Filed To Story: The Scarlet Vengeance: Justice of a Framed Beauty Novel (Grace & Jason)
“Okay, then after two months, I want to learn piano with Lawrence again.”
“Okay,” Grace smiled.
“I’ll let Lawrence know,” said Jasper.
“Mommy will talk to Lawrence,” Grace said. After all, children can’t keep secrets, especially after experiencing a debt collection situation. The child was probably also quite scared and might accidentally reveal something.
Grace doesn’t want her daughter to know that Wilona used her and Lawrence’s piano lessons to scam people using the Reed family name.
She doesn’t want her daughter to overthink things and potentially affect the friendship between her and
Lawrence.
Child, it’s better to be carefree and worry-free.
“But I want to meet Lawrence,” said Jasper.
“How about this, why don’t you learn some self-defense skills first? Once you’ve learned them, you can show Lawrence and even teach him,” suggested Grace.
Jasper thought about it and thought it sounded good, so he agreed right away, saying, “Okay, I’ll learn a bit first and then go find Lawrence!”
Over the next few days, Jasper’s piano lessons were scheduled at different times than Lawrence’s, and
Jasper was also busy learning self-defense techniques.
William was quite worried when he found out that Jasper was learning self-defense.
“It’s actually okay if you don’t learn, I will protect you!” said
William.
“But I’m not with you every day, and besides, Mom said that I can’t always rely on others and I need to know how to protect myself,” said Jasper.
William looked at Jasper on the video call on his phone and said very seriously, “Jasper, from now on, I will make sure to be with you every day.”
“What about later? When will that be?” Jasper asked eagerly. “Is your family moving? Will you be moving to Emerald City?”
“It’s not about moving, it’s about me. From now on, wherever you go, I’ll be there,” he said with a hint of childishness in his voice, but his determination was unwavering.
“How long is that?” she asked.
“When we grow up.” By then, he should be strong enough too, right?
Strong enough to stand by her side, strong enough to protect her!
“Okay, from now on, we’ll be together every day,” Jasper said with a smile. However, at this moment, she didn’t realize the kind of commitment she had just made.
During the weekend, Grace received a call while accompanying her daughter to a piano lesson. The call was regarding a recent case her law firm had taken on, and there were some issues with the witnesses.
Grace said to her daughter, “Mommy needs to go to the office for a bit. The driver will take you home, and when you get there, make sure to do your homework, okay?”
“I understand,” said Jasper. His mom’s job often has unexpected events, so he’s used to it.
Grace gave a few instructions to the driver before changing cars and heading towards the law firm.
The driver was driving towards the Reed family’s villa when Jasper suddenly said to him, “Uncle Zack, can we go to Lawrence’s house? I want to give him a music score.”
This is the sheet music she learned today, and she also wants Lawrence to take a look.
“This…” the driver hesitated, as the madam had previously instructed him to take the young lady directly to the Reed House.
“It’ll only take a moment, won’t take much time. I’ll just give him the sheet music and have a quick chat with Lawrence,” she said. She had missed Lawrence, it had been a few days since she had seen him.
The driver hesitated, but eventually agreed.
After all, Jasper is also the master! He doesn’t want to offend Jasper because of this matter.
Jasper’s face immediately lit up with a smile.
The car quickly arrived at the Abbott family’s residence, and the driver accompanied Jasper to their home.
Just as they were about to arrive, the door of the Abbott family opened and a pair of strangers walked out, muttering to themselves. “Your family is nothing but a bunch of scoundrels. You keep saying that you have a good relationship with the Reed family and that they are your backing. Do you really think you can climb up the Reed family’s ladder just by relying on your son? It’s a shame that you tried to use the Reed family to make money and pay off your gambling debts, but ended up humiliating yourselves!”
Next, Wilona’s voice came from inside the room, “I relied on my son to climb up to the Reed family, so what! Don’t try to bring me down. As long as my son pleases Jasper, our family won’t be short of money. I’ll be waiting for you to come and apologize to me and make amends!”
“You’re just dreaming!”
“Do you think the Reed family are all fools? Can’t we see that you have ulterior motives?”
They shouted a few more insults at the unfamiliar man and woman before walking away.
Standing nearby, Jasper listened to all of this and felt a chill run through his body, as if a bucket of cold water had been poured over his head.
So, Lawrence is only friends with her because she is Jasper from the Reed family? Is it because his family wants to use the Reed family’s reputation to get rich?
Although Jasper is still young, at the age of 10, he already knows quite a bit.
