He casually pulled over a stool for me, and I sat down. The study's layout was simple. Aside from a desk and two chairs, there were only two bookshelves placed against the walls without windows on either side.Having nothing else to do, I began scanning the shelves to see what kinds of books there were."Most of these are about finance. If you want to read something else, I can buy it for you," Julian said as he shut down his computer and walked over to me."No need," I replied without hesitation, turning to look at him.Even at home, he was dressed in a suit. In the quiet of the night, he exuded coldness and restraint."Have you thought about how to handle this?" I asked.Instead of answering me, Julian countered, "What about you?""Me?""Yes. I'd like to know your stance. Zach is your son, after all."My heart was as calm as a still lake. "Isn't he Luna's son?"Julian seemed a bit surprised. He had assumed that, despite my disillusionment with them, the years we had shared
He already thought that far ahead?I found it hard to believe. "Isn't it a bit early to discuss this?""It's not. If we wait until most of your work is published before creating a promotional plan, it'll be too late. By the time we officially start promoting it, your series might already be finished. That wouldn't be ideal for building an audience."Since what he said made sense, I decided to trust him. "Alright, let's do it your way."Julian smiled. "Good. When the time comes, we'll set up a small department at the company and hire a few employees to focus solely on your work."I shook my head. "That seems a bit excessive.""You won't agree to be my wife. If I don't treat you well, what if someone offers you a better deal and you leave?" he joked lightly.Oh, so he was worried about me leaving Willow."Don't worry. I won't. I'm willing to stay by Willow's side because she's also good to me, and I really like her. Unless one day, both of you don't want me anymore, I promise I w
Luna instinctively asked, "What do you mean by that?""Ever since I divorced Aralyn, you've been using your pregnancy as an excuse not to drop or fetch Zach, haven't you?"Luna grew impatient. "Do you seriously expect me to haul this pregnant body around and work like a maid for you?""Then why can you drop and fetch Mason?" Shayne's voice turned colder.Luna's words got caught in her throat."I can't understand if you can't treat Zach as your own son. After all, you're not his biological mother," Shayne stated slowly. Luna's mind raced for a rebuttal, but she found none.Seeing how far the conversation had gone, Shayne decided it was time to make his stance clear."You've asked for a chef, a driver, and a bigger house, and I've done my best to meet all your requests. But now you're asking me to neglect my own son to prioritize yours. Luna, when your son gets to have both parents doting on him, what about my son?"His voice grew heavier, carrying a note of accusation.Tears
Julian looked at me, and I shook my head at him. Julian took the hint and fell silent."Why are you suddenly so harsh?" Willow, not understanding what had just happened, only knew that her father seemed about to scold her. But he stopped after calling her name."I just love Mommy." Willow pouted.I ruffled her hair gently. "Why don't you try talking to the other people around you? As long as you can speak to others, Mommy will try to see if I can apply for a job at your school."Though Willow spoke normally to me now, when it came to anyone other than Julian and myself, she still remained silent. No matter how much she wanted to share with others, she kept it to herself."Mommy, I can't do it," Willow uttered helplessly.I understood how difficult it was for her. "It's okay."Willow pressed her face into my chest, taking a deep breath. "But I'll try," she added softly.My eyes softened. "Good. I believe that one day, you'll be able to do it.""Yes!" Willow nodded firmly.Juli
His voice was cold.Shayne didn't respond directly. "I don't know. But my son is usually well-behaved, so he probably wouldn't say anything too outrageous." Then he added harshly, "Instead of looking for faults with my son, I think you should reflect on your daughter. Could she be that fragile that a few words from my son affected her so deeply?"Since Julian's brother passed away, he had treated and pampered Willow like his own daughter. Because of his status, most people never dared to say a word against Willow.But Shayne was an exception. Zach was the one who made a mistake, but suddenly Willow was at fault. Julian became furious as his face turned colder. "Is this really what you think, Mr. Pearce?"Shayne shrugged. "What else should I think? Kids don't understand much, so there are bound to be conflicts. But that's something for them to resolve among themselves. Adults meddling too much isn't good for the children's growth. Don't you think so?"Shayne smiled at Julian as
Shayne couldn't bear the consequences if Julian stood firm. He mulled it over, wondering if there was another way to resolve this without compromising. Finally, his gaze landed on me."Actually, I think Zach didn't say anything wrong. Aralyn left home because she was upset with me and Zach, didn't she? If I'm willing to divorce Luna and Zach is willing to reconcile with her, she'll definitely come back."Having found a breakthrough, Shayne visibly relaxed as he looked at Julian with a taunting expression. "What, is my son not allowed to speak the truth?""Did you ever ask Lyn for her opinion?" Julian countered, his voice colder.Shayne found the way Julian said "Lyn" particularly grating. He had been married to Aralyn for six years and had a five-year-old child with her. Yet, he had always addressed her by her full name. Julian had only known her for a bit, but he already had a nickname for her.The thought annoyed Shayne immensely. He glanced at me before quickly looking away. "W
