What Separates Me and You

Chapter 53

Chapter 53 Witnessing Her Downfall

Everything happened too fast. Since Josephine didn’t make any noise after the bullet was shot in her face, everyone thought that Caleb was just pretending to shoot at her.

“Josephine!” Of course, Lewis witnessed the scene. He quickly reached out to steady her on her

feet.

Josephine was in so much pain that a burst of colors exploded before the darkness that was known as her vision. She almost lost her balance due to the pain.

Only when Lewis shouted her name did everyone finally turn around to see what happened. Then, they realized Caleb had just shot Josephine.

Lily quickly wrapped her arms around Caleb and pulled him away while pretending to be mad at him. “Behave, Caleb!”

However, Caleb refused to obey her command. Instead, he struggled against his restraints because he wanted to shoot Josephine again. His father, Derek Moss, quickly put a stop to his mischievous

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“Now is not the time for you to fool around, Caleb! Hand over your toy!” Derek grabbed the toy gun intending to snatch it from his son’s hands but the latter continued hugging it to his chest

stubbornly.

“It’s mine!”

Lewis let go of Josephine’s hand so that he could check her eye’s condition. Fortunately, the bullet only made contact with the corner of her eye, but thanks to the shot, her eye was completely red.

He tilted his head to look at Caleb, who forgot to react out of fear toward his icy gaze.

Lily quickly did her best to ease the atmosphere. She approached Josephine and pretended to examine her reddened eye in concern. “I think she’s fine. It’s just a toy gun, so the impact

shouldn’t hurt.”

However, Josephine’s affected eye was extremely red. The spot that was hit by the bullet started to show flecks of blue and purple as well, signifying the formation of a bruise.

Lewis glanced in Lily’s direction. “How did you know that it wouldn’t hurt at all, Lily?”

“It’s just a rubber bullet, isn’t it? How much pain can it cause? Lewis, I know you care about Josephine a great deal, but you shouldn’t be arguing with a child over this petty matter.”

“Then, should I argue with you over this so–called petty matter? As his mother, how are you going to resolve this situation?” A trace of mockery flashed across Lewis‘ eyes.

Lily choked on her words the moment she heard Lewis‘ answer. She tried to suppress her anger as she tried to defend her son. “It’s just a toy gun. Is it really necessary for you to-”

“Yes, it is,” Lewis interrupted mercilessly.

“What the “Lily couldn’t do anything about Lewis, so she could only turn around to seek help

from Robert. “Dad, it’s difficult for us to make the trip here, you know? Must everyone here target

us relentlessly? If you don’t want to see us, there’s no need to invite us back to this manor! This asn’t a diner gathering it’s a controntation! In the end, we’re still outsiders in this family, huh? That means

anyone can bully us now, right?”

Nancy became dresatished the moment she heard Lily’s accusatory speech. She took the initiative to speak up immediately Lily, that’s where you’re wrong If we truly viewed you and Youn tamly as outsiders, we wouldn’t have invited you here in the first place. It’s fine for you to be angry but don’t splash mud on the test of us When did I ever bully you in the past?”

“That’s enough! Are you not done squabbling yet?” Robert’s temper flared as well as he started. berating loudly It’s just a petty matter, yet all of you insist on making a big deal out of it! Should I build a stage for you to continue acting out this drama for the rest of us? Am I the one to be blamed for gathering everyone in the same place for dinner?”

Both women went silent immediately once Robert said his piece.

Then agam the older man never mentioned anything about Josephine getting injured, despite the long speech he had just given At the end of the day, it showed that he didn’t care about her at all, which led to him sweeping the matter under the chipet instantly.

Robert continued Let me ask you this–are you still having dinner here or not?”

Josephine kept her head bowed and stood there quietly. She could feel her eyelid burning in pain. It was true that rubber bullets weren’t able to hurt people, but it also depended on the spot whère

they were shot at

The pain was nothing compared to the pain caused to her by the grief of being alienated and neclected by everyone.

Lewis replied “Is it necessary for us to stay here and have dinner with the rest of you?”

Robert gazed at him coldly in return. “What did you just say?”

Lewis stated into his father’s eyes without a trace of guilt while repeating every word slowly. “I said it’s not necessary for us to stay here and have dinner for the rest of you now. Do you really think we can all sit together at the same table and dine together in an atmosphere like this?”

What Lewis said made sense, everyone was clearly affected by the incident, so dinner wouldn’t go well later.

