In the supermarket, Vanessa Sterling’s shopping cart was almost full of various frozen foods, different flavors of dumplings, buns, and mochi.
Then she picked so fruits, didn’t linger much longer, and went back ho after checkout.
The supermarket had opened a few days ago, and it was just a bridge’s distance from ho.
Vanessa didn’t take a taxi, carrying shopping bags and walking under an umbrella in the snow.
She quite liked the snow; the snowy scenery was beautiful, and white symbolized purity and flawlessness.
Looking around, it was white everywhere as if there was no boundary in sight; she felt that compared to a riot of colors, this kind of city was much simpler.
She hadn’t seen Miles Sterling these days, which made her feel relieved.
She only knew that Miles had returned briefly yesterday morning, but it seed he only ca back to get sothing and left after a few minutes without causing any trouble for her, which surprised Vanessa a bit.
She had thought that the first thing Miles would do after being discharged was to co and settle scores with her.
"Beep—"
A long honk brought Vanessa Sterling’s wandering thoughts back.
She turned around, just turning her head, she saw a black motorbike parked by the roadside.
The man sitting on the motorcycle took off his helt and smiled at her, "What a coincidence to et you here! I’ve been looking everywhere for you, where are you going? Shall I give you a lift?"
Vanessa rembered him as the person who fought with Miles in the supermarket last ti.
He was at most a stranger she had t once; Vanessa was always wary of unfamiliar people and naturally wouldn’t casually get into a stranger’s car. She just politely said, "Thanks, but there’s no need to bother."
"What trouble? I’m free now, I can give you a ride, you’re carrying so many things, it must be tiring."
Vanessa politely declined again, "No need, really."
Saying that, she quickened her pace and continued walking forward.
Heath Holloway rode his bike and slowly followed her, "Oh, right, I haven’t officially introduced myself. I’m Heath Holloway. Heath as in the single ’he’ and the ’He’ from Kangxi."
Vanessa was visibly wary of Heath’s behavior of following her closely, she leaned towards the inside of the pedestrian path without turning back and quickened her steps once more.
Heath sowhat frustratedly followed her, "Don’t walk away, I’m not a bad person, I know your na too."
Vanessa continued to walk forward with her head down.
"Vanessa!" Heath directly called out her na and wanted to stop his bike to help carry her things, but there was no place to park on the bridge.
But then a traffic policeman approached, stopped his bike, and asked, "Young man, where’s your license plate?"
Heath said, "It’s a new bike, still processing the plate."
Traffic policeman, "Show your motorcycle license."
Heath searched both inside his jacket and his pants pocket and then paused and said, "I must have left it at ho, forgot to bring it."
The traffic officer sneered, "Forgot it or never had it? Unlicensed and unregistered?"
Heath watched Vanessa Sterling’s silhouette getting further and further away while he was stopped by the traffic officer, feeling anxious but unable to move.
Since Shane Warner was not in the country, Heath helplessly had to call Vincent Warner.
Vanessa Sterling walked so distance before daring to look back; seeing that Heath wasn’t following, she felt relieved.
Upon reaching the end of the bridge, after waiting for the green light to cross the street, she reached her residential area. At the security office, she picked up a package and went straight ho, locking the door behind her, and finally, her anxious heart settled a little.
Christmas was approaching; she had bought so small decorations and fairy lights online to decorate her room, at least making her ho seem less cold in winter.
Blackie was noticeably chubbier than when she first picked him up, appearing even cuter.
He was a particularly clingy little guy; when Vanessa was in the room, Blackie followed her everywhere she went.
When she painted, Blackie would curl up at her feet, sleeping on her fluffy slippers; when she did puzzles by the window, Blackie would co to the bay window to snuggle up and sleep beside her; at night when she slept, Blackie liked to sleep at her bedside.
Although Blackie couldn’t talk, his presence sowhat healed Vanessa’s inner darkness that was hard to dispel.
...
On Christmas Eve.
Audrey Sutton and Phoebe King were struck with a whim and had several boxes of apples delivered from the orchard, saying they were going to set up a stall outside to sell apples that night.
They bought lots of wrapping paper and boxes, making them quite exquisite.
But in this snowy weather, setting up a stall was naturally just a joke; giving them to friends was genuine.
And Audrey Sutton’s purpose was to take photos of the beautifully wrapped apples to send to Shane Warner.
Shane Warner, having been idling at the hotel these days, almost always responded instantly to ssages.
As soon as Audrey sent the picture, Shane replied, "I can see you’re bored."
Audrey Sutton: "Don’t you think it’s cute?!"
Shane Warner: "Look in the mirror and see who’s cute."
Audrey imdiately laughed at the screen, unabashedly saying, "Of course it’s !"
Shane Warner: "Hmm, you’re pretty cute, all chubby and white."
Hearing this, Audrey sent a dejected emoji: "I really have gained weight. My mom cooks hearty als every day, Phoebe and I eat a lot, but Phoebe never gains weight! She eats even more than I do!"
Shane Warner: "Maybe it’s the baby who’s getting bigger."
Audrey Sutton: "That could be; when you co back, you’ll definitely find my belly rounder."
"Ding-dong—" While chatting with Shane Warner, a ssage from Simon Sue popped up on the top of the screen: Have you decided? I need to make arrangents.
Seeing Simon’s ssage, Audrey rembered the matter and imdiately told Shane, "Oh, hubby, there’s sothing I want to tell you."
As soon as Shane heard her say "hubby," he knew it was nothing good.
He didn’t reply, watching Audrey typing, soon a line appeared: "Rember Simon invited us for a Christmas party last ti? Now that you can’t co back, he asked again today."
Audrey just said that much without stating if she wants to go or not, but Shane knew since she brought it up, it clearly ant she wanted to go but was afraid he wouldn’t agree.
Shane Warner wasn’t so hostile toward Simon now, besides knowing Audrey probably wanted to go because her dorm mates were going, and she’d be anxious if she didn’t.
Moreover, he couldn’t accompany her and restricting her from going out and spending ti with friends would be a bit unfair to her.
Thinking of this, Shane replied with a voice ssage, "It’s not impossible for you to go if you want to, but I have a condition."
Audrey imdiately perked up with hope, eagerly asked, "What’s the condition?"
Shane Warner: "Have Luc and Faye Xavier accompany you, or else I won’t be at ease."
Audrey Sutton: "Sure, but I’m just worried it’ll be too troubleso for them. Actually, you don’t need to worry. Simon said it’s just a few of his friends and Flora, no outsiders."
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