As soon as I finished speaking, tears welled up in Zach's eyes and fell heavily to the ground.He shrieked, "No! You're not Willow's mom! You're my mom!"As he spoke, he moved toward me.I looked at his pitiful expression, but my mind couldn't help recalling the time he said he liked Luna and wanted her to be his mom. I felt no sympathy—only a sense of absurdity."Zach, you have to take responsibility for your choices. Since you chose not to have me and wanted Luna to be your mom, then no matter how she treats you, you'll have to deal with the consequences."Zach cried even harder as he shook his head. "No! I'm just a kid! I didn't know what the consequences would be when I made that choice! You're my mom, so you should always forgive me!"Watching his unreasonable tantrum, I realized that no matter what I said, he wouldn't listen. Walking over to Julian, I said, "I really don't want to deal with them anymore. You can handle the rest of the matter."Julian nodded, and I walked a
From this day onward, Shayne wanted to live happily with Luna. He wanted Aralyn to know that she would never return to his side, be his wife, or Zach's mother again.Upon thinking of this, his eyes curved into a smile. By then, Aralyn would surely regret everything she had done that day.…Once Julian got into the car, he handed his phone to me. "I figured since you weren't there, you'd want to know how Willow reacted after Zach apologized, so I recorded it for you."He then turned to look at me. "Take a good look.""Alright." I started the video and focused on Willow.She seemed very resistant at first, but she clearly seemed happy by the end of the video.I felt a sense of relief. "That's great.""Yeah," Julian replied calmly. "I think if we keep this up, Willow will get better one day."I nodded in agreement. "She definitely will."When we arrived at the company, Julian took me to his office just like yesterday. I stayed in the partitioned area, planning to continue colo
When we got home, Willow dragged the whole family along to exercise with her.After finishing, Willow took Pamela and her grandparents upstairs.Only Julian, Ximena, and I remained in the living room.Ximena glanced upstairs and said, "I thought Pamela would need to help her, but who would've guessed she'd recover on her own?""Yes," I agreed, sighing. "Children recover much faster than I ever imagined."Ximena couldn't help but chuckle. "Exactly. Look at Pamela. When she lived with her dad, she'd come home acting like a quail—so timid and cautious. But after just a few days with me, she's slowly returning to how she used to be."It was evident that Ximena loved Pamela. "If I had known that switching to a less stressful job would make life easier for my daughter, I definitely would've left my old company a long time ago."As a mother myself, I understood Ximena's guilt. Patting her shoulder reassuringly, I uttered, "It's not too late to change now."Ximena nodded. "Yeah."Juli
Hughes Group had excellent landscaping. The green plants on both sides were lush and flourishing.The tree shade blocked the harsh sunlight, creating a tranquil atmosphere.I turned to look at Julian. "Have you finished all your work?"As he did not like someone to lie, Julian replied honestly, "Not yet."He hadn't forgotten Gabriel and Lilia's advice—to appear vulnerable in front of Aralyn. "I just feel a bit tired.""It's a pity I can't help you much," I said regretfully. "But the account and selling peripheral products could bring me a lot of income."This was an answer I had thought about for a long time. "If your company runs into trouble and can't hold on, you can come to me for help. I can take care of you and Willow."Julian was very confident that his company wouldn't run into any problems, but he hadn't expected that Aralyn would already consider such a scenario.He even thought that if the company really did go bankrupt, wouldn't that also bring him closer to Araly
As soon as he finished speaking, the server brought over a large bowl of broth fondue and placed it on the table. "Enjoy your meal," he said with a smile."Thank you!" I picked up a piece of the beef. The crunchy and tender texture was simply irresistible.I ate several big bites in a row, only to notice that Julian still hadn't started eating. Curious, I asked, "Are you not going to eat?""Of course I am," Julian said, picking up his cutlery.…Shayne returned to his office, thinking about the things Aralyn had said. It dawned on him that he had indeed made far too many mistakes.Ever since he'd married Aralyn, he had taken her for granted because she was too sensible and understanding. He hadn't even noticed how much she had suffered.At this moment, Shayne was desperate to divorce Luna and make amends to Aralyn.Resolute, he called Luna."Yes? Miss me?" Luna's sweet voice came through the phone."I'm sorry." After saying those words, Shayne felt a sense of relief.Why was
