Love at First Novel by Gu Lingfei

When Mrs. Ormond saw the two young people embracing just now, her heart nearly stopped. It felt like the sky was crashing down around her. In that moment, she almost screamed.

But she had instinctively covered her mouth, forcing herself to stay silent.

As soon as the couple let go of each other, she spun around and walked away, no longer watching from the stairs. She wanted to pretend she hadn't seen anything, to go back to her room and process it quietly.

But she couldn't.

She had to talk to her daughter.

Just as she was struggling with her emotions, Elora came upstairs. And now, here she was, sitting in her daughter's room.

Elora studied her mother's expression for a moment before saying, "Alright, Mom, stay here. I'm going to take a hot bath."

Mrs. Ormond simply nodded.

As Elora disappeared into the bathroom, her mother let out a deep sigh.

Now that she had calmed down and thought about it more clearly, she had to admit—damn it, Tatum and her daughter were a perfect match.

The thought unsettled her. She couldn't sit still.

room, her fingers absentmindedly brushing over objects on the shelves and desk,

on the bedside table, where a large framed

during the New Year,

chest, she walked over, picked

face in the photo radiated pure

the weight of the family legacy hadn't yet fallen onto her young shoulders. She had still been a

she was pushed into the top

then, that bright, unburdened

thought that if her firstborn had been a son, things would have been different. A son would have carried the family burden and Elora could have continued

over their businesses. Their daughters might help out, but they didn't carry

had the freedom to do what they wanted, to

never had

the Ormond family

too little to shoulder any responsibility. Instead of being heirs, they were the ones being protected by their

more she thought about it, the heavier the

like

hadn't given her daughter a brother to share

husband hadn't been able to shield

"Mom."