I Read Their Tragic Fates, and My Family Reads My Mind?

"Young, and this is...?" Arabella asked tentatively, glancing at the young man standing beside Georgia Young.

Having finally resolved his family’s messy affairs, Ken Young returned to the set looking refreshed and in high spirits. The smile never left his face. 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

"This is a former student of mine. He doesn’t talk much, but he’s a solid guy with a good heart. He heard about my family situation from another film crew and made a special trip to the hospital to see me. He even took time off to look after me for several days straight. Thanks to his help, things would have been really inconvenient for just me and Georgia at the hospital."

"So, as soon as I recovered and came back to the set, I brought him along with Georgia. For one, I wanted to thank you and the director for all your recent help. For another, I wanted to let these two get a look at the world."

Though he said it was to let them "get a look at the world," he really just wanted the director to see if there were any suitable roles for the young man.

The young man had gone out of his way to take time off and help him, so Ken Young wanted to secure this opportunity for him. It was his way of returning the favor.

After hearing Ken Young’s explanation, Arabella pressed her lips together, feeling very conflicted.

’Help me, isn’t this just letting the wolf into the house? How am I supposed to tell Young that a wild pig is about to root up his precious cabbage?’

But then she looked down and saw the solid red thread of fate connecting the two of them, along with the big, pink candy above their heads that was practically radiating hearts.

’Oh well. It’s a destined match. It’s just barely starting to take shape, and there’s still a long way to go before they get their happy ending.’

’It’s not a bad thing, anyway. I’ll let Young have this headache all to himself.’

Hector Donovan stood to the side, his gaze sweeping over Ken Young, his daughter, and the young actor. He raised an eyebrow slightly.

His thoughts, however, turned to ’the two pigs who clearly had designs on his family’s prize cabbage’—one of whom might even be bound to said cabbage by a marriage contract.

’Could his sister’s destined match be among them?’

’Impossible! Absolutely not! The very sight of those two pigs infuriates me. If I catch them getting near my family’s prize cabbage again, I’ll slaughter them both!’

"Second Brother, what’s wrong? Have a toothache?" Hearing him suddenly grind his teeth, Arabella turned to look at him in alarm.

"...It’s nothing. My teeth just feel itchy all of a sudden. Someone’s probably talking about me."

"Ohh," Arabella nodded, only half-understanding.

’Shouldn’t your ears be the part that itches when someone’s talking about you? Why would your teeth itch?’

Hector Donovan: "..."

Luckily, Arabella didn’t dwell on it. Georgia Young, knowing it was Arabella’s warning that had saved her and her father from being swindled out of their savings and left destitute by that pair of siblings, had brought a small gift for her. It was a little outfit she had designed and made by hand.

The style was simple and the fabric comfortable. While the design and tailoring were a bit amateurish, her talent was still apparent. In any case, Arabella really liked it.

The day Ken Young returned to the set was also the last day of Hector Donovan’s reshoots. Arabella dutifully kept him company on set for the better part of the day, and in doing so, feasted on several times more gossip than ever before.

For instance, there was a certain pretty-boy actor with an "innocent lover" persona whose relationship light was a dazzling, multicolored spectacle. Arabella stared for ages and still couldn’t figure out just how many girlfriends he had.

Arabella: "..." ’If he went clubbing, he’d be his own disco ball... The effect would be... epic!’

Then there were the two actors, a man and a woman, who put on an "arch-nemesis" act, bickering every time they met. In reality, they were a couple. But they also each had another lover—and it was the *same person*.

Arabella: "!!!" ’Wow. The most important thing is that the three of you live your best life together!’

And then there was the skeletal-thin actress with a "foodie" persona. In reality, her health was in a terrible state. Forget foodie—it was a miracle she wasn’t anorexic.

Arabella: "???" ’Am I the only one who cares where all the food for her "foodie" act went?’

And on and on it went. An investor visiting the neighboring set had his career line tied to his wife, but his romance line was attached to his secretary.

Arabella: "..." ’Talk about subverting the natural order. Aren’t they afraid of getting tangled up like pretzels?’

After gorging on a bellyful of miscellaneous gossip, Arabella couldn’t help but let out a burp. She could only summarize it all with one conclusion: This industry is a total mess!

Hector Donovan, who had also gotten an earful of all this gossip alongside Arabella: "..." He was speechless.

Two days had passed since they attended the Lynch Family’s dinner party, and there was still no word from them.

This made Mr. and Mrs. Donovan somewhat anxious. Before, they had been afraid the Lynch Family would try to take their child from them. Now, they were worried the Lynches wouldn’t want to acknowledge her, which would break her heart.

Yet Eloise Donovan, the very person at the center of it all, remained the calmest.

"You can’t force a deal. If they sincerely want to acknowledge me, they’ll find me no matter where I am. But if I’m the only one putting in the effort, then we might as well not be family at all."

The Donovan family had a sudden epiphany. That was right! Their darling girl wasn’t without a family. If the Lynches came after her, they’d just treat them as new relatives. If they didn’t, they’d just be strangers from now on. Why were they debasing themselves, acting as if they were desperate for the connection?

And so, early the next morning, Zane Lynch came home with the brand-new paternity test results, as well as proof that a cornered Cassandra Lynch had contacted her birth father in an attempt to destroy all evidence. He then eagerly accompanied his parents to the hotel to pick up their youngest daughter, only to find themselves facing a series of empty rooms.

The Lynch Family: "?!!!" Where is she?! Where did our daughter go?!

Arabella and the others were, for the moment, unaware of this little episode unfolding back in Jarden.

The moment Mr. Donovan got home, he was ambushed by Justin, who promptly sent him back to the office to take over his duties.

As for Mrs. Donovan, she had important business of her own.

"Both of you, come take a look at this."

"What’s this?" Arabella asked, looking blankly at the booklet placed in front of her.

"Next weekend is your eighteenth birthday. It’s the day you both officially become adults, so your father, your two brothers, and I discussed it. We want to hold a simple birthday party for you. This is the proposed guest list."

"This many?" Arabella was stunned, staring at the booklet in her hands. It was a good ten pages long.

"It’s not that many. This one is just our relatives. Our friends and the company’s business partners are in the other booklets."

"What? This one is *just*... relatives?" The expression on Arabella’s face froze solid.

’Holy cow! This thick book is just relatives? Do we really have *that* many? Is there a throne waiting for us to inherit or something? How else could we have so many relatives? Back in ancient times, a round of "Clan Extermination Crush" would take a good long while with this many people.’

Eloise Donovan: Pfft...

The expression on Mrs. Donovan’s face froze as well. It was true they had a lot of relatives, but "Clan Extermination Crush"... that was a terribly inauspicious metaphor.