All The Wrong Reason episode 30

🌸ALL THE WRONG REASONS🌸
🌹 EPISODE THIRTY🌹

Over the next days, Adrienne spent most of her time in
the Starck mansion, getting to know her mother. It was like
they both couldn’t get enough of talking to each other. As
gently as she could, she told her how difficult it was,
growing up with Marina Miller, the woman she thought was
her Mom, who provided little comfort and constant negative
comparisons to her stepsister.

Yuan and Jill enjoyed Paris just as much. Jin took them
around anywhere they wanted whenever Adrienne desired
some alone time with her mother.
“Do you have a boyfriend, Adrienne?” Her mother
asked.
Adrienne sighed. She was reminded again of the
broken pieces of her heart. She hadn’t heard from Justin
since the last time he told her she’d be going to Italy in forty
days. She reckons he was still working on convincing his
parents to let him go. She had no idea how he’s going to do
it, but deep in,side her heart, she really, really hoped he
would succeed, so he could come back to her.

Adrienne looked up at her mother. “I did, but it was…
complicated,” she disclosed.
Her mother’s eyes narrowed. She didn’t miss the
shadow of pain that she saw cross Adrienne’s eyes.

“You loved him?”
Adrienne blinked back the tears that are threatening
to pour from her eyes. Then she replied, “With all my heart,
Mama.”
“Then why aren’t you together?”
“Because…because we can’t,” she replied. “His family
is rich and powerful. Apparently, he needed to marry an heiress.”
Her mother raised a brow. “Are you saying to me that
his family couldn’t accept you because you were from a
middle-class family? Well, now you’re not anymore! You’re
an heiress now, too.”
Heiress.
She still has not gotten used to that word. She didn’t
even know what it was supposed to mean and what
obligations or duties were attached to it.

“Well, his family already arranged for him to marry
some girl.”
“Oh. Well, I can’t say I’m surprised, considering it
happened to me, too. What did your boyfriend do? Didn’t he
fight for you?”
“He did,” Adrienne replied sadly. “His parents
disowned him. He still fought for me. But I couldn’t make
him leave them for me, Mama,” Adrienne said. “So, I gave
him up.”
Tears slid down her cheeks and she wiped them as she
smiled at her mother ruefully.
“You truly are a brave girl, Adrienne. I am so proud of
you, sweetheart.” She reached out to Adrienne and pulled
her into her arms. Adrienne cried silently in her mother’s
arms, wishing she had this luxury when she was entering
puberty and finally realizing how harsh the world really was.
Her mother pulled away from her and touched her
face between her palms. She smiled at her. “Don’t worry,
sweetheart. You are a beautiful woman,” she assured her.
“Don’t worry. I will introduce you to someone who is worthy
enough to claim your hand. Handsome, rich, smart and
powerful. You will forget your boyfriend in no time.”
She was about to say that she wasn’t interested in other
wealthy heirs, but her mother already pulled her away into
the house.

“Come quick! Let’s go to the salon. Nothing beats a
nice spa to heal a broken heart. And shopping of course.”
Her mother laughed.
Adrienne couldn’t help but admire the spirit of the
woman in front of her. She was contagious.
Wow! My mother rocks!
They went to a spa in one of the Starck’s hotels, with
Jill and Yuan. Then they had lunch with Jin in one of their
restaurants. While waiting for their car to drive them to the
nearest shopping mall, Jin came up behind her.
“So, is she wearing you out yet?” Jin teased.

Adrienne smiled at her brother. “Oh my God, Jin! She
is wonderful.”
Jin nodded. “Yes. And she’s waited for you for years.
So if she gets to be a little clingy or overprotective, just bear
with her. She will loosen up eventually.”
Adrienne shook her head. “I don’t care. I’ve waited all
my life to feel like this. Like I have a mother.”
“I know. And I’m glad you’re smiling genuinely these
days.”
“Thank you, Jin. If you didn’t find me, I would have
been sulking behind my desk in Manhattan instead of being
here in Paris, happily getting to know my mother.”
“You’re wrong,” Jin said and Adrienne raised a brow at
him. “You wouldn’t be behind your desk in Manhattan. You
would probably be in Boston…behind bars.” He teased and
Adrienne couldn’t help hitting him on the shoulder.

