In the warmth of a spring afternoon, the gentle sunlight showered down.
Outside the villa, a serene Aston Martin was quietly parked by the rose wall.
The rear window slowly descended, revealing a face as handsome as if cast from bronze, Lucas Griffin turned his head, his brilliant starry eyes captivating.
His normally impassive eyes held a trace of excitement difficult to detect as his gaze traveled through the gaps in the roses, looking into the villa, where a girl lay fast asleep on a stone table.
With keen vision, Lucas could make out the girl's features in detail despite the distance, her delicate and exquisite face, skin smooth as cream, sleeping serenely like a budding green lotus.
After a moment, his lips tightened and he spoke, "Are you sure it's her?"
"Yes, Brother Kirin," replied Jonas Jox, his assistant sitting beside him quickly, "Her name is Amanda Jenkins, she is the youngest daughter of the Jenkins Family, but she..."
Lucas subtly raised his hand, signaling Jonas to stop talking, as if he were afraid to disturb the girl's nap under the sun, and as if he did not want to be interrupted, preferring to just quietly watch her.
His deep eyes meticulously examined the girl's appearance, and matching them with the fragmented memories in his mind, Lucas nodded his head, a faint smile playing at the corner of his lips, "Yes, it's her."
Five years, and I had finally found you.
Seeing Amanda Jenkins sleeping like an infant, drool leaking from the corner of her mouth, Lucas's eyes softened, and the corners of his mouth lifted, "What do you think she's dreaming about?"
Jonas Jox was startled for a moment, had he seen things? It seemed Brother Kirin smiled!
Jonas blinked quickly and looked at Lucas again, indeed finding rare tenderness in his eyes.
...
Amanda Jenkins was indeed dreaming.
In her dream, she was in a hotel in a foreign country, in a dimly lit room, where a man was making love to her.
She tightly clutched at the man's solid back, her fingernails digging into his taut skin.
The air was filled with the scent of pleasure and the mixed panting of a man and a woman.
While her mind resisted, her body couldn't stop sinking into it...
As her body reached its limits, Amanda Jenkins suddenly awoke from the dream.
She lifted her head and gasped for air, beaded sweat on her forehead, as though her body truly went through the ordeal of her dream not just moments ago.
Suddenly, her cheeks flushed a deep red.
But this was no erotic dream for her, it was a nightmare!
It had been five years, as if cursed, she could never escape that nightmare.
Amanda Jenkins bit her teeth hard and shook her head, trying to dispel those thoughts; out of the corner of her eye, she seemed to see a pair of bright, beautiful eyes beyond the rose wall.
She was about to get up to take a closer look when her mother Yvonne Gough's angry voice came from behind her.
"You damn girl! I told you to eat lunch and then go trim the flowers in the courtyard, but look at you, sneakily lazing around sleeping here!"
Dressed in elegant finery, Yvonne Gough stormed out of the house, and before Amanda Jenkins had time to react, Yvonne Gough's hand, painted with dark red nail polish, grabbed Amanda's shoulder and forcefully pulled her up.
Amanda had just woken up, her mind still a bit fuzzy, and her body numb from sleeping in an awkward position. Pulled so abruptly by Yvonne, she fell straight to the ground, a piercing pain radiating from her right elbow.
She bit her lip, bearing the pain as she stood up, her thick eyelashes drooping, "Mom, don't be angry. I'll go right now."
Yvonne Gough's sharp nails jabbed fiercely onto Amanda's forehead, "You deadbeat girl! You'll be the death of me one of these days!"
"Mom, don't be angry. I'll go right now." Amanda repeated the same line and quickly turned to leave to do the work, but then she heard her father Gavin Jenkins' voice behind her, "You stay right there!"
Amanda turned towards Gavin, puzzled, only to see his face filled with rage.
Her sister Anastasia Jenkins followed close behind Gavin, having just woken from an afternoon nap. She yawned gracefully, her face showing an expectant look as if waiting to watch a good show.
Gavin stepped forward briskly and without a word raised his hand and fiercely slapped Amanda across the face.
Amanda staggered, managing to hold onto a stone table nearby to keep from falling. Her face throbbed with a burning sting, yet she didn't cover it, instead looking up at Gavin with eyes still brimming with vulnerability, "Dad, what did I do wrong?"
"You! Have the nerve to ask?!" Gavin was so angry he was practically blowing his beard out, snarling, "Your professor called earlier, you failed all your subjects last semester! He said you either miss classes or sleep in them every day. If I weren't a shareholder of your university, you would have been expelled by now! I… How did I, Gavin Jenkins, end up raising such a useless piece of trash like you! You've disgraced us all!"
Yvonne hurriedly came forward, clutching Gavin's arm and soothing him gently, "Dear, don't be angry. Anastasia's grades are very good, aren't they? She has always excelled in school. Why should you get upset because of this worthless daughter?"
With that, Yvonne gave Anastasia a knowing look.
Anastasia immediately clung sweetly to Gavin's other arm, her voice soft and tender, "Once I graduate, I'll certainly not disappoint you, Dad."
Gavin, reassured, nodded at Anastasia, and when he turned back to look at Amanda, his eyes blazed with fury once again, "And another thing, your instructor said that you were not staying in your dormitory at school last semester, nor were you seen at home. All this summer vacation, you've been running out every other day, not returning for the night, where exactly have you been?"
Amanda bit her lip and said nothing.
Anastasia covered her mouth, giggling, "I think sister might be in love. Perhaps she's been secretly living with some man."
"How dare she!" Gavin, upon hearing Anastasia's insinuations, became engulfed in rage, glaring fiercely at Amanda, "If you tarnish the reputation of the Jenkins family, see if I don't break your legs! You're about to graduate from college, and if you embarrass me again with your graduation project, you can get out of the Jenkins family. You will no longer be my daughter, Gavin Jenkins!"
The Jenkins family had been a respected, learned household for generations, and Gavin Jenkins himself was once a famous fashion designer, a Professor at a prestigious university, and a designer specifically invited by the British Royal Family.
The Jenkins family was also a prominent and respected clan in Brocade City. But in recent years, as he aged and especially after the blow of his son's disappearance five years ago, his health wasn't what it used to be.
Seeing the Jenkins family's gradual decline, he had no choice but to entrust his hopes in his two daughters.
But why, of all possibilities, did he end up with a daughter as useless as Amanda Jenkins?!
Thinking about this only inflamed Gavin's anger even more, "In high school, you disappeared for a year. I searched everywhere for you. If I had known you were this useless, you might as well have died out there! Why did you even come back to disgrace me?!"
Gavin's words were cutting, devoid of a father's affection. Having spoken, he turned and stormed back into the house furiously.
Watching the retreating figures of the three, Amanda finally lifted her head that had been bowed the whole time. A hint of cold hardness flickered in her expressive eyes, and the corner of her mouth curved into a sneer of disdain.
Ha, a useless piece of trash?