My Youth Began With Him

6

"Why are you here?" Jessica's attitude took on an antagonist edge.

"You look surprised." Christian smiled. Dressed in a white shirt and a pair of black pants, he looked graceful and sophisticated.

However, for some reason, Jessica inexplicably disliked this person. It was a feeling even stronger than what she felt towards Charlotte and Mathew Henderson.

As for how they were related, it was just a hot mess...

When Jessica's mother, Jacqueline, was wrong, she was a barely-famous C-list actress who specialized in historical period dramas. Although she wasn't necessarily drop-dead gorgeous, she was pretty enough and, riding on the arrogance of youth, made some bad choices. At one point, she was one of the mistresses of Lucas Henderson, the heir of the illustrious Henderson Family. She thought that, once she bears him a child, she could replace his wife. What she hadn't counted on was that both she and her daughter would be kicked to the curb.

The Henderson Family never acknowledged her illegitimate daughter, Jessica, either.

Christian was the current heir of the Henderson Family. As an adopted child of Lucas's wife, Mrs. Henderson, who was also known as the tigress, he had her full support. Therefore, even though he wasn't Lucas's biological child, he still enjoyed a high status within the family.

On the other hand, his siblings, Charlotte and Mathew, were the children of Lucas's favorite mistress, Lily, and were doted upon by their father.

Back in the day, Lily had enjoyed momentary fame as a celebrity. She managed to rise above all the other mistresses by taking advantage of various means and her intellect.

Right now, the Henderson Family only publicly acknowledged these three successors. As for Jessica, no one knew about her aside from members of the Henderson Family themselves.

Christian had checked on Jessica a few times on his own. He tried to give her money, but she never accepted it.

As far as she was concerned, aside from her last name, she had no further connection to the Henderson Family.

She never thought of that man as her father either.

She would rather give more of her love to her stepdad, Stepdad.

"Why would I be surprised? It's quite normal for someone like Mr. Henderson to be at a place like this." Jessica gave him a humorless smile. "Rather, shouldn't it surprise you more to see us common folk here?"

"Jessica, you seem to have something against me. Why is that? From what I remember, I've been fairly nice to you. Besides," glass in hand, Christian moved closer to Jessica and continued, "based on our positions within the family, you should really be calling me 'brother'."

Kendall sat next to Jessica, listening quietly. It wasn't really her place to say anything.

"Mr. Henderson must be joking. You are the heir of the great Henderson family and I'm just some commoner. By what logic should we be addressing each other as siblings? As for me having something against you, well, you are right. Did you know? There are people in this world that you really just hate from the moment you lay eyes on them. Well, it just so happens that that's how I feel about you."

When Jessica finished, she turned away from Christian, not paying him any more attention. She touched her glass to Kendall's.

Unwilling to give up, he went on trying to make small talk with Jessica. "Dad hasn't been well lately. If you have time, you should go see him."

"Let me know when he leaves this world for good. On the account that he donated some swimmers to my creation twenty-four years ago, I'd be willing to light some incense sticks by his grave."