Christine wade, who usually loved to talk and share her opinions, had been quietly brewing and serving tea for everyone this whole time, barely saying a word.
Her gaze kept drifting to Angie, and the more she looked, the more envy gnawed at her.
Seeing Angie’s appearance, skin, aura, and that healthy, collagen-rich glow, she felt like an ugly duckling, at one point too ashamed to even lift her head.
When she glanced at her own hands while pouring tea, she noticed the faint signs of ageing. Though she took good care of herself, skin couldn’t defy the march of time forever. Even if she never lifted a finger for chores, nearing fifty, Christine wade’s hands still showed dryness and wrinkles.
Then she saw Angie pick up her cup, those tender, youthful hands like a girl’s, and Christine wade felt even more inferior.
Angie had been curious all along. In her memory, Christine wade was always brimming with a need to perform, fiercely self-centred, the fieriest young lady in all of Eastcliff back in the day. Yet now, she was voluntarily serving tea for everyone, silent in a way that felt almost eerie.
Angie didn’t have a mirror in front of her, so unlike Christine wade, she couldn’t constantly see her own face, now twenty years younger.
Because of that, she had no idea why Christine wade was so quiet.
While the men discussed business, she didn’t want to interrupt, so she quietly began observing Christine wade out of curiosity.
At one moment, their eyes met. Realising they’d both been sneaking glances, they shared a brief awkwardness.
For Christine wade especially, that eye contact was telling. She noticed Angie’s eye corners, the area women dread most, where wrinkles first appear.
But Angie’s were as smooth as silken tofu, plump and flawless, not a crease or blemish in sight.
Christine wade’s envy surged, the gap between them feeling insurmountable. She lowered her head unnaturally, a flicker of inferiority in her final glance.
Only then did Angie understand why Christine wade kept stealing looks at her.
It was all because of Charlie wade’s Rejuvenation Pill drawing this attention.
As a woman, she knew full well the allure of a Rejuvenation Pill to someone at fifty.
Christine wade’s envy was only human.
But knowing Christine wade was Charlie wade’s aunt made Angie shift uncomfortably.
For Christine wade not to have access to a pill, while she’d just taken a whole one, felt a bit embarrassing.
Still, this wasn’t something she could control, so she could only awkwardly pretend not to notice.
Christine wade wasn’t daft. Seeing Angie’s faintly awkward expression twisted her insides, a pang of grievance nearly bringing her to tears.
Charlie wade was her own nephew—how had things gotten so strained between them?
She recalled being stuck in that Aurous Hill rental during the New Year, full of resentment, crying to the old man over video. If she’d known her nephew was this capable, even if he’d made her stay in Aurous Hill and play nanny to that shrew Elaine, she’d have done it willingly, no questions asked.
But regrets were useless now. She’d missed her chance to invest in Charlie wade’s “original stock,” unlike the Gu(Sun) family, who’d bet on him over twenty years ago and held firm through thick and thin. No wonder Charlie wade treated them so well now.
By comparison, she, his own aunt, had become the unwelcome outsider.
