Hi Ex, Your Uncle Is My Hubby Now - Chapter 99: Chapter 99

Noah grinned excitedly at Irene and urged, "Hey, Irene, come see what awesome present Jeremy has got you!"
No sooner had they gotten in the car than Noah eagerly nudged Irene, urging, "Come on, check out the gifts!"
Though Austin said nothing, his eyes were drawn to the gift box.
"Shall I take a look?" Irene asked, her curiosity piqued.
"Come on, open it now!" Noah urged excitedly.
Irene opened the jewelry box—and wow, the dazzling goldfish brooch inside nearly blinded her.
Noah immediately played the perfect straight man, gasping in exaggerated admiration, "Wow! So sparkly and beautiful! Irene, you'll look amazing wearing this!"
Austin wasn't familiar with jewelry, but he nodded appreciatively. "It's truly beautiful. Mr. Tucker clearly put a lot of thought into this gift."
Irene recognized the origin of the goldfish brooch and explained to her two brothers, who knew little about jewelry, "This is a piece by Mr. Tristan Schwartz. Every piece of jewelry he makes is one-of-a-kind—there's literally only one in the entire world."
Actually, Irene didn't really know much about jewelry.
But in the past, after Jeremy passed away, he left all his inheritance—including this goldfish brooch—to Dorian.
Dorian then gave the brooch to Irene.
After she died, however, Amaris took it for herself.
After all these twists and turns, this little treasure had finally come back to her.
Noah jerked his chin toward the other wooden box and reminded Irene, "Hey, there's still the other one!"
Irene shot Noah a playful look and said, "Hold on, will you?"
Irene opened the longer wooden box.
Seeing Irene didn't react, Noah pressed, "Well? What is it?"
Irene peered at it and murmured, "Looks like a painting."
Irene carefully unrolled the scroll and was surprised to find it was actually an oil painting.
The painting was truly peculiar.
A golden desert blended seamlessly into a gray-blue sky, where a solitary skeletal figure wrapped in a black overcoat stood alone in the vast wilderness.
Above the figure hovered a vibrantly blooming red rose.
The skeletal figure lifted its skull face toward the rose.
Agony and despair formed the dominant theme of this painting.
Noah studied the painting for a moment before murmuring, "Kissing the Rose... This little skeleton is crying for help."
'Crying for help?' Irene wondered.
Neither Irene nor Austin had picked up on that interpretation.
Irene asked curiously, "Noah, why do you think this little figure is asking for help?"
Noah grinned and said, "I've studied criminal psychology, you know."
As an excellent police officer, understanding a criminal's mind was essential—that was why Noah studied criminal psychology.
Noah said matter-of-factly, "Criminals are people too. Deep down, they're really not that different."
Noah pointed at the oil painting in Irene's hands and offered his insight. "The desert, the gloomy sky, the black overcoat, and the skull—they're all reflections of the artist's inner loneliness.
"The solitary figure trudging through the endless, barren wasteland symbolizes that his body is on the verge of death.
"But no flower can bloom on a dying heart."
After a pause, Noah mused, "I don't think the rose in this painting is just a rose. It's the artist's will to live—a symbol of hope."
Noah analyzed, "He's searching for a rose in the desert—it's his desperate cry for help to the outside world."
Noah shrugged casually and said, "Well, that's just my two cents."
"There are a thousand Hamlets in a thousand people's eyes." This was simply Noah's personal take—he didn't expect Irene or Austin to agree with him.
Austin was hopeless at the arts.
After listening to Noah's analysis, Austin surprisingly didn't argue back. He even looked at Noah with newfound respect and teased, "Well, looks like that head of yours isn't completely filled with sawdust after all."
Noah rolled his eyes and retorted, "Just so you know, I'm actually pretty smart—at least when I'm not being compared to you!"
And just like that, the two cousins were back to their usual bickering.
Irene gazed at the signature in the bottom right corner of the painting—"Night Wanderer."
Did Jeremy paint this himself?
As Irene recalled Noah's earlier analysis and thought of Jeremy's condition, a deep heaviness settled over her heart.
Irene wondered, 'What is Jeremy trying to convey by presenting me this painting?'
After leaving the Barnes family, the three Jackson siblings returned directly to the Jackson family.
The Jackson family was having lunch.
Hearing the car pull up, Oliver set down his knife and fork, pushed open the kitchen window, and glanced out into the courtyard.
The moment Oliver saw them, he couldn't help but exclaim, "Rini and the boys are back!"
Hearing this, the entire Jackson family set down their forks in unison, their lunch momentarily forgotten.
Nevaeh, the most perceptive of them all, turned to Gwen and said gently, "Gwen, it's just past noon and Rini's already back. I'm afraid she might have been treated unfairly in the Barnes family."
Gwen frowned, looking equally troubled.
The three siblings filed into the house one after another.