Turning Of the Tide by Diana Sander

Hearing this, Chris didn't move. He was unhappy. He glanced at Kimble with a gaze that could freeze people to death. Kimble felt his hair stand on end.

Kimble picked up the cup and took a sip of water. He calmed down and said teasingly, "What's with your gaze? It's as if I'm thinking about your wife. Letanalyze it. Firstly, I'm single now. Secondly, someone has to pursue such a beautiful girl. Thirdly, | asked you if you were interested, and you said you were not, so | took action. Is that right?" Chris didn't answer any of the three questions. He automatically blocked them and asked, "Don't you need a buffer period when you just broke up? | wonder how true your feelings for your ex-girlfriend are." Kimble raised his hands above his head and made a swearing gesture. "Of course, it's real. When | was with her, | was wholehearted. | spent all my salary on her. It's just that we argued too much. The relationship also faded a little." Regardless of whether it was kinship, love, or friendship, no matter how close they were, they would break up if they quarreled too much.

Just as Kimble was about to ask more, Chris stood up and walked to the door. He turned around and said to Kimble seriously, "Stop asking around. You guys are not suitable. You're not her type." Before Kimble could react, Chris had already walked out of the office, leaving Kimble alone.

It took him a while to react. He cursed silently. "Fuck, what do you mean we're not compatible? Are the two of you compatible?" The next morning.

Chris had just stepped out of the door when Leia's figure directly entered his eyes. He quickly closed the door and jogged to catch up, side by side.

"Morning." "Morning." A few seconds later, Leia asked, "Is Stella not running again today?" Chris replied, "Yes, she's still asleep." Leia nodded and quickened her pace. "It's normal. Many people run on a whim. Those who can persevere either like to run or have to exercise, such as following the doctor's instructions." Take the gym as an example. Speople felt they could persevere, so they bought the membership for a year or even two years. They were in high spirits in the first days or the first half month. At last, the number of times they went to the gym during the year could be counted on one hand. In the end, when the membership expired, the remaining money on the card would be given to the gym for free.

Chris said, "Then you're the former, and I'm the third." "Huh? There's a third type?" Chris smiled. His smile was very reassuring. When Leia turned her head, she met his smile. For a few seconds, her soul left her body.

"Like me. It was my mom who toldto run." Leia smiled. "Consider it the third." Chris searched for a chat topic in his mind. When he thought about it, it was almost Christmas. "Are you going to spend Christmas at Athana? Or are you going back to Sapphire City?" After a few days of running, Stella had already asked all the questions she should and shouldn't have. Chris naturally heard everything. He also knew Leia was originally from Athana, but her family had moved to Sapphire City.

Leia answered truthfully, treating Chris's words as a casual question. "Back to Sapphire City. We've already sold our house in Athana." "Don't you have any relatives here?" Leia replied, "I don't have many relatives. My grandparents passed away a long tago. | only have one aunt.

Our relationship isn't good either. After a long time, we stopped contacting each other." Chris said, "Sapphire City is pretty good too. Except it was a little far from Athana.

"Yeah, | also like the weather at Sapphire City. Also, the houses over there. Athana is full of high-rise buildings.

There are more low-rise buildings in Sapphire City. It's beautiful, especially when it's snowing." "Then I'll go take a look when | have time." Hearing this, Leia's eyes revealed a trace of surprise. She did not expect this. "You've never been to Sapphire City?" "Yes, | happened to have surgery to perform when my sister gave birth." After saying that, Chris inexplicably wanted to explain something. He was afraid that she would misunderstand that he was someone who did not care about his family, but he could not explain.

A few days later, before Christmas Eve, every corner of Athana' was filled Christmas atmosphere.

There was a long queue in the supermarket. They were all buying goods for Christmas, and so was the wholesale market. Everyone was carrying bags of various sizes. They were visibly busy and full of the holiday vibe.

Speople were anxious and had already decorated Christmas trees in their houses. The clouds joined in the fun and descended.

It should be snowing soon.

At the Wilson's residence, this year was different from previous years for them. Everyone had a trace of sadness and longing in their hearts. Without Theo, it was as if they had lost their backbone. The closer it was to Christmas, the more Gage and Mary missed Theo.

Jasper wore a black down jacket, dark blue jeans, and bright air cushion shoes. He was holding a decorative ball and winding it around the greenery in the courtyard.

Sophia was not patient and was a pepperbox. The decorative lamp in her hand had already been tied into a knot before she could even wrap around it. It was a mess, and she could not tear it open no matter how hard she tried. She was so anxious that she ran into the house.

After a while, she cout with a pair of scissors. Trevon and Natalie were decorating the Christmas tree. After being with Natalie, Trevon beceven more down-to-earth. He had already fallen from the altar.

Natalie reminded him, "Be careful." The man was wearing a black sweater, and his tall figure looked unusually tall as he stood on the ladder. "Okay, don't worry." He could even jump down from such a height.

Jasper stopped what he was doing and threw the things away. He ran straight to his sister who was holding the scissors. "What are you doing?" Olivia was quietly hanging a ribbon on the other side. She only hung it on the branches that she could reach.

When she heard her brother's voice, she stopped what she was doing and turned to look. She saw her brother putting away her sister's scissors.

Sophia was speechless. She explained in frustration, "I can't untie it." Jasper was helpless. "If you have a little patience and tear it with all your might, you can untie it. Go to Olivia. | don't need you here." Jasper was too stern. Sophia stuck out her tongue at her elder brother and reluctantly walked toward Olivia.

Olivia was not too willing for her sister to help because she might have messed up before she could help.

She handed another good decorative lamp to Sophia. "This one, then." She meant she did not want to deal with the sdecorative lamp as Sophia. Sophia didn't mind it. She took it as long as it was not tied into a knot.

