It had been a while since Hilary and Shermaine saw each other.
Meeting Hilary again, Shermaine realized that the former was not as happy to see her anymore. In fact, Hilary looked guilty and was avoiding Shermaine’s eyes.
Shermaine scoffed internally, but she acted frightened and lost on the surface.
“Did I do something wrong to upset you, Ms. Hilary? I understand that no one likes me now, and I am content with the affection you gave me earlier. I am so sorry for wasting your time and disappointing you. I truly am.”
Shermaine looked too pitiful in that state.
At first, Hilary was heartbroken over the fact that Clarissa was insistent on disowning her, but seeing Shermaine in that pitiful state got Hilary to forget all about Clarissa.
The heartbreak Hilary felt when she saw Shermaine was a lot more intense than when she saw Clarissa.
As far as Hilary was concerned, Shermaine was the most important one.
The former quickly hugged the latter to offer some comfort. Hilary apologized, “Shermaine, this is all my fault. This has nothing to do with you.”
What’s the point of being upset, anyway?
That stupid Clarissa is such a thankless wretched for wanting to disown me like that. She truly stomped on the love I have for her.
Truth was, there was no need for Hilary to be sad. After all, when it came to that daughter, she had always been…
Hilary secretly made her decision. She would not sway anymore. Her heart knew who she should side with.
“Shermaine, I was busy lately, and that is why I’m only visiting now. I’m so sorry. I went to see Clarissa a few days ago.”
“Huh?” blurted Shermaine before she grinned bitterly and added, “That’s right. You have a daughter, and she is the most important one for you. I understand.”
“No, that heartless woman doesn’t even see me as her mother. She actually wants to cut all ties with me! As if this matter is so important that she needed to do that? She’s not nearly as kind to me as you are, Shermaine. How I wish you are my daughter instead.”
Shermaine seemed surprised. She asked, “How is that possible? Are the two of you not close? Are there some misunderstandings between you two? Or does she not like it when we hang out together?”
“It doesn’t matter if she likes it. The important thing is that I like you. Don’t worry, Shermaine. That stupid Clarissa is not worthy of Matthew, and I will not let her get married. I am her mother, and no one can complain if I am against that wedding. You don’t need to be sad either. She will not marry Matthew, and you will have your shot. I will do anything for you.”
Shermaine acted surprised.
After that, she teared up like she was extremely touched by those words.
In the end, droplets of tears rolled slowly down her eyes before she flew into Hilary’s arms and sobbed. She said, “No one has ever been that nice to me before, Ms. Hilary. You’re the only one.”
Hilary was even more heartbroken. Her tone… is she being bullied by the Smallwoods?
“Don’t cry, Shermaine. I will be even nicer to you in the future. I love you so much, and I don’t care if the others don’t care about you because I care. Your parents…”
Shermaine quickly shook her head and insisted, “No, they’re nice to me. It’s just that they’ve never treated me the way you do. We’re not even related by blood, but you’re still taking such good care of me. I don’t think even my mom does that…”
“How can your mom treat you so poorly?”
Shermaine’s lips quivered like she was hesitant to say something. She sighed and shook her head before confessing, “They treat me well. It’s just that my mom loves my dad even more. Their love is so strong that I sometimes get jealous. Besides, they are probably a little disappointed in me now. Things had gone so far out of hand, and they are affected greatly. I guess it’s understandable that they are upset even though I am their daughter.”
At that moment, Kayla and James were going all out to help their daughter. If they knew what Shermaine said about them and how she felt, it is likely that they would treat Shermaine the way Hilary treated Clarissa. They would probably call their daughter a thankless wretch.
Naturally, they would never learn that their daughter held that much distaste towards them.
Hilary, however, was infuriated to hear Shermaine’s words.
“How can they do this to you? As parents, they should help and love their daughter unconditionally. How can they treat you this way? This is too cruel.”
“No, don’t talk about them like that, Ms. Hilary. They are my parents, after all, and they gave me such a good life. I have never gone through much hardship throughout my life, and I am content. To be honest, if I had grown up in a poor family, I would never turn out to be the way I am. That is why I am thankful to have the Smallwoods as my family. I really am.”
For some reason, Hilary’s gaze looked a little strange.
She was secretly glad. Yeah, it’s good that Shermaine grew up in a wealthy family and didn’t suffer. I’m glad.
“Still, that won’t do. You are their daughter, and if they don’t love you, then I will. How about I just pretend you are my daughter?”
“That would be wonderful. I am so thankful for how kind you are to me, Ms. Hilary.”
“There’s no need to be thankful. I truly am doing this unconditionally.”
Shermaine smiled. She was genuinely happy.
It truly was great for her, wasn’t it?
Someone was genuinely looking out for her and helping her for free. How could Shermaine not be happy?
