Jennifer’s POV:. These days, I had been paying close attention to Skylar. I felt that she had become very withdrawn. In the past, she used to tell me everything, but now, it seemed that she was keeping a lot of things to herself. I had no idea what was going on in her mind. In the middle of the dinner party, I saw my brother coaxing Andy. People were gathered around the little boy, except for Skylar. After a while, I noticed Linda come out of the restroom. Not long after, Skylar also came back from the same direction, with a dull and upset expression on her face. I immediately knew that Linda must have said something to Skylar. Otherwise, my best friend wouldn’t look so downcast like this. “Skylar, what’s wrong? You don’t look well. What happened?”. I whispered, taking a seat next to Skylar. “Nothing. I wasn’t feeling well, but I’m much better now. Skylar shrugged and forced a smile at me. I could see that she was trying her best to hide her emotions. Of course, as her best friend, I knew that she was lying. “Come on Skylar, tell me the truth. Did Linda corner you in the restroom just now? What did she say to you?”. Skylar turned away, avoiding my gaze. She seemed to be fighting an internal struggle. “Skylar, you can’t bear everything by yourself. You still have us. We will always be with you. Tell me, did Linda talk to you alone in the restroom? What did she say?” I pressed, unwilling to give up. Skylar sighed, finally realizing that she couldn’t hide anything from me. “You’re right. Linda did come to the restroom to talk to me, but she didn’t say anything unexpected. She just asked me to give up on Jerome so that the three of them can be a family. She’s not asking for anything unreasonable, right? She’s just doing it for the sake of her child. As a mother, she lives a hard life. It’s only right for me to give up on Jerome. After all, she came into his life first. Hearing these words, I felt sorry for my naive friend. How could she sympathize with her rival in love? Was she too kind, or was she just too stupid?. “Skylar, don’t trust anyone blindly, especially Linda. You should take a step back and look at the situation logically. I don’t think that she’s as simple as she seems,” I advised her. “I will. Thank you for your concern. ” Skylar smiled gently. “Jennifer, you are so nice to me. “That’s what I should do. Look, they’ll open the dance floor later. I’ll take Andy away so that you’ll have Jerome to yourself. You two should dance together and improve your relationship. “Jennifer, that’s so considerate of you. But what about you and Mr. Jones?”. Skylar asked, biting her lower lip worriedly. “You silly girl, it doesn’t matter. I will have plenty of chances to dance with Anthony in the future. We’re not in a hurry. Besides, I like playing with Andy. I gave Skylar a reassuring nod

Skylar smiled, and it seemed as if her spirits had been lifted. However, I didn’t consider it a victory just yet. I knew that the problem was far from solved. The relationship between her and my brother was hanging by a thread. The only one who could save their relationship was my brother himself. After all, what Skylar needed the most now was Jerome’s her down. When I walked up to Jerome, I found that Andy was still clinging onto him. If things went on like this, how with Skylar? After thinking for a moment, I took out a lollipop from my pocket and walked over. “Andy, look! What’s in my hand?”. “It’s a lollipop. Andy’s eyes lit up in excit ement, and he immediately br oke free from Jerome’s arms. “How about w e go and play over there?” . “Yes, yes! I want to taste the lollipop!” . Andy ran over to me withou t hesitation. As I handed the lollipop to Andy, I w inked over his head at Jerome, signali ng to him to hurry up and find Skylar. Jerome unde rstood what for Skylar. The first par t of my plan had gone well. I hoped that Jerome c ould fix things betwee n him and Skylar soon. I didn’t want to lose such a goo d sister-in-law. Moreover, Sk ylar was my best friend. I wanted her to be happy. I walked to the dance fl oor with Andy, who was h opping around excitedly. I taught him to dan ce, and the two of us had a good time. It seemed th at I was goo d with kids. After a whi le, Anthony joined us. “Jennifer, you have a talent for playing r eally like children. Look at Andy, he’s so c ute. And he’s good at entertaining himself,” . I said, giggling at the lit tle boy, who was now happil y playing with a water gun. Following my line o f sight with his ey es, Anthony smiled. “Yes, he’s cute. Mayb e we should also have a child of our own,” . Anthony wh ispered, l eaning in. “What did you sa y?” I