Chapter 141
“It’s just because Rosalie can’t get anything good for herself, she doesn’t want Loretta to get anything good either! If she is trying to ruin things between Loretta and Calvin, I’ll rip her apart!” Caitlin said angrily.
“Could there be some misunderstanding?” Gordon calmly asked instead. After all, Rosalie was still his daughter. He didn’t really mind which daughter ended up with Calvin.
The key was that he could be Calvin’s father-in-law.
Caitlin said, “What misunderstanding could there possibly be? She’s just trying to climb the social ladder! Why else would she get close to Calvin after meeting Jonathan? Doesn’t she realize that being an ex-convict, no one will take her seriously? It’s nothing more than a fling.”
Caitlin was doing her best to tarnish her stepdaughter’s reputation at the moment, fearing that she might steal her own daughter’s chance at a great marriage.
“But Loretta is different. She’s completely innocent! She’s Calvin’s legitimate girlfriend now. In the future, she’ll win the best actress award and marry into the Gunner family. It’s all a matter of course!”
Caitlin spoke as if Loretta were going to win the best actress award and become Mrs. Gunner tomorrow.
Gordon nodded and said. “All right. I’ll have Rosalie come home and talk to her then. She needs to keep her distance from Calvin and not interfere with Loretta’s prospects.”
Loretta and Caitlin exchanged a knowing glance, both wearing expressions of satisfaction on their faces.
“Thank you, Dad,” Loretta said. But then a flicker of concern crossed her face. “But what if Rosie doesn’t listen?”
“I’m her dad, and unless she changes her last name, she has to listen to me!” Gordon declared firmly.
Loretta lowered her head slightly with a hint of a smile on her lips.
Later that night, Rosalie received a phone call from her father, Gordon.
“Rosalie, it’s been a while since you came back. How about returning home for a while to discuss your mom’s grave relocation?” Gordon suggested.
“Grave relocation?” Rosalie was puzzled.
“Yes, your mom was buried in a cemetery in a neighboring village. However, that area is undergoing redevelopment, and the land has been requisitioned. Many graves in that area need to be moved. You weren’t aware of this when you were in prison, but the village has already sent out notices,” Gordon explained.
Rosalie pressed her lips together. When her mother passed away, they hadn’t purchased a grave plot in a public cemetery. Instead, her father had arranged for a friend from a village near Strico to help. The village had a public cemetery, which didn’t require much money, so her mother was buried there.
Back then, after her mother’s death, her father had gone for many years without visiting her grave. It wasn’t until later, when she excelled academically, and gained admission to a prestigious high school, and eventually to a top-tier university, that her father and stepmother began paying their respects at her mother’s grave.
After she was imprisoned, her father and stepmother naturally stopped visiting her mother’s grave.
After her release, she had visited her mother’s grave once. The place had become overgrown with weeds, nearly obscuring the words on the tombstone, and cracks had appeared on the point where the tombstone met the grave itself. She had considered repairing the tombstone during her visit, but she hadn’t anticipated that they would relocate the grave.
“All right, I’ll come back,” Rosalie said, her tone reflecting her reluctance. If it weren’t for her mother’s affairs, she wouldn’t have допе back at all
“How about tomorrow night, then? When you come back, is there anything specific you’d like to eat? I’ll have Caitlin prepare it Gordon said in a fatherly tone, momentarily catching Rosalie off guard.
This tone seemed reserved for times when she had achieved success in her career and love life, which were the moments when her father would speak to her with warmth and care.
But everything had changed after her time in prison. She realized that, to her father, she had always been nothing more than a burden. When she was useful, she was his daughter, but when she wasn’t, there was no trace of familial affection left.
“No need, I’ll eat before I come,” Rosalie replied, then ended the call and put away her phone.
As she turned around, she suddenly noticed that Jonathan had leaned against the door that connected their two rooms. His gaze was firmly fixed on her.
“Whose call was it?” he asked as he walked up to her.
“It was my father,” Rosalie replied. “I’ll be going home tomorrow night, and you don’t need to send the driver to pick me up at the Environment and Sanitation Administration.”
His gaze held a thoughtful expression as he asked, “Would you like me to accompany you?”
She looked at him with surprise, wondering why he would offer to accompany her and who he thought he was to do so. After all, she was returning home to address her mother’s affairs.
“No need, I can go on my own,” Rosalie replied. “It’s late, and I need some rest.”
In essence, she was giving him permission to leave..
He slightly narrowed his eyes, leaned in, and lifted a strand of her hair with his fingers. “Are you really going to distance. yourself like this?”
She pressed her lips together and remained silent.
“Then tell me, what should I do for you to treat me as you used to?” he whispered, his warm breath caressing her face.
He wanted her to behave as she used to, to smile gently at him and speak softly, with nothing but his presence in her eyes as if they were truly inseparable.
“Used to?”
Rosalie contemplated for a moment and then murmured, “You used to be Jon.”
“Then, for now, I can also be ‘Jon’ But only for you, Rosie,” he said.
Her heart suddenly skipped a beat.
“Could he truly be just my “Jon’? I should be wary of him, but why did my heart race when I heard those words?” Rosalie
mused.
He slowly lowered his head, his forehead gently touching hers. Tve only spoken these words to you. Will you accept me as Jon?”
“As the ‘Jon’ who you could solely rely on to…” he continued in his mind.
Rosalie hardly slept at all that night as Jonathan’s words echoed in her mind.
Could he really be exclusively her “Jon”? Was their sibling game not yet over? But his expression appeared so sincere, sincere to the point that she felt he wasn’t playing a game.
The next morning, as Yulissa arrived at work, she immediately approached Rosalie and asked, “Rosalie, Jeremy was asking about you. He inquired about what kind of person you are and whether you indeed work at the Environment and Sanitation Administration. He mentioned that you seemed to be living the high life yesterday, shielded by some big shot. What’s going
on?”
The ‘Jeremy’ she mentioned was the organizer of the background actors.
Since Rosalie was recommended by Yulissa, it was only natural for Jeremy to inquire as well. Yulissa was completely bewildered when she listened to Jeremy talking about what happened on set and the big shot supporting Rosalie.
B
