Dream or Not: A Devil or An Angel

Chapter 3: Conflicts Between Father and Son

In the novel, Eric treated Alaina really well. If she hadn't been so unreasonable in the stories, Eric would've given the Xu Group to her to manage.

"Alaina! You're finally out of the hospital. I'm glad you're all right!" Eric exclaimed, raising his arms up in the air. "Did Sheffield come back?"

The smile on Wendy's face faltered the moment her stepson was brought into the topic once again. Just as she was about to speak, her daughter replied quickly, "He's back. He's probably studying upstairs." She turned to her mother.

"Mom, I'm really hungry. Are you hungry? How about you and Dad rest for a bit, and then we can have dinner, okay?" The way Alina spoke was similar to that of a young girl. Her eyes glistened at the thought of finally eating after a long day.

As she grew older, she began to look more and more like Wendy. Wendy was a beautiful woman. It was one of the reasons why Eric had chosen her, despite the fact that she had a child.

Alina was afraid that her mother would start speaking ill of the hero, so she veered the topic away.
   
"You're always hungry. You shouldn't always think about food," Wendy scolded, but she still couldn't help but laugh at her daughter's adorable looks.

Eric patted Wendy's hand. "A good appetite is a blessing. Alaina just survived a disaster, so she must be really blessed. Since you're hungry, let's have dinner."

Peter, their butler, treated that as a signal as he rushed to the kitchen to ask the staff to prepare their food. Seeing that his son still hadn't come down the stairs, Eric motioned to Alaina. "Go and ask your brother to come down," he said gruffly. "It's bad to stay in the room all day."

"Okay, Dad. I'll call him." Without hesitation, Alina ran up the staircase.

Sitting in front of his desk, Sheffield could hear their laughter ringing up the second floor from time to time. He couldn't help but sneer at the sound.

He couldn't see what his father had seen in them. They were just a pair of social climbers – nice when you were in front of them and completely vicious when your back was turned. His father, however, treated them like treasures!

"Knock! Knock! Knock!" There was a polite knock coming from the door.

Sheffield quickly shifted back into the frail boy they thought he was and called, "Come in." With a click, the door opened.

His eyes darkened when he saw who it was. "Why are you here?" he snapped. It wasn't the butler, but his stepsister.

Before the accident, when his stepsister would come to find him, she'd usually open the door as loud as possible to irritate him. However, this time, she actually knocked.

Ignoring his cold demeanor, Alina smiled kindly. "Brother, Dad asked me to call you. It's almost time for dinner."

Brother, brother... If she called him brother often, maybe then he'd change his mind about her.

Hearing her call him brother, his eyes darkened further. He wanted to scream and shake her. Who the hell did she think she was to call him 'brother'? However, he could only reply with an "Okay".

"Come down, brother." After that, Alina closed the door and left.

Sheffield stared at the door with mixed feelings. He couldn't help but wonder what happened when she fell down the staircase. She changed a lot.

As Alina skipped into the living room, she saw that Eric was the only one in the room. He was too busy reading the newspapers for today.    "Where's Mom?"

"She's changing her clothes," he responded.

"Have you had a busy day, Dad? Do you want me to massage your shoulders?" Alina walked towards him. Alina decided to use this opportunity to get close to Eric. 'If he supports me now, he might also put in good words for me with Sheffield, if he wouldn't let me go in the future,' she thought.