The next morning, Asher Land walked into Irene Morton’s room and tossed a set of clothes onto her bed.

"Put these on." he said simply. 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

Irene looked at the pretty clothes on the bed, a little puzzled, and shifted her gaze onto him.

"Didn’t you want to go out yesterday? What, changed your mind today?" he countered.

"You agreed to keep me company for three days?" Irene’s voice trembled a little with excitement, and there was finally some expression on her face.

Asher just nodded.

Irene happily picked up the clothes Asher had brought her and went into the bathroom. He leaned against the doorframe, glanced at his watch, and began patiently waiting for her.

Irene fussed around in the bathroom for a long time. She thought, Asher finally agreed to this, she had to cherish it properly.

She lifted her eyes to look at herself in the mirror—she was far too haggard, too wretched. She reached out and rubbed her puffy eyes, unable to stop herself from frowning.

After thinking for a moment, she still took out her makeup bag...

Asher had already been waiting outside for quite a while, but remembering Sophie Smith’s reminder that morning, he didn’t show the slightest hint of impatience.

After about thirty minutes, Irene finally came out of the bathroom with her makeup done.

These past days she’d always been in loose hospital gowns with a bare face, but once she dressed up, her complexion clearly looked much better, and she no longer seemed so sickly.

"Let’s go." Asher said casually to her, then turned to head out. Irene hurried a few steps to catch up with him, and as they went down the stairs, she quietly reached out and slipped her hand around his arm...

Asher felt a bit uncomfortable and removed her hand.

"Brother Asher, aren’t we... supposed to be lovers today?" she asked cautiously.

"Do lovers have to hold hands?" he said dismissively, grasping at the lamest excuse to resist Irene’s closeness.

"Of course." Irene seemed to regain a bit of her usual little willfulness and spoiled temper. "I just want to hold hands with you, something this simple and you still won’t agree. If I... wanted to sleep with you, then what?"

Irene was deliberately joking with him. At this point, she no longer had any thought of stealing Asher from Sophie. The reason she’d proposed pretending to be his girlfriend for three days was only to make up for the regret she’d carried since childhood, to fulfill a dream. Once that dream came true, it would also be time for her to leave...

"Don’t talk nonsense." Asher stood at the spiral staircase, his gaze dropping to the foyer below. Sophie was standing downstairs, looking up in their direction, but very quickly, she withdrew her eyes.

Irene walked lightly down the stairs and came to stand in front of Sophie.

"Sister Sophie, thank you for agreeing to let Brother Asher stay with me." The smile at the corners of Irene’s mouth relaxed and opened up—it was a genuine smile from the heart, not the mocking one she’d worn toward herself all these years, not scornful, nor with any underlying malice...

This smile was untainted, sincere, and clean.

"Oh, you don’t need to thank me. Asher was willing to do it himself." Sophie said, trying to cover things up.

"Sister Sophie, don’t try to fool me." Irene seemed to see straight through Sophie’s thoughts. "Brother Asher’s face has ’a hundred kinds of unwilling’ written all over it. If you hadn’t told him to do this, he probably wouldn’t even bother with me."