Then she smiled at Jin warmly. “Thank you. I mean it. I
will forever be thankful to you for bringing me back home.”
“And speaking of home,” Jin paused. “Have you
thought about what you’re going to do?”
“What do you mean, what I’m going to do?”
“Adrienne, you realize you don’t have to work another
day of your life, right? You have a trust fund just waiting for
you. We have a company of our own. You can work for one
of our hotels if you really want to work. And you can pursue
your love for writing.”
Adrienne took a deep breath. “I have a job at Blush.”
Jin raised a brow. “And you’d rather spend your days
with your heartless editor than your family?”
Adrienne bit her lip, not really knowing what to decide.
Jin did have a point.
“Come on, Yen,” Jin said. “Mom has waited for you for
so long. She deserves to get to know her daughter.”
Adrienne nodded. Jin was right. She owed it to her
mother. She needed to spend time with her to make up for
what they had lost. She needed more time to bond with her
new family…to feel like she belonged to a family.

And moreover…a new life, environment, new country
would take her mind off Justin while she waited for him. He
said he would find her after forty days. But what if he didn’t
come back?
She could keep herself busy learning how to live her
new life…to forget that her heart had sustained irreparable
damage. She would never forget Justin. But she needed help
going through one step at a time.
Adrienne and her mother spent the wh0le afternoon
shopping. Adrienne’s mother insisted on getting her a new
wardrobe and Yuan and Jill happily helped her pick out more
than a dozen different tops, a dozen different jeans, skirts
and other stylish items.
Adrienne didn’t really want expensive clothes,
handbags and accessories, but Jill and Yuan talked some
sense into her.
“It’s not for you, Yen!” Jill hissed.
“Do it for your mother!” Yuan insisted. For many
reasons.”
“Like what? Squander her money?”
“No. Like you’re her daughter now,” Yuan explained.

“She has a semi-celebrity status and her family is like the
crème of the crop. And since you’re the latest addition to
that family, people in their world will look at you, gossip
about you, scrutinize you. So, why don’t you give them something beautiful and good to look at? Some girl with
style and finesse, as well as the sense and the brains.”
“Leave your old self behind, Yen,” Jill said. “Your
stepmother and Kimberly can no longer hurt you. Change
your image, free yourself and embrace who you really are!”
As much as she wanted to argue with them, Adrienne
realized that they did have a point. She can’t be the plain,
simple Adrienne anymore. Because she’s no longer ordinary.
She’s Andrea Blanc. And she will not let others criticize her
for the sake of hurting her mother, her brother, or her
stepfather. She would not embarrass them. If they
introduced her to their world, she had to make sure that she
will make them proud.
So, they raided several luxury shops. Chanel.

Balenciaga. Gucci. Armani. Prada.
Her mother sat in a corner and worked on her mini
laptop while the three of them shopped.
“Buy anything and everything you want, my child,”
she told Adrienne. “You guys dress her up and don’t worry
about the bill. I’m sorry I just need to finish this intense
scene I was working on. I just can’t concentrate on anything
else.”
When they finally got home that evening Adrienne
probably carried more than fifty paper bags from luxury
designers.
Jin shook his head when he met them at the front
door. “So who’s responsible for turning you into a shopaholic
so soon?” He grinned.
“Mom. And these two.” Adrienne pointed at Jill and
Yuan.

“Come on!” Jill urged. “We just thought that now she’s
one of you, she has to dress the part.”
“Well, you’re right,” Jin said. “Mom will soon introduce
Adrienne to her circle of friends and sons and daughters of
her friends. They would be very excited to meet you. Not
because they think you’re an interesting person. But because they want to know what’s wrong with you and how
you could stain our mother’s s₱0tless reputation.”

