Time flew, and half a month passed.Soon, it would be New Year's Eve.Avery proposed that the family take a set of family photos with the New Year's theme to bring the relationship between Hayden and Elliot closer.After her proposal was made, Layla immediately agreed with joy, and Elliot also agreed.The family's eyes fell on Hayden.Hayden was not interested in family portraits, mainly because he did not want to take pictures with Elliot.Although he could accept living under the same roof as Elliot, he still felt awkward when he saw Elliot.This kind of awkwardness seemed to be something etched into his bones."Brother! Let's go take pictures together!" Layla grabbed Hayden's arm and begged, "Just treat it as a New Year's gift for me!"Hayden couldn't refuse Layla.The family came to the studio. The temperature was relatively low recently, and Avery chose three sets of themes for indoor shooting.After the three sets of family portraits were taken, the photographer turned

It was not until Avery asked that Layla realized that her brother wore a dark expression. "Hayden, why are you upset? If you don't like taking photos, I won't make you do it next time," Layla said while holding onto his arm.Hayden did not want to upset Avery by mentioning Ruby as Elliot had already said that he would block Ruby's contact."The photo shoot is a bit tiring," said he, casually making up an excuse. "Even more boring than shopping."He did not like shopping, but when compared to doing a photo shoot, he preferred shopping. At least shopping meant that he could get some fresh air, whereas the photo shoot required them to remain inside the studio the entire time."You guys didn't have your naps this afternoon, so I suppose it must be a bit tiring. Next time, let's do it when the weather is nice so that we can go outside for the photoshoot. That way, it won't be as boring," Avery promised with a smile. "I thought that your dad upset you somehow! I saw you two talking to

"It wasn't me. It's my wife." Elliot gave him Avery's account number. "This is the account, and she forgot the password. There are a lot of photos in it so please check with your technician to see if you can recover the account and the photos in it.""Alright. I am a technician myself so I will have a look right away. If I don't get back to you before midnight, don't wait up.""Thank you.""It's alright. It's our honor that your wife chose to use our platform."Once he hung up, Elliot opened the photo album on his phone to look at the ultrasound Ruby had sent him earlier. He zoomed into the face of the baby, and it indeed resembled Layla in certain ways.He could not help but head into the bathroom to turn the lights on, before looking in the mirror to stare at his reflection.Layla looked like Avery, so why would his child with Ruby look like Layla?After staring into the mirror for a while, he opened his album again to look for Layla's photos.Layla's features had become more

There were over three hundred photos, including ones when Avery was pregnant and the photos of the children when they were born.Elliot had never seen any of these photos, so he started with the earliest photo of Avery and Laura when they were in the waiting area in a hospital. In the photo, Avery had one hand on her pregnant belly as she smiled gently, while Laura, too, was smiling endearingly.Tears welled up in Elliot's eyes.Whenever he tried to imagine the time when Avery was pregnant with Layla and Hayden, guilt would overwhelm him at the realization that he had failed to care for them. Having twins was much more difficult than having a single baby. Avery was not financially stable and had to keep up with her studies at the time, so he could not begin to imagine how hard she had struggled.He continued to explore and saw photos of the scenery in her school, and photos she had taken with her classmates and with Professor Hough. He scrolled to the left when suddenly a black and

In the evening, the doorbell rang.Ben thought Lilith had come back, so he strode to open the door.A man was standing outside the door!Ben was stunned for a moment, and the man outside the door was also stunned.The two of them had met before, so they were no strangers."What are you doing here?" the two asked in unison."Why can't I be here? This is Hayden's house." Ben stood at the door, refusing to let Peter in.Lilith had told him that her relationship with Peter was not very good and that Peter would not come to her unless he needed money. Since Peter is now at Lilith's door, did that mean he was running out of money?Ben hated parasites like him! Lilith's current salary could only support her basic living, and there was no extra money for Peter.Ben could not tolerate Peter asking Lilith for money."Hehe, I don't care whose house this is. I only know that my sister lives here! Where's she?" Peter was a little angry with Ben for being so rude to him."Why are you lo