Turning Of the Tide by Diana Sander

Early in the morning.

Even though the person on the bed was still in a daze, the blanket was pulled away, and cool air hit her.

The man paused. In the darkness, he looked apologetically at the woman who had turned to look at him. "Sorry, | just took a shower." Natalie pulled him down to lie with her while reaching for her phone with the other hand. Before she could get her phone, she heard the man beside her say, "Don't look at your phone. It's three in the morning." She retracted her hand. She could hear the fatigue in his voice even though she couldn't see his eyes with the curtains drawn. Under the covers, she wrapped her arms around his waist and snuggled into his arms out of habit. "How are things going?" Trevon hugged her and rested his chin on the top of her head. He said in a deep voice, "Sleep first. You'll know tomorrow, okay?" How could she say no when he was already so exhausted? Other than agreeing, what else could she do but hug him? "Alright, go to sleep," she said.

With that, he hugged her tightly and fell asleep.

The two of them hugged each other tightly.

A few hours later.

The topic trended. The number of likes and comments was so crazy that it was as though they had bought bots to boost the topic further.

Every topic that was trending was related to the Larsen family. Be it tax evasion, salary deduction, beating of workers, and so on. Every craroused the anger of the netizens.

The news that spread like wildfire today did not mention the fight last night. The officials only released two simple announcements. One was that Sam Larsen was involved in illegal activities. He had set up a private casino and killed a university student. The information of the university student was kept confidential, and Sam had already been arrested.

Another piece of information was that the police had assisted in the arrest of six fugitives overseas. During the arrest, the six fugitives tried to jump off the cliff to escape. Unfortunately, they fell off the cliff. When they found the six fugitives at the bottom of the cliff, they were already unconscious. Now, three of them are in a vegetative state, while the other three are paralyzed for life. In the end, the police wrote that they hoped everyone would abide by the law and abstain from doing anything illegal.

The Larsen family's incident and the six fugitives caused quite a stir in Athana. Most of the people were scolding the Larsen family.

Downstairs.

When Sophia cback from her morning run and sat on the sofa to rest, she saw the trending news. She, who always talked about standing up for justice, jumped up happily and exclaimed, "Justice defeats evil once again.

Awesome." Shocked by her sudden excitement, Olivia looked up at her sister, who was punching the air beside her. She asked, "What are you doing? Why are you so happy?" Sophia handed her phone to her sister as she said, "Look, you should be happy. This is the consequence of hurting you." Olivia looked at Sophia's phone for a long time. There was a photo of the police arresting the fugitives last night at the foot of the mountain. However, they were clearly at the entrance of the stulast night. Why did her father bring so many people to such a far place? Sophia had recently learned to read microexpressions. She knew what Olivia was thinking. She quietly put her phone away and patted Olivia's shoulder. She reassured, "Don't think about anything else. Just remember today's news. They jumped off a cliff and almost died. It's that simple." These words made Olivia raise her head and look at Sophia. Her sister had only been overseas for a short while, but she seemed to have changed into a different person. "Sophia, do you want to consider changing professions? Jasper had said that these people are crazy. If you beca special forces soldier in the future, you will surely have to go against these people." It might be even more dangerous. Thinking of the six fugitives last night, Olivia felt a lingering fear. The fight last night was still vivid in her mind. She was a little worried about Sophia.

The playful Sophia then spun around in front of Olivia while asking, "Does it look good?" Olivia looked at her steadily. Half a minute later, she replied naturally, "It's not bad. It's just a normal camouflage uniform." As she spoke, Sophia hugged her sister like an elder sister. She said, "I like to wear it. This has been my dream since | was young. If there's a day when | can't take it anymore, I'll cback. Anyway, | won't change my mind now. My desire to fight is strong." Looking at Sophia who was standing up and boxing again, Olivia saw light in her eyes. It was an incomparably bright and proud feeling as if her entire body was emitting light.

"Why are you up so early? Did you go for a morning jog?" Natalie cdownstairs and saw her daughter boxing.

Seeing her mother cdown, Sophia stopped punching and did not ask about her father at all. She answered, "That's right. I'm used to training. My body feels weird if | don't train for a day." Ever since Sophia went to the police academy, her sleep had been especially light. She would be woken up cruelly every day. The academy was very strict. If she was late, she would have to run 5 or 10 kilometers while carrying weights. She had been punished once and had learned her lesson from then on.

Whenever there was any noise, she would immediately wake up. Last night, when she heard the commotion downstairs, she leaned against the door to check on the situation and realized that her father was back.

Natalie couldn't say anything to her self-disciplined daughter. Her two daughters each hooked their arms around hers as if what happened last night had never happened and no one had mentioned it.

They then walked towards the dining room.

Natalie had also seen the news. She didn't want to know the exact situation, but the result this twas satisfying. She wasn't so saintly, so there were speople she wouldn't give a chance to.

She asked, "Olivia, does your wound still hurt?" Olivia replied, "It's alright. | plan to go back to class tomorrow." Upon hearing this, Sophia said regretfully, "Ah, | just arrived and you're already going to school." Olivia explained, "My vacation is over. | had to take leave today. | don't want to fail, so if you miss me, cto my school and look for me." "That's fine, | can do that. Mom, did you drive my car last night or Olivia's car?" Natalie glanced at the two sisters before replying, "Olivia's car. Your car also has a full tank." Olivia had already sat down on the chair. Sophia bent and leaned on the back of Olivia's chair as she said, "Alright, I'll ride my bike to look for you tomorrow. | miss my bike so much." Natalie said to Olivia, "Olivia, you don't have to stay in school this month. Your father said that he would send you to school every day. After your injuries recover, you can do what you want, but he will send you to school when you're injured." Olivia refused, feeling that this was too troublesome. "Mom..." Natalie interrupted her daughter. "Be good. Don't let your father worry." Olivia gave in, "Fine." Sophia had an idea. She walked up and sat down in her seat. "Then I'll drive you to school tomorrow in my SUV.

