Chapter 3 I Want To Stay In Radena

From where she stood, Roselyn studied the woman seated on the sofa. Sylvia's features were fine and balanced, her eyes soft yet clear, her posture relaxed without losing its polish. Even in stillness, she carried herself with an easy grace-calm, elegant, and quietly assured.

"It's good to finally meet you, Roselyn. Please, just call me Sylvia," she offered, her lips curving into a gentle, practiced smile.

Roselyn knew of Sylvia. This encounter had replayed in her mind more times than she could count, yet when it finally arrived, it still caught her completely off guard. Conflicting emotions twisted together inside her, and a dull, spreading ache settled heavily in her chest.

"Hello, Sylvia. I'm Roselyn," she answered, lifting the corners of her mouth despite the stiffness in her face.

Turning slightly, Roselyn offered a polite greeting to Jordyn and Kevin's father, Stefan Warren. "Mr. and Mrs. Warren."

Stefan rose from the sofa and spoke evenly, his voice carrying a quiet authority. "Since we're all finally together, let's eat."

Everyone stood and moved toward the dining room. Sylvia was gently guided along at the center of the group, as if the flow naturally bent around her.

Roselyn found herself left behind.

Kevin took the seat to Sylvia's right, leaving the place on his left conspicuously empty. Without looking back, he said in a composed, unremarkable tone, "Roselyn, why don't you take this spot?"

Sylvia's eyes flicked briefly toward Roselyn, the glance light and unreadable, before she turned her attention away.

Without protest, Roselyn walked over and took the seat, her lashes lowering as she tried to shrink into the background, quiet and unassuming.

Plates crowded the table, rich with color and aroma, yet almost none of the dishes were ones Roselyn truly liked. A knot of conflicted feelings settled in her chest as she kept her head down, eating in silence and offering little conversation.

Only when a sirloin steak landed gently on her plate did her movements finally stall.

"Don't you like sirloin steaks?" Kevin inquired softly, his voice unhurried. "You've barely touched anything."

After a brief pause, he added evenly, "I didn't know you were coming back until this afternoon, so I didn't have time to make your favorites. Just eat a little for now. If you're still hungry later, I'll take you to Aura Restaurant."

There was an understated warmth woven into his words.

Caught off guard, Roselyn looked up. He still remembered what she liked-both the dishes and the place she loved most. "Thank you, Kevin," she said quietly.

Sylvia curved her lips into a light smile and flicked Kevin a gently chiding glance. "Kevin, you don't even know what I actually like to eat."

A faint tension rippled through the room, the warmth at the table thinning into something more layered and careful.

Sensing it, Jordyn quickly stepped in, reaching across the table to serve Sylvia several dishes with practiced cheer. "Sylvia, that's not true. Every dish tonight is something you enjoy. Kevin made sure of it first thing this morning. We just didn't know Roselyn would be coming back today, so there wasn't much prepared to suit her tastes. Kevin has always had a remarkable memory. He and Roselyn grew up together and were inseparable as children, so of course, he remembers."

Surprise flickered across Sylvia's eyes as she replied, "Oh? Is that right?" She shifted her gaze to Kevin with a smile. "I do like everything tonight. I just didn't know when you started paying attention to my preferences."

Kevin lifted a piece of lobster and set it neatly on Sylvia's plate. "We eat together every day," he noted lightly. "I notice things. Remembering wasn't difficult."

At his words, a gentle, satisfied smile curved across Sylvia's lips. Turning her head, she looked toward Roselyn and spoke with an easy warmth. "Now I know what you like too. When you're free, you should come have meals with Kevin and me more often."

Roselyn nodded in quiet agreement, her composed facade impeccable even as a slow, uneasy tightness began to coil in her chest. So was there truly no time to prepare the dishes she loved, or had there simply never been any intention to do so at all?

Roselyn tried not to linger on the thought, yet the faint bitterness refused to fade, spreading quietly through her heart. Those casual words from Sylvia made one thing painfully clear-whatever closeness she once shared with Kevin now belonged to the past.

Once dinner ended, Sylvia excused herself, explaining she still had other obligations to attend to. Outside the mansion gates, her driver was already waiting, engine idling patiently in the night air.

Roselyn, Kevin, and Jordyn saw Sylvia off, walking her all the way to the entrance.

Ahead of Jordyn and Roselyn, Kevin and Sylvia moved shoulder to shoulder, their silhouettes effortlessly in sync.

At the doorway, Kevin reached out and brushed a gentle hand through Sylvia's hair. "Go on. Get in safely, and text me when you're home."

Sylvia's eyes curved with contentment as she nodded. "I will."

They looked unmistakably intimate, wrapped in a closeness that shut the rest of the world out.

Roselyn reminded herself that Kevin's happiness was all that mattered-that knowing he was content was supposed to be enough. Yet the ache in her chest refused to fade, spreading deeper with every breath. Standing there, she felt painfully insignificant, as though she didn't even deserve to be near the happiness that belonged to him.

After Sylvia's car disappeared down the long driveway, the remaining three drifted back into the mansion in silence.

At the bar, Stefan poured drinks with practiced calm and then passed a glass to Roselyn once everyone had settled. "When do you plan to go back to Zoinbury?"

An uneasy stillness spread through the room, heavy and expectant.

Roselyn curled her fingers together, gaze fixed on the floor. "I want to stay in Radena."

Silence crept in all at once, pressing down between them.

A crease formed between Jordyn's brows, irritation flashing openly across her face. "Roselyn, don't forget how much we've poured into raising you all these years. Kevin went out of his way to build opportunities for you in Zoinbury. And now you just come back like this?" She paused, voice sharpening. "Are you really prepared to abandon everything you worked for there-and all the resources behind it?"