"So, you think I should pay for every meal Julian and I have together?" I countered.The people around us started whispering, all saying that Amber was being shameless.Amber was so furious that she nearly lost her composure. "That's not the point! The point is my son refuses to support us because of you!"Standing up, Julian took out the bank transaction statements he had specifically asked Mark to print earlier. "Why don't you tell everyone how much you spend each month?"Amber had always gotten away with this kind of behavior before, so she never expected Julian to fight back this time.She froze on the spot.Julian unfolded the statements. To make sure everyone could see, he even handed out a few copies to the crowd.The onlookers opened the papers. The monthly expenses amounted to over five million. Then, they looked back at Amber, thinking she was being unreasonable.They thought she was being ungrateful by making a scene here when she received that much money; she hadn't
Mark didn't even think before replying, "Well, the company has a rule—if you complete three days' work in one day, the remaining two days are vacation."I found it a bit hard to believe. "Does such a great company really exist?"Mark teased with a smile, "Well, you've seen one now. The average price for these peripheral products is ten dollars, and your royalty margin is still 15%. The company just decided to spend a large sum of money to boost traffic."If all goes as planned, the sales of these peripheral products should break records day by day. We're worried that when the demand surges, production might not keep up."So, we're planning to stock up in advance to avoid running out of inventory when the comic goes viral. You just sit back and wait for the royalty money to roll in."When I heard that, I couldn't help but anticipate it. "Thank you.""You're welcome."With that, he left, not daring to glance at Julian.Julian followed him. "Help me print out the bank transfer rec
"If you had even a shred of sense and thought about everything you did to me, you couldn't possibly think I still have the slightest attachment to you."Shayne slammed the table and stood up. "Is this about me making you sleep with Rowan?"I leaned back on the couch and looked up at him. "Is that the only thing?"Shayne acted as if he couldn't hear me. "But I don't care about it anymore!""Heh." I realized I shouldn't have come to talk to him at all.Seeing me get up, Shayne hurriedly ran in front of me. "Aralyn…"I ignored him and walked straight past. Glancing back at his dejected figure, I calmly said, "I've always been thankful that I chose to leave you."…Back in the office, Julian, who had been focused on work, set his tasks aside and approached me. "Are you okay?"I nodded. "I'm fine. I just don't know what got into him. He suddenly said he regrets the divorce as if it would make any difference had he refused back then."I didn't bother to hide the disdain in my eyes.
"Strictly speaking, she's not an employee of Hughes Group," Mark said in a friendly manner.Shayne frowned. Seeing that this approach wasn't working, he simply stated his reason for coming, "I want to see her."Mark smiled politely. "You can call her and ask if she's willing to meet you."Mr. Pearce, I'm just an employee. Please don't make things difficult for me."Shayne stared at Mark. "She blocked me.""Then I'm sorry. I can't help you," Mark uttered in a professional tone.Shayne tried to bypass Mark to go find Aralyn, but Mark stepped forward to block him.Just then, the office door opened.…I stood at the door, looking at Shayne.Shayne looked at me. "Aralyn.""Don't say my name as if we're close," I said coldly, staring at him in disdain. "We're nothing more than strangers."For once, Shayne's expression showed sadness.But I didn't feel the slightest bit of sympathy. Instead, I found him pretentious and turned my gaze away.Mark stepped up to me and whispered, "D
Julian then noticed that, in addition to the commonly seen merchandise on the market, the applicants had also created some everyday products that hadn't been made into merchandise before. "Very professional," he commented, quite satisfied."Yes. Now that we've hired people for both the merchandise and comic departments, if all goes smoothly, we'll be able to produce the rest of the merchandise within the next couple of days. I think the comic's followers aren't growing fast enough."So, I'm suggesting the finance department allocate more funds to the promotions team. After all, early-stage promotion mainly relies on spending money," Mark voiced his opinions.Julian, who never lacked money, replied, "Approved."It was because of Aralyn that Mark learned just how many ways there were to make money in the comic industry.And the prospects looked so promising."There are very few applicants for the translation department, which handles international promotions, but I'll keep an eye
In the office, I started working seriously.…Julian walked out of the office and went to a secluded corner, dialing Amber's number."Yes? What's the matter?" Amber asked."Didn't I tell you not to contact Aralyn unless there was a reason? Looks like you still haven't learned your lesson. Do I really have to cut off all of the family's living expenses?"Each word from Julian was colder than the last."I'm your mother! I'm not happy with Aralyn as my daughter-in-law. Can't I say something about it?" Amber asked sharply, sounding as if she were perfectly justified.But Julian wasn't buying it at all. "No, you can't."Amber was almost choked speechless by Julian's words, but she knew Julian meant what he said."You don't even have the right to cut off our living expenses. Don't forget that we're the ones who handed the company to you. You're enjoying the results of our hard work, and yet you don't want to support us? How do you think that's fair?"Julian sneered, "Mom, I guess y