The next morning.

It was no longer Veronica’s birthday, but she was still thinking about her past birthdays right after waking up.

She vividly remembered her sixth birthday, when she asked her dad during breakfast as to what gift he was going to buy for her birthday. Jacob replied, “You are too young to receive gifts.”

And ever since then, he repeated similar sentences until she turned 18. She demanded a big gift from him on her 18th birthday, and Jacob said, “You are an adult, so you shouldn’t be asking for gifts.”

In the end, Jacob never gave Veronica a single birthday present. He didn’t give gifts to Rebecca, either, at least not until she became a successful fashion designer. However, he gave gifts to his two sons every year.

There were times when Veronica cried because of the partiality his father had shown on his sons, and Selena had to console her during those times.

Veronica was now old enough she didn’t need any consoling. She was looking at the painting of a lake dazzling un