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Thomas didn’t go after them to exin. He looked at the ruined documents on the floor, his face burning, and his heart aching even more.
Ramona, who was nearly caught in the crossfire of the former siblings‘ squabble, spread her hands with an expression that conveyed, “See? I told you there were risks in partnering with your family.”
Thomas closed his eyes.
He couldn’t understand how Olivia, once so confident and elegant on stage, could
have be such a shrew..
With patent issues repeatedly suffering setbacks and now being gawked at like a clown, Thomas felt a hint of self–defeat.
He sat down without a word, his face grim, waiting for the waiter to bring a towel.
While he was spacing out, Ramona had seized the opportunity to slip away.
She certainly didn’t want to be gawked at along with Thomas.
However, she suddenly stopped as she reached the restaurant entrance.
‘Wait, Olivia’s room?” thought Ramona.
*****
At that moment<b>, </b>Ryan was holding his phone and grinning foolishly in the lounge.
He was at this event thanks to Ramona. They had agreed beforehand that he could have <b>fun</b>, but he had to obey when she needed him to run errands.
Just now, Ramona heavily organizer, calling them idiots for
invitations after epting a small payment.
indiscriminately issuin riticized the event
However, Thomas came over before she could take emergency measures.
Annoyed<b>, </b>she could only text Ryan, telling him tomunicate with the
organizers to separate those people’s rooms as far apart as possible.
Ryan thought, “This little matter can be solved in minutes, can’t it?”
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He dared not move Alexei and Quinn of the Turner family. Besides, they were in the top suites, and there were only a few of those, so rearranging them wouldn’t make much difference. Natasha and Alexei were staying together, so he didn’t need to worry about them. Thus, he decided to find an excuse to move Chloe, Lucas, and Thomas.
Ryan took another look and thought, ‘Oh, isn’t this Olivia Sutton, the main character whose drama I witnessed at the rk family’s birthday party that day?
‘Didn’t she im to have cut ties with the rk family? How did she get herself here? Get out, banished to the frontier.
Ryan’s move directly transferred Olivia to the floor where the yacht’s domestic helpers resided.
Olivia didn’t realize anything was wrong until she stood at the door of her new room. She insisted on going back, but the servants, following instructions, merely told her that her previous room was upied. If she didn’t want to stay there, she could sleep in the corridor.
Olivia pushed open the door with great reluctance, only to see another foul- smelling slob. She was inevitably driven mad by it.
Speaking of which, Thomas was innocent.
No matter how much he disliked Olivia, he wouldn’t stoop to being petty and making things difficult for her over such a trivial matter.
Ryan, with someone else having taken the me, was oblivious to all that. He simply lifted his chin proudly upon receiving an ambiguous thumbs–up emoji via WhatsApp from Ramona.
“Are you happy now?” asked Thomas.
Thomas removed the towel from his face and looked coldly at Natasha, who had
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been sitting at another table for a while.
Natasha walked over and sat in Ramona’s previous seat.
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“Do you think I made them do it?” She chuckled. “Even if Olivia’s true colors are exposed, my image as malicious and headstrong <b>in </b>your eyes persists.”
She nodded. “You’re right. We haven’t spent time together in a long time, have we? Over the past few years, we’ve only known each other through others.”
She stared into his eyes and added, “I guess I’ve never truly known you either.”
Thomas averted her clear gaze. “I’m sorry. I’m not feeling well.”
He pursed his lips and looked back after a moment. He hesitated before speaking, “Mom is sick, Natasha. Could you go see her? The birthday party…”
He was silent for a few seconds. “She used a knife on Olivia. You must have heard.”
Natasha nodded. “I’ve heard, but no.”
Her answer was too decisive and blunt. Thomas looked surprised.
Natasha rested her chin in her hand, gazing out the window, and brought the conversation back to their earlier discussion. “Thomas, I think I understand you a
little better now.”
She smiled, with the frankness of someone who had found the answer. “In fact, you never liked me, did you?”
Natasha could never understand it before. Her parents‘ favoritism had its reasons, and Noel, her younger brother, was naive and impulsive, easily manipted. But what about Thomas, her older brother?
