saw anyone like you back in school.”
Conrad sneered, “Are you in desperate need of men?”
Sophia, noticing his smirk, blushed and replied, “I’m not in need. I’m pretty popular. My dad is Peter and my mom is Helen. So many people envy me. They call me their little princess. There are a lot of guys who love me, even some really great ones, but I only love men like you.”
“I like you.” Sophia placed her hands on the window frame, stood on tiptoe, and said, “Your lips look like they’d be great to kiss. Do you want to kiss me?”
Conrad watched as she stood on tiptoe and leaned in, and he lowered himself slightly to meet her.
Sophia closed her eyes excitedly.
But Conrad brushed past her glassy, glossed lips and leaned down to whisper in her ear, “If you’re that desperate for men, I can bring twenty over right now, strip you naked, and toss you in with them. You can’t even get in line to have fun with me.”
After speaking, Conrad realized Lillian was standing at the door, her gaze heavy, staring at them.
From her perspective, Conrad and Sophia were clearly flirting in her room.
Before Lillian could react, Conrad grabbed Sophia by the hair, yanked her away, and threw her aside. “Clean the floor before you get out of here.”
Sophia stared at him in disbelief, then looked at Lillian, who had suddenly appeared.
She didn’t dare to say anything to Conrad and could only glare at Lillian. It was this woman’s sudden appearance that ruined everything!
She really hated Lillian.
Why was she born to the same mother?
They should have never had her in the first place!
At that moment, a furious voice from downstairs echoed through the house.
“Get out! All of you, get out!”