Vanessa Sterling first pressed her lips together without speaking, and after a brief inner struggle, she nodded and said, "He was in a bad mood last night and drank too much."
"Even if he’s drunk, he shouldn’t be hitting anyone, right? And hitting so hard? Let take you to the hospital."
"He’s coming to pick up. He should be here soon." Vanessa lowered her head, rolling down her sleeve, and said, "Last night he probably argued with his parents again, drank a lot at ho, and then started smashing things. I went out to check and got hit accidentally. This ti it was an inadvertent injury."
Audrey Sutton paused slightly: "This ti? Does that an he often bullies you before?"
Realizing she had accidentally let sothing slip, Vanessa felt the situation with Miles Sterling was very complicated and didn’t know how to explain it clearly to Audrey. She hesitated for a mont and only said, "He’s unpredictable. When he’s in a good mood, nothing happens. When he’s in a bad mood, he throws tantrums. As long as you don’t provoke him, it’s fine."
Hearing Vanessa describe these things so nonchalantly, Audrey felt a bit distressed.
She knew Vanessa was not the Sterling’s biological daughter, so perhaps no one at ho really cared about her. The brother she was closest to always bullied her, making it difficult for her to find soone to protect her. Besides silently enduring the situation and getting used to the beatings and insults, there seed to be no better way.
"He’s here."
After Vanessa whispered a reminder, she pressed her lips together, not daring to continue the topic, and tidied things up on the table, saying, "Audrey, I need to go back first. You ntioned you had sothing to ask , let’s chat on the phone."
Audrey nodded, standing up with Vanessa, watching Miles Sterling walk towards them.
If she didn’t know about Miles’ violent tendencies, Audrey might have thought he was a good brother, coming specifically to pick up his sister.
But the sight of those glaring wounds on Vanessa’s arm shattered that thought completely.
When Miles approached, he wore the sa carefree smile on his face as always, "Audrey, you’re here too?"
Audrey Sutton: "I haven’t seen Vanessa in a long ti, ca over to chat with her."
Miles Sterling: "Today might not work; we have an appointnt with the dentist for her wisdom teeth extraction. I’m just about to take her."
Audrey hesitated for a mont, glanced at Vanessa, smiled, and said, "No problem, there’s plenty of ti in the future. Another day, I’ll arrange to hang out with Vanessa. By the way, Brother Sterling, I noticed Vanessa’s hand is injured. Maybe the doctor could take a look later?"
"Injured hand?" Miles looked down and asked Vanessa, seemingly unaware.
Vanessa shook her head and said, "It’s nothing. Audrey, I’ll go now. We’ll chat on WhatsApp."
Audrey nodded, implying more than just agreent, "Okay, if anything happens, just let know."
Watching Vanessa follow Miles away, it was hard to imagine Miles would hit Vanessa at all.
The last ti Vanessa had a toothache, he also took her to the hospital. This ti for the wisdom tooth extraction, he accompanied her as well. From these actions, Miles still seed like a good brother.
Perhaps just as Vanessa said earlier, he is unpredictable, being nice when in a good mood and disregarding everyone else when not.
With Vanessa gone and Laura Yates busy, Audrey Sutton found no point in lingering and texted Shane Warner not to co, heading directly to the parking area.
Instead of going ho, per Audrey Sutton’s suggestion, Shane drove over an hour to a popular seaside couple’s restaurant.
The food quality didn’t matter much, just the view from the restaurant’s window overlooking the blue sea was worth the al price.
They served western cuisine, and Audrey, being particular with her food lately, wasn’t used to it. She didn’t finish a steak, had a few sips of juice, and then began a new round of photo-taking.
They were rather lucky today, the weather was nice, and they could see the sunset.
Shane Warner wasn’t sure whether Audrey Sutton wanted to show off in that outfit or just didn’t want to go ho too quickly. After leaving the restaurant, the two strolled on the beach until the moon was high up.
Having had enough fun for the day, she finally suggested heading back ho when she felt she couldn’t keep her energy up anymore.
As they reached the parking area, Shane Warner said, "The journey back will take ti. You’ll probably fall asleep. Why don’t you lie down in the back seat for comfort?"
While opening the passenger door, Audrey replied, "No, you haven’t rested all day. What if you doze off while driving? I’ll keep you company upfront."
Saying this, Audrey got in, and Shane didn’t argue, getting into the driver’s seat and driving off.
Initially, she was indeed quite energetic, flipping through today’s pictures on her phone and mumbling to herself, sotis complaining about poor lighting or bad angles.
After a while, she went silent, and Shane had already anticipated she’d eventually fall asleep.
Upon reaching ho, she was sound asleep and only woke during the exit, groggily heading upstairs, skipping the wash, and collapsing back into sleep in her clothes.
Shane Warner helped her cover up with a blanket, removed the hair ornants, settled her in, then took his pajamas for a shower.
After cleaning up and preparing for bed, he suddenly rembered Audrey ntioning before falling asleep in the car to rember to like sothing, so Shane picked up his phone, opened WhatsApp...
He didn’t have many friends there, and most weren’t the type to post frequently.
The most recent was a late-night snack picture from Phoebe King a few minutes ago, with a caption saying: "Teacher Sutton has been led astray by and started having late-night snacks."
The next was Audrey Sutton’s post an hour ago.
Among the nine pictures were scenic shots from their day out and selfies taken with him. She selected a candid shot of them sitting by the fountain, a cotton candy purchase from him with a backdrop of moonlit sea, and their intertwined hands.
The caption read: "The most wonderful evening is enjoying the sea breeze and moon with Young Master Warner."
Upon seeing this, Shane couldn’t help but smile, his heart feeling softened.
Phoebe had comnted below: "Where did you guys sneak off to? Not calling along!"
With a light-hearted smile, Shane clicked on the little heart-shaped icon, put down the phone, drew her close, and closed his eyes...
The night was not quiet.
Soti later, Audrey Sutton faintly heard the vibrating sound of a phone amid the silence, soon followed by soft rustling noises.
Groggy and barely awake, she saw Shane standing near the window, changing clothes.
She frowned, glanced at the pitch-black night outside, sleepily asking him, "What ti is it? Where are you going?"
User Comments
0 comments from readers