Eleanor pressed a tissue to her bleeding finger. Ian returned, carrying the kit, and knelt down beside her, holding a wad of gauze to stop the bleeding.


    When hisrge hand reached for her wrist, Eleanor instinctively pulled away and said quietly, "I can do it myself."


    "Letn help," the old woman interjected firmly from the side.


    Eleanor stood up. "Grandma, I''ll go wash the wound."


    "Letn go with you!" Magdalen insisted.


    "She''s not a child anymore,"n replied coolly, standing up and walking away.


    Magdalen, exasperated, nearly grabbed the bouquet beside her to whack him. "She might not be a child, but she''s your wife! Can''t you show a little concern for her, you stubborn boy?"


    The old woman, hard of hearing, didn''t catch it. "What did you say now?"


    "It''s nothing, Grandma. Just a small cut," Eleanor smiled, heading to the sink to rinse her finger. She disinfected the wound herself and pressed a bit of cotton over it to stop the bleeding.


    Eleanor tidied up the first aid kit and handed it to the housekeeper. Returning to the sofa, she noticedn had disappeared and finally rxed. She nced at her phone-one missed call from an unknown number. She ignored it.


    Just then, the sound of a car drifted in from the driveway. Through the floor-to- ceiling windows, Eleanor watched Serena stroll in, carrying several shopping bags and clearly in a good mood.


    Serena nced over at Eleanor sitting on the couch, but Eleanor greeted her first. "Serena."<fn7b03> This update is avable on fι?dnοvel</fn7b03>


    Serena walked straight upstairs as if she hadn''t heard a thing.


    At lunch, Evelyn spotted her mother''s bandaged finger and asked with worry, "Mommy, what happened to your finger? Did you get hurt?"


    "I just scraped it a little, sweetheart. It''s nothing."


    Evelyn leaned in for a closer look, gently cradling Eleanor''s hand. She pursed her


    lips and blew softly on the bandage. "Be careful next time, Mommy."


    Eleanor''s eyes stung with tears. She kissed her daughter''s cheek. "Mommy promises to be careful."


    Later that afternoon, Eleanor snagged a few cash bonuses in Jude Vaughn''s group chat and sent out a couple herself. The chat was lively, everyone swapping funny holiday stories and thetest news.


    Eleanor stayed quiet, just reading along.


    After the New Year''s dinner, it was only around seven when Gina handed Evelyn arge red envelope, followed by the old woman, then Serena andn. Little Evelyn struggled to carry all four fat envelopes over to Eleanor. "Mommy, these are for you! They''re so heavy!"


    Everyone in the room burst outughing.


    "I''ll save these for you, sweetheart. When you''re all grown up, I''ll give them back to you," Eleanor smiled, tucking what must have been at least twenty thousand dors into her purse.


    A little whileter, Magdalen called Eleanor into her room. She pulled out a bank card and handed it to her. "Ellie, this is from Grandma. Don''t turn it down-there''s half a million in here. Just use it as pocket money."


    Eleanor was startled and quickly tried to push the card back into Magdalen''s hands. "Grandma, that''s really not necessary. I have enough. I can''t take your money."


    "Silly girl. I known gives you a decent allowance, but this is from me. Take it. Grandma doesn''t need much money anyhow."


    How could Eleanor ept her grandmother-inw''s money? She''d be divorced in six months at most.