Chapter 41:Do You Want to Bet on It?
Rnd said coldly, "Don''t ask the prison guards, ask the prisoners."
Terry wasn''t sure what kind of oue Mr. Francois wanted, but he stillplied.
In the evening, when Rnd returned to the FLoral Vi, Alvera was cooking in the kitchen.
She had her earphones in her ears, so she did not hear himing in.
He stood by the kitchen door and couldn''t help smiling when he saw her in an apronm looking serious
and busy.
Alvera jumped when she turned around and saw Rnd.
...
Rnd raised his eyebrows at her, "Scared again?"
"What do you think?"
"You were wearing earphones, it''s not my fault."
"Why are you here again?"
"This is my home, I don''t see the problem."
He shifted his eyes to the dining table. "You have guests tonight?"
Alvera looked back at the two tes on the table and frowned. "No."
She was thinking of inviting Mr. Perez over for dinner, but unfortunately Rnd appeared.
"Then why did you make enough for two people? I don''t think you know I''ming."
Alvera said indifferently, "The other one is for my mother, but since you''re here, you can have it."
Rnd was not happy that he was given food meant for dead people.
Alvera brought the pasta out. Rnd went to the kitchen to wash his hands, then sat down at the table.
Alvera took a couple of bites before asking as if she had just thought of it, "Has Andrina been
discharged from the hospital already?"
He looked up and eyed her warily.
She smiled. "I know she was hospitalized a few days ago."
"She has been discharged."
She pursed her lips. "My cooking skills were passed down to me by my mother. Have a taste. It''s pretty
good."
He ate some. "Not bad indeed."
...
She twitched the corners of her mouth slightly and said nothing.
"Tomorrow is Andrina''s mother''s birthday, and I was invited. Would you like to go with me?"
"Are you sure you can take me there?"
"Why not? Unless you mean to stir up trouble."
Alvera smiled. "For them, my existence itself is trouble. I won''t be weed there even if I don''t do
anything."
"That''s because you''re being radical."
She smiled faintly. "Do you want to bet on it?"
"Bet on what?"
"If I go to the Earhart family tomorrow and I''m not weed even if I don''t do anything, you will donate
one thousand books to the orphanage."
"And what if you''re weed?"
"If I am weed, I will add your name as the founder of the orphanage."
"I invested so much money, and my name is not even on the books?" he asked incredulously.
"You gave the money to me for another purpose, not for the orphanage," she said. "Of course your
name isn''t on the books. Then again, if you really want to be a founder, you can donate more money.
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How about the bet?"
"Sure, why not?"
Alvera smiled. "Go on, eat. The noodles will get cold soon."
In the evening, after turning off the lights, Rnd hugged her as he didst night.
But this time, he had other ideas.
He kissed her softly rfom behind.
Alvera turned around and faced him, with her hand against his shoulder.
"I don''t want to."
"I want to."
"Rnd, do you really find pleasure in having sex with a woman who is rejecting you?"
"Your body is saying otherwise."
She looked embarrassed. "I can''t do it tonight. I''m really not interested."
Rnd was silent for a moment, then stopped touching her.
He put his arms around her waist and said with a bit of forbearance in his voice, "Go to sleep."
Alvera froze for a moment. She did not expect that he would really let her go so easily.
She could clearly feel the reaction of his body.
This was really... rare.
At first, she found it hard to sleep with him around, but she eventually fell into a deep sleepter in the
night.
When she opened her eyes in the morning, she realized that he was not by her side.
Alvera sat up and left the room withoutbing her hair to get a ss of water from the kitchen
downstairs.
As soon as she went down the stairs, she saw him sitting on the sofa in the living room, reading a file.
He heard hering down and looked around at her, frowning. "Why didn''t you clean yourself up? You
look like a zombie."
She ruffled her short hair. "You''re still here. I thought you went back to work."
"I''m not going to work today. Get yourself decent and we''ll head over to the Earhart familyter."
"Okay." She drank a ss of water and turned to go back upstairs.
When she went into the bathroom to wash up, she couldn''t help but smile when she saw her messy
hair.
She looked more like a lunatic than a zombie.
When the two left the house at ten o''clock, the sky was cloudy.
Andrina was standing by the gates, watching expectantly, when the car pulled up to the gates of the
Earhart family mansion.
Her face broke out into a bright smile when she saw Rnd''s car, but the smile disappeared as her
expression tightened when she saw Alvera sitting in the passenger seat.
