Chapter 82: Not a Real Brother, Right?
Quincy said with disgust, "Alright, let's stop talking about that killjoy. Let's talk about where we're going next."
I thought for a moment and said, "It's almost noon. Let's find a nearby restaurant to eat."
"Sounds good."
At the mention of food, Quincy's mood clearly lifted quite a bit.
"I know a really good restaurant nearby. Let's go try it together."
"Sure."
The driver drove us to the restaurant Quincy mentioned. As soon as I stepped into the restaurant, I saw a familiar figure in the distance.
Seeing the man's back, I smiled. What a small world - we had just mentioned Kenneth, and now we ran into him.
I patted Quincy on the shoulder and said, "Look, who's that?"
Quincy looked up, and just then Kenneth at the front also looked up. The moment he saw us, he walked over.
"Helena, Quincy, what are you doing here?"
Though he addressed both of us, Kenneth's eyes stayed on Quincy the whole time, not moving away at all.
"What a coincidence! Quincy said she wanted to try this restaurant. Kenneth, what are you doing here?"
"I just saw off a client."
Kenneth gestured behind him and said, "Why don't you come up with me? It's hard to get a table at this time, but I have a private room reserved that's still empty. You can use it."
"We're fine on our own."
Quincy said this and headed straight for the elevator on her own.
She completely missed the flash of disappointment on Kenneth's face.
"Kenneth, let's go together. Don't listen to Quincy. Just now in the car, she was saying she hasn't seen you in a long time. Let's sit down and have a good chat."
Hearing my words, a smile appeared on Kenneth's face. "Really? Did Quincy really say that?"
"It's true. I wouldn't lie to you."
I pointed at the elevator and said, "Hurry up, Quincy's waiting for us."
Kenneth turned to look, and immediately a smile appeared on his face. He followed behind me toward the elevator.
Seeing Kenneth follow, Quincy's expression remained sour the whole time. Seeing her like this, I tugged hard on her sleeve, signaling her to tone it down a bit.
Quincy shook off my hand defiantly and walked out of the elevator huffily.
Seeing Quincy being so uncooperative, I was afraid Kenneth would get angry, so I quickly put on a friendly face and said, "Kenneth, let's go."
After entering the room, a server handed us menus. Kenneth took one and turned to Quincy, "Quincy, what would you like to eat?"
Quincy rolled her eyes and grumbled unhappily, "Seeing you kills my appetite. I don't want to eat anything!"
"Kenneth, just order whatever. You know all of Quincy's preferences anyway."
I quickly stood up to ease the atmosphere. Seeing this, Kenneth's eyes dimmed a bit. He quietly pointed at the menu and said, "Bring all these dishes."
"Okay."
After the server left, Kenneth's gaze fell on Serenity.
"And this is?"
"She's Serenity, my cousin." After my introduction, Kenneth withdrew his gaze, completely indifferent to Serenity's presence.
He looked at Quincy again and said, "Quincy, Dad really misses you. Could you find time to go back and visit?"
"Go back for what? To watch your happy family of three? Forget it. I've been watching this act since I was little. I don't want to see it anymore."
"Now he wants to put on a show of family harmony? What was he doing all those years ago? It's too late now!"
Quincy snorted coldly and added, "And stop calling me Quincy."
Kenneth's serious face showed a hint of a smile after hearing her complaint. He shook his head and said, "Okay, Quin. Is it okay if I call you that?"
"Who said you could call me Quin!"
Quincy was nearly furious hearing this. She glared at him angrily and said, "Who gave you permission to call me that so intimately? You're not my brother. Didn't you say you didn't have a sister like me!"
Quincy's words left Kenneth quite helpless. "That was just a thoughtless joke I made when we were kids. How can you still remember it now?"
Quincy said expressionlessly, "I can tell whether it was a joke or not. And I was already eighteen at the time."
"I'm sorry."
Kenneth placed his hand over Quincy's, looking at her intently. "I apologize for the hurtful things I said. Can you forgive me?"
"Or rather, what can I do to make you forgive me?"
Quincy pulled her hand away expressionlessly. "No need. I don't need you to do anything anymore."
Kenneth's expression darkened. "Quincy, must you keep being so distant with me? Don't you know I've been hoping for you to come home?"
"Come home?"
Quincy gave a self-mocking laugh. "No need. Ever since you and your mother moved in that year, that place stopped being my home."
"I'll never go back."
Hearing this, disappointment flashed in Kenneth's eyes. He leaned heavily back in his chair, rubbing his forehead hard.
Seeing the atmosphere getting tense, I quickly changed the subject. "Kenneth, we haven't seen each other in years. Are you working at Mr. Blake's company now?"
Kenneth nodded. "Yes. Quincy won't come back, but Father is getting old and his health is getting worse every day. I had to step in temporarily, just hoping that Quincy will come around and go back to take over for Father."
As Kenneth spoke, he couldn't help but look at Quincy, but Quincy just kept staring at the food in front of her, eating one bite after another, completely ignoring Kenneth's words.
Seeing this, Kenneth sighed heavily and turned to me. "Helena, don't just talk. Eat up before it gets cold."
I knew the conflict between Kenneth and Quincy couldn't be resolved quickly. I tactfully stopped bringing up the topic and chatted with Kenneth about business matters instead, making small talk.
Time passed quickly. When we were almost done eating, Quincy stood up directly, wanting to pay the bill.
Seeing this, Kenneth quickly beat her to it. "How could I let you pay?"
He grabbed the receipt and said to the server, "Put it on my account."
"Okay."
After the server noted it down and left, Quincy silently picked up her bag and walked out.
"Quincy."
Seeing this, Kenneth quickly turned back to me. "Helena, you all continue. If you need anything else, just order it. Put it all on my account. Don't be shy."
Then he hurriedly chased after her. After they left, Serenity said somewhat enviously, "Kenneth is really good to Quincy, but why does Quincy act like that?"
She sighed and said, "If I had such an outstanding brother, I'd follow him around every day."
"Helena, isn't Kenneth Quincy's real brother?"
I nodded. "Stepbrother."
After saying this, I didn't want to discuss Quincy's family matters with her anymore. I stood up directly and said, "Let's go."
"What about all this food on the table? Are we just leaving it?"
Serenity looked somewhat regretfully at the leftover food on the table. I smiled and said, "Why don't you just pack it up and take it home?"
"That wouldn't be right. Even if I took it home, Dad wouldn't eat it."
At this point, Serenity shook her head. "Forget it, Helena, let's just go."
Then she smiled at me and said, "Helena, don't laugh at me. I'm just used to being frugal because my family is poor. Suddenly seeing such a big table of food go to waste, I feel a bit bad about it."