"Alma, we truly want to help your sister, but she seems so ungrateful."
"Oh, I rember now, didn’t Mrs. Collins say it just yesterday? She’s an ingrate, no matter how nice everyone is to her, it’s all in vain."
"Alma, it just ca to , the last ti you were seriously hurt, wasn’t it because she was scheming behind your back?"
"It must have been her. That’s why you’ve only just recovered to go shopping with us."
"She’s the one who had people beat you up."
Upon hearing this, a sense of dread washed over Serena. She pressed the switch on her wheelchair to flee, only to be kicked back into place by Alma.
"Alma, what the heck do you want?!" Serena was downright furious now.
"Well, when they threw you out, I didn’t get the chance to properly say goodbye."
Serena suddenly felt scared.
"Looks like today’s your lucky day, Alma. The stars have aligned to hear your prayers. She’s not going anywhere fast, and we’ll help you out. It’s the perfect opportunity for so quality sister ti."
"Yeah, it’s been ages since you’ve seen each other; there’s got to be so much you want to talk about."
Two of the friends each grabbed one of Serena’s arms, while a third opened the door to the fire escape, and the fourth pushed the wheelchair, steering Serena into the stairwell.
"What are you doing? This is a mall. Ah. Alma! You bunch of little witches, how dare you."
Serena’s screams of anger echoed through the stairwell.
After withdrawing so money, Dora returned to find Serena gone, and she urgently asked Octavia,
"Where’s my lady?"
Octavia, who had been lounging on a trendy bench by the elevator, gracefully stood up, took the money from Dora, and said without expression, "She ran into so old friends and went to the stairwell to catch up."
Old friends catching up in the stairwell?
With a sinking feeling, Dora hurried to the fire escape door.
What she saw horrified her: Serena lay crumpled with the wheelchair toppled over her. She was crying and unable to get up.
The so-called old friends were nowhere to be seen.
Only Serena was left alone in the stairwell!
"Serena."
Dora rushed down to help her up.
Had soone actually dumped garbage on her?
Dora tried to help her up, but touching her anywhere only made her shriek in pain.
Her clothes were stamped with footprints.
Looking at Serena’s hair, it seed damp; the blood had been coming from there.
Dora was petrified and quickly pulled out her phone to dial Martin’s number.
"Sir, it’s horrible, there’s been an accident! Serena’s badly hurt, you must co quickly."
Elsewhere.
Ever since Rosemary’s identity was revealed, the number of guests visiting had surged, and Reflections Villa was bustling for days on end.
That day, a couple breezed through the front door, showering Rosemary with complints from head to toe.
"Rose, these sweet-talkers are Gustave and Odelia," Louisa said with a beaming smile, "They’re our family’s business partners; we have been working together for over a decade."
Rosemary caught on quickly, greeting them politely, "Hello Gustave, hello Odelia."
"My, what a sweet child, not only beautiful and with a lovely voice! You two hit the jackpot with her—she’s absolutely perfect!"
Odelia, all smiles, rummaged through her bag and pulled out two cards, insisting on giving them to Rosemary.
"Odelia, you’re too kind. Rose’s all grown up now."
"This is just a token of our affection from Gustave and ; please accept it."
"Rose, since it’s a gesture from Gustave and Odelia, you should take it."
Knowing it was vain to refuse, Rosemary graciously accepted, "Thank you, Gustave. Thank you, Odelia."
"Oh, what a polite child." Odelia continued, her joy evident as she presented a beautifully wrapped gift to Rosemary, "This is for the New Year. May the coming year bring you joy and success in all you do."
"You’ve already given her cards, and now a gift? It’s too much!" Louisa said with laughter in her cheeks.
"It’s our first private eting with Rose, and we already feel bad for not preparing an additional gift. After all, she’s just so lovable; it’s only a small present. Don’t make us feel like outsiders!"
"Rose, don’t forget to thank Gustave and Odelia for their kindness."
"Thank you, Gustave and Odelia."
"She’s so well-mannered. I suddenly feel the McMillian family is so lucky, imagining one day Rose will marry into their family."
Just then, a family of three arrived.
"You’re here?" Louisa stood to greet them, her face alight with joy.
"We wanted to co here a couple of days ago, but seeing so many cars parked outside Reflections Villa, we didn’t want to overwhelm you and Kenneth. So we decided to visit early today, and look, I
guessed it right; it’s less crowded now," Penny explained, then greeted Gustave and turned her attention to Rosemary.
"Let introduce you, Rose. This is Mr. and Mrs. Stapleton, and their daughter, Macy," Louisa said, smiling.
"Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Stapleton. Hello, Macy."
"Hi Rose," Macy greeted in return.
Penny handed Rosemary the gifts, noticeably larger than the ones from Gustave and Odelia, and they felt a bit uneasy.
Louisa nodded at Rosemary, who accepted with thanks, "Thank you, Mr. and Mrs. Stapleton. I also wish you a New Year filled with prosperity and happiness."
"The child is just too adorable; we’ve also prepared little gifts for her." Gabriel Stapleton set down the shopping bags on the coffee table. Gustave and his companion were sowhat anxious, because they had given Rosemary a small token of affection, but Stapleton had brought two considerable presents.
"Oh, you are all too kind."
Soon after, seven or eight more guests arrived, and Rosemary was kept busy with the ceremony of accepting gifts over and over again, not to ntion the mountain of presents piling up.
"Rose, your phone’s been buzzing nonstop; it looks like soone’s trying to reach you. Why don’t you go on up and check?" David ca downstairs, greeted the guests, and skillfully diverted their attention from his sister.
All the guests’ attention then turned to David, praising him for his soaring popularity, his pleasant singing voice, and his impressive dance moves—in short, they had nothing but high praise for him.
Rosemary knew that David was giving her an out, a chance to catch her breath. In truth, her phone was in her pocket the whole ti, not upstairs.
Once back in her room, Rosemary casually placed the stack of gift cards onto her desk, which was already overflowing with them, all forcefully bestowed upon her by guests over the past few days.
The maid, busy tidying the bed, chuckled, "Ms. Rose, you are the record holder for receiving the most New Year’s cards and gifts I’ve ever seen."
"It’s also the first ti I’ve ever had this much."
"Ms. Rose, you’ve really been through it. That Serena took advantage of your identity for years, raking in all these New Year’s gifts without a hint of gratitude, and even sched against you, it’s simply
outrageous!"
"Let’s not bring her up during the holidays."
After making the bed, the maid offered with a smile, "Ms. Rose, shall I organize these for you?"
"Sure." Rosemary couldn’t be bothered to organize those gifts. Leaving them in a pile was not a solution.
"Wow, this one feels quite hefty." The maid picked up one of the gift boxes, opened it, and found two stacks of cash. "It amounts to twenty thousand dollars. Let just count this."
Reclining on the sofa, Rosemary replied to Roo’s ssages with one hand. Hearing what the maid had said, she responded languidly, "Don’t trouble yourself with counting, just open them up. I’ll have soone take them to the bank’s counting machine."
Otherwise, it would be counting forever.
"Alright." The maid’s smile widened as she progressed opening envelopes. "Ms.Rose, you know what? The smallest amount in these is ten thousand dollars."
She couldn’t believe how generous these people were!
"Have you been using the skincare products I gave you?"
At that mont, Edith knocked and ca in with a tray of fruit.
"Once Ms. Rose has finished greeting everyone, I’ll ntion there’s a call for you and whisk you away."
"Thanks, Edith."
"Well, I’ll head down and attend to the guests then."
"Okay."
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