...
They got out of the car. Alvera stood by the door and smiled at her. "Andrina."
"Uhm... Alvera, you''re here too."
Andrina tried her best to ster an unnatural smile on her face.
Then she cast her eyes on Rnd, "Rnd, why didn''t you tell me that Alvera would be here today?"
"Is there any difference?"
"If I had known, I would have asked the cook to prepare the food she likes. She hasn''t eaten any
homemade food since she got out of prison."
Rnd nced at Alvera ufortably when Andrina mentioned prison.
Alvera shrugged indifferently, "It doesn''t matter, dear sister. The only person who knows how to cook
the food I like has already passed away."
"I''m sorry, Alvera. I didn''t mean to bring up Aunt Shirley."
"It doesn''t matter. It''s not a bad thing to keep her in your memory."
Her indifferent attitude told Andrina that she had to tread carefully around Alvera, now that she had
changed.
...
"Let''s stop talking at the door. Let''s go inside," she said.
Andrina took Alvera''s wrist and walked inside.
From the outside, it looked as if they had a good rtionship, but Alvera knew better.
She felt disgusted, and refused to put on a show with Andrina.
...
She casually shook off Alvera''s hand and kept some distance from her.
Luna was also surprised to see Alvera.
She did not expect Alvera to be here with Rnd.
To show Rnd''s rtionship with Andrina, she had invited a lot of upper ss people to her birthday
celebration today.
Of course, she could not show her true feelings in front of so many people.
She stepped forward and patted Alvera''s hand. "Alvera, wee home."
Alvera pursed her lips in a thin smile. "Happy birthday, Aunt Luna."
"Thank you. Andrina, you can take Rnd around first while I speak with Alvera. I haven''t spoken to
her for a while."
"Okay." Andrina walked towards Rnd and linked her arm with his naturally.
Alvera nced at their entwined arms, then looked away indifferently.
"Aunt Luna, since there are so many people around, you can go greet them first. No worries about me,
I''m family, aren''t I? I''ll just walk around a bit."
Luna patted her shoulder. "Okay, we''ll talk in the afternoon."
Alvera nodded, turned around and headed towards the backyard without giving Rnd and Andrina
another nce.
She headed over to the small shed where she had lived with her mother when she was still alive and
stared at the rusted lock with jumbled emotions.
She hated his ce a lot, but it was also the only ce where there were still traces of her life with her
mother.
After a moment of hesitation, she picked up a rock from the corner and smashed it hard. It took her five
minutes topletely break open the old, rusted lock.
She took off the lock, threw it on the ground, opened the door and went in.
The shed was only a few square meters and was covered in a thickyer of dust.
Everything was left as it had been four years ago.
Nobody had set foot in here since they left.
She turned on the lights.
There was a pungent smell in the room, but she didn''t care at all.
She walked over to the stool and sat down. The seat was still covered in the quilt that her mother
made.
She leaned sideways on the table and closed her eyes.
She couuld almost smell her mother''s scent lingering in the room.
She could remember her mother''s warmth when she stroked her hair .
Her lips curved into a beautiful smile.
At the door, Rnd finally found her after looking for some time.
He watched her sitting in the shed from a few meters away, and was about to step in when a hand
reached out and grabbed his wrist.
...
"Rnd."
Rnd turned and looked at Andrina.
He was so engrossed in watching Alvera that he did not notice hering up to him.
"Why are you here?"
She nced at Alvera in the shed and said, "You shouldn''t have brought Alvera here today. She
doesn''t like this ce. We should leave her alone, she wouldn''t want anyone disturbing her."
Their voices had broken the peace for Alvera. She opened her eyes and red at the two at the door.
They were the ones who ruined her life.
She stood up and walked out of the shed while dusting off her skirt. She folded her arms and stared at
the two of them. "Of all the ces you could have gone, why are you here flirting in front of me? Should
I do what a good wife should do and pull you guys apart?"
Rnd frowned at her prickly attitude.
"Alvera, it''s not like that," Andrina said. "We were worried about you, so we came to see you."
"Worried? Hmm... There''s a phrase for that, I think... crocodile''s tears."
Rnd''s expression turned cold. "Alvera, do you remember what you promised me before you came?
Stop being stubborn and don''t hurt others."
Alvera smiled. "Don''t worry, I''ll win."
She sidestepped them and walked away.
Andrina bit her lower lip as tears welled up in her eyes. "Alvera... what happened to her? Why is she
like this?"