Jessica and Carl were stunned upon hearing what Stanley said. As they exchanged looks, they saw the surprise in each other’s eyes.
Jessica had known Summer since they were in high school. Before that, Summer was a loner who had no friends. But, Stanley did not sound like he was lying.
“I don’t think I need to tell you, Ms. Patel, how she and I met,” Stanley continued. He stared at the elevator door the entire time, appearing extremely cool, calm, and collected.
“Mr. Bates, you—”
Just as Jessica was about to say something, the elevator reached their floor and gave out a “ding”, interrupting her.
Stanley looked back at Jessica and casually said, “Here we are.”
The three of them then walked out of the elevator. Jessica proceeded to walk ahead and stand in Stanley’s way.
“How do I know that you’re not lying?”
“If you weren’t her friend, I wouldn’t have given you the chance to question me.” Stanley’s expression was no longer cool. There was a hint of gloominess in his eyes; he seemed to be angry.
“Since you know that she has friends, why didn’t you contact us when you found her?”
“Why do I have to contact all of you? What duty and obligation do I have toward all of you?” Stanley’s lips curled up into a sneer.
“You—”
Without waiting for Jessica to speak, Carl pulled her behind him, his face grim.
“At least, we and Summer are true friends. What about you?”
Stanley ignored his question and checked his watch. “I have appointments with a few patients in the afternoon. Please excuse me.” He then strode away toward the parking lot.
Carl looked over at Jessica. Seeing her worried face, he said, “Why don’t we take Summer with us?”
“Summer won’t leave with us. No matter how Stanley and Summer know each other, I can see that what he has done for Summer is genuine. He won’t hurt her.” Jessica paused, then continued, “What’s more, Stanley has been taking care of her for three years. It wouldn’t be proper for us to take Summer away just like that.”
Carl’s mobile phone suddenly rang. He answered the call, and after he listened to the other person for a while, he said, “Okay, send it to me now.”
“What’s up?” Jessica was curious.
“Stanley’s background check.”
As they returned to their car, Carl got the email from his staff and read it out aloud.
“Stanley has a doctorate in Criminal Psychology. He used to be a criminal psychologist in the police department.” Now, Carl could not help but change his mind about Stanley. “This guy is clean. He has impressive credentials.”
“Mmm.” Jessica nodded too, but deep inside, her suspicion grew.
…
There was nothing interesting in Summer’s life. Stanley would head to his clinic in the morning every day, leaving Summer alone at home.
Life was probably a lot more comfortable now that she had regained her health. Although still skinny, she looked so much better than when she was just discharged from the hospital.
Jessica had been calling her very often. Today, right after Stanley went out, she received a call from Jessica.
“Summer, would you like to hang out with me? I’m coming to get you.”
Summer was not fond of going out, but since Jessica was so enthusiastic, she obliged. It did not take long before Jessica arrived. Summer wondered if Jessica had been hanging around her house, waiting for Stanley to leave before coming to collect her.
As soon as she got into the car, Jessica pretended to ask her a casual question, “How are you and Mr. Bates?”
“Everything’s fine,” Summer replied as she snapped the seatbelt buckle into the bracket. She did not think that she and Stanley looked like a betrothed couple. Instead, they were more like housemates who dined together at night but talked very little. She was comfortable with that kind of relationship.
“Okay…” Jessica paused and was hesitant about asking more questions as she looked at Summer. She said nothing in the end.
They both went to a mall later on. A shopaholic herself, Jessica brought Summer around to test-fit a ton of clothes. Everything went smoothly until they came out of the mall and bumped into a group of reporters. Jessica had risen fast to become an A-list actress in the span of three years. When you were famous, you would be the center of public attention, so there were always reporters ambushing her.
“Run!” Jessica guided Summer, and they ran in the other direction.
“What’s going on?” Summer had no clue of what that was all about; she just ran with Jessica.
Jessica explained, “They’re after me. I’m an actress, a pretty famous one.”
Summer had been watching the news occasionally, but she did not fancy watching serial drama. As such, she did not know that Jessica was an actress.
The mall was packed with shoppers, and with the reporters chasing Jessica while they ran, the situation got a little chaotic for a moment to the point that Summer got separated from Jessica.
Summer turned back to look for Jessica, but Jessica was nowhere to be seen. She went to a corner and called Jessica, who answered at warp speed.
“Summer, I’m in the parking lot. Where are you?”
“I’m still inside the mall.” Summer breathed a sigh of relief.
“Come to me quickly. I’ll wait for you in the car.”
“Never mind, you go ahead first. I can go home by myself. I don’t want those reporters to find you again.”
At first, Jessica was adamant about not leaving Summer behind, but Summer convinced her by saying that she would call her when she got home.
After hanging up, Summer turned around and saw a little girl standing in a corner not far away, staring at her with a doll in her hand. The little girl was wearing a striped navy blouse and baby blue shorts. In addition, she had a pair of round, black eyes, chubby cheeks, and shoulder-length black hair with a layer of bangs over her forehead. She was staring at Summer, looking too adorable.
Summer estimated her height and roughly worked out that she was probably three or four years old. Looking left and right, she saw that no other adults were around, so Summer went up and squatted down in front of her.
“Hey, Sweetie, where are your daddy and mommy?”
Upon closer look, Summer found that she had seen the little girl before. The penny dropped when she recalled the moment she saw the little girl on the day she was discharged.
How could it be? She was Leonardo’s daughter? Her name was Rosie or something, she recalled.
Rosie tilted her head sideways as she looked at Summer. A few seconds later, she suddenly smiled as her eyes narrowed. “Pretty lady…”
Summer’s heart skipped a beat; the little girl still remembered her? She remembered the day the little girl called her that way.