Her nose tingled. The tears that had only just stopped flowing moments ago began to gush out again."If you really want to cry," he said, his fingertip caressing gently against her eye, "then just let it all out, Sis."Him calling her ‘Sis’ was like a key that unlocked all the pain and misery that had been suppressed and sealed up all this time. Unable to restrain her emotions any longer, she yelped and finally cried her heart out.How long had it been since she last cried her heart out like this? How long had it been since she had to resign herself to the fact that no matter how loudly she cried, no matter how many tears she shed, it would all be useless because she could rely on no one else but herself because her tears were useless?Yet the moment she heard him call her ‘Sis’, she thought of her mother, she thought of the baby in her mother's womb who would have been her little brother, but who never even had the chance to call her ‘Sis’.If her mother and little brother had ne

Lisa was flabbergasted. She never expected to hear the voice of a man answering the phone, especially when it sounded like..."Are you... Jackson Valor?""Yes," was the short reply she got before the call was swiftly ended.Lisa stared at the phone in her hand and was in a daze for a few seconds before she came back to her senses. If Serenity was already asleep... Why had Jackson answered her phone?! Did that mean that he was by her side?And if she was not at her place, where else would she be staying right now?!Lisa's gaze shifted from the phone to the door to Serenity's rented room, which was closed shut. Could it be that... she was staying with Jackson Valor?!Could something so outlandish even be possible?Meanwhile, Jackson put Serenity's phone away and very carefully carried the woman who was sleeping in his arms out of the car. Worried that she might get cold on the way, he took off his coat and laid it over her body to keep her warm.All the servants who saw them alon

No... No!Give her back her mother! Give her back her little brother!She desperately tried to shout, but no sound escaped her throat. Just then, the sound of a bell rang, pulling her out of the nightmare...Serenity slowly opened her eyes, only to hear an alluring voice ask her, "Are you awake?"Her eyes, still disoriented by slumber, were greeted with a strikingly handsome face with shimmering eyes that shone with indescribable tenderness."Yeah..." she answered blankly, still half-asleep. It was as if the world of her dreams and reality intermingled with each other, overwhelming her mind."Answer the phone, then," he said, then held up the phone to her ear.Serenity listened vacantly to the phone, then suddenly heard a familiar voice from the other end of the line asking her, "Serenity? Is that you? Are you awake?"The voice jolted her awake, and she instantly came to her senses."Lisa!""Yes, it's me! Where are you right now? Are you staying with Jackson Valor? I called

She spoke almost hysterically. That photo album contained the most cherished memories in her life, after all.Jackson frowned without him realizing it as he asked her, "Were you going to throw your life away just for that photo album? You were lucky yesterday because only your fingers were blistered, and they were not that serious, but what if the flames had consumed more parts of your body?""But that photo album is very important to me!" she insisted."More important than your own two hands?" he countered, his voice deepening. "Were you really going to sacrifice your hands just to protect that photo album?"Serenity took a deep breath and said, "It's important enough to me that I'd protect it without any hesitation, even if it means sacrificing my hands."To her, this was not just an empty wish, but it was her conviction and resolve, because the album contained the memory of the purest and most genuine love she had ever received, and it was also the happiest period in her life.

"No one will fire you," he assured her with full confidence. "Just rest and let your fingers heal. Besides, what do you think you can do at work when you can't even pick anything up with your hands? How are you going to sweep the streets?"Serenity hung her head low and fell silent. At the moment, with her hands like this, she truly could not do anything at all."Just let your hands heal," said Jackson, "and you can do anything you like after that."Then, he looked like he suddenly thought of something and asked her, "Are you going to meet Lisa this evening? Why don't you change the date and wait for your hands to get better?"Anyone who knew Jackson Valor would have been shocked to hear what he had just said. The most mysterious and unfathomable man in Solaria certainly never showed such a level of concern for a woman whose hands were injured!If it had been anyone else, they could stand before him covered in blood and on the brink of death and he still would show no sign of pity

