Jackson took a deep breath. His woman had been suffering under someone else’s hands and was driven to tears. Aside from heartache, he felt enraged as well, “Alright, alright. Don’t cry. Where are you? I’ll come over and pick you up right now. Stay right where you are and don’t move, okay? What kind of a horrible company are they? Don’t be angry, forget them!”Tiffany sniffed, told him where she was, and waited for him at the side of the road. The weather was gradually turning cold and it wasn’t hot anymore. Sometimes, a gentle breeze would pass and put her emotions slightly more at ease.Soon, Jackson’s luxurious sports car stopped at the side of the road. When she got into the car and saw him, she broke down again. She leaned against his shoulder and sobbed, “I feel so useless, I’ve been fired… I’m so pissed…”Jackson patted her on the back soothingly as he turned towards the office floor, not too far away. That company wasn’t even fit to lick his boots, yet they’d brought grief up
Tiffany blurrily grunted a reply and ended the video call. Arianne irritably threw the phone aside.At past 8 pm, the old lady called Arianne. Based on her tone, she seemed to be in a good mood, “I’m at the Tremont Estate, and everything here is great. Much better than that bird cage of yours, around the same size as our old home. It’s comfortable, living here. You don’t have to worry about me. Mark is here.”Then, she hung up. It was done very neat and tidily.A shiver ran across Arianne's heart. The old lady was not easy to deal with. How did Mark manage to familiarize himself with her in such a short time, then persuade her to go back to the capital? Something must be wrong… Mark had never met the old woman prior to this. She checked through her call records and found that the old woman had actually called while she was asleep in Mark’s hotel room. Of course, she wasn’t the one who answered the call, which could only mean that Mark had gone back to the condo to help the old wom
As Jackson walked past her office desk, he purposefully tapped on it and said, “Hey, newbie, do your best.”Holding back the urge to burst out laughing, Tiffany nodded and bowed, “I will, Mr. West. I’ll do my best!”The corners of Jackson’s lips tilted upwards slightly. He walked into his office. Less than two minutes later, Tiffany received a text message from him: ‘How dare you address me as “Mr. West”.’She replied to him with a “playful” emoji and put her phone into her bag. She was in the middle of working hours now, and it was inadvisable for her to be fiddling with her phone.The environment in this big company was a stark contrast to her previously smaller company. Aside from its fast-paced environment, there wasn’t a lot of in-fighting at play.Unbeknownst to her, the human resource manager had slipped into Jackson’s office. Jackson was in a particularly good mood and was smiling radiantly, “She doesn’t suspect anything, does she?”The human resource manager quickly repl
Tiffany scratched her hair, completely unfazed by this. After all, Jackson never complained whenever she stood in front of him or rode on him. “Got it, thanks…” she replied absent-mindedly.At around 3PM or so, Tiffany began to feel sleepy. Suddenly, she heard Summer’s voice, “Tiffie, are you working with us now? Jackson was just talking about how reluctant you were. Looks like you’ve finally thought things through. It’s like I’ve said, how can someone else’s land be better than ours? When did you get here? Would you like me to…”Before she could finish, Tiffany jumped up, reached out, and covered her mouth.Both women were in shock. Tiffany broke out into cold sweat. What had she done? Covered her future mother-in-law’s lipstick-lined lips with her hand! She could feel the lipstick on her hand, which must be very red by now. She was finished…“Mrs. West… It’s fine,” she said, trembling fearfully, “I’ve spoken to Mr. West. There’s no need to do anything for me. I can do this on my
A smile shadowed Summer’s lips. “I knew you still cared about your mommy, which, by the way, you should, since I’ve hauled my bum just to rear you to the fine young man that you are today. This is why Mom would like you to do something for her,” she said sincerely. “Please, don’t give you dad your nasty grimaces, okay? He’s got a thin skin much like yourself, you know. Anyway! About your engagement with Tiffany, should you need my help, just ask. You know I don’t have much to occupy my time these days.”Jackson nodded in understanding and responded with his own advice, “When you see Tiffie, make sure you don’t leave any hint that you know, okay? She will kill me if she finds out about my goof.”Summer gave a sprightly okay and left. Passing by the cubicles, she greeted Tiffany as she usually would, “I’ll be off. Godspeed in your work.”Tiffany rose from her seat and watched Summer leave. “Thank you, Auntie. Take care.”Evening came. Jackson picked Tiffany up by the curb after work and
The duo’s arrival at the West family residence was immediately welcomed by a banquet-sized feast that almost exclusively served Tiffany’s favorite dishes.As Tiffany’s eyes took in the food laid before her, she realized how much she enjoyed being cared for by someone. The notion of being seen as important warmed her heart.Time passed, but Atticus West continued to be absent. Knowing Jackson was avoiding the question, Tiffany took it upon herself to ask Summer, “Where’s Uncle Atticus, Auntie Summer? I don’t see him.”Summer snuck a glance at her son. “Oh, he’s around alright… All cooped up in his study upstairs. He’s concerned that Jackson might be upset if he shows up, so that stubborn old man has shut himself in after ignoring my advice. Well, Tiffie dear, would you take Jackson with you and invite him over for dinner?”Jackson did not attempt to hide his repulsion. “Nope, no can do. I’m not gonna beg him to eat with us. To eat or not to eat — it’s none of my concern.”Tiffany jabbed
Watching him go into a stone-like silence abruptly sparked an ugly blaze within Tiffany. Suddenly, she despised the man standing in front of her. She despised him so much that it harkened back to the last time they had an altercation that stung enough to make her consider splitting.It was not like she wanted Jackson to surrender to her demands or go through hell to make her happy or even completely absolve the faults Atticus had made as a deadbeat dad. All she wanted Jackson to do was to put at least an ounce of forbearance; to summon a little bit more grit — just enough that when he was in the same room as his father, no one had to feel terrible.Among the four of them, Tiffany was the outsider, the tack-on. That alone was enough ground for trepidation that could easily escalate into crippling anxiety. The last thing she wanted was to be stuck in the middle of a cold war while already embroiled in discomfort. It mortified her. It made her want to quit and never bother with it again.
Jackson froze. He lowered his eyes as his emotions returned to whence they came. “I’ll call my mom and apologize to her too… right in front of you. Fine?”Tiffany suddenly found Jackson inscrutable. Worried that he was only trying to make her happy by making things even harder for himself, she demurred, “Look, I didn’t say I want that. But… I guess… I guess I agree that you should give your mom a call.”Without another word, Jackson dialed Summer’s number and connected his phone to the car speaker through Bluetooth connection. When the call was through, it was loud enough for Tiffany to hear every word Summer enunciated.“Jackson? Is that you?”“I’m sorry for losing my cool just now, Mom. I won’t do it again.”“Oh. Well, it’s alright. I understand. You were acting out against your father’s display of passion, weren’t you? But surely you’re aware that art is… well, art is your father’s lifelong devotion; he can’t help but act the way he did… Listen, I’m not asking you to treat him like