Jennifer's POV:
These days, I had been paying close attention to Skylar.
I felt that she had become very withdrawn.
In the past, she used to tell me everything, but now, it seemed that she was keeping a lot of things to
herself.
I had no idea what was going on in her mind.
In the middle of the dinner party, I saw my brother coaxing Andy.
People were gathered around the little boy, except for Skylar.
After a while, I noticed Linda come out of the restroom.
Not long after, Skylar also came back from the same direction, with a dull and upset expression on her
face.
I immediately knew that Linda must have said something to Skylar.
Otherwise, my best friend wouldn't look so downcast like this.
"Skylar, what's wrong? You don't look well. What happened?"
I whispered, taking a seat next to Skylar.
"Nothing.I wasn't feeling well, but I'm much better now."
Skylar shrugged and forced a smile at me.
I could see that she was trying her best to hide her emotions.
Of course, as her best friend, I knew that she was lying.
"Come on Skylar, tell me the truth.Did Linda corner you in the restroom just now? What did she say to
you?"
Skylar turned away, avoiding my gaze.She seemed to be fighting an internal struggle.
"Skylar, you can't bear everything by yourself.You still have us.We will always be with you.Tell me, did
Linda talk to you alone in the restroom? What did she say?" I pressed, unwilling to give up.
Skylar sighed, finally realizing that she couldn't hide anything from me.
"You're right.Linda did come to the restroom to talk to me, but she didn't say anything unexpected.She
just asked me to give up on Jerome so that the three of them can be a family.She's not asking for
anything unreasonable, right? She's just doing it for the sake of her child.As a mother, she lives a hard
life.It's only right for me to give up on Jerome.After all, she came into his life first."
Hearing these words, I felt sorry for my naive friend.
How could she sympathize with her rival in love? Was she too kind, or was she just too stupid?
"Skylar, don't trust anyone blindly, especially Linda.You should take a step back and look at the
situation logically.I don't think that she's as simple as she seems," I advised her.
"I will.Thank you for your concern." Skylar smiled gently.
"Jennifer, you are so nice to me."
"That's what I should do.Look, they'll open the dance floor later.I'll take Andy away so that you'll have
Jerome to yourself.You two should dance together and improve your relationship."
"Jennifer, that's so considerate of you. But what about you and Mr.Jones?"
Skylar asked, biting her lower lip worriedly.
"You silly girl, it doesn't matter.I will have plenty of chances to dance with Anthony in the future.We're
not in a hurry.Besides, I like playing with Andy."
I gave Skylar a reassuring nod.
Skylar smiled, and it seemed as if her spirits had been lifted.
However, I didn't consider it a victory just yet.
I knew that the problem was far from solved.
The relationship between her and my brother was hanging by a thread.
The only one who could save their relationship was my brother himself.
After all, what Skylar needed the most now was Jerome's company and reassurance.
I hoped that he wouldn't let her down.
When I walked up to Jerome, I found that Andy was still clinging onto him.
If things went on like this, how could my brother have time to spend alone with Skylar? After thinking for
a moment, I took out a lollipop from my pocket and walked over.
"Andy, look! What's in my hand?"
"It's a lollipop."
Andy's eyes lit up in excitement, and he immediately broke free from Jerome's arms.
"How about we go and play over there?"
"Yes, yes! I want to taste the lollipop!"
Andy ran over to me without hesitation.
As I handed the lollipop to Andy, I winked over his head at Jerome, signaling to him to hurry up and find
Skylar.
Jerome understood what I meant.
He turned and walked away to look for Skylar.
The first part of my plan had gone well.
I hoped that Jerome could fix things between him and Skylar soon.
I didn't want to lose such a good sister-in-law.
Moreover, Skylar was my best friend.
I wanted her to be happy.
I walked to the dance floor with Andy, who was hopping around excitedly.
I taught him to dance, and the two of us had a good time.
It seemed that I was good with kids.
After a while, Anthony joined us.
"Jennifer, you have a talent for playing with kids," Anthony said with a smile.
"I guess.I really like children.Look at Andy, he's so cute.And he's good at entertaining himself,"
I said, giggling at the little boy, who was now happily playing with a water gun.
Following my line of sight with his eyes, Anthony smiled.
