A Warm Marriage After Rebirth

Chapter 196: Chapter 196: Sincerity and Pretense (5)

The smile on Seraphina Sterling’s face froze. ’Is he asking for a New Year’s gift? He’s Mr. Grant of Aethelgard; would he be short on New Year’s gifts? His buddies and sworn brothers in Aethelgard, not to mention all those people trying to curry favor with the Grant Family—their gifts would have to be extravagant and impressive! Why on earth is he so insistent on getting one from me?’

Seraphina Sterling’s slender brows knitted together. The worst part was, she hadn’t prepared anything at all! ’It’s true what they say,’ she thought, ’your worst fears always come true.’

”Don’t tell me you didn’t get me a New Year’s gift,” Terrence Grant’s voice grew dangerously low. Seeing the guilty look in her eyes, he felt an urge to tear his hair out.

”It’s not like you’re hurting for one more gift,” Seraphina Sterling finally managed, offering what she hoped was a reasonable excuse. But as she glanced at the exquisite watch nestled in the gift box, she couldn’t help but feel a pang of guilt. She peeked up at Terrence Grant, watching his expression. ’I hope he’s not too disappointed!’

”It’s true, I don’t need one more gift! But visiting someone on the first day of the New Year is a formal call! I’m your teacher. As my student, shouldn’t you have prepared something for me?” Terrence Grant ground his teeth in frustration. ’And here I was, looking forward to her gift for so long,’ he thought, ’only to find out she didn’t even think to get me one!’

’The first day of the New Year?’ Seraphina Sterling’s lip twitched. She glanced at the pitch-black night outside the window. ’The first day of the New Year!’ ’Technically, by the clock, it *is* the first day of the New Year now. But I only came over because I thought he might be lonely spending New Year’s Eve all by himself. I even brought him dumplings and prepared a New Year’s Eve dinner.’

’But from his perspective, I wasn’t here to keep him company and ring in the New Year. Instead, I’m making a formal call on the first day of the holiday, like someone visiting their elders or friends!’ Suddenly, everything felt terribly, terribly wrong to Seraphina Sterling.

However, seeing his eager expression, and thinking of the watch that so perfectly suited her taste, Seraphina Sterling pulled a hundred-yuan bill from her wallet. Terrence Grant watched, mesmerized, as her ten slender fingers flew, folding and turning the bill. The soft red of the banknote glowed faintly, a harmonious complement to her long, pale fingers.

In less than two minutes, Seraphina Sterling had folded the bill into a perfect heart. She held it out to Terrence Grant. ”Happy New Year!”

Terrence Grant stared at the heart resting in her palm. His handsome features went slack with astonishment, as if time itself had stopped. He could only gaze, dumbfounded, at the folded heart. ’Now that’s what I call a unique New Year’s gift!’

Seraphina Sterling glanced again at the exquisite watch he had given her, then back at the heart she had improvised from a hundred-yuan bill. ’Compared to his extravagant gift,’ she thought, ’mine is completely pathetic. It looks like something a grade-schooler would make!’

Still, Seraphina Sterling forced a confident smile. ”Don’t you look down on this gift. Its monetary value might not compare to your watch, but I made it with my own two hands! It’s full of sincerity! In a way, it’s just like your watch—purely handmade and incredibly meaningful.”

This wasn’t the first time Terrence Grant had witnessed Seraphina Sterling’s glib eloquence. ’She didn’t prepare a gift, so she just folded a heart and called it handmade and sincere! Only Seraphina Sterling could spin such a tall tale so convincingly, embellishing her ”gift” with such righteous conviction and without so much as a blush.’

As she met Terrence Grant’s dark, amused gaze, Seraphina Sterling had to admit she was being a bit ridiculous. Comparing her hand-folded heart to a custom-made watch... they weren’t even in the same league, let alone the same category, yet she had brazenly insisted they were one and the same.