Hilary Thornton glanced around at the Forrester Family mbers, who were all utterly shocked, before finally turning her gaze back to Quentin Thorne, and gave a slight smile: "What right do you have?"
Quentin Thorne was astonished, his body trembled slightly as he looked at Sienna Thornton, silent for a mont, and then said sowhat despondently: "Annie, don’t be impulsive, give your father a chance to explain what happened back then."
In fact, this is the best mont to clear up the misunderstanding, but Quentin Thorne didn’t want to bring up his old grievances with the Grant Family and Sienna Thornton’s mother in front of the Forrester Family, so he held back and didn’t ntion anything about the past.
Sienna Thornton quietly looked at him for a mont, then glanced at the Forrester Family mbers, who wore various expressions, and suddenly turned and left the living room.
Quentin Thorne followed her out, and the two of them stopped in front of the rockery, with the Forrester Family wisely remaining inside, leaving the quiet mont to them.
Hilary Thornton had her hands stuffed in the pockets of her overcoat, saying nothing, just quietly watching the koi swimming freely in the pond below the rockery.
Quentin Thorne glanced at the outer courtyard gate of the Grant Family, which might burst open at any mont, and suggested, "Annie, shall we go sit at the teahouse by Serene Lake?"
Sienna Thornton didn’t say whether she was willing or not, just quietly turned around and walked towards the gate.
The two of them left the gate of the Forrester Family’s old house, passed the Grant Family’s old house, crossed the street, and headed towards Serene Lake.
Sienna Thornton, though expressionless and silent, appeared calm, quite different from her emotional state when she first t Quentin Thorne at the hospital knowing his identity; now she was so composed that Quentin couldn’t quite gauge her feelings.
The two of them tacitly went to the Chinatown Teahouse where they first t.
On the second day of the New Year, everyone was at ho having hotpot, so the teahouse was rather quiet, with hardly any people around. The Japanese-style wind chis gave a crisp jingle as the door was pushed open.
"Welco." The staff enthusiastically erged from behind the counter, "Happy New Year, Mr. Thorne, the usual upstairs private room?"
Quentin Thorne nodded, walked to the staircase mouth, then stopped to wait for Sienna Thornton to catch up. With a slight turn of his body, he raised his arm to lightly envelop her shoulders as they walked upstairs together.
The staff followed them up, preceded them a few steps further, and slid open the door of the sa private room as last ti: "This way, please."
Sienna Thornton entered and sat in the sa spot as last ti.
Quentin Thorne also sat down, ordered a few pastries favored by girls, and started rinsing the tea set to prepare tea.
The staff finalized the order and left, and the sliding door was closed once again.
The kettle beside the table was steaming, and Quentin Thorne opened a packet of tea leaves, pouring it into the pre-rinsed teapot.
During the wait for the water to boil, he refreshed his face with both hands and, with visible fatigue on his face, forced a smile at Sienna Thornton, and softly said: "Annie, now it’s just us, father and daughter. If there’s anything you’re upset with your father about, just speak out. I hope you’ll give your father a chance to explain; for the mistakes your father made, I hope you’ll give a chance to make it up to you... and your mother."
Sienna Thornton lowered her eyes to stare at the white jade porcelain cup at the center of the table, staying silent for quite a while.
She had so many questions, so many things she wanted to know, she was unsure where to begin.
Before today, her hatred for Quentin Thorne ran deep, thinking that he didn’t dare acknowledge her because he feared angering his wife and daughter.
Her emotions were raw—self-loathing and jealousy.
Previously, she harbored the hope that her biological father abandoned them back then possibly due to an accident upon returning to the city, or even amnesia, which is why he never sought them out all these years.
But upon learning that the one who abandoned linda Linton was Quentin Thorne, the son-in-law of the Grant Family, who also had a daughter about six months younger than her, she instinctively thought that Quentin Thorne abandoned linda Linton back then likely because he found soone better, Ian Grant, upon returning to the city.
He abandoned the impoverished linda Linton to beco the Grant Family’s son-in-law, naturally because he despised linda Linton’s background. How could he possibly care for an illegitimate daughter he never intended to take responsibility for?
Once all this made sense, self-loathing was all that was left in her heart.
She even went so far as to imagine, Quentin Thorne planned not to acknowledge her because of the love for his wife and daughter, thereby not letting her existence embarrass them, so she was jealous, envious of Quentin Thorne’s wife and daughter.
These two feelings are the basest, most negative of emotions, and many people collapse or do disgraceful things because of them.
These emotions erged during the most difficult days—after she left the police station.
During that ti, she had to face the vicious slander from the Sinclair Family, struggle with her career setbacks, and endure linda Linton’s illness, and she had to use imnse willpower not to collapse under all these emotions.
In the quiet of night, thinking about how Quentin Thorne knew of her existence for over a year yet pretended to know nothing and treat her as unrelated, she found him cold-blooded to the extre.
Knowing that this cold-blooded person was the one she had searched for over many years, even giving up a career as an assistant judicial officer in the California Court for, she would be overwheld with pain and remorseful tears.
The extent to which she once loved her biological father matched how deeply she ca to hate Quentin Thorne in that mont.
But just now in the Forrester Family’s living room, seeing Quentin Thorne acknowledge her identity in front of his wife and daughter, even indifferent to Ian Grant’s breakdown, she found herself suddenly a bit relieved.
All her previous hatred for Quentin Thorne suddenly crumbled.
She was willing to give Quentin Thorne a chance to explain; she was confident she could discern sincerity from deceit in his words.
"Annie?" Quentin Thorne called her softly, tilting his face slightly to look at her, "Are you still unwilling to talk to your father?"
Sienna Thornton regained her composure, looked up at him, her eyes thoughtful, a reflection of Quentin Thorne’s gaze as if wanting to see directly into the heart.
"Do you really not care at all about the woman you abandoned, who even gave birth to your daughter?" she asked.
Quentin Thorne was montarily taken aback, then looked down sowhat embarrassed: "It’s not that I don’t care, but given my current situation, if I were to openly and boldly express this concern, it wouldn’t be good for your mother either."
"Is it not good for my mom, or not good for you?"
"Annie!" Quentin Thorne was left exasperated by her sharp yet reasonable words, he intended to explain that the matter between him and linda Linton happened before marriage, it wasn’t an affair or anything else, rely a premarital relationship. Even if it beca public now, the resultant gossip might be unkind, but it wouldn’t threaten his job or family.
But seeing Sienna Thornton still agitated, he reconsidered, swallowed these words, and instead said: "Your mother has her own family. If I were to see or interact with her now, knowing that her husband and children might find out, it would be difficult for your mother."
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