He was aware of Ariana's profound yearning for his sister. She drank a lot yearly on his birthday, shedding tears before a cake.

Melon inadvertently witnessed this once.

Consequently, he often surmised that Ariana's sorrow would be alleviated if his sister were present. He believed that if he presented his sister with a cake, she would return briefly to visit Ariana.

Hearing Melon's words, Ariana's eyes reddened. She had not anticipated his perceptiveness to be so acute, his attention to detail so sharp. A pang of sadness tugged at her heart for him.

Her harshness from moments ago now weighed on her. With a twinge of remorse, she realized that he, too, had been scared out of his wits by the fire.

In a tight embrace, Ariana held Melon and gently wiped away her tears before her contrite words flowed.

"I owe you an apology, my dear. The tone I took earlier was inappropriate. Did it scare you? Are you hurt?"

Melon shook his head.

As her eyes lingered on the aftermath scattered across the floor, Ariana continued, "In the future, would you let me in on such endeavors? We can do it together. And remember, toying with fire alone is a perilous game. Do you hear what I am saying?"

"Yes." Melon nodded obediently. His eyes still glistened with tears.

After offering her comfort to Melon, Ariana joined Sonia in her efforts to restore order to the room. Although the fire hadn't been serious, the idea of Melon sleeping alone did not sit well with Ariana. So she took him to her room.

In a soft hum, she managed to Lull Melon into sleep.

Yet, sleep eluded Ariana herself. The return to her homeland rekindled years of memories, a cascade of recollections that kept rest at bay.

Yielding to wakefulness, she turned to her phone to check the news.

Time spent in distraction only led her to an empty search bar. An inexplicable feeling gripped her, urging her to type in the name Theodore Anderson.

For the first time in many years, Ariana dared to type that name on her phone.

Her eyes began to sting as she waited for the page to load, and felt an unexplained uneasiness.

But when she saw the results, she was thrown off.

Theodore's presence on the internet was virtually non-existent. There was totally nothing related to him!

Feeling strange, she tried her name, the Anderson Group, even Darian Anderson.