"If I ever see you giving soone else a ride again, whether it’s a guy or a girl, you can forget about this bike."
In a daze, Kiana Sutton seed to hear Ethan Sinclair say sothing like that, so a few days later, when Amy Manning ca to find Kiana and asked her to give her a ride to the hospital to visit Evan Shepherd’s grandmother, Kiana refused without even thinking.
"Why? Am I not worthy to sit on your back seat?"
Kiana felt a bit awkward. "No, no, it’s not that. Mainly, my bike ran out of battery."
If Ethan Sinclair saw her giving Amy Manning a ride, who knows what crazy thing he might do.
Amy looked truly regretful, so the two of them took a cab to the hospital.
Evan Shepherd had taken a few days off work to take care of his grandma. When the two of them saw him again, it looked like he’d lost a lot of weight.
As soon as Amy saw Evan, her heart ached for him. "Evan, have you been okay lately? How’s your grandma doing?"
Evan ruffled Amy’s hair. "Don’t worry, she’s much better now."
"Good, good, that’s a relief."
Evan glanced at Kiana and said apologetically, "Kiana, I just found out about what’s been happening on the forum. I’ll clear things up this afternoon as soon as I have ti. Sorry, I caused you a lot of trouble."
Before Kiana could say anything, Amy cut in angrily, "Just ignore them. The more you try to clear things up, the more riled up they get. If you’re innocent, people will see it on their own."
"But..."
Kiana gestured, "The most important thing for you right now is to take care of your grandma. Don’t worry about anything else."
"Yeah, yeah, co on, let’s go see Grandma."
Seeing that Kiana hardly cared about the forum rumors at all and didn’t suspect him, Evan actually felt pretty torn up inside.
But he’d already made his choice, and there was no going back.
The mont they walked in, Evan’s grandma recognized the sweet and lovable Kiana. Smiling kindly, she said, "Evan, is this the girl who brought you here last ti?"
"Yes, Grandma, her na is Kiana Sutton. We all call her Kiana."
"Kiana, that’s a lovely na! Co here, child, let Grandma have a look at you."
Evan’s grandmother beckoned to Kiana. After hesitating a couple of seconds, Kiana walked over to her.
Grandma took Kiana’s hand and gave her a good look from head to toe, a huge smile on her face. "Oh my, what a well-behaved and pretty child! Do you have a boyfriend yet?"
Kiana wanted to pull her hand back and gesture, but Grandma was gripping her tight, so she could only look pleadingly at Evan and Amy.
Evan said, "Grandma, Kiana can’t talk, don’t make it hard for her, okay?"
Grandma seed to ponder exactly what "can’t talk" ant.
After quite a while, she patted Kiana’s hand, full of regret and tenderness. "Child, you’ve had a hard ti."
Kiana shook her head, her nose stinging a little.
Evan’s grandmother reminded her of her own grandma.
When Kiana lost her voice, Gordon Sutton worried himself sick, racking his brains, trying anything to cure her illness.
Hannah Lowell, on the other hand, was scared Kiana wouldn’t marry well and complained day and night, cursing her fate.
Only Kiana’s grandma would hold her and quietly comfort her, "Kiana, the doctor said there’s nothing wrong with your throat. Sooner or later, you’ll speak again. My Kiana sings so beautifully. Grandma still wants to hear you sing ’Nanniwan.’"
Co to think of it, it had been a long ti since she’d last visited her grandma. When the next break ca, she’d definitely go to the countryside to see her.
"Evan, you take good care of Kiana at your company, you hear ?"
Evan’s eyes flickered. "Mm, I will."
After leaving the hospital, Evan wanted to treat Amy and Kiana to a al. Before the two could refuse, he smiled and said, "I haven’t had a proper al in days. Eating alone just kills my appetite. Please, take pity on and keep company for a al, will you?"
Since he put it that way, Kiana and Amy really couldn’t refuse.
The three of them headed to a hotel restaurant near the hospital.
Standing outside, Amy and Kiana exchanged a glance.
Amy said, "Do we really have to go to such an upscale place? This hotel looks expensive."
Evan grinned. "What? Looking down on ? Think I can’t afford to buy you dinner?"
"That’s not it. It’s just your grandma’s in the hospital, and you need money every day. I was worried you..."
"Don’t worry about it. It’s just one al, it won’t break ."
Amy shot a look at Kiana. With things said like this, Kiana knew if they insisted, it would just hurt Evan’s pride, so she smiled and nodded.
The two girls walked ahead, neither of them noticing Evan quietly sending a WeChat ssage to Stella Lyncg.
Evan looked at Kiana’s slender, delicate back and clenched his fist tightly.
To save Evan money, Kiana and Amy only ordered the cheapest dishes.
Evan also ordered a bottle of red wine and poured so for Kiana and Amy.
The sight of the wine imdiately reminded Kiana of how embarrassed she was last ti she drank.
"Sorry, I can’t drink."
Evan was already raising his glass with a smile. "Kiana, this one’s to thank you for getting to the hospital the other day. And... We’ve known each other for over a month, but never really celebrated. It’s rare for the three of us to get together; we have to take this chance and have a drink. Right, Amy?"
"Exactly, exactly! We have to share a drink. Kiana... This red wine isn’t strong, you know."
The two of them ganged up on her, and Kiana had no choice but to compromise.
"But seriously, one glass—just this one."
"Yeah, just one!"
The three clinked glasses together. Amy and Kiana both grinned happily, while Evan’s mood was complicated.
As Kiana brought the glass to her lips, Evan suddenly called out, "Kiana!"
Kiana and Amy both jumped, turning to look at him.
At that mont, Evan’s phone buzzed—a ssage from Stella Lyncg: "Don’t let down."
Evan gripped his phone so hard his knuckles went white.
"Evan, what’s wrong?"
Hearing Amy’s voice, Evan shut his eyes tight for a mont, then opened them and looked at them with a smile. "It’s nothing. I just wanted Kiana to take it slow, so she doesn’t choke."
"Haha, co on, Kiana’s not a kid. How would she choke on wine?"
"Yeah, co on, let’s drink."
"Mm, cheers!"
Amy clinked glasses with Kiana again, and the two of them drank together.
The three of them ate, drank, and chatted—the mood was great.
But it wasn’t long before Kiana started to feel hot and her head went foggy.
She hadn’t even finished her glass, but it already felt like the alcohol was hitting her.
Amy and Evan were excitedly chatting, and Kiana tugged Amy’s arm.
"Whoa, Kiana, your face is so red! You’re drunk already? Your tolerance is seriously bad!"
Kiana was feeling worse and worse. Struggling, she gestured, "I’m going to the restroom."
"Want to co with you?"
Kiana shook her head. "No, no, you guys keep chatting."
After Kiana left, Amy looked at her glass and mocked without rcy, "She only had a little and her face is that red. Kiana really can’t handle her liquor. Next ti, just let her drink kids’ soda, haha..."
Evan watched Kiana’s swaying figure as she left, lips pressed tight together, saying nothing.
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