“Where have you been? We’ve searched around for so long but couldn’t find you guys.” As soon as Rachel and Julian returned to the mountain, Jolly’s questions rushed toward them. “We agreed to have fun together. So, what were you two doing?”
Julian took Rachel’s hand in his, and although he didn’t say anything, he finally caught Jolly’s. attention. Jolly stared at the two of them for a long time, then her eyes fell on Rachel’s right hand, her face full of disbelief. “No way. What’s going on?”
*Jolly, what are you yelling for?” Gloria heard. the commotion and came over. She froze when she saw Julian and Rachel holding hands. Julian took Rachel’s hand and announced to everyone with a slight smile, “I proposed to Rachel.”
Gloria’s expression changed, and she looked at Rachel. “Miss Rachel, did you agree?” “Of course, she agreed. Isn’t she wearing the ring?” Behind her, Victor placed a hand on Gloria’s shoulder and said proudly, “I helped Dr. Peters go to the jewelry store to pick up the ring.”
“What?!” Gloria turned her head and was shocked once more. At this moment, no one noticed the difference between both of Gloria’s shocked reactions.
Jolly had already rushed over and grabbed. Rachel’s hand, her eyes glued to the ring. “Julian, did you spend a lot of money? This diamond ring isn’t cheap!” Julian was helpless. ‘Shouldn’t you congratulate us first?”
“What kind of proposal was it? Where did you propose? What did you say?” Jolly was so excited that she was at a loss. She shot them so many questions that Rachel didn’t even know where to begin answering her..
“I’ll tell you everything when we get back.” Jolly turned and glared at Julian. “Wow, Julian, you actually hid this from me. I’ve been helping you, but I didn’t know anything.”
Julian said, ‘I’m sorry. Miss Carter, how about we treat you to dinner when we go back to Riverdale?” “Wow, you’re using ‘we’ already. I think you two should just get married on the spot.”
Rachel tugged on Jolly at once. “Can you take this a little more seriously?” “I’m not taking this seriously? You guys are the ones who aren’t taking things seriously! You proposed just like that. Trying to be low-key, huh?”
Amidst Jolly’s ridicule, a mellow, aggrieved voice suddenly sounded as someone rushed up and hugged Rachel. “Mommy! Are you really going to marry Uncle Julian?”
When Rachel saw Charlotte hugging her leg. she looked at Justin, who had just returned with Samuel, and the smile on her face suddenly stilled.
Their eyes met, and the air seemed to stagnate. They were merely a few steps apart, but it was like a chasm of time separated them by centuries, and there was no going back. Justin looked at Rachel like Charlotte was looking at her, waiting for the final answer.
“You all heard it, right?” Rachel didn’t speak, but Jolly, heartless as she was, started yelling, directing her words at Justin. “This is such a joyous event. Let’s add a dish tonight, President Burton!” Rachel was stunned, and she clenched her fists, waiting for Justin’s reaction.
After a while, Justin gave an easy smile. “I’m afraid adding one dish isn’t enough. Let’s add two.” For a moment, Rachel’s heart sank, then she fiercely clenched her fists before slowly loosening them. Then, inwardly, she laughed mockingly at herself, no longer having any expectations.
“That’s settled, then!” Jolly urged Rachel and the others, “Let’s go. What are we still doing on the mountain? Let’s go down to celebrate!” As they descended the mountain, Gloria’s expression sank so much that it looked as though it was nearly collapsing to the ground.
Victor was extraordinarily dense and didn’t sense anything wrong with her at all as he scurried alongside her, showing her the things he bought on the mountain. “Gloria, does this mask look good? I bought it for you.”
“It’s so ugly.” “How is it ugly? It looks good. You should put it on.”
“Take it away. I won’t wear it.”
“Come on. You should try it on. It really looks good. I just saw a girl wearing it.” Gloria was furious, so she threw the mask onto the ground and yelled, “Then, you should get her to wear it! Don’t follow me!”
After that, she left in a huff. Victor was frozen in place, completely bewildered. “What the hell is wrong with you?” Samuel squatted on the ground and picked up the mask. “Mr. Wade, did you make Aunt Gloria angry again?”
“Who made her angry? She gets angry whenever she has spare time. I should be the one getting angry.”
Victor was young and vigorous, so he was unwilling to back down, and his face turned gloomy. “Samuel, let’s go. Let’s ignore her. She’s crazy.”
He held Samuel’s hand as they walked down the mountain. Then, he deliberately sped up and left without looking at her when he passed by Gloria’s side. Gloria was so angry that she stomped her feet in response.
Samuel helplessly looked up at Victor. “Mr. Wade, how did you even manage to find a girlfriend?” “What are you talking about? I’m a likable person. Many people like me.”
“But, your temper is terrible.” “That’s because you haven’t met anyone unreasonable. In the future, when you get into a relationship, you’ll know how speechless women can leave you.”
Samuel gave it some serious thought. “Then, I’d better not get into a relationship.” The sky was completely dark. The homestay owner had prepared dinner, and Justin cooked another two more dishes, so the table was full. Today’s proposal had fulfilled Jolly’s life-long wish, so she was happier than the two people involved in said proposal.
“With this glass, I’d like to toast the two people involved in the proposal today-Julian and Chris. Thank you for taking care of me and accompanying me for so many years. One should keep the good stuff within the family. Both of you getting together makes me the happiest I’ve ever been. Cheers!”
Before Julian and Rachel had time to pick up their glasses, Jolly drank a whole glass of beer..
“Slow down.” Leroy looked at her helplessly and placed some food on her plate.
“This second glass is a toast for Justin.” Everyone was still smiling, but when they heard this, they were all startled. Leroy grabbed Jolly’s shirt and tugged on it. “Jolly, have you had too much to drink?”
“No. That was only my first glass.” Jolly looked solemn. I apologize for always being against you in the past. Thank you for rescuing Leroy yesterday. I used to be prejudiced toward you, but let’s be friends in the future.”
Everyone turned to look at Justin. After a long time, Justin got up with his glass, then downed a glass of wine without saying a word.
“Great!” Jolly was about to drink her glass too, but Leroy stopped her. “You shouldn’t drink so. much.” “Today is a happy day. So let’s raise our glasses together!”
“Come on! Let’s toast!” Either being genuine or faking it, the adults. appeared happy as they raised a glass to celebrate all sorts of things, even the tiniest details could be a reason to make a toast.
However, the children didn’t understand any of this. Samuel took a piece of watermelon and walked around for a long time before finally finding Charlotte in the sheep pen in the backyard.
“Charlotte, what are you doing here?”
Charlotte lay on the fence of the sheep pen, staring at the lambs inside. Finally, she sighed like an adult lamenting. “Uncle Julian has become my stepfather. Do you think I’ll be calling him ‘Dad’ in the future? Or will I be calling him ‘Uncle Julian”?”