asked, stun ned by his words. Had I heard him wrong? Did he want to have children ri ght now? The truth was, knowingly or unknowingly, I wa s warming up to the idea of having children these days. Maybe Anthony an d I could come to a decision soon. While the two of us were talking, A ndy accidentally shot the water gun at Anthony, spraying water on him. Anthony f roze for a moment. Then, pretending t o be angry, he quic kly ran after Andy. “Little guy, com e here. I’ll teac h you a lesson. Andy screamed in mo ck fear and ran away with the water gun. Anthony chased the boy around a p illar, and the sound of their lau ghter spread throughout the hall. After watching them for a few se conds, I joined them, running bac k and forth with Andy in my arms. The three of us had a good time. Jero me’s POV: . During the dinner p arty, Andy pestered me for a long time. It was only after Jennifer considerately l ed him away that I could finally have the c hance to spend some time alone with Skylar. In fact, the way I felt towards Andy w as very complicated. Although the result of the paternity test proved that he was my biological son, I still couldn’t consider him as my own son. My intuition to ld me that some thing was wrong. It was said that father and son would have a natural understanding, but some how, Andy and I didn’t have that at all . Of course, perha ps it was just a matter of time. After all, Andy had just appea red in my world. Maybe we just needed to spen d more time together and bec ome familiar with each other. I saw Skylar standing as ide alone and staring bl ankly at the dance floor. The sight of her looking so forlor n broke my heart

I walked up to her, knelt on one knee, and stretched out m y hand to invite her to dance. “Honey, ca n I have t his dance?” . As I expected, my ges ture finally put a sm ile on Skylar’s lips. But before she could accept my invitation, Linda walke d over and stood between us. “Jerome, can I dance with you? We used to dance together o ften and we always cooperated very well, “Linda said, star ing straight at me, as if unwilling to acknowledge Skylar. “I’m sorry. I just asked Skylar to dance. I can’t dance with you anymore. I refused her and turne d my gaze to Skylar, wh ose face had gone pale. I didn’t expect Linda to appear in front o f us all of a sudden. I really hoped that Skylar wouldn’t mis understand me again. I kept my eyes on Skylar, silen tly begging her to come with me , but she pointedly ignored me. I knew that she must be feeling sad. “Jerome, you’d better dance with Linda. After all , you haven’t seen each other for a long time. Yo u can talk about the old days. I won’t interfere. Skylar smiled at m e and Linda, but he r tone was strange. “Sorry, but I w ant to dance wi th you, Skylar. I pushed Linda away and moved toward s Skylar. I tried to hold Skylar’s han d, but was cleverly blocked by Linda. “Don’t I deser ve even one da nce with you?” . Linda asked with tears in her eyes. Before I could sa y anything, Skyla r interrupted me. “We don ’t mean that. After saying that, Skylar stepp ed back and graciously walked aw ay, letting Linda dance with me. I didn’t even get the chance to s ay anything before Skylar gave up on her own. I felt sorry for her. My first instinct was to run after her to make sure that she was okay, but Li nda’s hand was still frozen in the air. Everyone’s eyes were fixed on us, and some of the guests even began to discuss in a low voice about my attitude towards Linda. I had no choice b ut to go ahead an d dance with her. Despite having Linda in front of me, my eyes kept wandering to Skylar, who was once again standing to the side. She loo ked so lonely. For the first time, I felt like there was a wide chasm between us. It seemed that I was going t o lose Skylar. I could n’t cat ch her. “Why aren’t you even looking at me? Am I r ubbish in your eyes?” . Linda as ked me p itifully. “Linda, believe it or not, I’ve never t hought less of you,” . I explained , taking a deep breath. “Please don’t belittle yourself. I would n ever treat you badly. But one day, you’ll m eet someone who treats you as a treasure. A tense silence fell between us, and the two of us just danced mechanically. I seiz ed this rare opportunity to persuade her. “Linda, please move on. Don’t keep holding on to t he past. I’m not the one for you. I can’t make you h appy anymore. I can only try to make it up to you. “I don’t want your so-ca lled making up. I just wan t your love and company,” . Linda said, shaking her head. Her stubbornness l eft me feeling helpless. How could I persuade Lin da to give up so that I c ould keep Skylar’s heart?