Seeing how anxious Diana was, Julian felt the same sense of urgency as well. “One minute.”He tapped away on his phone screen as he texted Noel. Noel immediately understood him without any further questions. One minute later, he replied, “Done.”Julian showed Diana the text. Although Diana had always known that Julian was quick and decisive, she didn’t expect him to be efficient to this extent.She immediately felt a weight lifted from her shoulders. “Thank you.”Julian didn’t need her to thank him, and didn’t want to hear it from her. He wished she would simply take it for granted when he did things for her.That would prove that things between them have returned to how they were in the past.Yet, he knew full well that it was impossible for them to return to the past.They could only start anew.“If you really want to thank me, are those two words enough?” His words were like a weight hanging above her head, so heavy that she couldn’t bring herself to lift her head up.Diana
It might not be able to heal the wound and restore her lips back to their original state overnight, but it could at least prevent the wound from exacerbating.Her health wasn’t in tiptop condition, so it was best to pay close attention in all areas.Julian cared for her very deeply and thoroughly.Diana could sense how careful he was in applying the ointment on her lips with the cotton bud. The serious look on his face and the deep affection in his eyes were much too overwhelming.However, she wouldn’t fall for it again and her heart would never be moved by it.She treated herself like a fish on a chopping board, to be dealt with by her owner in any way he wished.After all, she still needed him to deal with Kayla.“Alright.” He chucked the cotton bud aside and ordered Diana, “Don’t sleep in tomorrow morning. I have some health supplements that you need to finish on an empty stomach before six in the morning, after which you can only have breakfast two hours later.”Medicine, m
Kayla agreed. “Well, she grew up in the countryside. I suppose someone who learned how to fight for food with dogs wouldn’t have much of a spine.” To think that at times, she would be frightened by Diana’s aura. Now that she thought about it, Diana wasn’t the one who frightened her.It was Julian Fulcher behind Diana.“At the end of the day, she’s still a country bumpkin,” James lamented as he grew angrier at the thought of how she humiliated him at the hospital.He shouldn’t have been frightened by her at that time.He should have just slapped her. She would have immediately knelt down to beg him for forgiveness! Even if Julian were there to punish him, Diana would be cheap enough to fight to protect him, her father!“Yeah,” Kayla said. “I wonder why Julian is so blind as to fancy her.”James glanced at the frightening scars on Kayla’s face and noted her hoarse, scratchy voice. He contrasted that with Diana’s graceful poise and felt something was off, but he couldn’t pinpoint
Julian Fulcher was no fool.That was clearly seen from how he investigated Kayla when she was abroad and found out about her true nature.He was way smarter than she could ever imagine.The more Kayla thought about it, the happier she became. “I feel like I love him even more than I did in the past.”Therefore, she would never give up on marrying him.“Let’s go back home.” Kayla looked at James, “I want to recharge and rejuvenate.”James saw how calm and composed she was. “Not going to make preparations for our event participation?” The event was going to start in a week.Given Kayla’s current state, how was she planning to defeat Diana?“Achoo!” Diana was sneezing throughout the afternoon at work. In order to emerge as champion at the exhibition, she had been working for the past two days in her studio.Julian was very upset with that.He would sit in her office everyday with a black face as he stared at her busy figure.At the start, she couldn’t get used to having an
When she looked up, it was to see that he looked perfectly fine and was even in great spirits at that.“What’s wrong?” She didn’t understand.Julian was furious.How could this woman not get it? Why was she obsessed with all these lousy clothes?He was so anxious that he messed up the pile of clothes before her and forced her to fix her eyes on him. “Look at me!”Her studio looked like it had been broken in by a thief, with so many piles of clothes all in a mess. Diana suppressed the anger rising in her chest as she looked at him from head to toe. “What exactly do you want?”Julian couldn’t figure her out. “I just want you to look at me!”Why was it so difficult to get her to look at him instead of looking at her clothes?Did she think he was a mere corpse sitting there?Even if he really were a corpse, she should have spared him a look.Diana was stunned for a moment before finally understanding where he was coming from. “Do you want me to stop being so busy with work and lo
“I have something else to attend to.” The kiss left as quickly as it came. “I’ll be off now.”With that, he walked to the door and Diana was left watching his retreating figure.He was becoming sillier and sillier nowadays…That was Julian’s own honest take of himself.He knew he would only desire her more with every touch, yet he couldn’t hold himself back from drawing closer to her.Simply touching her lips was enough to send his body burning, making him instinctively want to hold her tight.Each time he kissed her, he felt like an addict on overdose.If he didn’t stop himself in time, he knew what he was capable of doing to her.He didn’t dare to go that far.He was afraid that he would go overboard, and that she wouldn’t be willing.He had to go slow.Go slow…He warned himself that countless times.If it weren’t for the mess in the studio, Diana would’ve thought that what just happened was a dream.Even the few times he told her to look at him felt especially unreal.