Serenity looked so small in the photographs. Her cheeks looked chubby with baby fat. Her hair was thick, luscious, and black. She was such an adorable and cherubic child.Jackson never knew that he would ever be so fascinated by a little girl before, yet at that moment, as he was looking at the tiny toddler in the photo, a peculiar love grew from the bottom of his heart. In fact, he even had a feeling that if the girl in the picture would appear in front of him right now, he would not be able to stop himself from hugging and kissing her.Was it just because the little girl was Serenity? Was that the reason why he thought the girl was so cute? In any case, he had never felt this way about any other child.Jackson continued to pull out each photograph carefully one by one. It started with photos of Serenity and her mother, but afterward, there were mostly photos of Serenity alone. She looked slightly older in these photos than she did in the photos with her mother. She was probably ab

"Sick? You got sick?" He suddenly sounded nervous."It was just a fever. It lasted a few days and made my mind blurry. But after I recovered, I was still as lively as ever. Unfortunately, the dress was gone," she said regretfully. However, her Granny later secretly promised her that if she managed to get the best grades in her class in the final exams, she would buy Serenity another beautiful dress.But when Serenity managed to do that, she had to leave her Granny to go back to her father.Before she left, her Granny secretly slipped a new dress into her luggage.While Serenity was lost in thought, a large hand suddenly reached over and touched her forehead. Serenity looked at Jackson in surprise. "I... I don't have a fever right now.""I know," he said softly, "From now on, I'll buy you any dress that you want."His words made her heart tremble, "I'm not a kid anymore. I'm no longer interested in dresses." She bit her lip and quickly lowered her eyes.The longer she looked at h

The problem was, someone like him must have seen a lot of cute people. Was she really so cute when she was little that he must have that photo?However, she did not have time to think too much about it because she had to go meet Lisa.Jackson asked his driver to take her there.She knew from past experiences that protesting was futile. When he had decided on something, there would not be much room for negotiation.Serenity got in the car and told the driver her destination.And so, she arrived half an hour earlier than intended.Serenity went into a fast food restaurant, found a seat, ordered a drink which cost a dollar, and sent a text to Lisa.While waiting for her friend, she looked idly at the delivery riders who were dashing in and out of the restaurant.Deliveries... Serenity was intrigued. Her driving license had been revoked, but that did not mean she could not ride an electric scooter. She would also be paid according to how much labor she put in. Although the base sal

"Are your hands okay?" Lisa asked with concern."They're fine," replied Serenity, "The injury looks worse than it is because of the bandages. My hands barely hurt anymore. I can hold things just fine."Lisa heaved a sigh of relief.The two girls chatted as they ate. Lisa finally explained to Serenity what she meant when she said she found a witness. Lisa's co-worker shared a video in their work chat group in which Lisa saw one of the witnesses from Serenity’s case.The man recently got married to a relative of one of Lisa's co-workers. He was currently living in San Marco.Lisa pretended to casually ask her co-worker for his name. Unfortunately, her co-worker did not know. She did say that his surname was York, though."York" was not a very common surname, so Lisa was pretty sure it was not a mistake.But just in case, Lisa showed Serenity the video.It was a video of a pair of newlyweds being teased. The scene was joyful and filled with laughter. Serenity eyes were fixated on

He was a young adult, a beautiful man with the kind of pretty androgynous face that was very popular at the moment.His facial features were exquisite, as if they were painted on. But at the moment, his thin lips were tightly pursed together, and that pair of extremely beautiful black eyes seemed to be shrouded by anger.That man... was angry? thought Serenity. Moreover, based on the direction he was looking at, he seemed to be angry at something in her direction..."Serenity, I'm talking to you. Did you hear what I say?" Lisa's voice resounded in Serenity's ears, causing her to come back to her senses."What did you say?" Serenity turned to look at her friend and asked."I asked, did the doctor say how long your hands would take to heal?" asked Lisa."About a week. After that, I'll have to wait for the skin to slowly heal," answered Serenity. When she glanced in the direction of the strange man again, the car was no longer there."What are you looking at?" Lisa followed her fri