bChapter /bb270 /b

    Maxine was so shocked she momentarily froze, then stammered, “Oh my God, I would never have guessed!”

    Vivian said with evident pride, “Like mother, like daughter! With me being this amazing, ihow /icould my child be any less? Lisa has loved martial arts since she was little, and now she’s even an instructor.”

    Maxine looked surprised. “Wait, isn’t she a doctor?”

    Vivian shrugged nonchntly. “Coaching is just a side gig for her. Martial arts is really a young person’s game. I just can’t keep up like I used to.”

    Vivian sighed as she spoke. Maxine looked at her and Jessica in her arms with mixed feelings. ‘There isn’t the slightest hint of weakness in her at all,‘ Maxine thought.

    Though Jessica was slender, she’d already shot up to about 4’11“. As for Vivian, despite her youthful looks, she was actually pushing fifty, and she was in better shape than most women her age.

    Her attention was still on Vivian when Lisa reached the door. She opened it, peeked out at the two people standing outside, and asked in broken Hathndian, “Hello, who are you?”

    To Brian’s surprise, a foreigner opened the door. Brian was taken aback, and all the words he’d prepared got stuck in his throat.

    Instead, Sebastian switched to Vastelian and said, “I’m here to see Maxine.”

    Lisa raised her eyebrows. “Who are you? And what business do you have with her?”

    With a nk expression, Sebastian said, “I’m her ex–husband.” He then gestured to Brian beside him. “This is my son.”

    Maxine and Vivian were chatting when Lisa suddenly let out a gasp at the doorway, her eyes wide in shock. “Oh my God!” she eximed.

    All three turned to the door. From Vivian’s arms, Jessica spotted the young man standing there. Three years had passed, he’d grown considerably taller, his features shedding some of their boyishness, yet she could still see traces of the boy she once knew.

    Beaming with excitement, Jessica asked Vivian to put her down, then dashed to the door and called out, “Brian!”

    Brian also looked at her, a flicker ofplex emotion shing through his eyes. He said quietly, “Yeah… long time no see.”

    She looked Brian up and down excitedly, then stood on tiptoe topare their heights. Her face fell as she pout still shorter than you, Brian…”

    thought I’d grown so tall, but I’m

    Lisa pointed at the two men and looked at Maxine as she walked over. “He says he’s your husband, and this is your son? But I thought Jessica was your only child?”

    Jessica said with a hint of helplessness, “Lisa, Maxine adopted me.”

    Jessica patiently repeated in Vastelian.

    Only then did Lisa btedly smack her forehead and mutter, “You two are so close, honestly, even closer than Vivian is to me. Sometimes I actually forget you’re not her real daughter.”

    “Lisa!” Vivian shot her a warning look, warning her to watch her words.

    “Alright, alright, I surrender!” Lisa said, raising both hands in mock surrender.

    Vivian looked at the two people standing before her, her gaze settling sharply on Sebastian. She abruptly demanded, “So, you’re Maxine’s ex–husband?

    The one who broke her heart?”

    Vivian was blunt. Sebastian felt a pang in his heart and instinctively nced at Maxine, but she turned her face away. Vivian stepped between them,

    08:14 Fri, 4 Jul

    blocking his view of Maxine, and snapped with clear displeasure, “I’m talking to you!”

    Sebastian swallowed hard. “Yes, it was me,” he admitted.

    Vivian barely contained her fury and demanded sharply, “What the hell are you doing here inow/i?”

    Sebastian said, “I know I was wrong back then. That’s why I’m here, to clear up the misunderstanding. I never meant for it to happen.”

    AD