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Chapter 103 - 103 - Red string: I can only feel awe, not envy, not even jealousy

Lance stared at Sharon and smiled mysteriously:

"You must be thinking that he has always depended on his family to sustain his hedonistic life, don't you? After all, he is just a playboy, right?"

Whatever she was thinking as obvious was written on her face. Seeing that, Lance looked to have expected it, but he still shook his head in disappointment:

"Many people think like that."

Sharon blinked in surprise. Nevertheless, Lance's behavior made her revisit the confidence Alex had always carried himself with, a sheer inner confidence to the point of showing indifference to many things, her and the troubles she has brought to him included.

That was indifference from being unable to bother with things he considered insignificant, things unable to shake his world. That was not the behavior of a playboy whose hedonism was aimed at seeking validation, or at filling an empty heart, an empty psyche, an empty life…

"Actually…"

Leaning over and lowering his voice even more while keeping an eye on Alex, Lance whispered:

"Alex is a billionaire."

Sharon was taken aback. She had been waiting for some bigger revelation, but wasn't that obvious? The Lenner family was powerful, but beyond that, it was rich. It was so rich that a younger generation of its members being richer than some would ever be their entire lives was not a surprise. If anything, that was to be expected, because that was just how big the business carrying its name was.

So, how was that fact a secret that was supposed to be the answer to the mystery Lance was making himself cognizant of?

Her skepticism had Lance rolling his eyes in offended disapproval, before elaborating with frustration of teaching to an underachieving student:

"Self-made! A self-made billionaire! Alex is a billionaire, even when not counting what he got from his family. He doesn't need anyone to swim in hedonism for life."

Upon getting what Lance was saying, Sharon's thoughts stagnated, before her conscious reacted, and her expression changed to one of incredulity mild only because of her usual restraints on any outward display of emotion. Despite that, however, her heart pounded in shock, and she looked at Alex with a changed look in her eyes.

He was the same age as her, barely reaching the middle of his twenties. When had he then started to accumulate his own fortune to manage to pull himself up the ranks of billionaires so young? A billionaire in the go-to currency for international trades, not some of the weakest ones in existence. Even with the support his family might have been for him, that could not have been easy.

The incredulity growing in Sharon's eyes made Lance smile in pride, and he decided to hammer the shock deeper in her heart, even though he was bragging about someone else. His lips curled up higher, and he whispered again:

"If you think that he did it with his family's help, you got it wrong."

Sharon turned around in shock:

"They didn't support him!?"

Lance's smile deepened, before being restrained. His expression lost the amusement he felt at Sharon's shock, and the pride at the material he was bragging with. He stopped leaning over, and sighed, something looking like a lament on his face:

"He never asked for any support. If anything, he never even went around bragging about his achievement. If not for him not bothering to hide it, I, his longtime friend, would not have known anything. Even now, I only know that he is rich, he has investments spread around, and he has a café in the mall that is making the news lately even in its incomplete form. The rest of the iceberg remains a mystery. Sigh… So much for being a childhood sweetheart…"

Lance shook his head. However, his last words made Sharon's lips twitch, and somehow, made the shock in her heart melt for the most part. She restrained the smile that threatened to come due to the nonsensical words, and turned to look at Alex.

The few minutes their conversation had taken had been enough to take the wind out of Jenny's sails. The crisp cries full of sharpness had been gone for a while, and only stubbornness remained on her face after Alex had decided to start punishing the openings she was showing.

As miserable as the tableau full of determination looked, it was also full of affection, even with no word exchanged.

"It is not even his talent that is despairing. That is something you won't even see if you are not close to him. It is his success at everything he focuses on that is humbling."

Sharon didn't turn around, but her ears focused on Lance, and he continued in a low voice:

"Look at him. He has trained Jenny himself, and you could put her in a competition without being unfair to her. As for him, he could easily take to professional MMA, and you would not believe that his body got totally wrecked ten years ago. I can't even feel inferior to him. I can only admire him."

Sharon nodded in understanding, before she caught onto the piece of shocking information in Lance's words. Before she could finish processing it and ask for more details, a cry came from the middle of the room and interrupted her:

"Hah~! Brother Third, I give up! Please! I won't disappear anymore, okay?"

Focusing on the battle scene, Jenny was on her back on the floor, looking up at Alex standing beside her, still prime and proper, unlike her. Even his clothes were without wrinkles. He looked down at her pitiful expression, and a trace of a smile flashed at the corner of his mouth, lightening his gloom for a moment.

Jenny's expression brightened up, but she remained determined not to stand up, as she called with a hopeful glow in her eyes:

"Brother Third~!"

Alex looked at her a while longer, and let the smile that had peeked out spread on his lips. His expression lightened, and he started unfolding his rolled up sleeves.

"Alright, I have seen what I wanted. You didn't go astray while away, so I will forgive you. Go take a shower and come meet me upstairs. I will have a surprise waiting for you."

Jenny's face lit up like a Christmas tree:

"Yayyy~! Brother Third, you are the best!!"

Her tiredness seemed to vanish as she sprang up from the ground and energetically spread her arms to hug Alex.

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