After the engagement ceremony, Nathan Moore was dragged by a few friends to a club to play cards, while Titus Zane and Olivia Zane were driven back to the villa by the driver.
It was still early, so Auntie Liu prepared some late-night snacks.
After eating, Titus Zane sat on the sofa flipping through magazines to help digest the food.
Sitting in her wheelchair, Olivia Zane gazed down at the hot milk tea she was holding in her hands and spoke as if offhandedly across from her.
"Is Logan not planning to go back to Paris anymore?"
Titus Zane raised his head to look at her.
In his memory, his sister Olivia Zane rarely cared about his and Logan Ray’s affairs. Her probing this directly was a first.
Knowing that Olivia’s concern was not simply out of care, Titus Zane still responded indifferently.
"Perhaps." He then lowered his gaze again to continue flipping through the magazine, clearly not wanting to talk much about Logan Ray, because talking about him only brought more pain each time.
"Sister, let’s talk," Olivia Zane said, holding her warm milk tea with a rare seriousness in her face.
Speaking to Titus Zane in such a gentle manner, especially when there were no third parties around, was also quite uncommon.
"Talk about what?" Titus Zane raised his eyes again. In his heart, he didn’t believe Olivia would genuinely want to get along smoothly with him, but she was still his own sister, and he didn’t want to think too ill of her.
"Do you... still have feelings for Logan?" Olivia Zane asked hesitantly, tentatively.
"Yes," Titus Zane admitted openly, his moist eyes not darting away.
"How could decades of affection be forgotten cleanly all at once?"
"Sister," Olivia Zane called out softly, pleading anxiously, "Do you realize that this is unfair to Nathan?"
"Fair?" Titus Zane repeated, his expression ironic.
"Is it fair for him to keep me imprisoned by his side? Is it fair to have his wife’s sister warm his bed?"
Titus Zane felt an immense fury and even more so humiliation when he brought up being forced to remain by Nathan Moore’s side.
Him, meant to be his brother-in-law, yet climbing into his bed night after night.
"I know that causing you to end up was my fault, but you should be clear that it wasn’t intentional; I was just..."
At this point, Titus Zane stopped, because he didn’t know which words would accurately describe the situation back then.
Because he clearly remembered he didn’t push her.
No, not that either. How could just holding onto her and not letting her leave result in a fall down the stairs?
But the fact was exactly that; he watched helplessly as his sister Olivia Zane tumbled down the stairs.
"Sister," Olivia Zane said softly, curving her lips lightly, lowering her gaze, and looking at her crippled legs over the blanket. Her long eyelashes trembling, she said,
"I know it wasn’t intentional, so I never blamed you. Maybe it’s all fate."
Olivia Zane sighed, raising her eyes to look at Titus Zane, "I just want to ask you to be nicer to Nathan. You should know that, in my current condition, I can’t consummate the marriage with him..."
Mentioning this, Olivia Zane lowered her gaze again, and her tightly pursed lips could not hide her disappointment.
"Why?" Titus Zane asked, confused. It was just the inability to walk; why couldn’t they have sexual relations?
Olivia Zane curved her lips into a pale smile.
"...During the emergency treatment, they used a lot of medication, and I’m allergic to some of it. Later, I heard from the doctor that I was nearly beyond saving, so... it left me with sequelae. Now... if my heart rate goes up too high, I will pass out."