Matthew asked Clarissa to turn around and caressed her head. He moved her hands away from her face and responded with an intimate gaze.
“It’s fine as long as it’s something from you! In fact, it’s the best gift I can ever ask for!”
The words of reassurance failed to put a smile on Clarissa’s face. Instead, she responded with a frown.
“Damian has ruined the book that’s supposed to be a unique gift for you! Are you sure you don’t mind? It’s supposed to be a surprise during New Year’s eve! I guess it’s more of a shock rather than a surprise now!”
Clarissa turned around and glared in the direction of their son’s bedroom. She thought it was about time to teach their son a lesson for the things he had done.
On the other hand, Matthew chuckled and raised Clarissa’s chin against her will.
He leaned over and whispered, “Don’t you think it’s quite a unique gift from you and our son? We’ll consider it a surprise from you and him!”
Clarissa took another peek at the doodles that were all over the book and felt another strong urge to cry.
Immediately after Matthew figured out the things going on in her mind, he held her firmly in between his arms and asserted in a gentle tone, “Just give yourself a break, okay? I’ll teach him a lesson and have him bear the consequences of his actions soon!”
He knew he had to say something to console the upset woman. Otherwise, she might let loose of her emotions and take things out on their beloved son.
Nonetheless, Clarissa had no intention to give up just yet as she was certain it was one of Matthew’s attempts to deceive her.
She turned around and reprimanded him, “I’m pretty sure it’s another lie of yours! In fact, you’re the reason he’s such a naughty boy! You’re supposed to discipline him instead of spoiling him! What are we supposed to do if he turns into a delinquent in the future?”
She wouldn’t stop picking on him to take out the disappointment she had been holding back. Matthew had no choice but to play along with her to keep her occupied.
“Y-Yes—Uh-huh—Alright—”
Matthew listened to the upset woman without interrupting her. Otherwise, he might be the one who would have to face her wrath.
After she had enough of complaining, Matthew brought her back to their room and held her firmly in between his arms.
Things got increasingly intimate between the duo as they started reading the book Clarissa had prepared.
“Is this the way you feel the first time you see me? Are you afraid of me? Well, you can’t deny it’s love at first sight for you as well, can you? I shouldn’t have left you alone back then!”
“Stop it!” Clarissa couldn’t take it anymore as the man unveiled the things she had in mind without holding back.
She glared at him in the eyes and said, “Had you taken advantage of me back then, I might not have fallen for you!”
Matthew begged to differ. He said, “No! In fact, you would be head over heels in love with me way ahead of the initial timeline because we were a match made in heaven!”
“Stay away from me! You’re such a shameless man!”
Matthew burst into laughter and pinched the blushing woman’s cheek. He then leaned over and kissed her. “Are you sure you want me to stay away from you?”
“I-I—H-Hey! S-Stop it!”
Ellie, who was outside of their room, found out they were in the middle of a great time when she leaned over to eavesdrop on their conversation.
She then brought Damian downstairs with her and told the little boy, “You need to stay away from your parents for the time being as they are in the middle of something. Also, you have to stop getting on your mother’s nerves. Otherwise, she’s going to pick on you again.”
Damian, who had mastered the art of putting on a pitiable front to win others’ sympathy, stared at Ellie with his lips pursed in an aggrieved manner.
Ellie chuckled and said, “Haha! It turns out you’re quite a great actor, huh? It’s not a big deal—everyone goes through it in their life!”
The little boy stared at Ellie with his head tilted in confusion. He asked, “Were you a naughty girl when you were young?”
“Don’t even get me started! You’re still young—I’m pretty sure you’re going to get yourself in more trouble in the future! You need to exercise caution whenever you’re up to something. Well, I don’t think you’re able to grasp the things I’m talking about. In short, try your best to keep others in the dark when you’re the one at fault.”
Although he couldn’t really grasp the concept behind the orated speech, he asserted, “Okay!”
…
On the other hand, Jacque told Sandra he had acquired the outcome of the investigation. It turned out Clarissa and Shermaine were given birth at the same hospital. In fact, it wasn’t a secret as their mothers used to be patients of the same ward.
Nonetheless, others failed to link the missing pieces of puzzles together throughout the years.
