It was a revtion for Serena. "So, my brother was ying the long game even back then?"


    Magdalen huffed. "It was your brother''s way of making amends to Eleanor. He was tied up with Vanessa at the time, and while he wouldn''t say anything, he showed it through his actions."


    Serena said, frustrated, "It''s not like my brother can''t talk! Why didn''t he just say something? If he had, they might not have even gotten divorced."


    "Your brother didn''t have the nerve to bring it up. Ellie was the one who asked for the divorce," Magdalen said irritably.


    Serena looked at her mother,pletely baffled. "Mom, why did he even marry Ellie in the first ce? You never really told me. I always thought he married her out of a sense of duty, to repay a debt. But it seems like he truly loves her."


    At the mention of this, Gina sighed again. "Whether your brother liked Eleanor or not, I couldn''t tell at the time. All I knew was that they had been seeing each other for about six months. That was when your father was still alive, and Eleanor''s father was his attending physician. They met at the hospital."


    "The two of them must have fallen for each other at first sight," the matriarch spected. She had been abroad at the time. "Otherwise, Ellie wouldn''t have dropped her studies to take care of your brother after his car ident."


    Gina shook her head. "I think Eleanor lovedn more. I overheard her confess her feelings to him, and his reaction wasn''t that strong. So, afterward, I approached Eleanor. I was going to offer her a hundred million dors to go back to school."


    "And did Ellie agree?"


    "Eleanor agreed, but she refused the money." Gina could still remember the clear, determined look in Eleanor''s eyes. "She said she took care ofn because she wanted to not for money. She also promised to leave and stay out of his life." Gina''s voice was tinged with aplex mix of emotions as she recalled the scene. "I thought that was the end of it."


    "So what happened next?" Serena''s curiosity grew.


    "The very next morning, your brother went to find Eleanor himself and agreed to marry her." A wistful look appeared in Gina''s eyes. "He never said a word about what he was thinking at the time."


    Serena finally understood that she had been wrong all along. She had assumed Eleanor had begged to marry her brother and that he had only agreed to repay a debt, without any love involved.


    "And Eleanor''s father met with your brother a few times. I don''t know


    what they talked about behind


    was


    closed doors, but I do know that when your brother came qut, he determined to marry Eleano regardless of my objections.


    The matriarch chimed in with her own recollection. "We all thought it was too sudden back then. We askedn about it, but he wouldn''t say anything, only that it was his decision. That boy insisted on making his own choice, even. intris, marriage. But he was lucky to marry Ellie."


    "So, my brother liked Ellie from the very beginning," Serena concluded firmly. That exined why Vanessa, despite clinging to him for ten years, had never won his heart.


    "Whether he liked her or not, only he knows," Gina said with a sigh. "But he must have had his reasons for choosing to get married."