Frowning, Joseph glanced at Rylee and then turned to Andrea, “Andrea Carroll, stop this nonsense!
You won’t be let off if you dare to spread such rumors again!”
Andrea bit her lips with a slight trembling taking hold of her body.
Was it real?
Was it real what Andrea just said?
Did Manfred really agree to the engagement with Caroline?
Impossible!
It was definitely impossible!
Manfred clearly told her that he would not be with Caroline, that he would definitely not be engaged to
Caroline, that his beloved one was her!
Andrea snorted and said fiercely, “We the whole family, except for her, already know the news! If I lie a
little, let a car kill me now!”
At the words, she ran out of the canteen.
Rylee was transfixed with her eyes greatly widened.
Joseph gave Rylee a gentle nudge and asked, “Are you all right? You look sick.”
Rylee weakly fell to a chair with the support of Joseph’s arm. She signed disappointedly, “Will Manfred
be engaged to her?”
Joseph would have said something bad of Manfred to comfort Rylee, but noticing that she looked pale,
he was too afraid to hurt her to say anything.
Rylee was so confused and sad that she could not even take a single bite of the food brought back by
Joseph.
Only after Joseph coxed her hard did she take a few mouthfuls of rice.
At the bottom of her heart cried a voice loudly, “Manfred lied to me!”
No! It couldn’t be!
How could he lie to her?
He had always been so tending to her like a gleam of sunshine covering her with a precious warmth in
that cold and ruthless home.
She treated him as her mum, who gave her a sense of kinship that she had not felt for a long time.
Her mother had already left her alone. Was it that, now, he, the man who gave her the same kind of
motherly warmth, was going to leave her too?
Rylee felt miserable.
When receiving the special interview and photos of Kenneth Keith, the teacher became overwhelmingly
excited and gave Rylee tremendous praise while Rylee still showed an indifferent and pale face.
Even after Rylee left the office, the teacher was still excited.
Rylee really didn’t know where to go. She took out her phone and wanted to call Manfred to question
the authenticity of the news, but she lacked the courage.
Who was she to him?
Indeed, he once said that he liked her and would wait for her to grow up! But…those words were
nothing but unimportant and frivolous verbal promises. How could they count for anything?
All afternoon, Rylee was absent-minded.
After school, Joseph and Rylee rode home together.
She kept silent for a long time until suddenly a sentence broke out, “If he has lied to me, I will never
ever forgive him!”
Joseph was shocked by her anger and also felt pity for her at the bottom of his heart.
She didn’t have much warmth belonging to her and now would there be even less?
Joseph smiled drily and said, “It doesn’t matter. Don’t you still have me with you? If you can’t find one, I
can lump it to marry you. Hey, but we need to make a deal now that you can’t bully or beat me all the
time if we do get married in the future.”
Rylee finally showed a slight smile.
Although it was still bitter.
Rylee didn’t even have her dinner that night after she went back to the Carroll's Manor.
When it came to eight o’clock, she finally could not help it and ran to the door of Manfred’s room,
wanting to question him about the news.
***
Just as she was about to knock, she found that the door was not locked and open a little, and there
were some people chatting inside.
Who was talking with Manfred?
Rylee curiously leaned over and eavesdropped at the door.
It was father!
“Manfred, I think that I can rely on you. In the future, I will hand over my business to you. Your
engagement with Caroline was brought up by your sister. I believe that this arrangement is wonderful
since we will be family after your engagement, and our family business would definitely have a
promising development. Also, Caroline once told me privately that she is very fond of you. And now I
am here to know what you think about this affair.”
At the words, Rylee became too nervous to breathe.
Her palms were sweating.
Manfred, please, don’t say yes!
After a second of hesitation, Manfred signed and said, “Well, I will obey my sister’s will. As for Caroline,
I will try my best to take care of her. Don’t worry about it, Brook.”
“Good! Very good! I am relieved with your promise. Ha!”
Rylee widened her eyes greatly and was transfixed with shock.
What did Manfred say?
Did he mean yes?
He actually consented his engagement with Caroline?
Rylee returned to her room in a trance. She looked absolutely pale and fell down to the ground.
Her eyes were staring straightly at the ceiling.
Manfred’s words lingered in her mind,
“I will obey my sister’s will…”
“As for Caroline, I will try my best to take care of her…”
Manfred! Why did you agree to this engagement!
Didn’t you say that you love me?
Wasn’t your love so vulnerable!
Ridiculous! It was ridiculous!
