Chapter 353
Chapter 353
Chapter 353
"Have I put on some weight, Roger?" Kendall then touched her face and turned her attention to Nelson. "Am I fat, Nell?"
Nelson glared at his younger brother and calmly spoke to Kendall. "No, you're not fat. You're still as slim as you always were, but since Roger hasn't seen you in a while, he naturally compared you to your older self and thought you might have put on some weight."
"Well, it's indeed been a while since the last time Roger saw me." Although Kendall agreed with Nelson's words, she went ahead and said, "Alright, from now on, I'm going to do some exercise or jog every morning." Well, Dylan has a big gym, and I haven't used it before.
In the meantime, Roger chuckled in embarrassment. "You're slightly more chubby than you used to be."
Meanwhile, Charlotte and her husband were happy while hearing their conversation. In fact, they all reckoned Kendall was better off staying with them than the Woods Family. "Alright, carry on with the chat while I take Kendall upstairs. She needs to get changed and wear some make-up."
As soon as she finished her words, she went upstairs with Kendall. As both of them walked up the stairs, she said, "Look at yourself. You don't dress yourself up at all. Is it so hard to wear some simple make-up? Aren't you afraid that Dylan would ditch you?"
Kendall stuck out her tongue. "Don't rush me, Mom. I don't have enough time to wear make-up, but don't worry about me, Mom. Dylan won't abandon me. He's seen me without my decency, yet he doesn't have a single word of complaint about it. Furthermore, he sees me without make-up every day." If Kendall wore make-up every day before she left home, she would have to remove it later at night,
anyway. Since she and Dylan were husband and wife, it was inevitable for him to see her without make-up by then.
"Mom, I'm like you. Born pretty. That means I don't need make-up to look decent or presentable."
Charlotte was amused. "Oh, dear. Where is your sense of shame?"
"I'm just telling you the truth."
"You're still my sweet little girl."
The mother and daughter continued to head upstairs while happily chatting, whereupon they entered Kendall's room which looked the same as it always did. After all, Charlotte would instruct the maids to clean the room and order them to leave everything in their place so that Kendall could return and stay over anytime she wanted to.
Meanwhile, Kelly felt a stab of pain and jealousy when she saw Kendall and Charlotte happily chatting with each other. When she looked up, she saw her mother gazing at her benevolently. Nonetheless, she didn’t want to talk to her parents and instead decided to keep her eyes on her phone in a gloomy manner.
As for her brothers, she didn't like Nelson, thinking he felt the same way as well due to his unpleasant attitude toward her. On the other hand, her second older brother, Roger, was a nice and easy-going man. Despite the decent-looking suit he was wearing, it only made him seem hilarious to Kelly. For that, she didn’t even want to look at that man.
"What're you looking at, Kelly?" Roger tried to bond with his sister. After all, they were related by blood, even though their relationship was estranged.
"I'm looking at shares, but I doubt you know anything about it at all." Kelly didn't even bother to look at the man, rendering the man speechless with the last few words of her sentence.
After hearing Kelly's words, Roger could only respond with silence because he didn't know a single thing about shares. Back in his village, he owned acres of land that were used as orchards for many various fruits, among which were apples that he just plucked and sold. While he was still able to make ends meet with the money he made from that sale, he also owned some lands that were used as farms where he grew vegetables. Therefore, he was considered a farmer who earned every single penny with his own sweat and tears as he majored in agricultural studies.
Earlier on, Roger was unable to own those lands because his family was too poor to fund him for that. However, not long after Kendall was taken in by his parents, she gave him a sum of money, which allowed him to acquire those lands and actualize his dream. Although it had been a year since Roger made a promise that he would return Kendall the money, he still hadn't made enough to do so at that moment. Nevertheless, he had a strong faith in himself that he would be able to make enough money with his orchard and farm one day.
"Have some apples, Kelly. They are known as Black Diamond, and they tend to mature in different seasons." Roger handed an apple over to Kelly and said, "I grew apples in my orchard, but these Black Diamond apples are pretty rare. So, I keep them for us instead of selling them."
Kelly raised her hand and hit Roger's hand with the apple in it, quipping with a cold voice, "I don't like apples. They make me sick. If I don't feel well after eating one, are you going to be responsible?"
Roger was rendered speechless. He then awkwardly replied, "Kendall likes eating apples and many other fruits. I thought you would like it too. After all, like she always says, an apple a day keeps the doctor away."
"We're not the kind of people you think we are. All the fruits I eat are imported from abroad, unlike hers." Kelly didn't say a single word more, but Roger was able to see through the disdain and contempt she had for him and his apples.
No wonder Nell has been telling me that our little sister is a snobbish lady who looks down upon us because she thinks we're peasants. In fact, she seems to even feel ashamed of Kendall. Reminded of what Nelson told him earlier, Roger initially thought his older brother intentionally gave Kelly a hard time because Kendall was his favorite. However, he changed his mind, realizing what Nelson said was true when he saw through who Kelly was during their interaction.
"Kelly!" Adam sternly called out to his daughter. "You could have told Roger nicely that you didn't want to eat those apples, couldn't you? Where were your manners?!"
Kelly pursed her lips and looked at Roger, reluctantly apologizing to him. "I'm sorry that I lost my cool, Roger. I just don't like to be disturbed when I'm looking at shares."
"Alright." Roger smiled awkwardly and left his sister alone.
Meanwhile, Kelly's nonchalant attitude broke her parents' hearts, especially Milo, because she didn't even bother to greet him at all from the moment he arrived. Nonetheless, the man understood why his daughter would act like that, attributing her indifference to her inability to accept the fact that her parents were not rich. Despite the empathy he had for his daughter, he was dismayed and disappointed to hear how she teased and mocked him and his wife.
On the other hand, Kendall, who was unaware of what was going on downstairs, was sitting in front of the dressing table while letting her mother dress her up. Upon helping Kendall with her make-up, Charlotte went on to comb her hair but accidentally tore a few strands of her hair in the process. Despite the pain, Kendall put up with it, trying to be considerate since her mother was usually the one with others helping her out.
Nevertheless, little did Kendall know that Charlotte was actually doing that because she needed her hair for a DNA paternity test. After all, she couldn't forget the words that Kelly once told her. Therefore, she decided that it was time for her to clear the doubts in her mind with a second test because she couldn't stop thinking that her daughter had been killed while Kendall was not her biological daughter.
"Alright, it's done." Charlotte helped Kendall comb her hair and complimented her daughter as she looked at the latter's reflection in the mirror. "When Dylan gets here, he won't be able to take his eyes off you, not even for a second."
Kendall smiled in embarrassment. "Come on, Mom. He's seen all kinds of beauties, and maybe I'm the least pretty lady among all that he's come across. In fact, I think he is more good-looking than I am."
While Charlotte speechlessly looked at her daughter, she begrudgingly agreed with her daughter. Well, Dylan is indeed quite a handsome young man.