In the courtyard, after everyone had freshened up, they returned to their rooms to rest.

Jodic lay on her bed, her mind consumed by thoughts of the day. She wondered if anyone outside was

ying to expose their complicated relationship. This thought filled her with anxiety and fear.

As she dwelled on it, she felt increasingly aggrieved. Therefore, she picked up her phone to message Aaron. When he saw the message, he got up and opened the door to find Jodie standing beneath the persimmon tree in the courtyard. “Jo, what’s going on?” he asked as he walked to her.

Seeing Aaron approach, Jodie took the initiative to throw herself into his arms. “Aaron, I’m scared.”

Aaron was taken aback, puzzled. “Scared of what?”

With teary eyes, Jodie tightly embraced his waist, looking at him. “I’m afraid our relationship will be exposed. I’m afraid I’ll be a burden to you, and people will–criticize you. After all, you’re Simone’s biological brother, and I’m nothing.”

Saying this, she burst into tears. “I’m so scared that Mom and Dad, and all of you, will no longer want

me.”

Ever since Simone was found and returned, this fear had been haunting her.

Having grown accustomed to being the pampered daughter of the Gray Family, she had no desire to return to her old life.

Thus, she often subtly sowed seeds of discord against Simone when she was alone with the Grays. She created a narrative that implied Simone’s return meant not only taking away her identity but also harboring ill will toward her.

Simone wanted to take everything from her and push her out of the family.

Over this past year, she had been quietly making her moves, and it had been quite successful. Sure enough, the entire family still doted on her while growing increasingly dissatisfied with Simone.

So what if Simone is their biological daughter? She still can’t measure up to the adopted one.

something of Simone’s, all it took was a

snatch it from Simone and

been in control and manipulating everything all along. But since the

lashed out at the family, even severing

thinking she had finally gotten rid of Simone, the

however, things were not

of the

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The

strong desire for

to be the one Simone fawned

he appeared on the variety show, he found himself constantly drawn to Simone,

of crisis. She

Simone nearly exposed their relationship on the internet by mentioning

driving Simone away

to provoke the displeasure of the Gray Family’s members until they themselves pushed her out. Thus, she needed to persuade the family to win Simone back and then find ways to sow discord

couldn’t stand Simone and would

ever not want you? As for

anxiety and fear, he regretted his impulsive actions earlier. He also felt a bit resentful toward Simone for insisting on

deliberately telling everyone about their

wasn’t that he didn’t want to acknowledge Simone as his sister, but it just wasn’t the right time for a public announcement. They

established herself in the entertainment industry. Then, it would be more

unhappy waiting this

looked at him

looking at her in this state,

bent down and instinctively kissed her forehead, assuring her. “Of course, we’ll never not want you. You’ll always

I don’t want her to leave the Gray Family because of me. I’ve been feeling really uneasy lately. If she doesn’t come back, I’ll feel like it’s my fault, and I’ll want

2/4

Wed, 29 NOV

The Shocking Live

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