Chapter 11

Catherine wanted to curse, but Grayson stopped her. “Enough. That man may be an ex-convict too! There are all kinds of people in jail. Who knows what he was in jail for.”

Catherine paused for a moment before saying uneasily, “Are we going to leave this matter alone?”

After a moment of hesitation, Grayson said, “We’ll see. If Heiden does pursue Aria on this, we’ll think of something.” Grayson did not have the guts to go back in and challenge that man again.

Aria stood beside them, deep in thought the whole time. She wondered if the man earlier was really an ex-convict. She had been unable to see his face clearly as his bangs were covering his eyes. Even so, she could tell that he was charming.

For some reason, she found that Jackson’s figure looked inexplicably familiar. It was as if she had seen him somewhere before. Could he be someone from the entertainment industry?

***

Meanwhile, Serenity looked at Jackson, who was in the room with her, and thanked him.

“Thank you.”

If Jack had not come back, her father would have hurt her.

“What are you thanking me for? Helping you is the right thing to do.” Jackson glanced at her ankle and said, “Your ankle hasn’t healed. I’ll help by rubbing it with the safflower oil.”

Jackson took the safflower oil, rubbed some on her ankle, and massaged the swollen spot.

The room seemed a little too quiet, and Serenity bit her lips slightly as she asked nervously, “Aren’t you going to ask me about earlier? About what those people were doing here?”

“If you don’t want to say it, I won’t ask,” he said.

“Actually, it’s not that hard to say. Those people are my father, stepmother, and half-sister,” Serenity confessed. “However, it doesn’t really matter.”

Serenity hesitated a little before asking, “Don’t you have anything else to ask?” She knew Jack must have overheard her father’s curses earlier, calling her an ex-convict.

Jackson’s eyelashes fluttered lightly. Then, he looked up at Serenity. “What do you want me to ask?”

His dark eyes reflected a strange tranquillity in the dim light.

Surprisingly, Serenity’s anxiety gradually eased. She calmed down and took a deep breath. “I was in prison for three years, and I only just got out of prison not long ago. I was charged with causing death while drunk driving.”

Many people’s opinions of her had changed upon finding out that she had been in prison. Those who knew her history were judgemental of her and would deliberately keep a distance from her.

Serenity wondered if Jack would be the same. At this moment, she felt like she was waiting for her trial in court.

“Is that so?” Jack answered lightly and concentrated on her ankle.

Jack’s reaction took her by surprise. She blinked her eyes and wondered if that was it. “You don’t mind?”

“Why would I?” Jack asked in reply. “As you said, I’ll call you Sis. We’ll take care of each other, and I don’t really care about the rest.”

Serenity smiled with relief. Her heart seemed to have calmed down because of his words. “Jack, I’m glad to have met you.”

However, she did not notice the glint that flashed across his eyes at that moment.

***

Lisa came to visit Serenity on Sunday. When she met Jack, she could not relate him to the homeless guy her friend had been talking about.

Jack was simply wearing an ordinary cotton shirt, pants, and sneakers. Although he was wearing just plain street goods, his attire did not feel cheap because of his good figure.

Jack was 180 centimeters tall and had a well-defined face. His eyes were covered by his bangs, but even so, the occasional glimpses of his eyes under his bangs were impressive.

Lisa had never seen a man with such beautiful eyes. His eyes were more striking than the idol stars she knew, and he had delicate features, even speaking with a perfect accent. He could also answer Lisa’s occasional questions smoothly.

This made Lisa wonder if he was truly a homeless guy.

She pulled Serenity aside and asked surreptitiously, “Are you sure he’s really a homeless guy? Does he really have no place to live? He could be a star or a model with his good looks alone, right?”

“Not everyone good-looking is a good fit to be a star or a model,” Serenity answered.

Lisa thought about it and agreed that a career in the entertainment industry was not that easy. “Say, won’t you have other ideas from seeing him daily?”

Serenity rolled her eyes. Previously, Lisa had been worried about what Jack would do to her. After meeting Jack in person, she seemed more worried about what Serenity would do to Jack.

“He’s a few months younger than me, and I only see him as a brother.”

Lisa walked up to Jackson. “Let me put this straight. You can stay here, but you have to promise me this. You mustn’t mess around or lie to Serenity. Serenity hates deception the most. If you’re a liar, I’ll call the police to arrest you!”

“Lisa, what are you talking about? Jack wouldn’t lie to me,” Serenity hurriedly said.

“You’ve only known him for a short time. We have to make things clear. Hey, Jack? Did you hear that?” Lisa questioned him.

Jackson answered with a small smile, “Okay. I understand.”

Jackson did not refute Lisa and replied with an affirmative, seemingly smiling. Despite that, Lisa somehow felt a little uneasy at heart. The faint aura he emanated seemed to be telling a different story, and it seemed like she was the one who had been warned instead.

‘Jack is just a homeless guy. I must be overthinking it,’ Lisa thought to herself. However, when she left, she secretly reminded Serenity to protect herself and call her if there was anything that seemed strange.

Serenity spoke to Jackson when it was just the two of them again. “Don’t take Lisa’s words to heart. She’s just too worried about me.”

“She’s your friend. I won’t take anything she says to heart,” Jackson responded. Lisa’s warning was simply ridiculous to him. “Are you two really close?”

“Do you know that feeling when you’re about to drown, you try hard to catch onto something, but you just can’t? Then, you finally manage to grab onto something with your hand. It may not get you out of misery, but it’ll give you hope and keep you from despair.” She muttered, “Lisa is that kind of lifesaver to me.”