Byranâs face suddenly got all serious. âLet me make this clear, I ainât no kid!â
Ellinor didnât give him the time of day. âIf youâre not gonna eat the meat, Iâll finish the whole thing!â
âWho said I ainât eating meat? Iâm eating!â Byran proudly declared while reaching out to pile more barbecue onto his plate.
This was a rare chance to chow down on barbecue, so he had to make the most of it.
Byranâs upbringing was strict; he never had any extra dough. Balfour was always worried that if Byran got his hands on too much cash, heâd go off the rails.
Apart from eating at the school canteen, he was always eating at home. Balfour also never let him eat fast food.
It wasnât until he met Ida that he got the chance to eat out more often.
He felt a bit guilty. Ida footed the bill on every date.
He didnât have a choice; he didnât have any money and couldnât work right now.
Once he got a job and started earning money, he was going to buy Ida loads of nice stuff to make it up to her.
After stuffing her face, Ellinor wiped her mouth and headed upstairs for a shower.
Even with the air conditioning on, the barbecue had her sweating buckets. A shower would cool her down.
After her shower, she dried her hair while idly scrolling through her phone.
The money sheâd sent Theo had been sitting there for two hours, still unaccepted.
Ellinor wanted to settle her debt with him, so she clicked on Theoâs profile and shot him a message to remind him to accept the money.
Once heâd accepted it, she would block him, and they wouldnât have to stay in touch.
But Theo didnât respond. He didnât reply to her message or accept the money.
Ellinor furrowed her brows, thinking that if he didnât accept it today, sheâd remind him again tomorrow.
The portrait had been moved into her room by the housekeepers. It was leaning against the wall, not yet hung up.
After looking at her motherâs self-portrait, a wave of vague childhood memories flooded her mind.
Where was her mother?
How had she been all these years?
If her mother was still alive, why hadnât she come back to find her?
She was only a few years old when they separated, and now she was about to become a mother herself.
Time really flew by.
Ellinor gently rubbed her belly as her face softened. Sheâd be meeting her baby soon.
Suddenly, her phone rang.
After snapping back to reality, she picked up her phone and saw that she was receiving a voice call from Belinda.
She was about to pick up when the call was canceled, She found it odd and worried that something mightâve happened. She called back, only to be declined.
She furrowed her brows, sensing that something was off. She tried calling a few more times, but was declined each time.
Feeling a bit worried, she texted Belinda. âWhatâs up? Something wrong?â
After a while, Belinda replied, âNah, itâs nothing. I just dialed the wrong number. Iâm out; I canât really talk.â
Relieved, Ellinor didnât press her further.
After setting down her phone, she dried her hair before hitting the hay early.
Ellinor fell asleep early but spent the whole night dreaming. They werenât nightmares, but the kind of dreams that leave her feeling drained. She was either running or searching for something in her dreams.
This left Ellinor feeling out of sorts when she woke up the next day.
When she went downstairs for dinner, she could feel Balfourâs gaze on her. It was like he had something to say but was hesitating.
Ellinor narrowed her eyes at him, asking, âMr. Howard, you keep looking at me like that. You got something to say?â