Chapter 10: A Warm Home

"What did you say? Adam, you're really getting out of hand. You won't even listen to me anymore? Tell me, what's so great about that damn Emily? How can she compare to Vivian? Say something! Don't you dare bring her back here, you hear me!"

Catherine kept nagging on and on over the phone. Adam couldn't take it anymore and simply hung up.

Instantly, the world became quiet.

At the same time, Emily had just woken up from her sleep.

Looking at the familiar decorations around her, she suddenly felt like she was waking from a dream.

She was back home.

She had gotten home close to seven in the morning. To her surprise, her parents were already awake and quickly opened the door to welcome her back.

She hadn't slept long after getting home. Adding the time she slept in the car yesterday, it was about five hours total.

Maybe it was because of the habits she'd formed at the Blake family, but right at eight o'clock, she woke up on time.

Back at the Blake family, she used to get up at eight every morning to prepare breakfast for Adam. After several years, she had developed this habit.

Emily clutched the blanket tightly, looking at the unchanged furnishings in the room, the spotlessly clean floor, the dust-free dresser, and so on. It wasn't hard to tell that someone still cleaned her room every day.

Even the bedding was clean and fresh, with the scent of laundry detergent and that comfortable feeling of being sun-dried.

Lying in her familiar bed, she even felt the urge to stay in bed.

It felt like going back many years to when she still lived at home.

Back then, she could live however she wanted, wake up whenever she felt like it, free and easy, relaxed and happy.

Just then, sounds from downstairs caught Emily's attention. She got out of bed, quickly washed up, changed into clean clothes, and went downstairs.

"Hurry up, this fish needs to be cooked fresh to taste good."

"Do I need you to tell me that? Just worry about your own pot! My fried fish is perfect in every way - color, aroma, and taste. Emily used to love it!"

"Look at you being all proud! Quick, give me the scallions. I need them for the dish. I wonder if her taste has changed after all these years away."

Emily's parents, Alex Hart and Sarah Hart, were chatting and laughing as they busied themselves in the kitchen. One was prepping ingredients, the other was cooking, occasionally giving each other pointers.

They were clearly two people in high positions, holding enormous wealth, yet on this day of Emily's return, they were like an ordinary couple, clumsily working in the kitchen, making their specialty dishes.

Emily watched this scene, and her eyes started to well up.

"Dad, Mom!"

She hurried over and hugged them both. Her tears could no longer be held back and streamed down her face.

"Emily, why are you up so early?"

Alex was still holding a spatula. He had felt a bit embarrassed about Emily discovering him cooking - he had wanted to prepare a surprise.

But seeing Emily cry, his heart immediately ached. "Emily, what's wrong? Did someone bully you? I'll go deal with them!"

"Yes, Emily, what's the matter? Did someone hurt you?" Sarah asked worriedly. Emily had always been their princess, cherished and protected.

She had been away for so many years - they didn't dare think about how much she had suffered. She didn't even dare ask!

Anyway, Emily was back now, and that was the best thing possible.

Sarah didn't want to think about anything else. She just wanted to take good care of Emily. Seeing how thin she had become broke her heart. She wanted to make lots of good food to help her regain her health.

"Dad, Mom, I'm fine. I just missed you so much."

Emily wiped her eyes and let go of them, feeling a bit embarrassed.

At her age, crying like this - Emily felt a bit shy about it.

It was just that she hadn't seen her family in so long, and suddenly her emotions got out of control. Even she didn't know what came over her.

Fortunately, the emotion came quickly and left quickly. She had already calmed down now.

"Really nothing's wrong? If something happened, you must tell me and your mom." Alex stared at Emily's face, pressing her, as if afraid she would keep her grievances bottled up inside.

"Emily already said nothing's wrong. Why do you keep asking? Go make your fried fish! If Emily gets too hungry, I'm holding you responsible!"

Sarah angrily slapped Alex on the back. Alex cried out and begged for mercy, looking flustered, successfully making Emily laugh.

These were her parents. Their relationship was still so good after decades, enviably so.

Only a family like this could make her miss it so much.

She had been too foolish before, not knowing how to cherish it. Only after losing it did she regret it, but it was already too late.

"Emily? When did you get back? I thought your flight was this afternoon?"

Just then, someone came downstairs, yawning.

He was wearing a white shirt and looked tall and handsome, like a model.

But when he spoke, his true nature showed through - he had a kind of annoying quality.

This was Emily's older brother, Jack.

Jack was probably angrier than anyone about Emily's stubbornness and willfulness back then, but he also felt more sorry for her suffering during this time than anyone else.

After all, she was his little sister, always spoiled by him. How dare others bully his sister?

"I changed to a flight last night, got to the airport at two in the morning." Emily explained, then hesitated before continuing, "Noah picked me up last night."

Hearing this, Alex and Sarah exchanged glances but said nothing.

Jack, however, said with a half-smile, "That was thoughtful of him, at least he knew to pick you up. But he brought you back in the middle of the night?"

"Yes, it was almost dawn when I got home." Emily nodded, then said somewhat embarrassed, "I'm sorry, Jack. After he dropped me off yesterday, he didn't wait for anyone else. I'm guessing he might have been at the airport to pick someone up. I don't know if that was inappropriate."

Jack shook his head with a smile. "What are you overthinking? With his status, who would be worth him making a special trip for?"

"Then why was he at the airport so late?"

Jack looked at his sister who was foolish without knowing it, sighed silently, and reached out to ruffle her hair. "Why worry about it? Don't worry, he definitely already picked up the person he wanted to meet."