I purposely avoided mentioning Marcus’ name. After all, the whole reason Camelia argued with her family and left in the first place was Marcus.
Her mother turned around calmly and looked at Tobias before saying, “Ah, he does resemble that fellow quite a bit. It’s definitely his kid.”
Her tone was nonchalant and casual. It was as if she were simply a stranger.
Just her calling Marcus ‘that fellow’ explained how much resentment and bitterness she must have held toward him.
A second later, she turned back around and said just as mildly, “I understand. I will bring the child back with me. Thank you for your help.”
After that, she reached out and tried to undo the buttons on Camelia’s elaborate wedding dress. However, since it was brand new, it was quite hard to undo them, and she had to start using both hands.
She was then forced to make bigger movements.
Because of this, Camelia finally came back to her senses and pushed her mother away. She pushed herself further into the bed and clutched her collar tightly as she backed away. “D-Don’t come any nearer!”
She cried out desperately, “I’m marrying Marcus! We’re getting married! Nobody can stop us. Don’t even think about it!”
Camelia’s mother stood up, still in shock from Camelia’s sudden outburst. After realizing what her daughter had just said, she finally lost it.
“So you’re still thinking about that man? You’re completely mad! Listen to me. Marcus is dead. He’s dead, and he’s never coming back! How could I have a daughter like you? What do I have to do for you to finally get your senses back? How much more do I have to cry and worry for you?”
She started to cry out of heartache and sorrow. How could any mother bear to see her daughter hurt like this over a man? Yet she couldn’t do anything to give her daughter back her innocence and liveliness before this all happened.
Maybe because I was also a mother now, I could relate to whatever she was feeling.
I walked over and helped her regain her footing before passing her a tissue. Trying my best to calm her down, I said, “Please calm down. Camelia is only like this because of trauma. She will get better as the days go by. Eventually, she’ll be right as rain. No matter what, she’s still your daughter, right? Only you can really help her.”
Camelia’s mother kept shaking her head. Right after I finished speaking, she burst out, “She’s doing it on purpose. I know it! I brought her into this world, and I treated her like a princess for so many years.
Not once did I ever raise my voice at her! But for Marcus, she never called or even texted me. I’ve always known she was stubborn, and when she simply texted me saying that Marcus was gone, I immediately came to pick her up. Despite that, she’s still making such a fuss! How could I not be devastated? She’s trying to drive me insane!”
She must have been holding all of these harsh words back for years and years for her to suddenly explode like that. She was already clutching her chest in pain from crying so much, but she didn’t stop ranting about Camelia.
“Your father and I never badmouthed you to any outsiders. We even wrote your name on our wills. What did Marcus do? He treated you like a stray dog! Even now, after he died, not one bit of his inheritance is going to you. Why have you let yourself fall this far?”
I felt tears forming in my eyes from the anger and sorrow in her voice and pressed my lips together tightly to stop them from falling.
The love between a mother and her daughter was not just a fairytale. Eventually, Camelia started crying as well, her tears wetting her wedding dress and the bedsheets underneath.
Despite that, she still wasn’t in good shape. She continued to tremble slightly, and she was still clutching onto her collar tightly. It was like she was terrified that someone would take it off of her and ruin her imaginary wedding.
Camelia’s mother finally started bawling out loud and only stopped when she ran out of energy.
Fate was something the older generation understood much better than anyone else. Now that she was here, naturally, she was going to give her daughter another chance.
In the end, a private ambulance came to fetch Tobias and Camelia away. Her mother planned to take her overseas to get treatment and therapy, so all of them were going to migrate there and leave their past behind them.
Marcus’ house was truly deserted now, and eventually, it got seized and closed off by the court. After a while, a distant relative came to claim it as inheritance along with all the stocks and investment funds.
With that, K City no longer had any trace of the White family.
After Jared moved away, Summer became even more quiet than usual. Apart from when she was eating, she kept her mouth shut.
I was feeling more down in the dumps than usual after Marcus’ funeral. Anthony was afraid that I would get too deep in my emotions if I stayed at home for too long and kept trying to get me to go to the center to, as he put it, keep an eye on Summer.
