Chapter 12
What happened afterward, I heard from my friends.[]
The money was eventually paid.[]
The restaurant called the police, and both the Hayes and Sterling families came.
e.]]
The Hayes family didn’t want to eat this loss and refused to spend an extra penny on their illegitimate son, stubbornly agreeing to pay only half.[]
The other half fell on Celeste’s family.
Apparently, that was money her mother had painstakingly saved as wedding gifts for her precious son’s future marriage.]]
Her mother initially threw a tantrum over the phone, refusing to acknowledge the debt and even claiming she’d never given birth to such a wastrel daughter.
Finally, the police had to mediate in person.[]
Who knows what Celeste promised her mother, but her mother eventually wired the money while wailing dramatically.
Of course, a severe beating was inevitable.]
From then on, I never saw Archer at school again.]]
The Hayes family packed him off overnight to his grandmother’s house in the countryside.
The transfer paperwork was handled by people the Hayes family hired–they really didn’t want this illegitimate son embarrassing them in public anymore.
I thought I’d never see him again in my lifetime.[]
But a week later, one evening after school, I saw a familiar yet pathetic figure at the gate of my family’s mansion.[]
It was Archer.
He’d grown thin, wearing ill fitting old clothes. When he saw me, his eyes blazed with desperate hope.
And in his hand, he was carrying a brand–new cake box.
“Daphne.” He hurried over to me.
This time, the cake was intact, clearly written in chocolate sauce: [Happy Birthday Daphne].[]
Seeing my gaze fall on the cake, Archer’s eyes flashed with wild joy.
“Daphne, I know I was wrong. I was an asshole before–that Celeste deceived me. I came to apologize.”
His tone was sincere, his eyes full of hope.
“Can you… forgive me?”
“If you could just tell my father that we’re planning to marry, he definitely won’t send me away again. We could go to school together like before.“[]
Seeing him like this, I suddenly smiled with malicious amusement.]
“An apology with just a cake? Am I that easy to appease in your mind?“[]
Seeing that I was willing to engage with him, Archer became even more ecstatic, thinking there was hope.
“Then how do you want me to apologize? I’ll do anything as long as you forgive me! I’ve already deleted Celeste–I’ll never have any contact with her
again!”
His tone unconsciously took on that familiar, fake indulgence again.[]
I looked at the cake in his hands, then at him.]
“I remember you should still have $3,000, right? Since Uncle Hayes paid the restaurant bill for you, the money your mother left you must still be there.”
I pretended to be angry:
“All the gifts my friends gave me were tainted by that bitch Celeste–I still get angry thinking about it! Aren’t you apologizing? Then use your remaining money to treat me to something nice and make me happy!“]
A flicker of hesitation crossed Archer’s face.
That was his last money–his only capital after being kicked out of the Hayes family.[]
But he looked at me, then thought about the luxurious life he’d have returning to the Hayes family. Finally, he gritted his teeth.]
“Fine! Whatever you want!“[]
