Independence

Chapter 0135

+25 BONUS

It was enough that things seemed polite on the surface; no one needed to push further.

Hansel usually stayed neutral, avoiding taking sides and pretending not to notice any issues. He never really tried to fix the problems between his girlfriend and his mother.

Miranda understood this and didn’t force him to make a choice. For example, she never pressured him to decide whether to spend Christmas Eve with her or with Evelyn.

Looking back, her patience and understanding felt like she was just fooling herself. Men often take such efforts for granted, expecting them without appreciating them.

Miranda said, “Yeah, I missed my parents, so I bought a ticket to come back home.”

Winter understood how hard it must have been for Miranda to make that decision. She asked, “How are your parents? It’s been a long time since I’ve seen them. Please tell them I said hi.”

Mindy and Lionel knew that Winter was Miranda’s best friend in college and often asked Miranda to bring back some local treats for Winter during summer breaks. Winter still remembered Lionel’s homemade marmalade fondly,

“When are you coming back? How long will you stay at home?”

Miranda thought for a moment and said, “It will probably be a while longer. I haven’t been home in so long, and I want to spend as much time with my parents as I can.”

Winter nodded in understanding. “That makes sense. They must really miss you after all this time.”

On the other end of the call, Winter’s eyes lit up as she looked at her iPad. “Oh my gosh, you have to hear this!” she said, clearly excited.

“What’s up?” Miranda asked.

Winter laughed and said, “Didn’t you see it?”

“No, I didn’t,” Miranda replied.

Winter then remembered she had blocked Hansel and said, “So, Ingrid posted on social media that Hansel bought her a Hermès Kelly bag. She said it’s a Christmas gift.

“In the photo, you can see two hands, making it look like Hansel is with her for Christmas Eve. But then one of his close friends stepped in and said that wasn’t true.”

Calvin, either clueless or just trying to cause trouble, made a strange comment among all the jealous replies.

Calvin: “Wasn’t Hansel just at Summit Legal Group? How did he get home so quickly?”

This made the comments section feel awkward.

Winter couldn’t help but scoff, “She’s so petty, thinking an Hermes bag is such a big deal. Just think about what you had when you were with Hansel–you had everything…”

Ingrid was being pretty obvious with her posts and pictures.

+25 BONUS

Chapter 6135

But the real shocker came with Hansel’s recent post. It was a photo of a hand holding a wine glass, with a bedroom and a picture frame barely visible in the background.

The frame had a photo of Hansel and Miranda from their trip to Beighton two years

The caption read, “Drunk, missing her.”

years ago.

Winter was livid. “He deserves it! Why doesn’t he just stay drunk and forget everything?”

Seeing that Miranda was quiet on the other end, Winter quickly said, “But it’s Christmas Eve. Let’s not let this ruin our holiday.”