Dad can send you after | leave. Anyway, | wake up very early every day." Olivia felt that her sister's idea was not bad. She asked, "That's fine too. Is that okay, Mom?" "Yes, sure. Let's eat." At the dining table.

Natalie asked Sophia, "How many days off do you have?" Her heart ached for her daughter, who had lost a lot of weight, but she knew that this girl was stubborn and could not be persuaded. Once she made a decision, nothing would make her change her mind.

Sophia ate her breakfast in big mouthfuls. She did not seem feminine at all and it was as if she was in a hurry.

She replied, "I'll head back the day after tomorrow." "Eat slowly. We're not in a hurry now. There's plenty of tfor you to eat. Have smilk." Natalie handed her a cup of hot milk and asked again, "Do you celebrate Memorial Day overseas too?" Olivia ate quietly, chewing slowly. It was a strong contrast to Sophia's wolfing down.

In a short period of time, Sophia had already developed the habit of eating quickly. Even though Natalie said that they had more than enough time, Sophia still finished her food quickly.

"No, it's just a simple three-day holiday. | took a day off, so | have four days. Mom, I'm amazing. I'm second in my class for all subjects this month, including physical fitness. There's another person | can't seem to beat, which | admit defeat." Sophia finished her breakfast and shared with everyone what happened in school. She only chose the happy and exciting stories from her training. She even showed her mother her punches from tto time. When she got too excited from telling the stories, she would even do a backflip.

Natalie pinched the space between her eyebrows. Her heart ached for her daughter, but she was speechless.

Who did she get this from? Olivia was speechless as well. She thought, "Aren't you afraid of flipping out your breakfast?" "Eat smore. I'll go see if your brother is awake. I'll change your bandage when | cdown," Natalie said before standing up and walking upstairs. Her last sentence was directed at Olivia.

The two sisters watched their mother's back as she went upstairs. They raised their hands and high-fived each other tacitly.

Upstairs.

Jasper was sitting on the bed, wearing black pajamas. The blanket on the bed was cold and gray. He was leaning against the back of the bed with his phone in his hand as he replied to messages with one hand. His wound hurt a little.

One minute ago, Ruby was still worried and sent him a message, [Is your wound better?] Jasper stared at the message for a few seconds before exiting the chat. He looked at the payment message that he had screenshotted and entered the chat interface again. He did not answer the question but instead, he asked, [How is Liam?] Ruby was a little angry. She was asking about him, but he was asking about her younger brother. She replied, [I'm asking about you.] Her tone was domineering and not as soft and demure as usual.

After reading the message, Jasper smiled. He replied, [It was just a scratch.] After going back last night, Ruby thought about it and felt that it was not as simple as Jasper said. She did not dare to send him a message too early in the morning and could only wait until now.

Ruby then sent, [Take off your clothes and take a photo forto see.] Staring at the phone, Jasper touched pushed his tongue against his cheek, and smiled. He replied with one hand, [I'm just as shy as Liam.] Ruby did not expect him to say that. It was not like she could force him to take off his clothes so she said, [Don't go out for the next few days. Rest at home.] Jasper then said, [Yes, okay.] After Ruby sent Jasper the message, she deleted the chat history and even deleted the backend records.

Jasper put away his phone and was about to go to the bathroom to wash up when he heard a knock on the door.

He turned back and moved so much that he gasped in pain. He waited for the pain to dissipate before opening the door.

He saw that it was his mother standing outside the door. Before he could say anything, Natalie asked, "Can | cin?" Jasper moved aside to let his mother in and replied, "Yes." Natalie glanced at his son's messy hair and guessed, "You haven't washed up yet." Jasper replied, "Yes, I'm going now." "Chere, I'll help you," Natalie urged her son, who was still rooted to the ground.

A few seconds later, Jasper followed her into the bathroom and stood beside the sink. She was already running hot water. Jasper said, "Mom, I'll do it myself." "When your wound is better, you can do it by yourself. Not only you, Olivia too. From today onwards, Olivia will be sent to school by your father. You can stay at hfor a while before going to the company. There's no hurry, do you hear me?" He did not immediately agree to his mother's arrangements. Instead, he asked, "Olivia is going to school?" "Yes, that can't bear to take leave. She's just afraid that she'll miss out on simportant knowledge. It's fine, your father will send her to and from school. Fortunately, the university is in Athana, so it's not troublesome.

Don't worry." "Compared to Olivia, your injuries are more serious. You don't want your body to be covered in scars, right? I'll help you apply the medicine after you finish eating. When your wound recovers a little, I'll apply the scar removal ointment that your uncle sent over previously. It won't leave a scar, but the scar on your chest will have a mark. It might not be possible to remove it with medicine." "It's fine. Give the medicine to Olivia. She's a girl." He didn't mind keeping the scar. It wasn't like it was his whole body, it was just a small mark.

As he spoke, Natalie handed the towel to him which he took to wipe his face.

Natalie continued, "There's more than one scar removal ointment. Your uncle has collected a few. I'll send one to Lena for Liam to use. Recently, the base has also been studying the composition of the scar removal ointment.

We plan to develop it ourselves." Jasper nodded and did not say anything else.

Natalie stood on her tiptoes and combed her son's hair. "Alright, you don't have to change your clothes at home.

Just wear your pajamas. If you're tired, sleep again after eating breakfast first." Fortunately, Jasper's physique had always been good. She checked on him several times last night and he did not have a fever.