Adrienne blinked back at her brother. “So…are these
your friends, too?”
“Hell no!” Jin said. “I couldn’t stand them. If they’re
not good for business, I don’t bother to know them at all. I
honestly don’t know and care about ninety percent of Mom
and Dad’s friends. I haven’t even met them. But there can
only be one black sheep in the family. And unfortunately for
you, I’ve already called dibs on the title!” He grinned. “So
they don’t expect anything good to come out of me. I’ve
gotten to the point that nothing bad I do even makes it to
social gossips anymore. They just don’t care. When you’re
bad, and you do bad things, people just ignore it. But when
you’re good… like you my dearest sister…and you do bad,
you’ll be talk of the town…tabloid meat…for a wh0le week.”
What he said actually scared Adrienne. The look of
shock ran across her face. Jin laughed and put an arm
around her shoulder to give her a gentle squeeze.
“Relax, Adrienne,” Jin said. “Mama and Papa never
really cared about what others around us thought. So you’ll
be all right. And I’m sure you’ll be a hit among the sons of
our parents’ friends.”
“I’m not interested,” she said.
Jin smiled at her. “Hmmm…speaking of that, where’s
the hotshot boyfriend?”
Adrienne sighed. Yuan and Jill gave Jin a slight shake
of head, as if warning him not to open a wh0le can of
worms.

“Oooppps!” Jin whispered. “Tell you what, let’s go out
tonight. Take your mind off things.”
After a few hours, they were at a club called
Rendezvous. When they arrived, the line seemed long but,
Jin led them to the beginning of the line. With only a slight
nod, the bouncer let them in. Others waiting in line just
gro-ned.
“That’s not fair,” Adrienne said. “I hate it when people
with money and influence could just do that.”
Jin grinned. “It’s not money and influence that got us
in. It’s just plain face value.” And he winked at her.

“Oh God, my brother is a first class jerk.”
Jin laughed. “And I’m just getting started!”
Jin introduced her to some of his friends. There was a
girl named Tara and her boyfriend Mac. There were brothers
Van and Victor, who were half-French and half-Brazilian.
Then there was the French guy named Jean, who looked
familiar, like she’s seen him in a print ad before.

“Yes, he is actually,” Jin said to her.
She stared up at him. “What?”
“If you’re wondering if you’ve seen him before and if
he’s a model, he is. He modeled for several perfume
campaigns.”
“Oh, that’s why he looked familiar,” Adrienne said.
Jin leaned forward to whisper against her ear. “He’s a
Yuan.”
Adrienne stared back at her brother. It took her five
seconds to figure out what he meant. And then she smiled.
Already, Jean had started stealing glances at Yuan.
Hey, Yuan is a very good looking guy, too.

“You guys look too much like each other to be hooking
up,” Mac said to Jin, referring to Adrienne. “It’s strange.”
“Nope, not hooking up. But that doesn’t mean any of
you guys should get any ideas, okay?” Jin had pointed a
warning finger at Victor and Van.
The two guys gro-ned. “Seriously, dude?”
“Seriously!” Jin said crossly. Then he pointed at
Adrienne. “Sister.”
“Oh!” the two said in unison. “Sorry.”
“I didn’t know you had a sister,” Tara said.

“Now you do,” Jin said curtly, not really wanting to
explain the wh0le history behind it .
“Seriously, Dude,” Van began to tease Jin. “Guard her
with your life.”
“That’s what I’m doing,” Jin said.
“So, where have you been all this time, Adrienne?”
Mac asked.

“In New York. Writing for a magazine called Blush.”
“Oh, she writes like your Mom.” Tara smiled. “I love
Blush. I have my copies delivered every month. Seriously,
you work there?”
“Yes,” Adrienne replied. “Me and Jill.”
Tara, a journalism major, asked for pointers from Jill
and Adrienne. Both women were happy to help her start a
career, should she want it. Her family owned Rendezvous,
and she didn’t really have to work. Yet she didn’t want to be
branded a good for nothing rich brat. She wanted to make a
name for herself, too.
They got home around one in the morning. Jill and Van
exchanged numbers after dancing saucily together. Yuan
and Jean actually couldn’t take their eyes off each other.
And Adrienne successfully made some more new friends.

Before she went to bed that night, she checked her
phone to see her messages.
Kim: I hope you’re happy! You successfully ruined my
life! Troy won’t talk to me. Mom and Dad are divorcing. And
Troy’s family thinks so low of me now. Congratulations,
Adrienne! You won again! I hope you die! Really!
She read the messages a couple more times, and then
she just hit delete.

She read Justin’s last message to her again. Over and
over. She tried her best not to call him. Tears rolled down
her cheeks. She attempted to make it through one day at a
time. Still, she felt so happy with her new family. She’s
happy that Jill and Yuan were both with her in Paris.
But heiress or no heiress, she still felt heartbroken
that she couldn’t be with Justin.