Trevon and Natalie glanced at the three children in the courtyard. Seeing that there was nothing else, they retracted their gazes and continued to decorate the tree.

Their son had a cold personality and looked more serious. Sophia was still more afraid of her elder brother than Trevon. The family all knew about this. Natalie thought for a while and subconsciously smiled.

The man on the ladder captured this scene. His eyes were soft as he asked, "What are you laughing at? You look happy." Natalie smiled happily. "Aren't you happy?" A certain man widened his smile and used his actions to tell her if he was happy or not.

Natalie said, "It's not bad that Sophia was afraid of Jasper." At least one person could discipline her.

Trevon wanted to say that he also felt flustered when Jasper was serious and did not speak. As he grew older, Jasper spoke less and less. He was even more solemn than Trevon. They would be surprised if Sophia was not afraid.

Jasper squatted on the ground to help his sister clean up the mess. It took him a while to untie the knotted decorative lights. Before his great-grandfather left, he had told him that no matter how rich his family was, it was built bit by bit by the previous generation. When they were rich, they had to learn to be thrifty. They could not waste money. When they were poor, they had to be even more thrifty. He had always remembered it.

Rachel and Mary were in the kitchen making pizza. She prepared to ask her daughter-in-law to send sto the Foster's residence. They would send sto the cemetery and tell Theo and his wife it was Christmas.

Compared to them, the Blackwell family was not as hardworking. Ruby practiced the piano in the piano room, and Liam practiced darts in the living room. Because Hackett placed the target too high, he always missed the bull's-eye. After throwing for a while, he lost interest.

Nathan was reading newspapers on the sofa. Joy was watching television s. Hackett and Sherri were each holding a phone and watching videos on the couch.

The maids set up the Christmas tree outside and cleaned the house.

The Roberts family was livelier than usual this year. There were three new people. With Ava joining, the Roberts family's holiday vibe would only increase but not decrease.

"Frank, this decorative lamp | chose looks good, right?" Ava looked up at the decorative lamp she had chosen. It emitted different colors of light. Various colors kept appearing.

After hanging the decorative lamp, Frank jumped down from the ladder and rubbed Ava's head, who was smiling beautifully. His eyes were filled with affection. "It's beautiful. What else do you wantto do?" Ava jogged in and saw Grace was holding the ornaments she had bought online. "Hang them all up." William strode outside. The two children sat in the children's area and played by themselves. They pulled the fence and stood up to look at their parents and grandparents at the door.

"Not bad. Not bad. This is the atmosphere of a home. Our Ava has good taste." Ava took the decorative lamps, ribbons, and small animal decorations out and placed them on the stool. "Let's put them all on." Frank replied, "Okay, up to you." The Landor family was equally lively. Edward was also decorating the Christmas tree. Rose was commanding with a big belly, and Harper was causing trouble. He tore off the small decorations his mother had decorated in the courtyard.

This caused Rose to curse angrily, "Harper Landor, do it again if you dare." Juana heard her daughter-in-law's voice from the living room. She quickly threw down the things in her hand and ran out to defend her grandson. She pretended to scold, "How can you make your mom angry? Your mom and dad decorated the things in the courtyard painstakingly. You can't damage them. Let's go. | will bring you in to play.” Compared to the other families, the Yamin family seemed to be fleeing. Four suitcases of various sizes were in the living room of the Yamins' Villa.

The door opened with a click, and Chris strode in from the outside. He looked at the suitcases in the living room suspiciously. "Is this house sold?" Everyone was speechless.

There was a moment of silence. No one said anything, mainly because they didn't know how to answer.

Shouldn't a person ask where they were going when they saw so much luggage? How could it be selling a house? Angie was the first to react. She rolled her eyes at her son and said, "Even if | want to sell something, | won't sell the house. I'll sell you." Stella looked at her brother's dumbfounded expression and was a little amused. "Chris, we plan to go to Sapphire City in the afternoon. Joseph asked us to go to Sapphire City for Christmas." Chris was surprised. 'Why am | the only one who doesn't know?" Angie said before Chris could figure it out, "I know you care more about the surgery. If there's a last-minute surgery, you won't be able to cback. After all, Sapphire City is a few hours away from Athana. I'll give you this key. Guard the house well." Charlie patted his son's shoulder and said solemnly, "Call us if you need anything. We won't be back for a while.

Your sister said that we have to stay for a few more days. The Roberts family and the Wilson family kids will go to Sapphire City for Christmas. We might cback with them after the third day of Christmas." Chris thought, 'Am | still a part of the family? Why didn't they informthey were not celebrating Christmas at home? No one askedif | was going. My nshould still be on the family tree of the Yamin family, right?' Angie was satisfied with the change in her son's expression. At the very least, he didn't reject immediately. "Take the key. Your father and | have asked the maids to go back for Christmas. Go out and buy singredients today. There won't be many restaurants open during Christmas." "No, Mom. You didn't even askif | was going." It was Christmas, and the maids were not around either. He did not know how to cook. It was too pitiful for him to be alone in such a big villa.

Angie suppressed her laughter. Her expression did not change. "Do you want to go?" Stella chimed in, "That's right. Chris, you don't have to force yourself if you don't want to go. We'll be back soon." Charlie clenched his fist and hid a smile. He turned around and went to the door to change his shoes. He was afraid that his son would see his expression. He would be scolded to death by his wife if he was exposed.

He hadn't seen Leia when he was running yesterday and today. He hadn't seen her for a few days. Chris thought she was sick, but his sister said that Charlie had given Leia leave in advance, and she had returned to Sapphire City long ago.

No wonder he hadn't seen her running in the past few days.