At that moment, Derek stepped forward and tried to ease the atmosphere as well. “It’s just a minor misunderstanding. We’re all family here, so we can’t ruin the harmony between us just because of a small matter.”

“A small matter, you say?”

Derek’s smile froze on his face. Then, what do you propose?”

Lewis stared at him for a short while before a low chuckle escaped from his lips. “It seems that I’m making a fuss out of nothing.”

“That’s not what I mea-”

“Isn’t it dinnertime already? Shall we eat?” Lewis interrupted Derek’s words abruptly, now wearing a normal expression. It was as though he wasn’t the one getting mad at everyone earlier.

Seth smiled and spoke up at that moment. “Let’s move to the dining room instead of hanging

around here

Daphne hooked her army around his botore raising her head to glance at him, a mildly glum expreston on her lace

Meanwhile, Lewis turned to look at Josephine as he raised his hand to stroke the injured spot Are you still in pain?”

Josephine stated back, thinking that his concerned expression seemed genuine.

Lewis tended to behave like that Sometimes, he would be awfully close to her, making him seem like a moon’s reflection that could be easily touched.

When she attempted to touch the reflected moon oft the surface, she would realize that everything was nothing but a facade that would shatter at the slightest touch.

Lewis was the sort of person who would slowly lend Josephine to the edge of the cliff. There, she would voluntarily make the final leap into the abys

He would coax her and slowly guide her to jump into the water in search of the moon that could never be held with her hands. Then, she would slowly drown underwater.

As for him, he would be watching her struggle all the way from the shore. That man would witness her downfall with a clear mind and conscience.

Josephine averted her gaze and looked down at her feet once more in order to conceal the thoughts that were reflected in her eyes. After that, she shook her head.

Lewis didn’t comment on her eye anymore. Instead, he took her hand and led her to the dining

room.

Everyone looked like they were deep in thought once they took their seats. Naturally, dinner that night didn’t have an ounce of harmony and joy that should be present in huge family gatherings. Lewis seemed to have completely forgotten about the toy gun, seeing as he was making small talk with Derek

in a casual manner. At that moment, he was asking the latter about the situation of the company he had been running.

The Alvarez family was a huge umbrella that had countless businesses running under their watchful eyes. No one knew if Robert intended to treat his descendants equally or had other plans in mind

After all, he never gave anyone in the family the ultimate authority over all family businesses.

No matter how proud Robert was of Lewis, the most outstanding son, all he gave the latter was the position of the company’s president and 20% of the shares. The older man still held the ultimate authority after all this time.

Even though Robert had already retired from his position and rarely asked about work matters, he still held the largest percentage of the shares in the company.

Meanwhile, Derek’s company happened to be a wedding gift from Robert. At the same time, the former held 10% of the shares.

When Daphne got married, Robert gifted her the same things as well–10% of the shares as well as a branch company.

However, Daphne didn’t like running the company, so Seth had been the one taking charge. Other than that, the latter was also the vice president of the company.

The youngest Alvarez sibling was the most pitiful out of everyone. He didn’t have to work at the company, not to mention he didn’t have any shares in the first place. All he did was waste his life having fun in the outside world while refusing to secure a job at all. Everyone chose to ignore him at this point in life.

That was why people often said that huge and wealthy families like the Alvarez family had too much going on under their peaceful and harmonious facades.

Once dinner was over, the entire family gathered together and conversed casually with each other.

Lewis took up a secluded corner without the intention of joining any of the conversations. Instead, he waved at Caleb with a friendly smile on his face.

The boy gave him a wary look at first, but Lewis‘ smile seemed to be way too friendly, which made him drop his guard and gain courage in return. Just like that, Caleb found himself approaching Lewis.

“What?” He stared at Lewis intently.

The latter glanced down at the toy gun in Caleb’s hands while smiling, asking, “I noticed that you’re pretty good with a toy gun. Care to teach me how to use it?”

Caleb blinked stupidly for a moment before a smug look surfaced on his face.

“You’re pretty dumb to not know how to use a toy gun. Fine, I’ll teach you.”

The naïve boy then proceeded to teach Lewis how to operate the toy gun correctly. As for Lewis, he continued to smile and listened to his young mentor’s instructions seriously.

“Let me give it a try.” Lewis grabbed the toy gun from Caleb’s hands, who released his hold on it out of generosity.

“Am I doing it right?” the man asked as he pulled the safety off the gun and aimed it right at

Caleb. A faint smile curled on his lips as he did so.

Just as Caleb was processing what was going on, Lewis pulled the trigger.