Buying Flowers

Dinner time.

At the long table, Mrs. Harris was meticulously setting out each dish. 

Suddenly, Damien Sterling spoke up, "Did you contact your family? How did it go? Disappointed enough?"

Mrs. Harris, holding a dish, trembled slightly. Was there a mistake with today's phone call? Was Damien going to blame her?

His tone, so flippant. Did the concept of family mean nothing in Damien's eyes? Did he derive his happiness entirely from others' pain?

It must have been her grandmother who told Damien about the call.

"Please, don't send anything to them anymore," Emma Hart said decisively.

Perhaps without seeing any benefits, they might change, Emma still held a sliver of hope.

"Such naive thinking," Damien's voice was a cold sneer, full of the disdain Emma found most irritating.