Suddenly, someone knocked on the door.
Rylee still lied on the floor in a deadly silence with her eyes widely opened.
“Are you in there, Rylee?”
It was Manfred.
Rylee closed her eyes and tried to ignore the voice.
The door opened and Manfred walked in. With the help of the moonlight, he discovered Rylee on the
floor.
He was startled, “Oh, Rylee, why are you on the floor? It will give you a cold. Get up quickly girl.”
Manfred hurried over to help Rylee up to a chair.
He looked at her face while she didn’t even give him a glance. She stared at the corner absently.
“Rylee, what’s wrong? You are so silent. Something bad happened? Talk to me and let me help you.”
Manfred slightly touched her hair as usual. But this time, she shrugged him away angrily.
“Rylee…” Manfred was greatly shocked.
Not until that moment did Rylee turn to Manfred with an icy-cold expression and tone, “Thank you. But I
won’t need your help any more in the future. Now, please show yourself out.”
“Rylee! What happened? Did I do something wrong?”
“Can’t you understand me? I want you to get out! Get out!”
She suddenly lost her temper and stared at him, with her hands straightly pointing at the door.
Keeping his breath, Manfred looked firmly at her and then walked out after a sign. He said quietly,
“Well, let’s talk about it when you feel better.”
Rylee shouted frantically, “No talk! No talk between us! Boring!”
Manfred stopped at the door and turned back to look at her. He saw great hostility in her big eyes. He
frowned a little and went out with some words hidden in his mouth.
***
After Manfred closed the door, Rylee lay on the bed and cried.
She had always trusted him so much and considered the warmth he gave her was so motherly that she
could depend on and get close to him.
It was so unexpected that he would deceive her in this way – while showing her such cheap concern,
he got engaged to Caroline!
Manfred, what kind of jerk were you!
Rylee, don’t cry! You need to learn to forget!
You have to forget all the warmth he gave you!
Forget all the sweet words he whispered to you!
That waiting for you to grow up was nothing but bullshit!
Fuck off!
Rylee cried for a long time in her quilt.
Timothy drank a little more at the evening party.
Kenneth drank together with him. He was still nagging, “My boss, you almost exhausted me to death
today for that little girl! And you were annoyed by my saying you are biased? Well, are you not biased?
You could still stand it even when she “tortured” me in that way. And just now you immediately handed
her your tea when she said she was thirsty. So our friendship over these years can’t beat your
friendship with her, right?”
Looking down, Timothy drank his wine elegantly. The alcohol slightly painted some shades of red on
his delicate face.
His eyes got more and more beautiful and at the same time more and more flirting.
Some women peeking from a distance were amazed by his handsome face when he occasional raised
his face and glanced around.
“I suddenly feel that I am a loser.”
Timothy said quietly, rubbing his eyebrows.
Whenever the thought that the little girl always cared so much about Manfred occurred to him, he
would be overwhelmed by a sense of uselessness and powerlessness.
Kenneth sneered, “Don’t be angry with me for telling the truth — you deserve it! That little girl? Why do
you like her so much? Indeed, she is beautiful, especially her eyes. Her figure is good and her skin is
quite fair. Yet, she has such a bad temper. She is not gentle at all. What a tomboy! And she will never
act like a lady. Look at my girls, boss. Maybe they are not as beautiful as that little girl; at least they are
coquettish, gentle and know how to make men happy. And that girl? She is even tougher than me. My
boss, give her up. If you can love someone else, you won’t be single now.”
Timothy picked up his glass and took a small sip. A bitter smile appeared on his face. He said softly, “If
I can be the boss and control it, everything will be fine.”
“What? Oh no!” Kenneth widened his amorous eyes, swallowed some saliva and asked with shock,
“Boss, do you really love that girl that deeply?”
Timothy cast a glance at Kenneth without an answer, which meant a yes.
“Oh my god! It is so amazing! Boss! You are the richest man in Asia! You are the “king” standing at the
top of the pyramid! You are not a next-door brother! You can’t truly love someone! Love is the biggest
taboo for you as the leader of a gang! Do you need my preaching again—no matter where you are, you
can never truly love a woman as long as you are in a gang. Your love will be a weakness impeding
your progress! Maybe you can’t find a fairy, but you can have a normal woman whenever you want.
Now, tell me what kind of woman you like, voluptuous, wild, gentle, coquettish, cute, or charming? I can
get you hundreds of them. It is a piece of cake for me to get you different women every day throughout
the whole year.”
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