Chapter 193 Just In Time For Lunch


    By the time they reached the little township, the hour had slid neatly into lunchtime.


    Quinn asked softly, “Do you think you’ll be able to get used to the food in a tiny diner like this?”


    Julius answered without hesitation, “There’s nothing I can’t get used to.” He had gone several days with nothing to eat before; back then, even a dirty crust of bread had seemed like a feast.


    Quinn went on, “There’s a little diner I used to visit all the time. I’m not even sure it’s still open, but every time our family came into town, we always ate there together.”


    As the words left her mouth, she could not stop a bitter smile from tugging at her lips.


    “Then let’s go,” Julius said. “I’ll go with you.”


    She blinked in surprise, then smiled. <That’s right, I’m not going alone this time–he’sing with me.>


    The car rolled to a stop in front of the little diner’s entrance.


    The ce was still there, almost exactly as Quinn remembered it from five years ago; only the owner looked a little older.


    “It’s Quinn, isn’t it? I haven’t seen you in years–how have you been?” The owner recognized her at a nce.


    “I’ve been well,” Quinn replied with a small smile.


    “What about your mom, your dad, and your brother? Didn’t theye with you?” the owner asked.


    Quinn’s eyes dimmed. “They didn’te back this time. I’m here alone, taking care of a few things.”


    “Oh, I see. Well, have a seat first and decide what you’d like to eat.” The owner ushered them in.


    Julius and Quinn sat down. Julius’s gaze drifted to one wall of the cozy dining room, where dozens of Proid snapshots were pinned in neat rows. Each photo showed different faces, taken right here in the diner–happy customers capturing a memory.


    “Those photos are sort of a check–in tradition,” Quinn exined. “A lot of guests take a picture and stick it on the wall.”


    “Do you have one up there, too?” Julius asked, genuinely intrigued.


    beside me is my brother.”


    “I do.” Quinn pointed to a particr snapshot. “See? That’s me, and the person beside me is


    Following the direction of her finger, Julius found the photo. The instant his eyesnded on the tall yet finely featured man standing next to Quinn, his expression shifted almost imperceptibly. “That’s your brother?”


    “Yes, that’s Rowan,” Quinn said, failing to notice Julius’s sudden tension. “Rowan and I don’t look much alike, do we? I take after my father, Montague; my brother looks more like our mother, Arlene.”


    Julius pressed his thin lips together, his gaze heavy on the photograph of the broad–shouldered, refined- looking man.


    He had long known that her brother was missing–had even ordered his subordinates to look for Rowan’s


    Chapter 193 Just In Time For Lunch


    whereabouts–but this was the first time he had ever seen a picture of the man.


    If the man in that photograph truly was her brother, then…


    “Have you picked your dishes yet?” the owner called out again.


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    Quinn’s attention finally returned to the menu. She asked Julius, “Take a look–see if anything catches your eye.”


    But Julius didn’t answer; his eyes remained glued to the photos on the wall.


    “Julius?” Quinn raised her voice slightly.


    “Huh?” Only then did Julius snap out of it.


    “What’s wrong? You look a little pale–are you feeling sick?” she asked.


    “It’s nothing. Maybe I didn’t sleep wellst night,” he offered casually, only then realizing that his palms were damp with a thinyer of cold sweat.


    How strange–he had never imagined there woulde a day when he would know what it felt like to have sweaty palms.


    “See if there’s anything you’d like,” Quinn said, pushing the menu toward him.


    “You choose. I’ve never eaten here, so I don’t know what’s good,” he replied.


    “All right, then.” Quinn ordered several of the home–style dishes she and her parents and brother used to get every visit.


    The owner jotted down the selections and walked off with the menu.


    “Are you and… your brother very close?” Julius asked abruptly.


    “Yes, very,” Quinn murmured, her gaze drifting back to the wall of photos, her eyes filled with nostalgia.


    “That picture was taken five years ago, thest time Rowan and I ate here together. It was just for fun at the time, but now I realize it might be thest photo we ever took together.


    After that, Rowan returned to the Jexburgh Military District, and not long afterward, he was dispatched to the frontier on a mission.


    “Ever since we were little, he had always protected me. If anyone bullied me, even if he was smaller than they were andpletely outnumbered, he’d still fight tooth and nail to get justice for me. He always said, ‘No one gets to push around Rowan Bridger’s little sister!” Quinn said.


    Quinn’s lips curved into a smile as she spoke, but her eyes grew increasingly moist. “Tell me, isn’t he a wonderful brother?”


    Julius wetted his suddenly dry lips. “Yes, he really is a wonderful brother.”


    “When I finally find Rowan, I’m definitely going to introduce the two of you properly,” Quinn said, blinking hard to keep the tears from spilling over.