Gia felt her thoughts spiral as she stared at him in a daze, blurting out a question that sounded foolish. “Y-you… You didn’t come here for Rowena?”
Leonel and Melanie glanced at each other, both wearing the same confused expression as they tried to process what they were seeing.
A slight twitch tugged at Adah’s lips. The sheer nerve of Allan was infuriating. She was just about to throw him out when footsteps sounded above. Her gaze lifted instinctively toward the staircase, where Rowena had appeared.
Rowena emerged at the top of the staircase in a flowing white dress, her crooked nose and dislocated jaw somehow corrected. Diamonds and gems dripped from her hair, neck, and wrists, giving her a dazzling, overdone appearance, even though swelling still lingered on her face with clear handprints marking her cheeks.
The moment Rowena reached the last step, she rushed toward Allan on her heels and called out sweetly, her voice deliberately soft, “Allan!”
Rowena came to an abrupt halt in front of Allan, her gaze fixed on him as though she might leap into his embrace. Rather than doing so, she shifted her stance awkwardly, putting on an act of bashfulness. Anyone who glanced her way could easily see how smitten she was.
Both Westley and Kimberly tried to warn Rowena that Allan’s presence had nothing to do with her, but she dove right into her act before they could get a word out.
“Allan, Adah is so mean and completely uncivilized,” Rowena whimpered, turning her face just enough for him to notice the puffiness of her cheek. “She didn’t just argue with Grandma. She actually got physical and hit me… Just look!”
Inside her mind, Rowena clung to the hope that Allan had come to the Norris home because he cared about her. If that was the case, she was ready to weaponize his affection so she could punish Adah and finally vent all the bitterness she had bottled up. She put on an unforgettable act, crying without restraint and appearing every bit the innocent victim.
Adah rolled her eyes. Unable to stomach the theatrics any longer, she turned on her heel and headed upstairs.
“Allan, did you see that? Adah is so rude!” Rowena pressed on, determined to provoke Allan into confronting Adah. “I’m speaking to you, and she just leaves. It’s not just me she’s ignoring; she’s ignoring you as well, Allan.”
? .
Still, Allan hadn’t looked at Rowena once. Only after she finished did he lift his eyes to hers, releasing a quiet sigh. “She really hit you pretty hard.”
Rowena froze, uncertain if he was angry for her sake. Wanting to keep the momentum, she quickly tried to garner more sympathy. “Allan, you didn’t see how ruthless she was. That slap nearly broke my nose and dislocated my chin…”
She cut herself off mid-sentence. In her haste to play the victim, she had almost blurted out the truth about her cosmetic surgery.
“My nose and chin are aching from her slap.” Rowena quickly revised, trying to recover. “Look at my face—I don’t know how many days it’ll take for the swelling to go down.”
Allan rose from his seat, his height making Rowena seem even smaller by comparison. “You want me to get back at her for you?”
Rowena stared up at him, searching for some hint of concern. Even though his expression remained unreadable, she nodded. “Yes… I was hoping you’d defend me.”
A deep, humorless laugh escaped Allan. “Adah might have a hot temper, but she never lashes out without a reason. If she hit you, I’m sure you deserved it.”
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