The Reclaimed Rose (Annalise and Steven)

Julia looked at Gary, who explained, "It's so Casper can win Jessica back. The

poor thing decided to settle down with someone else because we hurt her in the past. Now that we have money and are willing to be more generous with it, I'm sure she'll come around.

"She might reconsider moving back in with us, and we can be a happy family again. It'll take some time to change her mind, but it's better than us not trying."

He wasn't used to staying in such confined spaces, either, so he told Casper, "I think it's best if you drop us off at a hotel."

"All right," Casper replied.

After dropping his parents off at the hotel, he returned to his apartment and sank into the couch. Then, he took out his phone and pulled up an old photo of Jessica. He had taken the picture while they were sitting by the seashore, and she had turned right at that moment to look at him with star-filled, loving eyes.

Casper had no idea how things had become so ugly between them. He texted her: "I finally understand why my parents treated you the way they did."

"I know the reason, too," Jessica replied, unfazed.

He was surprised to read this. "You do?"

"Yeah. I found out a couple of days ago, actually," she wrote. "Not that it has anything to do with me. It's your family's business, after all."noveldrama

Casper explained, "They're sorry for hurting you, and they even gave me money."

As he typed this, he sent her the proof of transfer that showed the amount Julia had wired to his account. He relayed his parents' message: "They told me they'll overlook everything that has happened until now. All they want is to see us get back together."

Jessica pointed out with renewed

resolve, "You've forgotten that I have money now: It'll take more than dollars and cents to woo me. Please leave me alone and get out of my life while you still have some dignity left, okay?"

Casper was silent for a long time. "As you wish."

Jessica stopped replying to him after that.

When Steven returned to the bedroom and found Jessica staring out the window,

he asked, "Something on your mind?"

drew

His voice drew Jessica out of her

thoughts. She answered calmly, "I was thinking about how fast time went by it hasn't even been a year since we met, and so much has happened. We were sneaking around at first so that Annalise wouldn't catch us, but we made

things official after you divorced her.

"After that, you realized the woman you loved was Annalise and tried to leave me so you could patch things up with her. But she had already move on. You then got it into your head that you'd be all alone and end up with nothing if you lost me."

Jessica stared at him evenly. "So you came back to me. To someone else, a story like that would have taken years to pan out. And yet, it happened to us in just under a year. It's kind of amazing now that I think about it."

Steven embraced her from behind and murmured, "I've made a lot of wrong moves in the past, but I won't make the same mistakes again. You have my word."

"All right," Jessica said, putting all her faith in him.

...

After tucking Willow in, Zane padded over to the room and caught me up to speed on the latest work developments. "Now that the movie script has been set, we'll start the casting and filming process."