Love’s Cunning Ruse

Chapter 162

Knowing about Albertine and Lionel’s past fling, the thoughtful organizers purposely separated their

seating arrangements.

But they were clueless about the beef between Kieran and Elliot. They thought these two guys were

just partners, so they placed them together.

Upon learning that there was no awkwardness between Lionel and Albertine, Daphne began to stress

about Julie.

She kept throwing glances in Julie’s direction.

At that moment, Julie was making eye contact with Adeline. The host was delivering the opening

speech. There seemed to be some sort of unspoken tension brewing between Kieran and Elliot.

The spat that happened outside earlier didn’t sit well with Daphne. She wanted to ask Lionel to

convince the organizers to reseat the four of them, but turned around to find Lionel and Albertine in

deep conversation.

And Albertine’s hubby, Mr. Farrell, was attentively listening to the host’s speech.

In the end, Daphne could only look back at Julie, only to find Julie whispering to Adeline.

Maybe she was overthinking.

She was too far to hear what Julie and Adeline were chattering about.

Actually, Adeline was gossiping.

Probably because she was pissed at the rapport between Elliot and Kieran, she said to Julie, “When

you remarried Mr. Hernandez, did you ever consider how your first love would feel?”

Adeline’s comment silenced the three people present.

But Adeline acted as if nothing happened, telling Julie, “Doing this will upset my brother, you know!”

“Adeline!” Elliot’s face turned sour. He shot Adeline a look, signaling her to zip it.

Although Adeline was a vengeful woman, she knew when to call it quits. Once Elliot spoke up, she shut

her mouth.

The atmosphere among the four of them had now become awkward to the extreme.

Not far away, Lionel finally stopped his cheerful chat with Albertine. He glanced at Elliot, then asked

Daphne, “If I remember correctly, you know the new Mrs. Hernandez, right?”

Lionel had a good memory. The last time Daphne interviewed him, Julie had shown up and seemed to

be waiting for Daphne for a long time. From Daphne’s attitude, he guessed she was trying to avoid

Julie..

Daphne didn’t expect Lionel to be so attentive. She nodded and replied with a smile, “We’re great

friends!”

After saying this, she suddenly felt she overshared. She was merely Mr. Lionel’s date for the evening.

He surely wasn’t interested in her personal life.

So, Daphne felt embarrassed and let out a few awkward laughs.

Albertine also looked towards Julie. Having been an agent for many years, her observation and

sensitivity were definitely not inferior to Daphne’s. She immediately noticed the tense atmosphere over

there.

Like an old friend of Daphne for many years, Albertine asked with concern, “Your friend isn’t in trouble,

is she?”

At first, Daphne was a bit worried, but seeing Julie sitting calmly not far away, she confidently said,

“She’ll be fine! Julie’s never lost a fight since she was a kid!”

Lionel asked Daphne, “So, you guys grew up together?”

It took Daphne a moment to realize Lionel was asking about her relationship with Julie, so she replied

with a smile, “We met at university.”

“So how do you know she’s never lost a fight since she was a kid? You two must be very close!” Lionel

said, half-seriously, half-jokingly.

“Of course. Actually, I went to the same school as Julie in middle and high school, although we weren’t

in the same class. I didn’t have the courage to get to know Julie then, or we might have become friends

earlier. You should know that from middle school to university, Kieran and Julie were always well-known

figures in school…”

As she was speaking, Daphne suddenly stopped.

She mentally scolded herself, why couldn’t she stop talking once she started?

Albertine, who was next to her, was very interested, “Why did you stop? Keep going! I was all ears! So,

Mr. Hernandez and Ms. Abraham have been friends since childhood?”

Lionel gave Albertine a look, “Tini, why do you like gossiping this much?”

Just as Albertine was about to answer, Babur next to her covered her mouth and pointed to the auction

item on the stage, “This is the last auction item tonight!”

Hearing this, Albertine slapped his arm, signaling him to let her go. After he did, Albertine turned her

attention to the auction stage, curious to see what the night’s showstopper was.

It was a beautiful ring. The entire ring was a unique yellowish-green color that caught everyone’s

attention.

The moment Julie saw the ring, her gaze was fixed on the auction stage. It was the ring her mother

always wore on her right ring finger since she was a child. Her mother treasured it. But the year the

Abraham family went bankrupt, her mother and her lover eloped with all the family’s assets. Her father

died of a stroke. Since her mother’s death in a car accident, she had never seen this ring again.

Memories flooded Julie’s mind like a tide…

She felt as though she was back in her childhood house.

Little Julie was more active than boys. She aspired to be the superhero characters she saw on TV. In

her childhood memories, her parents, Darcey Abraham and Padgett Abraham, had a blissful marriage.

She remembered when she was a kid, her grandma told her that her mom’s family wasn’t actually dirt

poor, but her dad was born into a life of poverty. Her mom fell head over heels for her dad when she

was young, but her family didn’t approve, so she took off with her dad. From then on, she went through

a ton of tough times with her poor dad.

Until Padgett tried his hand at playing the stock market. Whether it was luck or skill, he ended up

making a some money.

With the money he made, Padgett threw a grand wedding for him and Darcey. Darcey was a real smart

woman. She took the money her husband made and started a small business, which grew bigger and

bigger.

The Abraham family finally shook off the poverty, but couldn’t shake off the label of “nouveau riche.”

Padgett and Darcey had their pride, so they bought a mansion right next to the Hernandez family.

Later on, Padgett and Darcey had Sansa, but Padgett always wanted a son. When Darcey was

pregnant with Julie, everyone in the family had high hopes, hoping Julie would be a boy.

But unexpectedly, their second child was a girl again. Padgett wanted to keep trying for a son, but

Darcey wasn’t in good health. Padgett loved his wife and didn’t want to put her through it, so he finally

gave up.

Maybe it was because Julie was raised as a boy, but she acted just like one. As a kid, her favorite thing

was to mimic the superheroes fighting on TV, which earned her more than a few scoldings.

While other little girls were brushing Barbie’s hair and changing her clothes, Julie was always

engrossed in some comic book, learning how the superheroes fought.

Back then, the gentle and smart Sansa was the pride of the Abraham family. Darcey had high

expectations for Sansa. Sansa and Julie were like night and day. While Sansa acted like a little lady

from a young age, Julie was the exact opposite.

When Julie was seven, while Sansa was practicing the piano under Darcey’s watchful eye, Julie snuck

out with her comic book and went to practice fighting on the lawn in front of their mansion.

Their front lawn was covered with beautiful shrubs. Julie sat among them, almost completely hidden by

the leaves. She opened her comic book and started to mimic the poses of the characters. She threw a

punch at the shrubs.

To her surprise, the shrubs actually made a loud noise and the green leaves started shaking. Julie was

thrilled. She stood up, ready to cheer, but then she saw a big brown dog rushing towards her.

Julie was scared out of her wits and took off running.

To be precise, it was the dog that led to Julie’s first encounter with Kieran.

The incident left a deep impression on Julie about her mom’s ring.

Her mom scolded her harshly because of it. Julie thought it was so unfair, so she went to argue with

her mom, but then she saw her mom’s favorite ring on the dressing table. When Julie picked it up out of

curiosity, her mom slapped her. It was the first time Julie had ever been hit.

No matter how naughty she was in the past, her mom had never laid a hand on her. It was also the first

time Julie realized how important this ring was to her mom.

But after her mom passed away, the ring seemed to disappear into thin air. Julie searched the scene of

her mom’s car accident and even turned their mansion upside down before it was taken away by the

court, but she never found the ring. Who would’ve thought, it showed up at the auction today…