Of course, I didn’t actually have to keep an eye on her.
I started off by simply sitting there. The last thing I wanted was to be too overbearing and talk over her since Summer was still the boss in this place. She was still young, so if I tried to take over too much, she would definitely lose her pride in front of all her staff.
The contrast was more than obvious. Summer was always surrounded by people, and I was only sitting at one side. Compared to when I was at home, I began zoning out even more.
Summer was still the kind girl she had always been. After finishing her current requests, the moment someone else approached her, she dragged them in front of me.
She pretended to think about it for a second before asking me, “Mommy, Daddy said you used to be a CEO in your old company. Could you help me out with this one?”
I was more than happy to help. Once I regained my senses, I gave the documents a close once over. Then I referred to my past experiences and did my best to give a neutral opinion.
After that, Summer started to come to me before finalizing any decisions. Apart from when we went to bed, we spent almost every waking moment together. Just as Anthony had predicted, we became much closer and even started taking breaks together. Sometimes we would run off to the mall and go shopping when we had free time.
About a week later, I received a call from Emery.
“What is going on with the both of you? Even if the business doesn’t work out, we can still have a good relationship, right? If you don’t want me to invest in your center, just say so. You’re all sneaking around like this is some kind of top-secret spy mission.”
“Who’s sneaking around?” I glanced at Summer and covered the mouthpiece as I said, “Your Aunt Emery is calling. Have you been avoiding her?”
“Nope,” Summer said with a shake of her head and an innocent expression on her face. “Aunt Emery hasn’t come by recently. I was even thinking of going to look for her.”
After her confirmation, I let go of the mouthpiece and replied, “You’ve been sticking with Alexander too much. Did you two argue or something?”
“Why are you bringing him into this?” Emery asked, clearly a little annoyed. “Then why have neither of you been home every single time I went over to visit?”
“I’ve been helping Summer out in the center. Aren’t there other people at home? Did you ask them?”
“N-No.”
The atmosphere suddenly quietened down, and we all fell into an awkward silence. It was rare to hear Emery stutter so much, so I could roughly figure out why exactly she was acting so strangely.
Summer’s center was like a juicy slice of steak that both Emery and Holden had wanted a piece of. However, because of Anthony, neither of them managed to even get close.
After Wenville became a success, the center finally revisited their projects but didn’t contact Emery or Holden again. She didn’t want to look for Summer since she was afraid it would seem like she was pestering her, which was why she didn’t go to the center. She was also afraid that we were avoiding her because we wanted to protect Summer but couldn’t turn Emery down directly. That’s why she didn’t approach anyone whenever she went over to visit. She didn’t want to give anyone a hard time.
After finally coming to this conclusion, I couldn’t help but start giggling.
“What are you laughing at?” Emery asked.
“I’m laughing at you!” I said. Emery was once a powerful boss that had appeared on the covers of financial magazines! Since when had she become so meek and timid? “I’m laughing at how hesitant you were. We’re a family, remember? If you needed anything, you could have asked. You didn’t have to tiptoe around.”
She fell silent for a second before clearing her throat awkwardly. “I have no idea what you guys are talking about. Let me know where you guys are! My stocks have been rising recently, so I’ll treat you all to a good meal!”
After that, she hung up.
Short and sweet, without giving me the chance to mock her again.
I quickly sent her our location on WhatsApp. As I typed on the phone, I started jokingly ranting to Summer. “I don’t know much about how you want to go about this business, but as far as Aunt Emery goes, you don’t have to worry. She just has a harsh way of speaking, but she’s a great person. She didn’t say much, but she’s already thought about how to help you out the most she can, so she won’t bring you any trouble. When we meet up later, just talk about anything you need to talk to her about. Don’t worry too much about both of us.”
“I know,” Summer said with a big smile. “I wasn’t planning on worrying about her anyway. Even if she wasn’t looking for me, I was going to go look for her. Mommy, I want Uncle Holden and Aunt Emery to join the center.”
This time, she was telling me her own decision and not asking for any input.
I stopped typing for a second before sending the message.
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.
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