"Octavia always had that smile on her face, but the second the adults left, she'd turn ice-cold with us kids," Shirley said, thinking back to when they were little.
Claire let out a laugh. "Yeah, she never really liked us."
Kids always picked up on those things, the little shifts in someone's mood.
Shirley nodded, then paused, "Makes sense she didn't like me or my brother, I guess."
"I mean, maybe she was worried you'd get part of her inheritance. But she didn't even know you were adopted back then, did she? So why was she cold to you too?"
Shirley replayed all those years in her head. Octavia had always been strict with Claire, nothing like how warm she was with Cindy now.
"Maybe it's just some instinct about family... Like, you just know."
"I don't think we were ever close, not even when I was little," Claire said quietly.
But she couldn't exactly admit she suspected Octavia might have known she wasn't her real daughter all along.
"Cindy told me Pandora's not close to her either. So maybe it really is all about blood."
Shirley didn't dwell on it.
Claire sighed and rubbed her temples. "I'm kinda tired. I'm going to take a nap. You can chill in the living room if you want."
Shirley flashed her an "OK," then secretly pulled out her phone to message Freda.
Girl, guess what, I've already picked her up! My idol actually sent me a video, wishing me good luck and saying I'll do great on my college entrance exams.
No way I'm letting him down. This is my sign to study harder than ever.
But Freda only wanted to know about Claire. What did your friend say? Our idol's okay, right?
She's fine, no scars or anything. And she said she'd come have dinner with us sometime.
Shirley thought for a second, remembering how Claire sometimes acted. But just a heads up, she's a bit reserved at first. She's actually super caring—she just doesn't show it much. Don't take it personally if she's not super friendly.
No worries, I get it. Freda was already fangirling hard. Even if Claire wasn't chatty, she was still the one who'd saved her idol. That was more than enough reason for Freda to admire her.
***
Claire ended up sleeping right through until six in the evening. She woke up, stretched, washed her face, and was just finishing when Lance called.
“You're not up yet? Dinner time."
Lance's voice was blunt as usual.
Claire didn't take it personally. "I'll be ready by six-thirty. We'll make it in time."
She got dressed quickly, skipping any makeup and just smoothing on a bit of homemade face cream she'd mixed up-worked pretty well, honestly.
Shirley took her time touching up her makeup. No matter where they were going, Shirley always showed up looking flawless.
They headed out together. Downstairs, they bumped into Octavia and Cindy coming out of the apartment across the hall.
"Lance is waiting out front," Octavia said, already heading towards the entrance.
Claire nodded and followed along.
Sure enough, when they reached the front gate of their building complex, Lance was parked at the curb, waiting.
"The restaurant's not far. Want to drive or just walk?" he asked.
Octavia shot him a look. She was in her favorite heels-no way she was walking.
"We'll drive. You take the car, son. The backseat's perfect for three," she said, sliding right into the passenger side.
The three girls fit easily int
Claire took the spot by the door,
Shirley was in the middle, and Cindy
climbed in last sitting by the
Window
FindNovel.net
Octavia had picked a restaurant known for being stylish and kind of fancy. The vibe
inside was nice, too.
She ordered first, then passed the menu around.
Claire picked out two of her go-to
favorites. Shirley was all in and ordered what she wanted, too
Cindy, though, just sat quietlyand didn't order anything.
Lance glanced at them, then grabbed the menu. “Let's get a lotus root and pork rib
soup. And bring out the blueberry yam as well."
Those two dishes were always Claire's top picks.