Chapter 43 The Third Choice
Justin very rarely appeared in public, but the guests present at the Hudson’s dinner party could clearly identify him by the ugly scar on his face.
“Is this Justin Burton?”
“He doesn’t look as terrifying as everyone mentioned.”
“Exactly! And his relationship with Rachel seems quite good too.”
Just then, the crowd whispered among themselves in the ballroom. Fortunately, there was background music to mask their voices and at the same time, someone had already approached Justin to greet him so the scene became quite lively all of a sudden.
Countless people came forward to hand Justin their name cards. Just then, Rachel instinctively wanted to withdraw her hand and walk off but Justin grabbed her hand tightly. She glanced sideways and met his calm, steady look.
All of a sudden, she was significantly shocked. After that, she stood there hearing the compliments from the crowd and once she looked up again, she had already revealed a graceful smile to the crowd around them.
Since young, she had practically never experienced such attention from anyone. In the past ten years, her life had been as quiet as her condition and there was not a single ripple in her uneventful life. She was always the non-existent person at every event of the Hudson Family.
However, her marriage to Justin seemed to be the turning point of her life.
“Amber, your sister and brother-in-law seem to have a good relationship.”
Amber’s friend’s words hit her ears and the ugly look already present on Amber’s face turned uglier. “It’s all just for show. He can’t possibly ignore her in front of so many people!”
As Amber said that, she left her friend and strode purposefully toward Justin.
“Justin.”
Rachel was currently by Justin’s side greeting the crowd when she was suddenly interrupted by Amber’s voice.
“Justin, why did you arrive so late? Rachel came by herself earlier so I thought that you were not joining us tonight.”
Amber behaved as if Rachel, who was currently standing by the side, was invisible. In short, the former focused only on talking to Justin.
Everyone present clearly caught her emphasized words that Rachel had ‘came by herself’.
Meanwhile, Justin replied indifferently, “There was something urgent at the company so I got the driver to send Rae here first. Did I miss anything interesting?” His words spoke volumes.
Amber’s expression stiffened in response and she glanced at Rachel before replying awkwardly, “You didn’t miss anything. Did Rachel mention anything to you?”
Justin didn’t answer. However, his eyes focused on Amber’s neck. “The necklace suits you.”
He changed the topic so quickly that everyone was quite perplexed. Meanwhile, Amber’s face lit up and she suddenly revealed a coy expression as she touched the diamond necklace on her neck without saying a word.
This was a gift from Justin when he accompanied Rachel back to the Hudson Residence previously.
“The birthday boy is here.”
Someone hollered loudly and the crowd’s attention became focused on the other entrance of the ballroom. Just then, Jefferey entered the room while chit-chatting with a few of the Hudson relatives and they managed to attract everyone’s attention.
“Justin, let’s go and wish Dad a happy birthday!”
Amber immediately reached out for Justin’s hand and dragged him along. As for Justin, he didn’t object to it and he left Rachel standing right there.
Momentarily stunned, Rachel felt an inexplicable sense of sadness well up as soon as Justin’s arms were removed from her side. In all honesty, she couldn’t control the emptiness in her heart.
Obviously, everyone would like a dazzling woman, right?
Despite Amber’s personality in private, at the very least, she was a likable character on the surface.
Meanwhile, Justin was dragged by Amber and they came to stand right in front of Jefferey. The former then turned around to glance further toward the back and noticed that Rachel had walked off quite a distance away.
“Justin, could you give me a hand with the cake?”
“Sure.” He then collected his thoughts and followed Amber along to push the cake trolley. However, his thoughts remained fixated on where it was originally. All of the thoughts swirling in his mind were related to the scene earlier in the study room. He couldn’t quite shake off the scene of that woman’s devastated and distraught look from his mind.
As for Rachel, she had no intention to join the crowd so she took a seat in a secluded corner. As she sat there, she saw Amber and Justin push out a cart with the birthday cake on it for Jefferey. Soon after that, she walked off by herself to get a bottle of wine. Normally, she abstained from alcohol but today, she wished to have a drink.
As soon as she recalled her mom’s tablet being locked-up in such a cramped space by Jefferey, she felt a burst of anger that welled up within her and threatened to spill over.
It was clearly evident that it wasn’t an altar to commemorate the dead. The bright-red locks and the walls full of talismans were clearly an arrangement specifically there for the dead and it wasn’t intended to commemorate but instead, it was to suppress the dead!
Did Mom really lose her life from a car accident? Suddenly, Rachel was quite suspicious of the whole incident.
The night had fallen and the full moon was clearly mirrored in the swimming pool by the ballroom.
“Do you plan to get drunk and then act pitiful in front of Justin?”
There was a female voice that rang out from in front of Rachel, causing her to clench the bottle of wine in her hands tightly as she raised her head to glance across the room.
Somehow, Amber had trailed after her.
“Are you keeping quiet because I guessed correctly?” Amber crossed her arms and her four-and-a-half-inch high heels clicked loudly against the tiles next to the swimming pool. She glanced at Rachel with a cold expression and the haughty look on her face was clearly evident. “I’m sorry, I must have forgotten. You’re a mute so you can’t even express yourself.”
Rachel shot her a look and gestured, What do you want?
She’s not inside fawning over Justin or acting as the dutiful daughter in front of Jefferey, but she came over to find fault with me. What’s the point anyway?
“I’m here for something important of course! Justin just drank some wine earlier and now, he’s having a discussion with my dad about business matters so I came out to take a breather. I’ll have to head back inside soon.” As soon as Amber finished her words, she snorted coldly and added, “Do you think that everyone is as useless as you?”
Meanwhile, Rachel clenched her fists tightly and her expression darkened slightly.
“What are you looking at? Did I say something wrong?” Amber scanned her surroundings and replied smugly, “How dare you come here anyway? Have you forgotten how you fell to the ground and sliced your forehead open when you were young?”
Just then, Rachel felt a throbbing pain on her forehead as soon as Amber brought up the incident from their childhood. Since young, Amber had a mean streak in her that was as comparable as right now. In the past, she had pushed Rachel into the unfilled swimming pool, causing the latter to fall to the ground and bleed profusely. This remained Rachel’s worst nightmare even up till today.
“Do you think that Justin will stand by me, just like how Dad did, if the same thing happened again today?” Amber questioned, her expression turning vicious.
Instantly, Rachel’s face turned and she took a step backward instinctively.
“Why are you so anxious?” Amber stared at Rachel with a cold look and then the former removed her necklace in front of the latter. “We’re no longer kids so obviously we have to act our age. Do you think that I’m still the same as when we were kids?”
As soon as she said that, the necklace soared into the air at a perfect angle and landed with a ‘plop’ sound into the swimming pool.
Rachel frowned at her, What are you doing?
“You’ve got two options right now. One, jump into the pool and get it for me. Two, I’ll tell Justin that you grabbed my necklace and dumped it into the pool. Do pick one. I must say that I’m quite generous to you.”
Pale-faced, Rachel confronted Amber, Why are you doing this?
Meanwhile, Amber scanned her from head to toe and replied, “I haven’t avenged myself from the episode at the pond last time, so I suddenly realized it. This is fair, right?”
Upon hearing that, Rachel clenched her fist tightly and her palm throbbed with pain. She fell into the pond at the Hudson Residence because of her own doing and now she’s blaming everything on me?
In the past, Rachel had tolerated Amber’s tyranny and overbearingness because the former was thankful for Jefferey’s kindness in taking in her and her grandmother after her mom had passed away. However, the scene at the altar today had overthrown everything in her mind.
Amber, I think I’ve got a third option.
