bChapter 274 /b

    Brian felt his sore spot had been hit. Raising his voice in protest, he retorted, “Not true! I do have friends at school!”

    However, Sebastian seemed utterly unfazed. He shook out the two quilts on the bed and said expressionlessty, “Okay”

    Brian gnashed his teeth at his father’s attitude. ‘Why does he always have to be so impossible?‘ he fumed inwardly. But knowing he was no match for him, he could only swallow his anger, stomp over to the bed, and start making it himself.

    Halfway through making the bed, Brian suddenly recalled the attitude of those two foreign women earlier today and couldn’t help but ask, “So, bthat /bVivian really doesn’t seem to like you, huh?”

    Sebastian replied tersely, ‘I know.‘

    But he was done waiting.

    ‘I want to be part of Maxine’s life, not just a passing stranger,’ Sebastian thought.

    “Get some rest,” Sebastian said.

    ‘There’s always a way,‘ Sebastian told himself.

    Meanwhile, upstairs, Maxine was also wide awake. Jessica had been too excited to sleep for hours after Brian’s arrival, but Maxine had already been alert long before that.

    She kept reying everything between her and Sebastian in her head, but was stillpletely lost.

    Maxine thought, ‘It wasn’t hesitation, more likeplete uncertainty about Sebastian. I’m terrified of reliving that nightmare. Not every near–death experience ends with a miracle.”

    A soft knock sounded at Maxine’s door, breaking the silence of the night.

    Maxine turned her head and saw Lisa standing at the door.

    “Got a minute?” Lisa asked, then chuckled at her own question. “Well, if you’re not too sleepy, I was hoping we could have ba /blittle chat.”

    Hearing this, Maxine lifted the edge of her quilt slightly, inviting Lisa to slip under the covers.

    Lisa hopped into bed, slipped under the covers, and said bluntly/“I want to talk about your ex.”

    Maxine could pretty much guess what this was about from her tone, so she wasn’t surprised. “Go ahead,” she said.

    Lisa thought for a moment, then said earnestly, “To be honest, Vivian was a bit worked up today, but overall, I don’t think she was fundamentally wrong.”

    Lisa shrugged helplessly and said, “I don’t know if you remember, but when you first arrived at the hospital, you were in terrible shape, you probably haven’t even seen your medical records, have you? Just surviving back then was already a miracle.”

    Lisa tilted her head slightly, as if lost in memories. “You were in such bad shape back then, so much so that I didn’t even mind Vivian devoting all bher /b

    attention to you.”

    Pulled back from death’s door time and again by doctors and nurses, she always had a child by her side, not even her biological one.

    Vivian had actually found this out by asking Jessica.

    Lisa’s lips curved with a faint smile. Though she usually carried herself with ba /bcarefree demeanorb, /bMaxine knew bshe /bwas bno /bbless /bbobservant /bbthan /bbVivian/b.

    After a long pause, Maxine finally spoke. “bDon’t /bworry. I won’t let myself bgo /bthrough that again this time.b” /b

    b14:45 /bbMon/bb, /bb7 /bbJul /b

    Lisa let out a sigh. “That little boy is your son, after all. Vivian and I won’t interfere too much. They are your family after all.

    Before she could finish, Maxine cut in, “After all this time living together, you two are already family to me.”

    She gave a shy little smile and added, “That is, if you don’t mind.”

    No sooner had she finished speaking than Lisa gave her a hearty p on the shoulder. “Don’t talk nonsense! If we didn’t see you as family, do byou /bbreally /bthink Vivianb, /bwith her temperament, would havee all the way to Hathnd for you?”

    biAD /i/b