Seeing that Thalia was at a loss for words, Anthony continued, “I don't know what took place between the two of you, and neither am I aware of the reason he said that to you, but I've always felt that men sometimes say one thing and mean another. Sometimes, their actions are what that count.”
Thalia pursed her lips as she chewed on what she just heard.
“Of course, this is just my opinion; it might not be true. But I can tell you're someone important to him. He actually cares a lot about you, just like how Daddy is toward Mommy. Our eyes don't lie,” Anthony continued as he looked at Thalia.
The woman looked back at him as if she was looking for answers.
Is that so?
“Okay, everything I said is based on what I've observed. It's up to you to decide what you want to do. After all, it's your problem. It's late. You should get some sleep.”
Instead of waiting for Thalia's response, Anthony looked at Benjamin and signaled at the latter. “Let's go home.”
Benjamin got up and followed after his brother, but before he stepped out of the door, he turned back to look at the woman. “There's actually an easy way to find out how he feels for you, Thalia.”
“What is it?” Thalia asked, her brows knitted together.
“Well, the low-level trick is you can pretend to fall in love with someone else and see his reaction. The prolevel trick, meanwhile, is to test his heart.” “Test his heart?”
“In simple terms, a man will only say his true feelings when he's about to lose you. He'll definitely show whether he loves you or not at that critical moment,” Benjamin suggested.
Thalia narrowed her eyes as she listened attentively.
Sounds legit...
“But this is risky. You'll either end up in a win-win situation where both parties open up about their feelings or a lose-lose situation where they never talk to each other ever again, so just take it as a reference. Don't do anything rash,” the boy added.
He had forgotten that Thalia was a
loose cannon.
She would do just anything—no matter how dangerous it was—only to prove something.
Things cannot get any worse than we are now, anyway.
“What should I do exactly?” Thalia asked eagerly.
“Well... I do have an idea,” Benjamin replied.
“Go on!”
Then, the three gathered together while Benjamin shared his thoughts.
When he was done, Anthony furrowed his brows. “I thought you said this is highly risky, and you don't recommend doing it?” “But the low-level trick obviously doesn't work for her, so we can only go with the second way. Although it's a little extreme, it's worth taking the risk. Who knows it might work?”
“But—” “Benjamin's right. I'll do as he said,” Thalia cut in.
“But what if Spencer doesn't act according to what we expect?” Anthony argued, still frowning.
“Then I'll accept defeat. If worse comes to worst, we'll just end up not talking for the rest of our lives. To be honest, it's no different from how things are right now,” Thalia answered, looking at them with determination in her eyes.
Anthony pursed his lips, speechless.
“Don't worry! I know what I'm doing!” Thalia assured.
“Fine. It's your choice, after all.”
Perhaps it was because she talked about the issue with the two boys, Thalia felt comforted and at ease after that.
Looking at the kids with her eyes narrowed, she noted, “You know, both of you are full of smart ideas. Sometimes I really feel like cracking up both of your brains to see what they're made of. I know you guys are smart, but I didn't expect you to know stuff like this too, so detailed at that!”
“If you really want to, you can take Tony's brain. He's smarter, so it's more worthwhile for you to study his,” Benjamin replied.
Thalia smiled, looking at the boy. Well... Anthony is indeed sharper, but that doesn 't mean Benjamin's any worse himself. This boy is better at concealing his intelligence, so they are actually like day and night. One is conspicuously bright, and the other's subtly clever. They each have their strengths.
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