âAre you saying that Iâve been to H City before?â
Ellinor found his question a little odd. âI suppose so. The person I met in H City should have been you because you remembered our online conversations with me at the time.â
After a minute of silence on AAAresâ end, his icon showed âtypingâ¦â
Ellinor was genuinely waiting for his response when suddenly, cries came from the bathroom. Her mind snapped into focus as she quickly typed, âSorry. My son is crying. Weâll talk next time.â
With a click of the enter key, she sent the message, closed her laptop, and hurried off to the bathroom.
However, what she didnât know was that AAAres immediately sent another message. âWhich city are you in now? Is it okay if we meet up? I want to understand my past.â
Ellinor didnât see this message because she hurriedly closed her laptop.
On the other side of the computer, the man looked at the last message in the chat box and frowned in disappointment.
Just then, the sound of Sophiaâs footsteps came from outside the door.
He logged out of the system and opened a news website.
Sophia walked in and called him to dinner. âMarcus, stop reading those mindless news stories. Dinnerâs ready.â
Marcus nodded and calmly closed the news website.
Sophia didnât notice the brief flicker of something deep and different in his eyes.
In the past three years, most of the information he had about himself came from Sophia.
He used to believe her, but his online friend just mentioned that he had attended a hacker conference in H City years ago.
And yet Sophia told him he had been living in M State since he was a kid, and this was his first time out of the country.
One of them was lying.
His online friend didnât seem to know his true identity and had no reason to lie.
So, it was more likely that Sophia was the one lying.
What was Sophia hiding from him?
Ellinor rushed into the bathroom to see Adrian crying and rubbing his eyes with his arms.
And Baber stood a little lost, watching his brother.
Ellinor didnât know what had happened, so she asked, âWhatâs going on?â
Baber explained innocently. âMommy, Adrian didnât want to undress for the bath, and I tried to help him, but he didnât let me⦠I tried to coax him by saying we could play with toys in the bath, and then he suddenly started crying.â
After hearing Baberâs explanation, Ellinor crouched down to ask Adrian, âTell Mommy, why donât you want to take a bath?â
Adrian snuffled and said stubbornly and pitifully, âI donât want to share a bath with anyone!â
Ellinor frowned. âThatâs your brother. Heâs not just anyone. Didnât you two used to bathe together and play with toys since you were little? Why donât you want to share a bath with your brother today?â
Adrian looked at Baber and then at Ellinor. âHeâs not my brother. I donât have a brother.â
Baber was taken aback. He seemed heartbroken and lowered his head in sadness.
After hearing this, Ellinor got a bit angry. âAdrian, what are you talking about?â