"I came here with my kids, and I'll be here for about two to three months. Rain mentioned the other day that he wanted to introduce you to me. I didn't expect that we would meet like this without his help." Since her having her own children was no longer a secret, it was not necessary for her to hide it.
"Really? Rain has told you that?" It seemed that everyone had seen Annie and known that she was in town, except for her.
"Yes he did! He had nothing but good words and praise for you." Rain was right about Leena. She was one of the easiest people to get along with.
"Pfft! Please stop! I still have a lot of shortcomings." Leena was a little embarrassed. It was supposed to be a good thing to be praised, but when the praise was conveyed by others, she felt a little weird.
"Don't be too humble. We're used to following behind your shadow anyway." Patricia stared at Leena with a bit of exasperation, because whenever Tom got angry at her, he always complained and told her to be more like Leena and learn more from her. So over repeated arguments, she had the suspicion that it was Leena, not herself, that Tom was in love with.
"Yes! Luke always said that to me as well and asked me to learn more from Leena." Michelle felt helpless and just threw her hands in the air and rolled her eyes. It was not that she didn't want to but it was really not an easy thing to do. Following Leena's footsteps to the Top? Impossible! Leena was simply the darling of the gods. In any way, she could show and had always shown her talents, so highly that it made others feel inadequate and ashamed about themselves.
"It seems that your excellence is really worth it." Thinking of her previous misunderstanding about her, Annie felt a moment of shame. Since Leena was not Rain's wife, then the man she saw a few days ago should be Leena's husband! She didn't know what his job was but she felt that he looked quite handsome and upright.
"Oh, c'mon you guys! Don't even talk about me anymore. Annie has just arrived at S City, and we should know more about her. " Leena's pretty face reddened as she unexpectedly was put in the hot seat. She never thought that she would be the one to be put on the spot.
"Annie, how old are your children?" said Patricia. Hearing such an offer from Leena, she immediately asked, because the most she had heard during recent times was that Rain had been waiting for the return of his lover, but in vain. So she really wanted to know why Annie turned her back on Rain and fell in love with someone else.
"After the Spring Festival, they should be four years old. What about you? I guess you all, already have children!" Annie said in a pretty confident way. As an experienced mother, she was adept at observing them and she also saw that many of their shopping bags were all filled with children's items.
"Yes! They are almost three years old. But Leena's child is a few months younger than my son and Michelle's," said Patricia Speaking of children, Patricia still remembered Leena's prickling pain in her bones, feeling as if it was just yesterday, jotted clearly in her memory.
"I recognize Lenna's son. His name is Richard, right? I saw him one time at a wine reception party held by the FX International Group. He was very cute." 'At that time, I mistakenly thought that the little guy was Rain's child, and now I feel so ashamed to even have thought about it. But I also blame Rain for not explaining it clearly to me at that time, which was why I made such a big mistake.' Annie kept those thoughts in her mind.
"Thank you! Annie, your children's father didn't come here together with you?" Leena asked and tried to squeeze out more information from Annie. Yet, she was increasingly annoyed at herself as she was digging too much into someone's privacy. But she had to, since she wanted to know more about her for Rain.
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