Just like in class, there are many students who try to please her on purpose. They will try to find ways to give her gifts and hope to receive an invitation card from her on her birthday.
She naturally has a way of discerning who genuinely wants to be her friend and who doesn’t.
But Lawrence… from the beginning, she didn’t make a distinction.
Because she enjoys Lawrence’s pure and melodious piano playing, she has always believed that someone who can produce such beautiful music cannot have bad intentions.
But the words she just heard were breaking her understanding.
At that moment, Wilona came out to close the door. When she saw Jasper standing at the door, she was surprised for a moment, then exaggeratedly greeted him, saying, “Jasper, what brings you here?
Come on in and have a seat.” She then turned around and shouted into the house, “Lawrence, Jasper is here!”
Jasper looked at the enthusiasm on Wilona’s face. Before, she wouldn’t have thought much of it, but now she felt it was insincere.
Lawrence’s mother’s enthusiasm is just a ploy to take advantage of the Reed family! She’s only after their money!
Lawrence quickly walked out of the room and when he saw Jasper, his eyes widened and they seemed to light up.
Originally, when Jasper saw Lawrence, he thought she would be very happy, but now she just can’t seem to be happy.
“Can I speak with Lawrence outside for a few moments?” Jasper asked Wilona.
“Ah, why stay outside? Come inside,” Wilona warmly invited.
Jasper insisted, “It’s just outside.”
Wilona wanted to say more, but when she looked into Jasper’s almond-shaped eyes, the words seemed to get stuck in her throat. Even though he was still a child, he gave her an inexplicable feeling of unease.
“Well…let’s talk outside then.”
“I just want to talk to Lawrence alone,” Jasper said again.
At this moment, Wilona didn’t want to argue, so she didn’t object when the driver who was with Jasper approached her and said,
“You should go inside the house first.”
Wilona went inside the house while the driver stood by the door. Jasper then spoke to Lawrence, “Are you being nice to me and treating me like a friend just to please me?”
“Huh?” Lawrence was taken aback, staring blankly at Jasper, opening his mouth to say something but unable to find the words.
His silence confirmed her suspicions even more.
“I heard it all. Earlier, I saw someone leaving your house. They said that your family is using me and my family to cheat people out of their money. Your mother even said that if you please me, your family will become wealthy,” said Jasper.
At this moment, every word she spoke made Lawrence’s body shrink even more.
Even he slowly lowered his head and dared not look at her because he didn’t know how to face her.
These days, he has been living in fear. He knows that his mom did something wrong, and his piano class clashes with Jasper’s schedule, which makes him scared and worried.
I’m afraid I won’t be able to learn piano with Jasper anymore in the future.
But his parents kept talking about how to please Jasper, how to make the Reed family like him more, and how to gain more benefits from them.
He didn’t want to do it, but his mother’s words made him even more anxious.
“If you don’t properly please Jasper, then in the future, you may not even get to see Jasper’s face!”
He wanted to see her, but didn’t want to do as his mother said. So, he promised his parents that he would try his best to please
Jasper!
However, he didn’t expect to be asked by Jasper in this way.
He didn’t want to lie to her, but he couldn’t bring himself to tell the truth.
The only thing he could say was “I’m sorry!”
Just this one apology, however, made Jasper’s face full of disappointment. “Then you don’t need to try to please me anymore, because from now on, we are no longer friends!”
After she finished speaking, she turned to the driver and said,
“Uncle Zack, let’s go.”
At the moment she turned around, his hand suddenly grabbed her wrist.
“Jasper…” Lawrence said with a mix of embarrassment, pleading, and guilt. “Can I still continue learning the piano with you? Even if you don’t want to be friends with me anymore, I still want to learn the piano with you. I can play many songs, whatever you like, I’ll play it for you. Is that okay?”
The pleading voice was even choked with a hint of sobbing.
Jasper hesitated for a moment, but then she remembered the things she had heard before. She made an effort to pull her hand back from Lawrence’s fingers and said, “No need, I don’t want to listen to you play the piano anymore, Lawrence. I don’t like being used by others, and I don’t like others using my family. I used to enjoy your music, but I won’t anymore.”
After Jasper finished speaking, he got into the car with the driver.
A black sedan slowly drove away from Lawrence’s sight.
Lawrence stared blankly at the car that was gradually moving away. His thin body trembled with a great fear that swept over his entire being.
You must really dislike Jasper, right?
In the future, will he no longer be able to play the piano or attend classes with Jasper? Will he even be unable to see Jasper anymore?