"Yes, he's cute.Maybe we should also have a child of our own,"
Anthony whispered, leaning in.
"What did you say?" I asked, stunned by his words.
Had I heard him wrong? Did he want to have children right now? The truth was, knowingly or
unknowingly, I was warming up to the idea of having children these days.
Maybe Anthony and I could come to a decision soon.
While the two of us were talking, Andy accidentally shot the water gun at Anthony, spraying water on
him.
Anthony froze for a moment.
Then, pretending to be angry, he quickly ran after Andy.
"Little guy, come here.I'll teach you a lesson."
Andy screamed in mock fear and ran away with the water gun.
Anthony chased the boy around a pillar, and the sound of their laughter spread throughout the hall.
After watching them for a few seconds, I joined them, running back and forth with Andy in my arms.
The three of us had a good time.
Jerome's POV:
During the dinner party, Andy pestered me for a long time.
It was only after Jennifer considerately led him away that I could finally have the chance to spend some
time alone with Skylar.
In fact, the way I felt towards Andy was very complicated.
Although the result of the paternity test proved that he was my biological son, I still couldn't consider
him as my own son.
My intuition told me that something was wrong.
It was said that father and son would have a natural understanding, but somehow, Andy and I didn't
have that at all
Of course, perhaps it was just a matter of time.
After all, Andy had just appeared in my world.
Maybe we just needed to spend more time together and become familiar with each other.
I saw Skylar standing aside alone and staring blankly at the dance floor.
The sight of her looking so forlorn broke my heart.
I walked up to her, knelt on one knee, and stretched out my hand to invite her to dance.
"Honey, can I have this dance?"
As I expected, my gesture finally put a smile on Skylar's lips.
But before she could accept my invitation, Linda walked over and stood between us.
"Jerome, can I dance with you? We used to dance together often and we always cooperated very well,
"Linda said, staring straight at me, as if unwilling to acknowledge Skylar.
"I'm sorry.I just asked Skylar to dance.I can't dance with you anymore."
I refused her and turned my gaze to Skylar, whose face had gone pale.
I didn't expect Linda to appear in front of us all of a sudden.
I really hoped that Skylar wouldn't misunderstand me again.
I kept my eyes on Skylar, silently begging her to come with me, but she pointedly ignored me.
I knew that she must be feeling sad.
"Jerome, you'd better dance with Linda.After all, you haven't seen each other for a long time.You can
talk about the old days.I won't interfere."
Skylar smiled at me and Linda, but her tone was strange.
"Sorry, but I want to dance with you, Skylar."
I pushed Linda away and moved towards Skylar.I tried to hold Skylar's hand, but was cleverly blocked
by Linda.
"Don't I deserve even one dance with you?"
Linda asked with tears in her eyes.
Before I could say anything, Skylar interrupted me.
"We don't mean that."
After saying that, Skylar stepped back and graciously walked away, letting Linda dance with me.
I didn't even get the chance to say anything before Skylar gave up on her own.I felt sorry for her.
My first instinct was to run after her to make sure that she was okay, but Linda's hand was still frozen in
the air.
Everyone's eyes were fixed on us, and some of the guests even began to discuss in a low voice about
my attitude towards Linda.
I had no choice but to go ahead and dance with her.
Despite having Linda in front of me, my eyes kept wandering to Skylar, who was once again standing to
the side.
She looked so lonely.
For the first time, I felt like there was a wide chasm between us.
It seemed that I was going to lose Skylar.
I couldn't catch her.
"Why aren't you even looking at me? Am I rubbish in your eyes?"
Linda asked me pitifully.
"Linda, believe it or not, I've never thought less of you,"
I explained, taking a deep breath.
"Please don't belittle yourself.I would never treat you badly.But one day, you'll meet someone who
treats you as a treasure."
A tense silence fell between us, and the two of us just danced mechanically.I seized this rare
opportunity to persuade her.
"Linda, please move on.Don't keep holding on to the past.I'm not the one for you.I can't make you
happy anymore.I can only try to make it up to you."
"I don't want your so-called making up.I just want your love and company,"
Linda said, shaking her head.Her stubbornness left me feeling helpless.
How could I persuade Linda to give up so that I could keep Skylar's heart?
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