Goodbye, Mr. Regret

Sheila abruptly stopped talking.

Timothy hadn't said a word, and she didn't dare spell things out too plainly.

Whatever she did, Sheila always put herself first-she'd never risk causing herself any kind of irreparable trouble.

"What are you trying to say?" Jessica asked, completely baffled.

Sheila glanced at her but didn't elaborate. She turned and walked away, leaving Jessica more confused than ever.

Jessica wanted to believe Sheila's claim that Vince was willing to help her unconditionally, and that it wasn't because he was in love with her. Honestly, she didn't think it was love, either.

Vince was good to her, but it felt more like the care of an older brother than anything romantic.

After all, when a man looks after a woman, it doesn't always mean love-it could be friendship, or even something like family.

But she and Vince hadn't known each other long enough for real friendship, and as for family...

He did give off that protective, big-brother vibe.

She remembered the day she suddenly found her voice again. Without thinking, she'd called him "Vince," but in her heart, it felt like she was calling him "brother."

Jessica was an only child; she had no siblings. Vince, on the other hand, came from the reputable Zimmerman family, and he was their eldest son-there was no way they could be related.

She turned Sheila's words over and over in her mind, but couldn't make sense of what she'd been trying to imply.

Sheila had to be hinting at something. But if it wasn't love, what kind of "devotion" was she alluding to?

Jessica thought about it the entire ride home, but without more information, it was impossible to guess.

Could Sheila be suggesting that Vince wasn't actually the Zimmerman family's eldest son? Was he really her brother?

No, she was sure she'd grown up as an only child.

So where was the disconnect?

Determined to get to the bottom of it, Jessica decided to return to her hometown. She didn't want this matter to cause any more trouble for Timothy, so she took his number off her blocked list.

"I want to go back to my hometown for a few days. I'm leaving now and won't return right away," she texted him, letting him know her plans.

After making arrangements, Jessica had a cab take her to the train station.

Meanwhile, Timothy was already on the road himself.

He was headed to Jessica's old home. The last time he'd been there, he'd seen childhood photos of her on display.

If Vince ever followed Jessica back here, he could easily stumble across those photos and start asking questions.

Timothy couldn't control what happened in the future, but for the next month at least, he couldn't let Vince find out anything.

"I'll drive you home," he texted Jessica.

She replied almost instantly: "That's not necessary."

With a sigh, Timothy put his phone aside and told his assistant, Allen, to keep driving.

He'd planned to have someone pick the lock and let him into Jessica's house, but since she was coming home anyway, he decided against it and waited for her in the car.

After half an hour, a taxi pulled up. Jessica got out and immediately spotted Timothy's car.

Her expression darkened.

When she'd texted him, he hadn't objected to her trip-yet here he was, showing

up unannounced. It was obvious he wanted to keep tabs on her.

Timothy climbed out, leaning on his cane, and approached.

Jessica glared at him, her eyes cold. She signed, "Was this really necessary?"

Timothy didn't bother with explanations. All he wanted was to deal with the photos, so he tossed out a half-hearted, "I was worried about you."

Jessica didn't believe a word of it. She knew all too well that, for now, she had no choice but to follow Timothy's lead.

She didn't care about anything else her only goal was to help Vince find his sister.

She could tolerate Timothy for the time being.

With his leg still injured, there wasn't much he could do to her anyway. Jessica unlocked the door and went inside, Timothy trailing after her.

She spent a while tidying up the house, completely ignoring Timothy. Once everything was in order, she slipped out.

Jessica walked to a nearby florist, bought a bouquet of chrysanthemums, and headed to her grandmother's grave.

If not for the name carved into the headstone, she might not have recognized it.

Both her grandmother's and

mother's graves had been renovated and expanded; even the headstones had been replaced with grander ones. The new inscriptions included both her and Timothy's names as the couple who had arranged the renovations, dated just last month.

Last month...

She remembered: on the day of the autumn festival, she'd come back to pay her respects, but when she saw Timothy waiting outside her house, she'd asked Herbert to drive away instead.

That morning, Allen had shown up early and followed her to the cemetery.

So, after the autumn festival, Timothy must have arranged for the graves to be redone.

The thought left Jessica even more irritated. Did he really think doing all this would move her?

He hadn't done a thing for seven years-not so much as asked where her family even lived. Now, just as she was about to divorce him and end their marriage, he suddenly wanted to play the dutiful husband?

She placed the chrysanthemums before the grave, knelt in respect, then rose and

left.

Jessica didn't return home immediately. Instead, she bought some fruit and gifts, and went to visit a few old neighbors who still lived nearby.

Sheila wouldn't have spoken so cryptically without a reason-there had to be something more going on.

Jessica wanted to find out if she might have had a brother.

But with her grandmother and mother both gone, and her father nowhere to be found, she had no one to ask.

The doctors had said that ideally, a close blood relative would be best for a match.noveldrama

She'd be staying in town for a while, so maybe it was time to track down her father.

After asking around, Jessica got the same answer from every neighbor: her mother had only ever had one daughter.

And her grandmother? She'd only ever had Jessica's mother.