Chapter 7

"No," he said, but he recalled that after he had carried her back to the rental apartment, when he wanted to put her on the bed, she had suddenly pushed him down on the bed, looking at him with her drunk eyes.

At that moment, he was surprised that he had been so careless. If it had been someone who wanted to kill him, then he would have died without a doubt!

He had always been vigilant. Since when had he let down his guard like this?

But before he could get up, she had touched his face with her hands, brushed the thick bangs on his forehead away, and touched his eyes with her fingertips.

"Your eyes are so beautiful... I really... like them..." she murmured.

"Like?" The word was not strange to him. After all, there were always women who said that they liked him and liked his eyes.

Perhaps his eyes were the only part of him that was similar to his mother’s.

In the past, when he was young, his father would always look into his eyes and become lost in thought. His father would mutter to him, "The kind of eyes you have looks like they're very emotional, but in reality, they're the most heartless. I don't know if you will be emotional or heartless in the future."

"Hm, because... Burrrp... they're clean..." She burped.

"Clean?!" He sneered. This was the first time that someone had described his eyes as clean.

"It's like... They have never been tainted by any sin... They're so clean..." She was so drunk that she didn't seem to notice that her face was almost touching his. "Julian, don't be afraid... I will... protect you..."

After saying that, she was so drunk that she lay on his chest and fell asleep.

"Protect me? This woman can't even protect herself, but she wants to protect me? What a joke!"

At that moment, he looked at her and said, "Sister, you didn't do anything. You just fell asleep."

Hearing this, she let out a sigh of relief.

His eyes fell on the red, swollen part of her cheek. "Does your face hurt?"

She was stunned and then said, "It's fine." This was the truth. After all, she had suffered much worse pain in prison.

"What happened yesterday? How did you get hurt and drunk?" he stared at her and asked.

"Nothing, I just met a drunkard and had a little conflict," she said lightly. She didn't want to tell him about the dark things from last night.

She always felt that he was clear and clean. Even though he had been wandering on the streets, he was still pure like a virgin. If possible, she hoped that he would stay that way.

"Is that so?" His eyelashes trembled slightly, and he restrained the light in his eyes. "It would be great if I had arrived earlier. In that case, you wouldn't have been hurt."

In reality, it wasn't true that he couldn't have solved this matter earlier. This was just a game that added a bit of fun to his boring life. He had even expected that something might happen after she entered the private room.

But when he really saw what had happened, he found that he was not happy.

"It's already good enough for you to have come to the club to pick me up. Otherwise, I might have slept right next to the street," Yvonne Lane said and pulled at his hand. "Thank you, Julian. It's really good to have you here. And I'm fine, really. It was just a slap in the face. It's nothing to me."

Her smile was as light as the clouds and wind, but why did he still feel that it was rather dazzling?

—

"What? Melody Lane tricked you into drinking with a man? She's shameless! I'm going to find her!" Ripple Quinn had gone to look for her friend that day and saw that Yvonne Lane's face was still faintly red and swollen. She found out what had happened after asking Yvonne Lane.

"So what?" Yvonne Lane held back Ripple Quinn. "I was too careless. I thought that she would at most try to get some money from me. I didn't really expect... but fortunately, Julian came to pick me up when I was drunk."

"Julian?"

"He's the person who's living with me now. Think of him as my younger brother. I got him to call me 'sister'," Yvonne Lane said. When she mentioned Julian, a smile unconsciously appeared on her face.

"Little brother? How old is he?" Ripple Quinn asked.

"Twenty seven years old, a few months younger than me."

Ripple Quinn almost choked on her own saliva. She couldn't believe that her friend was living with a man.

"What are you thinking? What if he has evil intentions? Have you ever thought that you might be putting yourself in danger? You studied law, didn't you? Aren't there a lot of cases when a man and a woman rent a place together? Your current situation is more dangerous than sharing an apartment with someone else!"

"I know what you're worried about, but Ripple, with someone living with me, I don't feel as lonely. Plus, Julian is a nice person."

"What do you mean that you feel lonely? Don't you still have me!?" Ripple Quinn said. "Why don't I move out and live with you?"

"Don't do that. Your parents will hate me even more if you move out of the house," Yvonne Lane said hurriedly.

When the car accident had happened, she had not been drinking, but all the evidence seemed to show that she had been driving under influence. No one believed her words except Ripple.

And during the three years she had been in jail, Ripple had been busy with Yvonne Lane's case. She had even given up studying abroad for her. This had also made Ripple's parents angry with Yvonne Lane because they thought that she had delayed Ripple's work.

And it was the truth. If it weren't for her, Ripple would have had a better life now instead of being an obscure designer in an architectural firm.

"Moreover, Julian is like a little brother to me. You know, in the past, I always wanted to have a little brother. Now, my wish has finally come true," Yvonne Lane said.

Ripple Quinn knew that there was no way she could dissuade her good friend. She could only put up with the second-best option. "Let me meet with him next time." Only after she had met Julian could Ripple Quinn feel at ease.

"Sure," Yvonne Lane replied.

"By the way, this is a copy of your case from back then. There's also some information I've found over the past few years," Ripple Quinn said as she passed a stack of documents to Yvonne Lane. "Since you have been released already, are you planning on reopening the case?"

"I don't know. I don't know where to find the witness from that year, and all the evidence still points towards me. I haven't been able to reverse the verdict for three years. In the future..."

"Perhaps we'll find an opportunity to turn over the case in the future. Don't forget that you are Yvonne Lane, and the Yvonne Lane I know doesn't give up easily," Ripple Quinn said.

Yvonne Lane gave a bitter smile. Maybe she would have tried to turn over the verdict for herself three years ago, but after spending three long years in prison, her high spirits and sharp edges had been obliterated by pain.

Yvonne Lane took the stack of information back to the rental apartment. She saw that there was no one in the room and Julian was nowhere to be found.

"He should still be giving out leaflets. He's been doing that for the past few days."

Yvonne Lane steamed two cobs of corn, cooked up a simple stir-fry, made a bowl of soup, and waited for Julian's return.