“Is there something wrong?” Cedric looked concerned.

I nodded. He must have noticed my ugly expression. “There’s an emergency, I have to go to my parents…”

His expression changed. “Are they ok? I’ll drive you—”

“No need.”

“Your parents’ house is located on the other side of Shanghai,” he insisted. “And you don’t know how to drive.”

I snorted. He was right. As someone who grew up with me, Cedric knew that I couldn’t drive. In fact, he and I had been in Evan’s car when Evan crashed it back in our teenage years. The accident had left me traumatized and I swore off driving, but Cedric had just chalked it up to another stupid thing his brother did and became an amazing driver. I guess it did make sense for him to take me since the other alternative was a bus.

“All right… since you insist.”

In the original timeline, this was when my mother, Genna Chen, received the news of her father’s passing. It was the first time I had learned I was a member of the rich and famous Fang Clan. Hearing the news of my grandfather’s death made my mother faint.

And then, my father panicked.

Instead of calling a doctor, he called me.

The thought of my loving parents made me smile. Since coming back, I hadn’t had the chance to see them, and before my death I hadn’t exactly kept in touch.

In the previous timeline, I had almost immediately abandoned them after knowing that I was the heir of a multi-billion-dollar company. It was naive of me. My father was a brilliant man, and he told me not to let my greed change the kind of person that I was. Of course, I didn’t listen. The thought of becoming one of those influential people had been too tempting for me. After all, I had known that being the heiress would give Evan the push to marry me once and for all.

At that time, I felt like my money could give me everything. I wanted Evan, and I thought I would spend the rest of my life with him, not my parents. Of course, in that timeline I guess I literally did.

I hurt the two people who did nothing but treat me well. My parents, who raised me, loved me, and cared for me, became my enemies when I came into the riches.

It was easy to blame the inheritance, but I as I got into Cedric’s car to race across town, I couldn’t help but wonder if I had been born bad and the money had only enhanced my evil nature.

“Are you all right?” Cedric asked. “Did Mr. Chen give you more details about the emergency?”

I shook my head. “No, he didn’t.” But I couldn’t resist teasing him a bit,

“You know, when we were children, my father insisted that you call him Uncle instead of Mr. Chen. Now that we are married, you are back to calling him Mr. Chen. Are you scared of my father?”

He froze, his expression stilled as he stared at the traffic light. “The traffic is terrible at this hour.”

I had to stop myself from giggling at his attempt to change the subject. Who would have thought that I would see Cedric act like this was the first time he was meeting my father?

Growing up, my mother was Evan and Cedric’s tutor. Their father, Mr. Lin, would just ask his people to send them to our house after classes so they could take special classes from my mother. Because of this, the brothers and I had gotten close, though my parents particularly liked Cedric.

“You know… at one point I wondered if you were actually a Chen,” I said.

“Hm?”

“My father and mother liked you a lot. They always said you were smarter than me.”

“But you were definitely more beautiful,” he said matter-of-factly.

I beamed at him. He was smarter but I was more beautiful. All right, I was going to take that as a compliment. “I know.”

Compared to Evan, Cedric was always smarter yet, he always looked gloomy. He seldom smiled and always had a book in front of him. Because of this, he and my father had become closer. Maybe it was just jealousy on my part, but I had always thought Cedric was a bit...boring.

I closed my eyes, smiling as I remembered the young boy who studied like his life depended on it.

“We’re here.”

“Already?” I opened my eyes and realized that I had fallen asleep on the way here.

“I’ll wait in the car.”

“What? They’d want to see you!“

He only smiled at me. “Until we decide when and how we’re telling the world about, well, us, we shouldn’t draw attention to ourselves. But it would be dangerous for you to take a taxi alone late at night. So here I’ll wait.”

“You’re crazy Cedric,” I said, but I noticed I was smiling.

Then I went inside the two-story house just next to where he parked his car. The moment I opened the door, I immediately heard my mother’s sobs.