Justin’s brows drew together.
Iris had been leading a reclusive life all these years. She treated outsiders harshly and was like a robot without emotions.
He could even clearly remember that one time he came over when he was a child and saw that her family, the Evanses, had come over. However, he also saw, with his own eyes, Iris driving them out of the villa.
Mrs. Landis had stood in front of the door to stop them from entering at that time. His aunt from the Evanses had knelt in front of the door with her child and cried out in tears that they mustn’t delay medical treatment for his uncle anymore. He needed immediate treatment, otherwise he would die.
But Iris hadn’t spared them even a glance.
He had bodyguards protecting him when he walked in, so his aunt couldn’t get near him. She stayed where she was and sobbed as she cursed, "You’re no different from a cold-blooded monster, Iris Hunt! You’re a venomous snake! It’s all because of you that the Evanses are in this state today! Yet, you’re actually sitting on the sidelines and doing nothing! He’s your elder brother! How can you be so cruel?"
His footsteps had paused at that time.
However, he hadn’t taken the liberty to give her any money, say anything, or comfort her—because he had already understood by then that sometimes, what one saw was not necessarily the truth.
He didn’t understand the relationship between his mother and her family at all, so how could he ask anything of his mother?
Regardless, the sight of his aunt berating Iris and calling her a venomous snake with a savage look on her face had remained in his memory.
All these years, every time he came over and saw how Iris was always so cold toward everyone, and heard from the bodyguards how all she did every day was take care of her flowers, and how she didn’t seem to have any social interaction with anyone, he had even thought that she didn’t have any friends at all.
Yet, she was actually introducing her god-sister to him now!
He understood the implicit meaning behind introducing her god-sister to him—it was nothing more than her wanting the Hunts to help her god-sister out and take care of her. Over the years, on account of various people, he had already helped out a lot of people with their businesses.
Adding one more person to the count didn’t matter.
However, he felt rather unhappy.
His mother had never worried about him or comforted him before. She had abandoned him at the Hunts’ icy-cold manor when he was only five and left him to his own devices ever since.
Yet, she was actually showing so much concern for an outsider now?
He was really curious. Just what kind of woman had managed to capture his mother’s heart?
Justin’s expression turned cold, and he entered the house.
Iris was staring at Pete at the moment, her beautiful eyes widened in disbelief.
Pete had also raised his little head and was looking at his grandmother.
Although the two rarely saw each other, Justin did occasionally bring him over for quick visits, so one could say that they were the most familiar strangers.
For a while, neither of them spoke.
Nora looked at Iris, and then back at Pete. Finding their silence rather strange, she frowned and prompted Pete. "Pete?"
Although Pete was mildly autistic, he had shown good manners ever since he started to live with her, and would always greet his relatives whenever he met them. This was especially so with the Andersons. He always greeted Melissa very sweetly whenever he saw her.
So, why was he suddenly not greeting his elders anymore the moment he came here?
While she was hesitating, Iris asked in a trembling voice, "M-Ms. Smith, is... is he your son?"
But when she looked at Iris again, she found that the woman suddenly had an extremely complex look on her face. She stared at Nora for a while.
In the midst of Nora’s confusion, Pete’s small and weak voice entered her ears.
Her head whipped to the side abruptly to see Pete with a resigned look on his face as if he didn’t have anything to live for anymore. He said, "Mommy, she... she’s my grandmother."
Seemingly because he saw that Nora didn’t seem like she understood what he was saying, he added, "You know, my father’s mommy."
Pete held his forehead. He knew that the two of them were utterly shocked at the moment, so he said to Iris, "Grandma, can you keep this a secret from Daddy for now?"
Practically right after he spoke, someone suddenly opened the living room door. Mrs. Landis’ voice traveled over.
"Come on in, Mr. Hunt!"
When Mrs. Landis was bringing Nora and Pete into the house, as she had been preoccupied leading the way, she hadn’t managed to see Pete’s face clearly. Right after that, she had gone out in a hurry again. Thus, she looked at Cherry, pointed at Pete from the back, and said, "Your god-grandaunt has brought her little boy here. You guys can play with each other later!"
As soon as she said that, Iris stood up straight and looked at the door.
Nora and Pete also turned around instinctively. For a time, the family of four stood facing one another.
The whole room was suddenly filled with weird silence.
After a full twenty seconds of silence, Mrs. Landis finally rubbed her eyes. She looked at Nora, and then at Justin before finally looking at Pete and Cherry. Then, she looked at Iris in confusion. "Have I become that old, Ma’am? Are my eyes playing tricks on me? Why does Ms. Smith’s son look exactly the same as the little mister?!"
Her words made Iris’s lip corners spasm.
She suddenly realized that she had really done something wrong. She coughed and said, "M-Mrs. Landis, w-why don’t you introduce them to each other? I... I suddenly have a headache, so I’ll go upstairs and rest for a bit."
After speaking, she walked to the stairs with her left arm moving forward with her left leg, and vice versa. She seemingly went upstairs, but after turning the corner, she immediately stopped and secretly popped her head out from behind the wall to look at the others’ reactions.
But when she did, she instead found that all five people downstairs were looking straight at her, frightening Iris so badly that she immediately retracted her head, coughed, and went upstairs.
When Mrs. Landis saw her fleeing, something suddenly clicked in her head, and she immediately cursed at Iris inwardly. How could she leave her all alone downstairs in a situation
She could already feel the awkward and frosty atmosphere in the living room without even looking at Justin. She swallowed hard and stammered, "Um, M-Mr. Justin, this... this is Ma’am’s new god-sister."
As soon as she said that, she felt Justin looking at her.
In a brainless move, she added, "In other words, she’s your g-g-god-aunt..."
The low air pressure in the air seemingly became even lower.
Only then did Mrs. Landis realize that she had really rubbed Justin’s nose in it. How could she possibly not understand by now? Ms. Smith was none other than Justin’s said girlfriend that Tina had mentioned!
But what had she and Ma’am done instead? They had elevated his girlfriend’s position to one that was senior to his own!
Justin was probably secretly cursing his mother right now!
While she was thinking about it, she suddenly had a brainwave. She said, "Oh dear, Ma’am always eats some cake at this time every day. I’ll bring some up for her..."
After saying that, she ran straight upstairs without even taking any cake with her.
For a time, only the family of four remained in the living room.