This was the diamond ring with the tragic history with the enormous value, but Hazel liked it not because of that. She liked it because every ti she saw the ring, she was reminded of Aubrey’s face when Arlo stopped bidding against Ranon; it could only an one thing: she was not going to get the ring.
That look on her face was very satisfying. She was not going to forget that.
Humming lightly, Hazel put the ring on her fingers. "Do I get promoted? From a girlfriend to a fiancé?" She stared at her ring. Ranon kept it with him because he needed to resize the ring so it would fit her fingers.
"Yes, you can say so."
"What a pity. I want you to drop on one knee to propose to ."
"Don’t push your luck."
"I thought you were going to romanticize ." Hazel looked at him, mirth in her eyes when she teased him. "What if people asked how you proposed to ? It’s not possible for to tell them that you simply tossed the ring to , right?"
"I am not going to drop on my knee. You can create all the stories that you like about how the proposal went."
"Fine." Hazel shrugged her shoulders. "Just don’t regret it." She was going to make a story for sure. An elaborate one.
They had agreed with the story of how they t, and now Ranon left it to her imagination of how the proposal went.
"So, are you still in love with her?" Hazel asked casually.
"That’s incest."
Hazel rolled her eyes when she heard that. "Oh, co on. Be honest with , are you still in love with her? Is it upsetting to you to see her with your father?"
Ranon threw a nasty glance at her. "No. She is nothing." Ema had been nothing for Ranon for a long ti. And he ant it when he told her that they were going to simply have a dinner together.
"Okay."
Not long after, they finally arrived at the Leighton family house. It was a huge house just like what Hazel expected. Bigger than the Rose family house, probably three tis the size of it.
"Will all of your siblings be there?" Hazel unclasped the seatbelts as Ranon opened the car door for her; he held it open and waited with her backpack on his left shoulder. It looked funny to see him carrying her pink backpack.
"My first brother will be here; I don’t know the rest," he replied truthfully.
His first brother lived in the main house because he couldn’t go anywhere. There was an accident seven years ago that caused Daniel, Ranon’s first brother, to beco wheelchair-bound. That was why, Denzel, their father, looked for Ranon and asked him to be a part of the Leighton family, because the first son was no longer capable of being burdened with the responsibilities.
"Okay." Hazel walked beside him to enter the house where a butler had been waiting for them.
He greeted Ranon with respect and then shifted his attention to Hazel. He introduced himself. "I am Alfred; you must be Miss Hazel Rose."
"Alfred? Alfred, like in Batman movies?" Hazel looked amused, but Alfred simply smiled and showed them the way to the family room.
Alfred was about to take Hazel’s silly pink backpack from Ranon, but he brushed him off and kept carrying it.
"Your father is expecting you in his study room, sir," he spoke to Ranon and then asked Hazel what she wanted to drink while they were waiting for the table to be prepared. Dinner would be ready in fifteen minutes.
"Do you have cucumber juice? I want it with lemon."
"Cucumber juice?" Alfred looked confused because it was not sothing that they were used to making. "I think we can make it for you; anything else?"
Hazel caught the sight of Ranon’s face when she ntioned the cucumber juice. She couldn’t understand why most people didn’t like it. It tasted great, especially with lemon.
"No, thank you, Alfred. Say hi to Batman." Hazel grinned, but she was quick to realize how dry her joke was and then shifted her attention to the garden out there.
"I will be back," Ranon said; he put the backpack on the sofa and then left the room.
Without Ranon and Alfred, Hazel was alone in this huge family room. She looked around this place, trying to find sothing that she didn’t even know what it was. It was simply her instinct to inspect the environnt she was in.
This room was delicate; it was styled with classic modern style, with white as the dominant color, which made this place look so bright and impeccable.
There were not pictures on the wall; neither was there a fra of pictures on the table. There was nothing there indicating this place was occupied by a family. It was too clean, cold, and practical. Hazel almost felt like she was being in a model house instead.
Even the Lozen family still hung their family picture on the wall. This place simply looked so barren.
Hazel heard soft footsteps; she didn’t turn around when soone entered the room, thinking it would be the maid who brought her drink, but then soone called her na.
"Hazel Rose." Her voice was soft and filled with curiosity. "Welco to the Leighton family house."
At last, Hazel turned around, and she was greeted by a beautiful woman in her late twenties; she was wearing a nice blue dress with light makeup. Her dark hair cascaded down on her shoulders, curled at the tip of it. She dressed so neatly for soone who was staying at ho.
"Thank you," Hazel replied; she knew this woman; this was Ema. The lady in this house. She was beautiful with little dimples on her cheeks when she was smiling. No wondered Ranon fell in love with her, who wouldn’t? Even his father liked her.
Hazel was thinking of Denzel’s age. He would be sixty this year, which ant this woman was half his age.
Eww. Gross.
Hazel was having a hard ti making her expression neutral when her mind was running wild to imagine how you could be with soone twice your age, and when her wild imagination took her to what they were doing in bed, she shut it down before she cringed.
"I am Ema. I think Ranon has talked about to you."
"Should I call you Mrs. Leighton?" Hazel offered. She glanced at the door; it seed no one would co. Ranon must be in his father’s study room now.
Therefore, what was this woman doing here? Did she simply want to greet her as the lady of the house? Or did she want to see what kind of a woman that Ranon took back ho and was going to marry?
Whatever it was, Hazel found herself not caring about it.
"You can call Ema." She smiled; her lips were rosy pink, glistening under the lights. She sat down on the sofa next to her silly pink backpack. "I see. Are you still in high school?"
Oh, it ca. The jab.
"I know I look young, but I am a college student," Hazel said; she sat down on the opposite sofa, facing Ema. "I don’t think I can call you by your na; after all, you are Ranon’s mother."
"Stepmother," she corrected.
Even though Ema tried so hard not to flinch with the way Hazel addressed her as Ranon’s mother, she could see it clearly: she was disgusted by that.
Well, Hazel could imagine how awkward it was to have your ex as your stepson. Gross.
"Stepmother," Hazel repeated the word, which she knew only pissed her off.
"How long have you known Ranon?" Ema asked; she crossed her legs and smiled sweetly at Hazel as if she were talking to a child.
"We have known each other for the last two years," Hazel lied smoothly. Lying was her second language after all; she could do it with ease, especially when they had rehearsed about it.
"Oh, really? Two years? I have never heard Ranon talk about you."
Hazel chuckled. "Ranon is very private; I don’t think he will share his personal life with random people." In other words, she was simply saying that Ema was one of those random people in Ranon’s life.
Thankfully, Ema was saved from responding to Hazel’s jab when a servant entered the room and brought her drink.
"What is that?" Ema frowned at the weird light green juice. The servant told her what that was, and she made a face. "I have never heard of cucumber juice."
"Oh, you need to try; Ranon loves it." Another lie. "I made it for him before, and he absolutely liked it."
Ema didn’t seem convinced, but Hazel didn’t care.
"Hazel Rose, isn’t it? You are the daughter of Greyson Rose. I heard your father has a little bit of a problem with his election," Ema changed the topic. She acted like a mother who interrogated their son’s girlfriend. "Sure enough, your father needed a little bit of help, no?"
"I am not sure about that; I am not into politics. That’s my father’s problem; I don’t think I have a say in it."
"As a daughter, it’s your responsibility to get involved in the family." Ema cleared her throat. "But if you were going to marry into the Leighton family, it ans you are going to be a part of this family."
Hazel smiled cheekily at Ema. "You don’t need to concern yourself about this, Ema. I don’t even like my own family; there is nothing to be worried about."
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