Chapter 225: The Mother-Daughter Duo
Tina felt a warm surge in her heart as she watched Elsa stand up for her. Lily Ward’s face turned pale and flushed, unable to find words to defend herself after being publicly reprimanded. She knew she had acted out of jealousy and had seized the opportunity to belittle Tina, but now she didn’t want to apologize.
“Lily,” Willow called out as she approached with the Reed family, noticing Lily’s prolonged absence. As she entered, the crowd gasped, “Oh my God, it’s Willow herself!” “She looks so young! Nearly fifty and still looks like she’s thirty!” “Talented pianist and so beautiful, truly enviable!”
Willow basked in the compliments and glanced at Jasper Reed. However, Jasper kept his distance, indifferent to the praises for Willow. Instead, his eyes brightened when he saw Tina. Willow noticed this and became wary, scrutinizing Tina closely. The girl was exceptionally beautiful with fair skin and delicate features. Willow’s heart sank, suspecting Jasper might be interested in Tina.
“Miss Reed,” Jasper greeted Tina first. Willow was taken aback; could Tina be from the Reed family? Tina nodded slightly at Jasper.
“Miss Reed,” Annabelle greeted Tina warmly. She had tried to contact Tina several times to thank her for saving her life, but Tina had always declined due to lack of time. Now, seeing Tina filled Annabelle with affection.
Tina remained indifferent, nodding briefly.
“Lily, why are you taking so long?” Willow interrupted the exchange between Jasper, Annabelle, and Tina. She walked over to Lily Ward but kept her eyes on Tina.
“Mom,” Lily Ward called out hesitantly, unsure how to explain.
“So she’s Ms. Ward’s daughter,” Elsa remarked. She had admired Willow but was now disillusioned because of Lily’s earlier rudeness towards Tina.
“Ms. Ward,” Elsa said politely, “This man tried to sneak into the concert with a knife, and my sister stopped him. But your daughter insulted my sister without asking for her side of the story and refuses to apologize.”Please check at N/ôvel(D)rama.Org.
Willow’s brows furrowed as she glanced at the middle-aged man.
“Willow! I’ve finally seen you!” The man exclaimed excitedly, restrained by security guards. “I’m your fan! I brought a knife to protect you from harm!”
Willow felt disgusted by the man’s sleazy appearance but forced a smile for Elsa’s sake. “He’s just an overzealous fan; my daughter was only trying to protect him. There’s no need for an apology.”
Elsa was speechless with anger at such twisted logic.
“So fans carrying weapons is something you permit, Ms. Ward?” Tina said with a faint smile. “It seems there are more dangerous people at this concert than just him.”
Tina continued calmly, “Listening to a piano concert shouldn’t involve worrying about someone pulling out a knife next to me. I value my life too much for that.” With that, she turned and walked down the theater steps, followed by Hugo and others.
Other audience members also began demanding refunds after hearing about the potential danger and witnessing Willow’s defense of such fans.
Willow’s reputation attracted many influential people from Ensford tonight, who valued their lives highly. The news spread quickly through the concert hall; even those already seated got up and left without bothering about refunds.
In no time, two-thirds of the audience seats were empty. The remaining third were die-hard fans of Willow, but they appeared as extreme fans carrying weapons to others, prompting them to leave even faster.
Willow was furious; she had only defended Lily out of maternal instinct and didn’t truly support extreme fans. She avoided such people herself!
Especially now that the middle-aged man’s eyes were fixed on her with a disturbing mix of obsession and madness after her defense of him; it scared her enough to want to run away.
Tina’s few light words had emptied two-thirds of her audience by twisting her meaning intentionally. If this incident made it into the news, her reputation would be ruined! It might even affect her upcoming tour concerts, giving her jealous peers more reason to mock her.
She looked at Jasper Reed and Annabelle with a pleading expression, hoping they would help her.
Jasper kept his eyes on Tina amid the chaotic crowd at the steps where his people subtly pulled some strands of her hair.
Tina paused briefly and gave Jasper a meaningful look.
Jasper was startled; he realized she had noticed their intentions and allowed them to succeed deliberately. Otherwise, why couldn’t they get even one hair strand from her before despite days of trying?
Seeing Jasper’s unwavering gaze on Tina made Willow’s face change color; she became more convinced that Jasper had special feelings for Tina because he never looked at ordinary girls this way.
“Tina,” Jared called out as he arrived with Nathan Lehman and Hayden after being absent for a while.