This woman… Hah! It’s a waste to not take advantage of her.
After parting ways with Hilary, Shermaine went to the hospital.
That hospital was none other than the one that Gloria was hospitalized in.
That was the day Gloria got discharged from the hospital, but Clarissa never showed up to pick her up. Catherine simply called Gloria over the phone to tell her to go back as soon as possible. The former even told the latter to stop embarrassing herself in D City. Gloria wouldn’t be able to cause any trouble to Matthew and Clarissa, even if she stayed in the city. That was the only reason why Catherine ignored Gloria completely.
The Lester family kept insulting Clarissa and Catherine for being heartless, even though they had already expected that treatment. After all, Clarissa had made things very clear with Mimi the last time they met at Zen Highlands.
That was why they no longer counted on Clarissa for anything.
The family settled the paperwork, then spent a small fortune. Naturally, they had to pay for everything on their own, so it didn’t count as them borrowing money from Clarissa. Their trip over was just a trip of getting in debt. Naturally, they didn’t have much savings, to begin with, and they paid their debt via their credit card. Hence, they were simply changing the party to which they were owing money.
They never intended to pay Clarissa all the money they owed her, though.
As they exited the building, Jacob kept scolding Gloria for spending that much money on a trip to D City. He even reprimanded her for getting sick and not dying from it. Gloria had no choice but to endure all of his insults with her head down. Mimi, on the other hand, seemed to be used to it and didn’t react to her father’s insults.
The second he got out of the elevator, Jacob bumped into someone. Perhaps he didn’t see the person there, or perhaps he couldn’t care even if he had seen the person. Either way, they ended up knocking into each other.
A young woman dropped something on the floor. She looked like she was in a hurry, and she had a pair of sunglasses and a hat on. Every part of her was concealed, so no one could recognize her.
The lady rushed out of the elevator in a hurry. Jacob secretly pocketed the phone she dropped on the floor.
Jacob smiled and only took the phone out of his pocket after he had left the hospital. He checked the device out.
Mimi snatched that phone over suddenly.
“Dad, did you steal someone’s phone?”
“Steal? I was just picking it up. Stop talking shit.”
Mimi had the phone with her. At first, she was pleasantly surprised, but that quickly turned to disappointment.
“Dad, this is the newest branded model. It’s a really expensive device and costs about ten thousand. It’s too bad that we can’t unlock the phone.”
“It’s that pricey? If so, then we’ll probably get a sizeable sum if we sell it.”
“No, don’t sell it. I love this phone so much. How about we find someone to help us unlock it? Maybe it’ll work then.”
Jacob saw how much his daughter liked the phone and that got him to hesitate about selling the phone.
Mimi immediately chimed in, “Dad, I have never had a proper phone before, and everyone discriminated against me for it. With this, they will no longer look down on me and will even be my friend. I might meet better people and when I go to the university, I’d be able to work part-time in the studio. I’d end up making so much more money.”
Gloria stood at the side. She had something to share, but she didn’t dare to voice her opinion.
Jacob nodded at that moment and said, “Alright then, let’s see if we can find someone to unlock this phone.”
The family of three thought that they were in luck, but they were captured before they even got to find someone to help unlock the phone.
No one could get away with the crime because the evidence was still with them.
The person who captured them was none other than Shermaine.
“Shermaine Smallwood? The actress?”
Mimi was astonished and jealous when she saw Shermaine there. Darn it, she’s so beautiful and popular.
Shermaine’s reputation had already been ruined then, but it was undeniable that she used to be a popular actress and was still a beautiful woman. When she stood in front of Mimi, her grace got Mimi extremely jealous.
Shermaine saw how the family of three looked at her and was especially delighted to see Mimi’s expression. The young girl’s eyes shone with the kind of admiration that stroked Shermaine’s ego.
Hmm… there are a few more people than I expected.
Shermaine grinned and invited them to a luxurious hotel. They had a meal there before they went into a private room to chat.
“Stealing will not reflect nicely on your records, and it is especially bad for Mimi, who is about to have her college entrance exams. Wouldn’t you say so?”
Jacob immediately refuted, “We didn’t steal anything. We only picked it up.”
“Oh, is that so? But I’ll tell the police that you stole it. Who do you think they’d trust? Me or you?”
Jacob backed down.
Mimi, on the other hand, turned to Shermaine and asked, “Ms. Smallwood, what do you want? You brought us to such a luxurious place and treated us to such a good meal. You even let us stay in a hotel that nice, and you won’t have done any of that if you had any intention of handing us over to the police. So tell us, what do you want from us? Or, more accurately, what do you want us to do?”
Mimi wasn’t an idiot, so she got right to the point.
Shermaine smiled nonchalantly and answered, “Nothing really. I am just upset about how cruel Clarissa was to you even though she is your family, so I decided to help you guys out.”
