Faux Vows, True Desires

Janice was glued to her phone when she suddenly snatched it from Lucinda's hands. She swiftly hung up the video call, deleted Keith from Lucinda's contact list, and even turned off the phone. Everyone was stunned.

Janice returned the phone to Lucinda with a stern look. "Lucy, don't have anything more to do with that guy. He's bad news!"

Lucinda took the phone back nervously and asked, "Mom, did he bully you?"

Janice thought for a moment before replying, "Well, he didn't exactly bully me. In fact, he'd help me when others did. But the way he looked at me, I got the creeps. He's definitely a bad egg. His gaze was devilish."

Lucinda breathed a sigh of relief.

She could accept that her biological father, Nathan, was a piece of work, but if he and others were bullying her mother, she didn't know how she could face him.

"Lucy, listen to me. He's a rotten apple. Stay away from him. His whole crew is just as bad. He might look a bit like my husband, but he's not him." Janice started spacing out again.

Seeing this, Lucinda quickly served some dishes to Janice. "Mom, let's eat."

"Okay, let's eat. And you too, stop playing with your phone."

Lucinda nodded.

As long as Janice stopped dwelling on the past, she wouldn't be so confused, and her condition would improve.

Everyone resumed eating. Lucinda felt relieved to see Janice happily eating her meal.

and Stefan

gently squeezed her hand. Lucinda replied with a warm

Stefan had always been by her

and would help her with many things, some of which she

"Janice."

softly called

call had been

matters worse, when he tried to call back,

had deleted him from her contacts

Nathan's pained expression, especially when he called out Janice's name;

at Nathan

past. Although Nathan didn't send Grandma Savannah to take Janice to the suburban mansion, he didn't do much to protect her either. He couldn't use his busy work as an excuse because,

was terrible,

no longer had feelings for Janice, and they hadn't divorced simply

was their only son and the only child who grew up by

Nathan in such pain,

Nathan been playing all these years? What else had he been

Blue family going to face a major change soon? How much pressure

know

son had a

that Keith would be replaced sooner or later and that when