This year’s autumn was a very rainy one.Diana looked at the rain through the window. It was just a drizzle and not a heavy rain, but the entire city was overcast and everything looked dreadfully gray.Pedestrians shuffled endlessly along the roads, holding up their umbrellas, in a hurry to get to wherever they needed to be. They looked like tiny ants zooming right below her.Suddenly, Diana thought of Oliver.He said that to return him the favor, he wanted her to bring an umbrella to him in the rain.It wasn’t appropriate to stay indebted to him for too long. Diana glanced at her work, which was almost done, and stood up. She grabbed an umbrella and braved the rain outside.It was just about noon when she reached Central Hospital.Many doctors and nurses were coming in and out of the canteen.Diana remembered what Oliver said, and was afraid that he would get caught in the rain and walked hurriedly to the outpatient clinics.She was wearing a white lace dress today, which mad
The smile on Diana’s face deepened as she replied graciously, “Thank you.”She thanked him for his praises, which untangled the knot in her heart and made her less resistant against white.“This umbrella is for you.” She fished out a black and white umbrella from her bag. “See if you like it?”Oliver was sharp, and immediately understood what Diana said. “You picked this out specially for me?”“Yeah.” Diana didn’t want to tell Oliver about it, but that would make it look like she was overly concerned about it. But since he had asked about it, there was no need for her to lie. The more casual she was about things, the more it would calm things down between them. “I prepared it, since you requested for me to bring you an umbrella as a way of repaying you.”She was simply repaying his kindness, nothing more.Diana caught the tinge of disappointment flashing past Oliver’s eyes.She knew Oliver’s feelings for her, and didn’t want him to be sad. So, she changed the subject rather awkw
“Life is all about reconciliation.” Decades passed in the blink of an eye. Diana’s children had all grown up.Kate and Isaac had both passed away. Even Diana’s old friends, Fanny and Oliver, had left the world too.Fanny was never able to get pregnant again after that rainy night. She had gradually let go of her desire to get pregnant under Oliver’s persuasion.They stayed relentlessly by each other’s side, albeit childless. Over the years, having experienced all that life had to offer and being each other’s best friend, Oliver died on a peaceful night, never awaking again.Fanny held his hand while sending him off, and closed her eyes forever as well.Diana had seen too many people off in her lifetime.She had grown old herself, too. She could see her life slowly ebbing away.“Julian, I’m so happy to have lived my life with you.” She had transformed from a disgraced young woman to Mrs. Fulcher, respected by all in Richburgh. Julian even took care of her in person when she
He blurted those words instinctively.He had been waiting so long for a pair of daughters, yet when the doctor came over, he saw a pair of sons instead.Diana thought the hospital must have made a mistake and kicked up a fuss, insisting that she had a pair of daughters. She insisted for them to check the footage from the surveillance camera to see if there was a mix-up. The culprit, Julian, could only stand guiltily at a corner and mumble, “Actually…sons are fine too.”As long as it was their children, it didn’t matter whether they were girls or boys. Either way, Diana was the only woman he loved his entire life. Even his love for his only daughter Betty didn’t match up to that.After witnessing Diana giving birth, Julian’s love for Diana went up a notch, to the point of paranoia.For the rest of their lives, he made sure to never let her worry or touch cold water.He took great care of her.Kate finally appeared two years after Diana gave birth.When the mother and daughter
Nina mentioned the Jenningses. “The Jennings family is gone overnight, just like that.”Diana wasn’t shocked.She guessed that Julian had wanted to do that for a while. Not just for her and to seek justice for the Lemmington family, but also for Simon.Although Julian never allowed Simon to call him his brother, he had wanted to annihilate everything that was involved with the Hughes family since Simon’s death.Him making his move on the Jenningses indicated that the time had come.“Congratulations,” Diana said to Nina. “Has Vans come back to you?”“No,” Nina said with a shake of her head. “Lina Jennings isn’t the only thing standing in between us. We have problems of our own to overcome.”Diana sighed. “I think Marcus is pretty good.”She felt relaxed and comfortable around him.Even if Vans came round and worked with Julian to bring down the Jenningses, and had no feelings whatsoever for Lina, Diana wasn’t exactly eager to be with him.As if they had telepathy with each oth
“He doesn’t need to be jailed,” Fanny said, confused. “One word from him, and his lawyers will be able to exonerate him. I just don’t understand why he’d rather go to jail.”“He wants to pay for his father’s sins,” Diana said with a sigh.Fanny didn’t know what to think of that. Was Oliver innocent, or not? He even went to such great lengths to stop her.Yet, the moment she declared that she would never compromise and would rather be under the protection of Diana than to be involved with Oliver, he clearly looked like he was in a daze.Diana noticed that Fanny hardly smiled over the past few days, and rubbed her hand comfortingly. “He just wants a clean start with you.”Fanny’s heart shook. She couldn’t sleep the entire night.The next morning, she told Diana, “Today’s the day of his trial and sentencing. I want to see him.”Diana asked Julian to send a few bodyguards with Fanny on her trip there.When she returned, she looked as if a heavy burden had been lifted from her shoul
Fanny bet that he wouldn’t dare.That was equivalent to eliminating all chances he stood with Diana.Julian witnessed the scene unfolding before him. Instead of getting frustrated, he stood quietly there, ready to protect Diana, as he watched Fanny and Oliver fight it out with each other.Oliver was confused. “Why not?”He glanced at Diana, and went on, “I did like Diana in the past, but I have since given up on those feelings for her. Fanny Smith, is your heart made of stone? Can’t you tell who the woman I like is after all this time?”Fanny was stunned, feeling suffocated as if something was stuck in her throat. “Don’t tell me it’s me.”Oliver was dumbfounded. Who else could he be talking about? The stars in the sky?Fanny felt indignant under his glare. “If you like me, why did you say that I’m just a child-bearing tool for you?”“If I didn’t say that, would I be able to keep you confined in the villa? Would I be able to dash all your hopes and make you feel hopeless?”
