CHAPTER 33: CHAPTER 33: ELEANOR WINSLOW, YOU BELONG TO MY BROTHER

Eleanor never expected Adrian Grant would defy his own mother to protect her.

Selene Keane froze, then laughed angrily.

She pointed a trembling finger at Adrian and Eleanor, "One dares to hide, the other dares to protect! If Jonah were here, he wouldn’t treat me like this! He wouldn’t tolerate you humiliating me like this!"

Eleanor felt overwhelmed and tried to speak gently and patiently, "Mom, we didn’t mean that."

"You? Still you? Get out! Get out of here!"

Selene pointed at the door, hysterical, looking at Eleanor and Adrian with hatred, "Adrian, you just love taking things from your brother! You’ve always been like that! Get out!"

Take things from your brother?

What does that mean?

Before Eleanor could figure it out, Adrian interrupted her thoughts, held her hand, and said to Selene, "Take care!"

Adrian held Eleanor’s hand and left without hesitation.

The afternoon sunshine was bright to the point of being blinding.

Eleanor silently observed her shadow, next to Adrian’s shadow, with their shadows forming round blobs at noon.

Between those two blobs, their arms connecting, there was a secret intimacy.

Eleanor remembered how Adrian protected her earlier, feeling a bit nostalgic and somewhat self-deprecating.

—Adrian always protects her unexpectedly, giving her the illusion that she’s important to him. But he keeps waking her up with harsh reality, making her realize that his protection is merely a whim, unrelated to love!

"Adrian, thank you for earlier."

Eleanor withdrew her hand.

Adrian’s empty hand curled slightly, then he tucked it into his pocket.

"Don’t meet with her again."

"Aunt used to be really good to me, remembered my favorite flavors, took me out, comforted me when I was sad, encouraged me when I faced difficulties... she was really great."

Eleanor hung her head sadly, not understanding why things turned out this way.

She didn’t see Selene to ask for trouble, but... every time before meeting, she hoped Selene would return to being that affectionate elder.

"Eleanor, in her eyes, you belong to my brother," Adrian’s voice came from above.

Eleanor looked up at him in confusion.

The sunlight was a bit blinding, she squinted, and Adrian was already walking ahead.

Eleanor snapped back to reality and hurried to catch up: "What do you mean?"

Adrian glanced at Eleanor as she caught up and walked alongside him again.

"Before my brother passed away, you were close; in my mom’s eyes, even though my brother has been gone for four years, you should always think of him as the closest person."

What Adrian didn’t say was that in Selene’s eyes, even if Eleanor were her daughter-in-law, she could only be the elder son’s wife, not the younger one!

Thus, Eleanor wanting to know why Selene suddenly disliked her and seeking reconciliation would require divorcing Adrian—which was impossible.

"But I do still miss Jonah," Eleanor looked toward the cemetery, "In my heart, Jonah is no different from family."

Adrian suddenly stopped.

Eleanor had fallen two steps behind while speaking, didn’t notice Adrian suddenly halt, and bumped into his back, stepping back a little before stopping.

She rubbed her forehead from the collision, annoyed as she glared at the iron person, ready to speak when Adrian said first:

"Eleanor, you never spare with my brother."

Never spare with compliments, never spare with longing, never spare with smiles, never spare with reliance, never spare with preference.

Yet among those who accompanied her, there was also him beside her.

It was also him who personally brought her out of the mental hospital.

However, Eleanor, like Selene, always noticed and remembered only his brother wherever he was.

-

The Grant family cemetery was on a mountain several kilometers away.

Eleanor went alone to pay respects to Jonah Grant in the afternoon, returning by evening.

She keenly noticed something off, especially in the women’s side there was a solemnity, and everyone’s attitude toward her showed more caution and respect, unlike the previous hidden sarcasm.

Seeing Eleanor’s suspicion, Jeanette Grant eating a small cake, walked over to Eleanor and spoke quietly: "Want to know what happened?"

"What happened?" Eleanor found it strange that this girl suddenly initiated conversation.

Jeanette lowered her voice, holding out a hand: "V me five thousand, and I’ll tell you the truth!"

"Five thousand for one sentence? I don’t do business with heartless merchants."

Eleanor had a ’say it if you want’ look.

"Hey!" Jeanette grabbed Eleanor, "Third brother directly gave me fifty thousand last time! Why are you so stingy?"

Last time?

Eleanor instantly remembered last time at the restaurant, she remarked Adrian was bad in bed, and not long after Adrian used that comment against her.

Turns out it was Jeanette who spilled the secret!

"Third brother really bad at it?" Jeanette mused, "I can suggest he buy videos from me to learn more..."

"Stop it! He doesn’t need to buy anything!"

Thinking back to the content of what she said, Eleanor’s ears turned red: "Hurry up, the payment code!"

Eleanor just wanted her to shut up, sent a thousand over as pocket money for the little girl.

"Only a thousand?" Jeanette grumbled.

"I’m still studying and very poor, no money." Eleanor lied calmly.

"Okay." Jeanette glanced around, and with no one nearby, whispered with her hand covering her mouth to Eleanor, "Because Aunt said bad things about you, Uncle’s business was just taken away by third brother! Third brother still loves you!"

Eleanor immediately thought of what she heard in the morning from Aunt Grant and Second Aunt Grant.

"How do you know it was bad things about me? I think it’s because they talked bad about Adrian."

Bad things?

Actually, Adrian didn’t really care about people talking bad about him.

"Oh really!" Jeanette waved her hand, indicating impossible, "It’s my mom who talks bad about third brother, only Aunt talked bad about you, and it’s not my family suffering, haha!"

"..."

How can you be so cheerful?

Eleanor realized Jeanette was quite clueless.

Fortunately, she wasn’t annoying.

Eleanor’s gaze moved across the crowd to see Adrian surrounded and talking in the center, her thoughts a bit distracted.

Was Adrian truly doing it for her?

Could it really be for her?

After a while, Jeanette saw Adrian had few people around, took a drink, and wobbled over.

She held up a hand, secretly whispered, "Third brother, v me fifty thousand for the latest scoop on your wife! Exclusive news, don’t miss it!"

Adrian glanced at her, said nothing, and transferred fifty thousand pocket money to her.

Jeanette smiled widely, "Eleanor says she’s very poor, third brother you’re so cheap, not giving your wife pocket money!"

Adrian looked at Jeanette as if she was thinking she was dumb.

How could she think Eleanor was poor?