Chapter 210
Though Anya kept saying Rosalie should divorce her annoying younger brother, when they actually did divorce, Anya still felt uneasy and wished Rosalie was still part of the family. A gleam of their reconciliation kept shining in Anya’s brain since noticing Julian’s life hadn’t been all that great since the divorce.
Julian, however, didn’t expect Anya to bring it up. For a moment, he even hoped Rosalie might come and, for Anya’s sake, agree to patch things up with him. However, Linda’s inappropriate comments shut down Anya, his fiery and unreasonable older sister. So, he gave Linda a cold, fierce stare. This terrified Linda. The sudden guilt from nowhere made her quickly duck her head and dive into her meal.
“If you want her to come here so bad, why don’t you call her yourself? Why me?” Julian said.
Though Julian pretended to still hate Rosalie, his grip on the knife and fork tightened. His eyes hinted at tension and anticipation. Anya was speechless at his hypocrisy and suddenly lost interest in bringing Rosalie to this family dinner. That was mainly due to Linda’s words, which really affected Anya. She hesitated but ultimately decided against calling Rosalie.
“Forget it. Rosalie won’t come anyway,” said Anya.
It was Julian’s turn to be speechless. For a moment, he almost couldn’t resist the urge to grab Anya’s shoulders and shake them, shouting, “Make that phone call, please.”
Kaleb, sitting beside Anya, silently observed Julian’s erratic gaze, his cheeks aching from the effort of suppressing his laughter. He thought, “Julian clearly harbors deep feelings for Rosalie, but he refuses to admit it. Imagine if your ex-wife were to leave you for someone else; then you’d be the one crying.”
This Christmas dinner, which was supposed to be a joyful gathering, left Julian feeling quite uneasy. Several times, he almost gave in to the urge to call Rosalie but ultimately refrained.
Meanwhile, the Graham family arrived at Edward’s hometown, Mudville, the very night before, because they took a private plane. It was not an exaggeration to say that Edward was the pride of the entire impoverished Mudville. Mudville was a quintessential impoverished mountain village. However, in recent years, the state government had vigorously pushed for the development of such villages. Roads and modern factories had been constructed, and several enterprises had invested in mountain tourism. Consequently, this once-poor village gradually thrived.
Especially after Edward took off, he decided to showcase his success by building roads in the village. Additionally, since his private jet required a landing pad, he specifically cleared a plot of land in the mountain to accommodate his plane. When the villagers spoke of him, their words were tinged with both envy and jealousy.
On this day, the Graham family was enjoying their Christmas dinner at home as usual, basking in the envious and admiring glances of the villagers who came to visit. That was when Rosalie received a Christmas greetings call from Anya. She stepped out onto the balcony to take it.
“Edward, why does your ex-wife’s niece keep coming to our hometown to celebrate Christmas every year? Doesn’t she have her own family to share this special day with?” The speaker was Phyllis’s cousin, Grace Junes, who hailed from Mudville as well. In order to ingratiate herself with Claudia, the mistress of the Graham family, Grace seized the moment when Rosalie was absent to bring up this matter, hoping that Claudia would remember her favor and possibly secure some future benefits for her son.