After freshening up, they headed to the main hall for breakfast.
Evelyn’s face stayed flushed from start to finish. Partly because she felt awkward sleeping in so late. Partly because of Alexander’s teasing words from earlier.
Once breakfast was done, Evelyn followed Alexander to pay New Year’s visits.
Their first stop was her mother’s house.
Back at her childhood home, Evelyn received another red envelope. This one was even thicker than before.
Evelyn beamed inwardly. Marriage had so many perks! Even the red envelopes were bigger now!
“Alexander really liked the gift you picked out!” Victoria asked with a grin when they were alone.
“I guess so,” Evelyn mumbled, embarrassed. Just thinking about last night made her cheeks burn.
“You guess so? Don’t tell me you haven’t opened it yet!” Victoria pressed.
“I did open it,” Evelyn admitted, her face growing hotter.
“What a pleasant surprise!” Victoria laughed.
“Sis… you didn’t put that in there, did you?” Evelyn suddenly realized, staring at her sister in shock.
“Guilty as charged. How was it? Worked like a charm, didn’t it?”
Evelyn was speechless. “I thought it was a gift from the store counter!”
“As if! You overthink everything. It’s a brand-new product. Cost a fortune. And it works wonders!”
“Uh… well… the weather looks cloudy today. Wonder if it’ll rain later.”
“Get your head out of the clouds!” Victoria rolled her eyes.
“That’d be terrible. My head falling from the sky would cause chaos!” Evelyn joked.
Victoria studied her sister, then reached out and pinched her cheek. “I swear, I’ll never understand what goes on inside that brain of yours.”
“We’re from the same source, aren’t we? So it can’t be that different.”
“If I were like you, I’d be doomed.”
“No way. I’m perfectly fine like this.”
“You’re just lucky, that’s all,” Victoria sighed.
They stayed at their mother’s house until the afternoon.
Instead of heading straight home, Alexander took Evelyn to a gathering with some of his friends.
On the way, Evelyn’s phone rang. It was Charlotte.
Charlotte asked what Evelyn had been up to lately, since she could never get through.
Evelyn felt awkward. First, she’d been busy with wedding preparations and barely touched her phone. Then came the honeymoon on the island, where the signal was spotty. After returning, she’d been caught up in Spring Festival preparations and rarely carried her phone around. Sometimes she’d see a missed call but get pulled into something else before she could call back. Then she’d simply forget.
“Nothing much. Have you come back yet?” Evelyn asked.
Charlotte had gone abroad over a month ago and hadn’t returned to the country yet. Most of the time, they kept in touch online.
Evelyn wasn’t sure if Charlotte knew she was married. She didn’t know if Lucas had mentioned it to his cousin. But she had no idea how Charlotte would react. Otherwise, Charlotte would have come straight back after finding out.
Back then, Evelyn still thought Alexander was gay. She believed their marriage was just a temporary arrangement. So she hadn’t even told Charlotte.
Now she didn’t know how to bring it up. She was really stuck between a rock and a hard place.
“I don’t have time to come back. I’m buried in research and papers every day. If my mom hadn’t called, I’d have forgotten about the Spring Festival altogether,” Charlotte replied gloomily.
“That busy, huh?”
“Yeah. And you never check in on me.”
“When you come back, I’ll treat you to a nice meal,” Evelyn said with a smile.
“That’s more like it! Happy New Year, by the way. Hope you find a husband soon!”
“Ha! Same to you,” Evelyn replied.
She’d already found one. She wondered if Charlotte would flip out on the other side of the globe when she found out.
“I’ve got a long way to go. I really want to come home.”
“Then just come back.”
“Not yet. My paper isn’t finished, and I have no idea how much more torture awaits me.”
“Then write well, finish early, and come back early.”
“Okay. Start saving up. When I get home, you’re treating me to a feast.”
“Easy peasy,” Evelyn laughed.
She was a little rich woman now. After all, she was Mrs. Sterling.
After hanging up, Evelyn still had a smile on her face. She turned to Alexander and said, “That was my best friend, Charlotte. She’s Lucas’s cousin.”
“I’ve met her once.”
“Yeah, at that party,” Evelyn said, suddenly laughing. Her memory was terrible. She’d forgotten something that happened not that long ago.
“She doesn’t know you’re married?”
“No. I haven’t told her yet.”
“How long do you plan to keep me a secret?” Alexander glanced at her.
“Just half a year. At most half a year. It doesn’t matter once I graduate,” Evelyn said flatteringly.
Alexander didn’t say anything more. Evelyn was relieved.
After all, this kind of thing dragged on. And she still cared about it. No one around her knew she was Mrs. Sterling.
The gathering was at a leisure club.
By the time they arrived, several other friends were already there.
Among them were Lucas and Owen. And of course, Gavin was there too. The others Evelyn didn’t recognize.
When Gavin saw Evelyn, he called her “cute little sister” right away.
Evelyn felt embarrassed.
Alexander introduced the friends Evelyn hadn’t met before.
Evelyn greeted them politely.
“Hi, Evelyn. I’m Aurora, Liam’s wife,” a stylishly dressed, beautiful girl came over to say hello.
“Hello, Aurora,” Evelyn smiled back.
“You should call me sister. Look, we even look a little alike!” Aurora put her arm around Evelyn’s shoulder and stood beside her.
“Aurora’s right. I never noticed before, but there is a resemblance.”
“It means Evelyn and I are destined to be friends!” Aurora laughed heartily.
Evelyn laughed along with her.
The initial tension melted away thanks to Aurora’s infectious laughter.
“Alexander, leave Evelyn to me. You go hang out with the guys!” Aurora turned to Alexander.
Alexander looked at Evelyn.
Evelyn felt shy but nodded.
“Thanks,” Alexander said to Aurora.
“Oh, are you afraid I’ll bully your wife?” Aurora teased, then led Evelyn away.
As they walked, she said to Evelyn, “Let the men do their thing. We’ll do ours. Otherwise, it’d be so boring!”
“Right,” Evelyn nodded with a smile.
Aurora was clearly the queen of the group. She quickly brought Evelyn into their circle of girls. She made sure Evelyn didn’t feel awkward and could fit right in.
Evelyn also noticed that the girls they brought this time were different from last time. Last time, they were just dates. This time, their status was clearly more formal.
“We’ve met before. At your wedding to Alexander. But I don’t think you remember,” Aurora said with a smile.
Evelyn apologized with an embarrassed smile. “I was really nervous that day. I think I saw you, but I don’t recall.”
“Totally understandable. It was the same when I married Liam. I was so nervous I even held my bouquet upside down,” Aurora replied.
“Really?” Evelyn laughed.
“Yes. And besides that, I made a fool of myself several times. I’ll tell you about it later. I promise you’ll laugh until your stomach hurts,” Aurora nodded.