Caden's exposed skin was bruised. His little face was still swollen. Serenity could imagine how it must have been worse over the past few days. Unable to help feeling pain for him, Serenity crouched down, leveling her eyes at the child. "Does it hurt?" she asked, but Caden acted like he had not heard her and continued staring at the school gate. All he cared about was when he could see his sister after school. Nothing else mattered to him. Serenity wanted to touch the boy's face, but the little one avoided her hand warily."I just want to see your injury. I don't mean any harm!" Serenity hastily said.The little boy stared at her for a long moment before finally enunciating slowly, "I don't like you touching me!""Then… Shall I take you to the hospital and let the doctor take a look at your wound? Once your bruise heals, you'll feel better," Serenity coaxed. "It doesn't hurt," the little boy said coldly. Then, he turned his head away and stopped talking to Serenity. Serenity

"Who knows? Adoption for unusual reasons can be pretty common. I've heard about some families that adopt children for pretty strange reasons," Lisa said, pouting.Serenity pursed her lips, pondering something. Just then, Cynthia came running back carrying a small satchel instead of a school bag this time. She took Caden's hand and said to Serenity, "Aunt Serene, let's take Caden to the hospital.""Alright. Let's go," Serenity said, smiling. Lisa shrugged. When everyone got into the car, Serenity asked Cynthia, "Did you talk to your parents when you got home?""Well, I left a note," Cynthia said, but she knew it did not really matter. Her father would not care if she and Caden were out all night, let alone her stepmother. Besides, her stepmother would love to see her and Caden gone.Lisa drove the car to the hospital. While they were on the way, Serenity saw Cynthia holding Caden's hand tightly. The siblings were very close, and it seemed like they only had each other to rely on.

Cynthia tried stuffing the pile of crumpled money into Serenity's hands again. Serenity accepted the 'special' money this time. "Okay, I'll take this. You can pay me back the rest when you have enough. Now, let's get you two home."Lisa drove and took the kids to their home. When they arrived at their destination, Lisa and Serenity dropped off the kids at the door. Cynthia's stepmother, Yara Jenkins, opened the door. When she saw the kids, she immediately yelled at Cynthia, "Where have you been? If you don't like staying in this house, take this leech with you and get out of there!""I left a note. I took Caden to the hospital," Cynthia said calmly."You left a note? Hmph! The hospital? The both of you must have been fooling around! Did you damage someone's property? Do you need me to pay for it? I'm telling you, the family's money has nothing to do with your short-lived mom. It all belongs to me and your father!" Yara scolded, assuming that Serenity and Lisa had come to their house

"Yeah. I’ll never get back together with him. Not now, not ever," Clara said frankly. "We'll never go back to how we were before.""Is it true you'll never love him again? He was wrong, but he's trying to make up for it. Will it never change your mind?" Jackson asked straightforwardly."Jack!" Serenity exclaimed, worried Jackson's questions would make Clara uncomfortable. Wanting to hear Clara's answer, Jackson continued staring at Clara uncharacteristically. "Yes. I won't love him again, even if he spends the rest of his life making up for his mistakes, even if he lives in regret," Clara answered in a calm and decisive way.Jackson furrowed his brow. "But why? He hurt you because he was blinded. He didn't hurt you on purpose." "No. He was the one who approached me in the beginning and intentionally made me fall in love with him. He had many opportunities to investigate the truth, but he never did. He was wired to believe what he wanted to believe and preferred to treat me as

Jackson took a last look at the boy before leaving, lost in thought. He remained silent the whole time, even after getting into the car. "Something on your mind?" Serenity asked, finally bringing Jackson back to his senses. "No, it's nothing. Let's go home," he said, a small smile forming on his lips.At night, Jackson wandered to the memorial hall. He walked in, staring at his late father's black and white photo on the wall. His father had a smiling face with smiling eyes and a gentle smile spreading across his face like sunshine.Jackson observed his father's eyes and realized the shape of his eyes was similar to the boy he had seen earlier, Caden. Jackson had met the boy at the playground before, but he had only taken a brief glance at him. Serenity had told him a lot about Caden, but he did not get a good look at the boy until this day. Jackson had not noticed the similarities at first, but then he realized the child's eyes were like his father's, except for the look in his e