Oliver would never let her go. “Fanny Smith, don’t even think about leaving me in this life!”That was when Diana and Julian hurriedly made their way.Sean located Oliver very accurately. Diana saw the scene unfolding before her, and couldn’t help but recall everything that happened in Jacroaof. She hurriedly told Noel to take Sean outside and wait. She couldn’t afford to gamble on Sean’s safety. She didn’t want Sean exposed to any form of danger right under her nose.Her actions made Oliver tense. “Diana, do you think I’ve gone mad?” He grabbed Fanny’s hand, as if he was holding onto the most precious treasure in the world.Diana didn’t answer him, but she threw her bag that Julian was helping her carry toward Fanny.She was exerting so much force for a pregnant lady, looking as if she wanted to fight with Fanny.Even Julian didn’t know what Diana was trying to do, not to mention Fanny herself.By the time he snapped back to attention and wanted to stop Diana from doing s
However, Fanny must let go of her hatred and past grudges first.The mention of children made Fanny waver. The hatred in her eyes grew even more intense. “Oliver Channing! The cheek of you to mention children!” What gave him the right to say that?!“We agreed,” Oliver said. He didn’t find anything wrong with that. “Fanny, if you want to leave that villa and be free once more, you must give birth to a child of ours.”“What about the child I lost just a few days ago?” Fanny demanded. She found him unreasonable. “Over the past few days, have you ever thought of him, or felt like you let him down? We haven’t even resolved the issues between us, and you want me to get pregnant again. Are you really ready to be a father?!”“I want you to get pregnant again?” Oliver said as he drew closer to her. His eyes were dark, looking as if he wanted to crush Fanny and put her in his pocket. “Weren’t you the one who tried to seduce me by wearing a revealing dress in my house? Fanny Smith, do
Julian stopped talking to the butler, but he was already making plans in his heart.He returned to the study, and told Diana, “Fanny and Oliver have been fighting for a long time, and it might be over something that might potentially destroy their relationship.”In fact… “Fanny might no longer love Oliver right now.”However, the fact that Oliver faked her death and confined her was enough to show that he still cared for her.If he realized that Fanny no longer loved him, he might do something even crazier.“Let’s hurry up and save her, then!” Diana said.“Wait,” Julian said calmly, “I’m not done with my prediction.”“What?”“Oliver really doesn’t like you now.” Julian’s mood lifted as he arrived at his final conclusion. “We can step in to help Fanny.”Diana was dumbfounded.She had thought that Julian went to such great lengths to analyze the situation for the sake of saving another. To think that his possessiveness took over, and he prioritized figuring out Oliver’s feeli
The three of them entered the study.None of them expected to see a portrait of Diana right in the middle of the study.The portrait was most likely drawn by copying a photo. In the portrait, Diana was eating something with a smile. It looked like the day when Diana encountered a pervert on the train and Oliver stepped in to help her and treated her to a meal.Did she smile so tenderly at him at that time?“You couldn’t have smiled so happily at that time when we were fighting over Kayla.”It was a portrait, not a photo. It was likely that the owner of this portrait added his own interpretation and features when he commissioned this portrait.“He still has feelings for you,” Julian said coldly.He no longer wanted to interfere with the affairs of the Channings.However, Diana disagreed. “If he really had feelings for me, he wouldn’t hang my portrait up so boldly right here.”The fact that Oliver could display the portrait for all to see proved that his feelings for Diana were