bChapter /bb438 /b

    Jessica didn’t want to ruin things for Jake, so she bit back the urge to tell Brian to Brian again after so long, sharing a meal together.

    get

    t lost. That was how she found herself sitting at the dam hter with

    Jessica ate absentmindedly, still thinking about what she’d just witnessed. Right then, her phone lit up on the table. She recognized the familiar profile picture. It was definitely a message from Madeline.

    She picked up her phone with a nk expression and opened the message. Inside was a photo of Briar and Madeline having dinner together at a

    restaurant.

    The photo showed Brian’s upper body as he gently ced shrimp on Madeline’s te.

    Jessica froze like she’d been struck by lightning.

    A message from Madeline popped up right after: (Jessica, Brian is so thoughtful. Has he always been this good at taking care of people?]

    The ssic passive–aggressive sweetness made Jessica’s stomach turn. She covered her chest and spun around, dry heaving.

    かから

    “Here, drink some water. Why are you having morning sickness all of a sudden? Was today’s food too greasy?” Brian quickly stood up and handed her a ss of water.

    Jake also rushed around getting her a wet cloth. “Here, Mommy, wipe your face.”

    “I’m fine. Just felt a little nauseous all of a sudden,” Jessica said, taking the warm water to rinse her mouth and trying to reassure Jake.

    Jake still looked at her with worried eyes.

    Jessica didn’t want him to worry, so she put away her phone, took the wet cloth Jake handed her, and wiped the corners of bher /bmouth. Then, she turned back to pick up her utensils and started serving food.

    “Okay, I’m really fine. Let’s eat,” she said, not sparing Brian a single nce the entire time.

    ‘Sure, Brian is here with me now, but who knows when that photo was taken?‘ Jessica thought.

    The photos could have been taken this morning, or maybe yesterday and sent today after Madeline found out Brian was visiting Jessica again. bIt /bmade perfect sense that Madeline would want to stir up some drama out of spite.

    After lunch, Jessica casually questioned Jake and discovered that Brian hadn’t been home yesterday during the day or this morning either. This only confirmed her suspicions even more.

    ‘Oh, so you’ve be quite the time management expert now, Brian,‘ Jessica thought bitterly. ‘Yesterday, he was with Madeline, today he’s here with me. Does he actually think he’s being fair?‘

    The whole situation disgusted Jessica so much that she gave Brian the cold shoulder for two straight days.

    Brian waspletely blindsided by her sudden attitude change. He couldn’t figure out what he’d done wrong to make Jessica so angry.

    He turned to Wesley for help, but Wesley couldn’t analyze the situation either. He just told Brian to keep observing and try to find more clues.

    Brian thought this approach seemed unreliable and way too slow, but he didn’t have any other options, so he decided to follow Wesley’s advice. After giving Brian his questionable counsel, Wesley put down his phone and caught up with Sana. He followed her into the barbecue restaurant on the fourth floor of the mall, assuming she was meeting another blind date.

    But after waiting for a while, no one else showed up. Instead, a server brought Sana a small birthday cake and ced ba /bcute little white teddy bear bin /bbthe /bempty seat across from her. That was when it finally clicked for Wesley.

    09:31 Sat, 16 bAug. /b

    Today was her birthday.

    “Thanks for the cake, but you don’t need to sing,” Sana told the waitress, declining the offer of a birthday song, After the waitress left, chia picked up i fork and got ready to dig into the small cake.

    It really was Sana’s birthday today. Usually she would have made ns with friends and family days in advance, spending the day celebrating together with ba /bnice dinner.

    But this year, Wesley had been such a persistent annoyance that she was afraid he’d find out somehow. She decided not to tell anyone about it.

    As the sweet cake melted in her mouth, Sana found herself thinking that celebrating alone wasn’t actually that bad. But just as she was settling binto /bbthe /bmoment, someone pulled out the chair across from her.

    市