bChapter /bb32 /b

“They say you gotta love yourself before anyone else can love you…” Maxine muttered to herselfb, /bb“/bSo you think, the reason Sebastian doesn’t low cake. because-”

“Stop, hold up!” Cleo massaged her temples in frustration. “You’re still hung up on whether, that guy loves you or not?b” /b

Maxine gave a bitterugh, her voice hoarse. “No one… can ept being wrong about someone calmly.”

Once, she wholeheartedly believed Sebastian would be the one to walk through life with her, to grow old together.

But God yed such a cruel joke on her.

Cleo studied Maxine for a long while, then suddenly reached out and embraced her.

“Don’t dwell on it further. Experience tells me, what you need now is to just tough it out, don’t think, don’t ask, don’t sayb. /bIt’s a cliché, but it works–time heals all wounds.”

With that, Cleo’s expression rxed a bit. “Alright, let’s get to business. You asked me to look into Jessica’s father. Any leads?b” /b

Maxine got serious, taking out Ivanna and Nathan’s marriage certificate from her shoulder bag.

She tore off the photo of the two of them, hesitated for a moment, then handed Nathan’s half to Cleo.

Cleo took the cigarette between her teeth and studied it carefully for a while. “This guy’s name is Nathan? bHe’s /breally handsomeb, /bno wonder Jessica’s so pretty. Hey, don’t you think he looks a bit like Gabriel?”

Instantly, something exploded in Maxine’s mind.

She recalled Gabriel’s face, and then hastily looked at Nathan’s photo, the two faces rapidly ovepping in her mind.

She stammered, “Yes. I thought Nathan looked familiar when I first saw him, but I didn’t expect… they really do look alike!”

“This is getting interesting. Give me three days. I’ll get you the result!” Cleo’s eyes lit up with interest.

Maxine was surprised. “So fast?”

“Duh, I’m from the paparazzi! Checking on someone’s info? Easy peasy. If all else fails, I’ve got a private detective friend who’s super skilled. He can even find traces of people who died decades ago. This is no biggie.”

Cleo was all about action, grabbing the photo and saying goodbye on the spot.

Maxine saw her off at the outpatient building and returned to the ward. Seeing that Jessica was still sleeping soundly, she started feeling sleepy herself.

Having slept soundly through the night, Maxine woke up the next morning to be informed by the doctor that Jessica was cleared for discharge.

On their way back, Jessica looked excited as she yed with her drawing tools in the back seat and asked Maxine, “Maxine, when can I go back to school?”

Maxine was taken aback–she had forgotten about this.

Jessica attended Sunshine Kindergarten, which was close to where Ivanna used to live; bit /bonly took ten minutes by tool.

However, Maxine now lived in an upscale neighborhood that was over ten miles away from there–it wasn’t convenient at all. Moreover, afterst night’s incident, Maxine didn’t want bJessica /bbto /bgo back to her old kindergarten anymore–bit /bwas just too dangerous. After some thought, she said to Jessica hesitantly, “bJessica/b, how about a transfer to a school closer to our current ce? What bdo /bbyou /bbthink/bb?/bb” /b

b09:10 /bbWed/bb, /bb18 /bbJun /b

Hearing this, Jessica was taken aback and then said in a muffled voice, “Huh? Okay, then. Maxine, can I say goodbye bto /bbmy /bbfriends /bbbefore /bbthate /b

Maxine was bat /bba /bloss for ba /bmoment.

She bhad /bforgotten that Jessica had lived there with Ivanna for quite some time, Kids tended to be nostalgic, and now that she had lost her motherb, /bbsha /bnaturally cherished the past even more.

But the transfer was definitely happening. Maxine steeled herself. “Sure, when we’re handling the transfer, I’ll take you to see your friends and say your goodbyes.”