Thomas was five years older than her. The year she was six, he was eleven. He was old enough to understand.
He clearly understood rtionships.
And without the worldliness of an adult, Thomas followed his true feelings more. In other words,pared to Olivia, he should have loved Natasha, whom he watched grow up, more.
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However, he wasn’t.
He chose to let Olivia take Natasha’s ce.
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Perhaps Thomas unconsciously sought to please adults like Noel, but what about the deeper reason?
Natasha hadn’t understood before, but that day at the police station, she suddenly had an epiphany when she saw the way he looked at Noel.
Thomas disliked Noel, and he also disliked Natasha.
Everyone thought an older brother should naturally love his younger sister, but they underestimated a child’s jealousy.
Thomas grew up with high expectations, and before he was five, he enjoyed his parents‘ love exclusively as their eldest son.
Natasha’s birth shattered that exclusive possession.
Even for Andrew and Madeline, Natasha, their daughter, would not inherit the family business. They saw her as a beautiful and adorable pet, to be raised well, to be sensible and docile. In the future, she would receive generous wedding gifts, and with good fortune, she could even marry into a prominent family, bringing more assistance to her family.
However, no one would explicitly state that. Many involved parties might not even realize it, or be willing to admit it.
It was even less possible to mention it to a child.
For little Thomas, he only felt Natasha <b>was </b>an intruder.
His parents naturally demanded he be a humble and loving older brother, but they forgot to alleviate his <b>panic</b>.
The more he was repressed and held to strict standards, the more he envied hist easily pampered and favored <b>sister</b>.
He should be sensible and mature<b>, </b>so he restrains himself to be <b>a </b>good brother, earning universal praise.
Reason, not his true nature, drove him to act that way.
Olivia’s appearance unleashed evil within him.
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When one dislikes someone, one wants everyone else to do well, just not that
person.
Natasha transformed from a pampered sister into a deeply sinful culprit.
Thomas even had a ready–made excuse.
As he grew a bit older, he might have realized his parents‘ well–hidden favoritism toward him within the family’s power structure.
Therefore, Thomas would show Natasha a little more tolerance and kindness.
Thomas secretly visited Natasha at night, quietly bringing her medicine when she had a fever, and persuading his parents to let her leave when her grandmother took her away…
But it was not enough for him to resume his role as an older brother.
As he encountered more reality, he realized Natasha would not take anything from him, but Noel was different.
What if Noel were excellent and charming?
The perceptive Olivia was the first to realize Thomas’splex mindset.
They reached an unspokenplicity.
Compared to Natasha, who genuinely cared for Noel, Thomas allowed Olivia to y the “sister” role in the family, watching her slowly ruin Noel..
With Thomas’s tacit and overt indulgence, Olivia became even more brazen.
Thomas remained silent and grew increasingly busy. Eventually, he would only warn Olivia when she went too far.
Natasha said, “I was thinking: when you came to my apartment because of those. proxy–cursing calls Alexei had arranged, I intentionally brought up some of our past. I hoped to evoke your guilt and get some peace for a while. I seeded that
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day. But your departure–was it because you felt sorry for me, or because you didn’t want to face your imperfect self, which wasn’t as perfect as you projected?”
Back then, Natasha was still naive, actually believing that the broken familial affection had worked.
Upon seeing Thomas, pale–faced, with trembling pupils, and unable to answer her questions, Natasha stood up.
Her new vantage point allowed her to clearly andprehensively see Thomas she once looked up to.
Thomas said, “I am not wrong. Not all parents in the world love their children, nor do all older siblings love their younger siblings. Familial bondse in countless forms. Both good and bad are allowed to exist. But not being loved is not my fault.”
She smiled with relief, saying, “Our familial connection might just be a thread mistakenly woven by fate in this life.”
“But I forgive it,” she added with a yful smile. “After all, Heaven is so busy.”
She left Thomas, who was painful, behind, turning with a smile to walk toward the bright, spacious restaurant entrance that faced the sea..
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