Selena was about to refuse when she suddenly thought of something.
Fishing out her phone, she sent a message. A second later, Liam's phone chimed with an incoming message.
"If you don't want to disappoint her, transfer the five billion to my account right now."
This five billion was originally supposed to be her dowry for when she married Michael, but Selena couldn't wait any longer. With how the situation was progressing, she was worried something unexpected might happen.
When Liam didn't move to take out his phone, Selena thoughtfully reminded, "Dad, your phone rang with a notification. Aren't you going to check it?"
The moment Liam saw the contents of the message, his expression changed.
After a very brief moment of hesitation, he texted back succinctly, "Fine."
Selena knew Liam was the sort of person who kept his word. Upon receiving a reply from him, she smiled at Lucine. "I'll go."
After all the commotion, Selena had lost the mood to go ahead with the photo shoot.
She led Vivian out of the studio, tossing all frustration and annoyances to the back of her mind.
Once Selena got home, she fell into a deep sleep and started dreaming of her memories with Zachary.
The piano piece he played for her during her birthday, waltzing together on the dance floor… All these images slowly dissipated, as if they were blown away by the wind.
Through the haze of sleep, she thought she heard some shuffling sounds and assumed it was her dream.
However, when she opened her eyes, she realized Zachary had returned home at some point.
He was carefully placing a takeout container on the table, his movements slow and gentle.
As their eyes locked, he jerked slightly in surprise, causing scalding hot beef stew to splash onto his hand.
Hastily wiping his hand clean, he shot a smile at Selena. "You're awake? Come eat. I guessed you likely hadn't eaten yet today, so I went to the east side of the city to buy that beef stew you love."
Since Selena was indeed hungry, she didn't refuse him. "Okay."
Halfway through the meal, Zachary spoke up again.
"Earlier at the studio, the air between you and Mr. Yane seemed rather off. Did something happen between you two?"
"No," Selena answered shortly, not saying even one more word than necessary.
Sighing softly, Zachary reached out to wipe Selena's mouth, where a tiny chunk of carrot had stuck to her lip. However, she avoided him.
His hand hung in mid-air as he debated what to do. Several seconds later, he stiffly put his hand down.
"Selena, I know you're still angry at me. But like I said, I'm only doing all this to compensate Lucy on your behalf. That's all. She's going to marry into the Chiton family soon, so all everyone wants to do is make it up to her before that."
Selena interrupted, "So you think Mom and Dad's favoritism toward Lucine is because they're compensating her for having to marry into the Chiton family?"
Stunned by the question, Zachary instinctively replied, "Isn't that it?"
Selena didn't respond, though she scoffed inwardly.
She was suddenly curious about what Zachary's reaction would be when he finally learned that she was marrying into the Chiton family instead, not Lucine.
"Alright, don't stir up any more trouble for the next few days. Once Lucy is married off to the Chiton family, everything will be over."
Selena remained silent, merely staring out the window at the withered leaves drifting to the ground.
He was right. Everything was going to be over soon.
The next day, Zachary woke up early. Previously, he would drive the car over whenever they went out together and stop right in front of the villa's front door. This was because he didn't want Selena to walk any further than she had to.
However, this time, Selena stepped out of the villa, only to see Lucine sitting in the front passenger seat.
Lucine shot her an innocent smile. "Selena, I get carsick easily, so I hope you won't mind me taking the front seat."
"I don't mind."
Selena's response surprised both Zachary and Lucine.
Zachary had thought he would need to spare some effort explaining things to Selena. Unexpectedly, she was quick to agree. His lips quirked into a delighted smile, thinking that his words last night must have gotten through to her.
Meanwhile, Lucine was frowning slightly. She kept shooting glances at Selena through the rearview mirror, assessing the latter with her gaze.
