Zachary pursed his lips and gave me a stern look.
I immediately said, “Avalon, I’ll call you later.”
Once I hung up, the atmosphere in the room became tense for a moment.

With a cold expression, Zachary asked, “Are you moving out so that you can live with him?”
“No… I’m staying with another friend from the studio.”
Zachary’s glare turned chilly. “I told you to stop talking to Avalon.”
It seemed that he was truly not fond of Avalon.
“He’s my friend…”
“Are you not listening to me anymore?” he said in a severe voice.

Zachary had always been very strict about the friends I made, especially when it came to male friends.
However, I was already an adult. Why did I not have even this bit of freedom?
I took a deep breath. “Uncle, I believe I have the right to choose my friends.
“Avalon is my friend, and it’s my business whether I want to move out or not.”

This was my first time going against Zachary’s wishes.
He stared at me, and his gaze turned a little dull. “Do you want to be rid of me that much?”
“That’s… not what I meant.”
He stared at me. “I’ll let you move out, but you have to work at my company.”
“Is there another option?” I protested weakly.
“If you quit your job at the studio, I’ll allow you to move out as well.”
Zachary did not like me working as a photographer, much less joining the studio that Avalon had opened.
I slumped my shoulders and stopped arguing with him.
At night, Avalon sent me a message. [Summer, there’s a new photography gig the day after tomorrow. Can you make it?]
I checked the location of the shoot and asked Zachary to test the waters, “Uncle, can I go?”
“How long is it going to take?”
“Three days.”
Zachary fell silent for a while.
I thought that he was going to say no, but he agreed to it readily this time. “Remember to come home as soon as possible.”
“Thank you, Uncle!” I ran over and hugged him happily.
He froze as if he felt a little awkward about it.
I soon realized my gaffe and stepped away from him. “Sorry, Uncle. I won’t do it again.”
When I was seventeen, I hugged him just like that. But he yelled at me so harshly that I cried.
He had said that, considering my age, I did not know what real love was. Plus, I showed no proper restraint as a woman by throwing myself into a man’s arms as unceremoniously as I did.
He also told me that if I did something out of line again, he was not going to stop at merely hitting my palm. And it really hurt when he hit my palm.
At that time, I was terrified, so I stopped saying that I liked him.
However, Zachary did not fly into a rage this time. Instead, it seemed like he was suppressing some emotion that he could not put into words in his eyes.
It was just like he did in my dreams.
Yet, he quickly hid those emotions. “Do you need me for anything else?”
“N-No. Nothing.”
For some reason, things had become quite strange between us.
I just did not know what had changed.
Then, I noticed that the tips of his ears had turned a little pink, and I could not quite believe my eyes.
Was Zachary feeling hot?
I turned around and returned to my room.
The moment I shut the door, the crazy dream I had popped up.
If Zachary learned that I had attempted to do such a thing to him in my dream, would he be mad?
I tossed and turned in bed. When midnight arrived, I still could not sleep. With a well of complicated emotions in my heart, I went to the bathroom.
The lights were not on, and the door was partially shut.
I heard faint gasps coming from within.
“Are you in the bathroom, Uncle?”
The gasps came to an abrupt end.
When I was about to turn on the light, he stopped me.