Arthur\u2019s expression darkened, and he yelled, \u201cHow rude!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Scarlet didn\u2019t even need to admonish William.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Emily, however, loved his act. She chuckled and reached out to playfully hit him. \u201cYou little rascal, come with me to Mount Plato. Let\u2019s see if you\u2019ll straighten out there.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
William didn\u2019t dodge. He just stood there lazily and took the slap. \u201cWhy would that straighten me out? I\u2019m such a good kid, praying every day for you to live a hundred\u00a0<\/p>\n
years.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Justine said, \u201cScarlet, help Mrs. Cooper Senior back to her room to change clothes, then come out for dinner.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAlright.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Scarlet helped Emily back to her room. Emily asked Scarlet to pick out some clothes for her, then complained that the old clothes in the wardrobe were ugly. \u201cThese styles are out of season. They\u2019re not in fashion this year.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
William leaned against the doorway, teasing, \u201cYou\u2019re quite the fashionista. Should we fetch Scarlet\u2019s floral dress for you to wear?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Scarlet honestly couldn\u2019t understand how Julian and William were raised the same yet turned out so different. Julian was calm and dependable, yet William grew up so completely unserious.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t have a floral dress,\u201d Scarlet said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThen there\u2019s no helping it,\u201d William said in a tone of helpless affection. \u201cScarlet isn\u2019t as stylish as you are.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Scarlet was speechless. How was she not stylish?\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ellen, who was looking for clothes for Emily beside them, laughed so hard that her shoulders shook.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Emily laughed too and shooed him away. \u201cGo on, get out! You have no shame, thinking you can stay here and watch ladies pick out clothes.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
They finally managed to pick a satisfactory outfit. Ellen helped Emily change while Scarlet put the clothes they\u2019d taken out back into the wardrobe.\u00a0<\/p>\n
When Scarlet came out, William was on the phone by the door, calling someone to bring over the latest season of clothes.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He glanced at her as she opened the door and stepped out. He finished his call and hung up, taking the phone down from his\u00a0<\/p>\n
ear.\u00a0<\/p>\n
As Scarlet passed by him, he fixed his deep gaze on her.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re really good at hanging up on me. Do you practice, or is it muscle memory?\u201d he mocked.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Scarlet was speechless. He really did know how to hold a grudge.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Scarlet had been about to leave, but she turned back and said, \u201cAbout the divorce, you tell Mrs. Cooper Senior about it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
William put his hands in his pockets, leaned back against the door, and lifted his gaze \u201cNice little scheme you\u2019ve got there\u2013 making me be the bad guy.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIf it\u2019s not you, then am I supposed to be it?\u201d Scarlet retorted. \u201cIf you don\u2019t make it clear to Mrs. Cooper Senior, how are you going to get engaged to Nicole?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
William frowned, and his tone turned confused. \u201cWho told you I\u2019m getting engaged?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone is saying so.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
X CLOSE\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWho is \u2018everyone\u2018? Give me some names.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Seeing she couldn\u2019t name anyone, William let out a scoff. \u201cMy divorce isn\u2019t even finalized. How could there be an engagement? What, does monogamy no longer apply to me? I didn\u2019t realize I was that powerful.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Scarlet remained silent.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He continued, \u201cSo instead of doing your job, you\u2019re busy doom\u2013scrolling through trashy gossip.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Whatever, it was only a matter of time before he got engaged anyway. With that thought, Scarlet turned and walked out, snapping, \u201cAt least you know you\u2019re trashy.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Angered, William snorted a laugh and trailed after her. \u201cWhen did you become so quick\u2013witted?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI learned it from you.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI never taught you that. Don\u2019t tell me it rubbed off on you when we kissed!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Scarlet\u2019s steps suddenly halted. William stopped as well and looked up.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Nicole had arrived at some point and was sitting on the living room couch, telling Justine about the details of her reconstructive surgery.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The two had clearly overheard William\u2019s last sentence. Nicole\u2019s smile stiffened, while Justine wore an expression of utter exasperation.\u00a0<\/p>\n
FIRST\u00a0<\/p>\n
Arthur\u2019s expression darkened, and he yelled, \u201cHow rude!\u201d\u00a0 Scarlet didn\u2019t even need to admonish William.\u00a0 Emily, however, loved his act. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13563","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-end-of-the-contractstart-of-his-obsession"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13563","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13563"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13563\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13601,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13563\/revisions\/13601"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13563"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13563"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13563"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}