She pulled open the door and, upon seeing Bennett, threw her arms around his neck.

For a moment, it felt like old times, when he would often come to her house, and she would fly into his arms like a little bird.

Bennett naturally wrapped his arms around her and gave her a light peck on the lips.

"Miss me?"

"Mhm," Yvonne nodded, leading him inside.

Monica came out of the kitchen with two cups of tea and greeted Bennett with a smile.

"Bennett, you're here. Have a seat." Monica placed the cups on the coffee table. "Last week, a friend came by on a business trip and brought some local tea. Give it a try; it should be quite good."

“Thank you, Mrs. Jones." Bennett sat on the sofa and took a sip from the cup.

The tea was decent, but he didn't drink tea often and found it a bit unfamiliar.

"You sit for a while. I'll go help Monica in the kitchen," Yvonne said.

"No, no. You and Bennett sit and talk. I can manage in the kitchen by myself," Monica said, waving her hands dismissively.

Bennett knew Yvonne wanted to spend more time with Monica, so he stood up with a smile. "Mrs. Jones, why don't I help you too?"

“Don't you start making a mess. The kitchen is too cramped. With three people in there, we won't even have room to stand," Monica said, then she and Yvonne went back into the kitchen.

Yvonne was still in charge of washing vegetables and meat. When she tried to slice a cucumber, the pieces came out uneven, and she almost cut her hand.

"Are you hurt?" Monica immediately grabbed Yvonne's hand to check. Fortunately, the knife had hit her fingernail, not her skin.

"I'm fine," Yvonne said with a smile, shaking her head.

"You're so clumsy, just like my Vonnie. Whenever I asked her to help me cut vegetables, the tomatoes would end up in all different sizes. When tried to cook them, they wouldn't cook evenly.

Monica took the knife from Yvonne's hand and continued chopping as she

reminisced, her voice full of nostalgia and emotion.

Yvonne stood behind Monica, watching her mother's back, and felt her nose tingle for some reason.

"Yvonne, are the eggplants washed?

Bring them over for me, Vonnie Monica started to say that vonnie

loved her fried eggplant, but she

hesitated and swallowed the words.

Monica sliced the eggplants, filled them with a meat mixture, and fried them in hot

oil until they were golden and crispy.

Once all the dishes were ready, Yvonne and Monica brought them to the table and called for Bennett to eat.

"Where's Mr. Jones?" Bennett asked.

"With that new murder case, Morgan's been so busy we hardly see him," Monica replied.

The only recent murder case near Istra was the one involving Clara and her grandmother. Hearing this, Yvonne instinctively asked, "Is there any progress on the case?"

"Morgan hasn't said anything about

it. I just know it's become a huge deal, with so much public attention. Mr. Jones and the officers at the department are under a lot of pressure. He's been working overtime for days now; I don't know when he'll be back."

Monica said with a sigh.

Bennett came over to help set the table.

Just as the three of them sat down, the front door opened.

Bruce walked in, his eyes heavy with exhaustion.

"Mr. Jones."

"Mr. Jones."

Both Bennett and Yvonne greeted Bruce as he came in.