After her rebirth by Cici

Chapter 85

Katniss rolled her eyes a bit. "Maximilian, if we gotta go through this, can we talk to my Uncle Wesley about the engagement? If my parents find out I'm marrying you, they'll try to squeeze money out of you." Maximilian stayed calm and added some food to Katniss's plate. "If they want to blackmail me, let them try. Now, stop being so picky. Where'd you pick up these bad habits?" Katniss opened her mouth to argue but just muttered, "Okay," and stared at the food.

She was almost 20, and if you counted her past life, she was pushing 60. Yet here she was, getting a lecture about being picky with food. Couldn't she just eat what she wanted? Wasn't that one of life's few pleasures? Suddenly, the phone on the table buzzed. Looking for an escape, Katniss grabbed it to check the screen. It was that unknown number again.

"A quick snap, sharing today's good mood with you," it said, with a picture of a city park attached.

How ridiculous. In 2004, phones with cameras were just becoming a thing. Was Ramon showing off that his phone could take pictures? Big deal.

By today's standards, it was indeed something to brag about. Her phone could only make calls, send texts, browse the news, and didn't even have a camera, let alone games.

As someone who'd seen the internet age explode, this kind of showing off was just embarrassing. She deleted the message without a second thought.

"What's up?" Maximilian asked.

"Nothing, just spam," Katniss replied lazily.

But it reminded her of Kieran. Saskia's son was born in winter 2005, and now it was early December. She had maybe two or three months to let Saskia know Kieran's true colors. Thinking of this, Katniss turned to look at Maximilian. She didn't say anything, but her big, watery eyes were full of a silent plea.

wiped his hands with a handkerchief. "Go

were married, she was already

always afraid of being a nuisance, probably a leftover trauma from her past

I gotta leave by 1:30," Maximilian

said, "Maximilian, can I borrow the

calmly, not saying a word, so she quickly continued, "Don't worry, it's nothing illegal. Remember my cousin-in-law Kieran? I think he's cheating, but I have no proof. I want them to follow

asked, "Are you

softly said, "When I first came back to the Manners family, I was a mess. My parents and classmates all looked down on me, so I became even more withdrawn. That's when my grandmother took me in, and

way, Wesley's a teacher. Pretty

treated her like she mattered,

deep down. He'd scold her but still slip her some pocket money and buy her snacks now

she wished she was Wesley's daughter, to be Saskia and Micah's sister, rather than

a painful situation, when Katniss talked about it, she sounded like she was recalling some distant memory, calm and

fruit!" Mira said, placing a plate of

piece and found

I don't think you should get involved. It might mess up your relationship with your cousin." With Maximilian's reminder, Katniss got what

I'll send it to Saskia anonymously and then nudge

a private and