Now that it was brought up out of the blue, the ones aware they were given birth one after another couldn’t help but wonder if they had been swapped.
Sandra gaped at the news her husband shared with her as a random joke her son had brought up in front of her turned out to be a possible truth.
“Jacque, isn’t it obvious? I can’t believe it’s true! What the heck is wrong with the Quigleys? How dare they resort to something as cheap as this? It’s obvious Clarissa is one of us when she resembles Mom so much! Meanwhile, Shermaine has done nothing apart from putting the family to shame! Think about it, Jacque! She has made use of you to threaten Matthew and hired someone to take Clarissa out! Maybe Matthew was never the reason she wanted to take Clarissa out! I think she’s aware of Clarissa’s identity all along!”
Sandra was certain her speculations were spot on. She stared at her husband in disbelief.
Meanwhile, Jacque was taken aback by the possibility as well.
“Jacque, what are we supposed to do next? What if we’re right? Isn’t that horrifying?”
No ordinary people could take in such ridiculous news over the night.
Jacque suggested, “We need to stay calm for the time being as we can’t be certain if someone’s behind this or not. Maybe it’s just the nurse’s negligence.”
Sandra gave it a thought and rebuked, “That might be the case, but Shermaine seemed to have figured out the truth since some time ago! That might be the sole reason she wanted to kill Clarissa—she was afraid she would have to leave everything she had as a member of the Smallwoods behind!”
“Alright, you need to stop overthinking things because you don’t have the things it takes to back your statements.”
“What sort of evidence do you need? Shermaine has seen Mom’s photo and met Clarissa in person more than once, but she never brought up anything in front of us! If she’s innocent, why hasn’t she mentioned anything about it? She’s just afraid we’re going to be suspicious of her! In other words, she’s the mastermind behind everything!”
“We can’t be certain if that’s the truth. Maybe it’s just a coincidence. Therefore, I want you to keep this between us until we’re able to verify Clarissa’s identity.”
Sandra’s objection was written all over her face. Her husband added, “Sandra, this is going to involve a lot of people. We’ll definitely acknowledge Clarissa as a member of the family if she’s innocent. However, we can’t just chase Shermaine out of the family over the night when she’s Kayla’s favorite! They can’t possibly leave her alone just because she’s not their biological daughter! There’s no way Clarissa and Shermaine will patch things up with one another over the night! As their seniors, we need to take these into consideration and decide on the next best course of action for the sake of everyone!”
Sandra snorted and reprimanded her husband, “No one is going to appreciate your effort for taking everyone’s sake into consideration!”
“I need to think on Kayla’s behalf since she has always been a simple-minded woman.”
“What about James? We’re talking about his family! He needs to bear the consequences of his negligence! All this while, he has been playing the role of a lovely husband, but I think those are nothing more than an act! In fact, who knows if he’s having an—”
Jacque couldn’t stand his wife going on and on. He instructed, “That’s enough! Just give me a break! You’re not allowed to bring this up in front of others until we can verify Clarrisa is a member of the Smallwoods!”
Irked, Jacque made his way to the bathroom, leaving his frustrated wife behind with her lips pursed.
Do you really think I’m going to stop just because of your instructions? Since you need something to prove Clarissa’s identity, I’ll get you something to prove you wrong! At the end of the day, the outcome was the only thing that would matter. Therefore, she thought it wouldn’t be necessary to figure out the things that had gone wrong back in the day. Those were merely a waste of time.
Sandra showed up at Olive’s foundation the next day. Clarissa was summoned to the foundation for something as well.
Initially, Sandra had to tend to something else, but the moment she was made aware Clarissa would show up at the foundation, she left everything behind and rushed her way to the foundation.
Clarissa wasn’t particularly surprised about running into Sandra at the foundation. They returned to their respective position after a simple catch-up session. Occasionally, they would run into one another for work.
Once Clarissa had everything sorted out and made her way back, Sandra departed and dropped by the Smallwood residence. She made something up and made her way into her sister-in-law’s bedroom. After a short while, she departed to the hospital.
Sandra acquired the aid of the doctor she was acquainted with and handed over the strands of hair to him before making her way back home.
I’ll just have to wait until I get my hands on the result!
