After arriving at the airport, the four of them waited at the exit, while Elise deliberately put on her face
mask and fixed her eyes on the exit. Just then, however, two ladies hastily approached them and
recognized Jack. “Oh, my God! It’s Jack!” Jack immediately placed a finger before his lips to signal
them to lower their voices. “Please keep quiet about me being here, okay?” The two female fans
nodded vigorously. After that, though, they took out their cell phones, aimed their phone cameras at
Jack’s face, and started taking pictures. “Hey, don’t take pictures!”
“Please let us take a picture of you, Jack! We won’t upload the pictures online,” one of the ladies
pleaded. As soon as she finished her sentence, though, her eyes suddenly rested on Elise, and she
instantly squeaked, “H! It’s H!” “H? Where’s she?” Feeling embarrassed, Elise hastily pulled up her face
mask. She didn’t want to be recognized at all! However, it was apparently too late for her to do that.
The two female fans ignored Jack and quickly approached Elise, saying, “We’re your fans, H. Can we
get your autograph?” Elise was puzzled. She had disguised herself so heavily, yet she still got
recognized.
“Please be quiet about this, ladies.” “Sure! We won’t tell anyone about this,” the two ladies replied in
chorus. Then, they handed out their notebooks. Elise took the notebooks and quickly signed her name
on them. The two young ladies seemed to have forgotten about Jack’s presence nearby as they left
with a look of excitement on their faces. Jack was a bit unused to being snubbed, but he could live with
it since the ladies ignored him because of H. After all, he and Elise were a family. Just then, Alexander
pushed Adam in his wheelchair out of the airport’s VIP exit.
“Alexander!” Jack was the first to spot them, and he hurriedly trotted up to them. “Dad, Mom, you two
must’ve had a long day.” Adam looked full of life as he smiled. “Don’t worry. I’m in good health! I’m not
gonna collapse that easily.” “All you know is to play the tough guy in front of your sons. Shouldn’t you
restrain yourself? If Alex hadn’t arrived in the nick of time this time, you probably would’ve been dead
meat.” Upon hearing Madeline’s words, Adam could only reply with a smile of embarrassment, “Alright,
that’s enough. Can’t you save face for me in front of our sons?”
“You’ve had a long day, Uncle Adam and Aunt Madeline. Let’s go back and get some rest,” Brendan
said as he led them toward the exit. On the other hand, Elise stood there while staring at Alexander
before her. As their eyes met, they seemed to have many things to say to each other. In the end,
Alexander reached out his hand, and Elise threw herself into his arms with a smile. “Welcome back.”
“Uh-huh,” Alexander murmured. “Sorry that I made you worry.” Only then did Elise let go of Alexander.
Alexander didn’t notice anything strange with the face mask covering half of Elise’s face, but Elise
decided to tell him the truth before he found out about it. So, she said, “Let’s head back first.”
Alexander wrapped his arm around Elise’s waist as they walked out of the airport. As soon as they
reached the exit, Madeline couldn’t help but say, “Hurry up, Alex. Stop dilly-dallying.” This wasn’t the
first time Elise had seen Madeline. She once greeted Madeline at Jonah’s funeral before, but the two
didn’t speak to each other at the time, so Elise didn’t know Madeline’s temperament. Still, she greeted
her politely, saying, “Nice to meet you, Mrs. Griffith.” However, Madeline got into the car right away
without sparing Elise a glance. Elise felt somewhat embarrassed. “Seems like Mrs. Griffith dislikes me.”
Alexander immediately held her close in his arms. “Don’t overthink it. Perhaps she’s just tired from the
flight.
Let’s get in the car at the back.” Elise pursed her lips. She cared quite a lot about what Madeline
thought of her, so she couldn’t help being somewhat downhearted. When they returned to the Griffith
Residence, Elise held Alexander’s arm, saying, “Can you come to my room with me? I’ve got
something to tell you.” Just then, however, Madeline’s voice rang. “Alex, hurry up and help me carry the
stuff.” Upon hearing her words, Elise could only say, “Well then, you go there first. I’ll be fine.”
Alexander gave Elise a reassuring look before going on to help Madeline carry the stuff.
Madeline smiled at everyone, but she had been ignoring Elise since just now. Stella knew Madeline’s
temperament, and she knew what kind of a person Elise was, so she couldn’t help but put in a good
word for the latter. “Miss Elise is a nice lady, madam.” Upon hearing her say so, Madeline turned to
look Elise in the eye. “So you’re Elise, huh?” Seeing that Madeline had taken the initiative to ask about
her, Elise immediately replied, “Yes, Mrs. Griffith. Nice to meet you.” Madeline knew Elise looked ugly.
After all, the latter was from the countryside.
She couldn’t understand what her late father-in-law saw in Elise that made him insist that Alexander
marry her. In her opinion, there was nothing about Elise that made her good enough for Alexander.
“Elise, come over and let me take a good look at you.” Elise was somewhat unused to Madeline’s
sudden change of attitude, but she walked up to the latter nonetheless. Madeline quickly took her hand,
saying, “It’s been a long time since we last met, and our Elise has grown prettier. But why are you
wearing a face mask in the middle of the day? Hurry up and take off your face mask. I want to take a
good look at you.” Elise was startled for a moment. Before she could come to her senses, Madeline
reached out and took off Elise’s face mask.
“Gasp!” “Gasp!” The two women drew everyone’s gaze as they gasped. Madeline was startled for a
moment as she looked at the unfamiliar face before her. She subconsciously shoved Elise away,
asking, “Who are you?” She had seen Elise before, but the latter was very ugly and looked nothing like
the pretty lady before her. Instead of answering Madeline’s question, Elise turned to look at Alexander.
She could sense the flicker of surprise and puzzlement that flashed across his eyes, so she hurriedly
stood up and walked up to him. “Please let me explain this, Alex.”
However, countless scenes flashed across Alexander’s mind in an instant, and his feelings turned
complicated for a moment. He looked at her with a strange look in his eyes. For the first time, Elise
sensed him distancing himself from her. He shook off her hand, saying, “I think you owe me an
explanation.” Elise nodded. “Listen to me, okay? I intended to tell you this, but—” “But you chose to
hide it from me? You had many opportunities to tell me the truth.
Or did you think this was fun?” “No, I didn’t… It’s not what you think. Please let me explain this to you.”
Madeline was immensely pleased when she saw the couple quarrel. But is this pretty lady before me
really Elise, that ugly monster? Well, no matter whether she’s Elise or not, this alone shows how
scheming she is. We, the Griffiths, could never have such a woman as our daughter-in-law, she
thought.
“Seems like we came back at a bad time,” she said. Upon hearing Madeline’s words, Danny and Jack
immediately exchanged glances. Then, Jack walked up to Madeline, saying, “Mom, you must’ve been
tired from the flight. Why don’t you go upstairs and get some rest?” “That’s right, Aunt Madeline. Let us
take you upstairs.” Madeline got up with a smile. “Well, I’m a bit tired indeed, but Jack, I’ve told you and
your brother since you were little that the prettier a woman is, the more deceitful she would be.
Now you know that, don’t you?” Jack dared not respond to Madeline’s words, whereas Alexander’s
eyes darkened. When everyone else left the living room and only Elise and Alexander were left, Elise
said, “I didn’t mean to hide it from you on purpose. It’s just that I—”
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