In a distant country…Connie didn’t make it past a month. There was no stopping her once her addiction acted up.This time, Andrew caught her red-handed in the act at a bar. She looked disheveled and haggard as she begged for forgiveness, but he wasn’t moved the slightest.He had told her long ago that he hated these things. Connie knew that there was no way out for her.Andrew fired her, and she had nothing to say.Connie started wasting away at home. Soon, she used all the money Charles had left for her. She wanted to sell the house, but where would she stay? An idea popped into her head—she could pimp herself out at the bar. There was probably room for her to spend the night there.In the end, Connie sold off the house and went to the bar. The money she got from the house and prostitution would probably be enough to tide her over for some time.Her addiction worsened, and she had to take drugs several times daily to keep the itch at bay. She had no choice but to keep finding
Three years later, Damien and Clarissa finally had a daughter. They named her Ashlyn.Ashlyn had arrived at a great time. Clarissa didn’t know what their first daughter would’ve looked like, but her beloved Ashlyn was a beautiful baby. She immediately knew that Ashlyn would grow up to be gorgeous.Damien loved Ashlynn with all his heart.Twenty-five years later.Now, Neil was at the helm of New East Corporation. Damien took a step back and spent most of his time investing in companies and earning dividends. Clarissa had yet to retire, and was still teaching at the University of Genovia. She was now the head of the faculty, and the years hadn’t left any traces on her face.Neil had moved out, and was living in a villa of his own. It was called Somerset Villa.Somerset Villa was a relatively new development, and it had cost a fortune. Few people in Genovia could afford it, but Neil bought it anyway. This was because he had gotten married, and his wife was the daughter of a magnate
The meeting that Michelle had that afternoon went very smoothly.It was nighttime when she got home. Neil came home shortly after her.He was pretty handsome, and he had the sort of maturity and steadiness that came with success. Any woman would be head over heels for him.He took his suit jacket off while standing in the foyer.Meanwhile, Michelle was getting some soup.“You’re back?” she asked. “There’s still some of your favorite soup left. Do you want any?”She had a melodious voice.Neil walked over to her.Their dining table was the long, rectangular type. Michelle sat at one end, while Neil sat at the other.She placed a bowl of soup before him.“Did she come to see you today?” he asked.“Who?” Michelle paused.“Rachel Wisconson.”Michelle seemed to have forgotten all about her. “Oh, her. Yeah, she said she was pregnant. I told her there was no use in coming to me, and that she had to look for you.”Neil didn’t say anything.After that, they went to their respecti
Sheila had been out of Mrs. Faber’s expectations, though. Mrs. Faber didn’t expect that Caleb would end up with her.Mrs. Faber was close to crying tears of relief. After all the trouble, Caleb ended up marrying such a wonderful young lady.The couple had a beautiful baby boy named Roger a few years after getting married.This was more than Mrs. Faber could ever ask for. Oscar, her husband, had moved to Genovia, and the four of them stayed together. Now and then, Mrs. Faber would drop by Clarissa’s place.Clarissa had told Michelle all of this because the latter was a great listener.“How did Mrs. Mckenny’s family agree to her being with Mr. Mckenny after what had happened with River? Didn’t you say that her family didn’t like him?” Michelle asked.“Yes, they were very much against it, but what could they do when Sheila was head over heels for him? Oh, the things she did to get her family’s approval! In the end, she made her family change their mind, and she also made Caleb chang
When Michelle and Neil got home, they went to their respective rooms.Michelle slaved away on a work project and chatted with her colleagues. She didn’t know what Neil was doing.He had a successful career, was around her age, and, most importantly, was handsome and carefree. He was everything her family wanted in a husband.Plus, she was the picture-perfect daughter-in-law that the Lawrence family wanted.When she finally finished her work at around 11:30 p.m., she took a shower.As she turned to leave the bathroom, she caught sight of a small tattoo on the back of her shoulder. It was an image of a basketball, and despite its silliness, it was very detailed. She could even see the lines on the basketball.She had gotten it in high school.Back then, she had been a hooligan and was utterly different from how she was now. Her parents had just divorced, and her father had custody of her. Even in middle school, she hadn’t been a good student, and things worsened even more after th
“Duh! Either she didn’t care, or she was just putting on an act to make me lower my guard. If that’s the case, she’s not going to be easy to deal with. You better watch yourself around her,” Rachel said.Neil grimaced and hung up.Then, he read a book in bed.He didn’t hear Michelle’s mumbles.Early the following day, Michelle wore a white chiffon blouse with a spaghetti strap in the same color underneath. She looked great.She and Neil sat down for breakfast, as per their usual. As she turned to grab something, Neil said, “What’s that on your shoulder?”“Huh?” Michelle thought there was something on her clothes. She checked herself.“Your left shoulder.” From Neil’s angle, all he could see was something reddish. He thought it was a wound of some sort and only asked out of concern.“Oh, this?” She smiled. “It’s a tattoo.”“You have a tattoo?” Neil was surprised. Never would he have expected this.“Yup.”“What is it?”Michelle played with her food. “A basketball.”“What? Yo
As they spoke, Neil’s phone rang. It was a call from Rachel.“I’m gonna take a nap. You can answer the call outside.” Michelle turned away from him.Neil went outside and answered the call.“Hey. Michael’s back today, so let’s meet up with him. I’ll let you know where later,” Rachel said.“Count me out. Michelle’s sick. I’ll see him when I have the time.”“She’s sick?” Rachel sounded sour. She seemed to want to say something along the lines of Michelle pretending to be sick so as to stop Neil from leaving. “Neil, she doesn’t care about you at all! Why are you so worried when she’s sick?”“If there’s nothing else, I’m gonna hang up.” He hung up.After that, he went back into the ward.Michelle was still lying on her side. This way, Neil could see the tattoo up close. The basketball was very detailed, and it looked like a lot of effort had been put into it. Once again, he couldn’t help finding it interesting that such a proper woman could have a tattoo.His phone rang again. Thi
Neil went to the hotel Michael was at.When he arrived, a sexy woman came over to him and clung to his arm, even planting a kiss on his cheek. “You’re finally here. You know, you and Michelle are really bad at this. Since you don’t want to keep this farce up, what’s the point of doing this?”“Are you back for good, Michael?” Neil asked. “What are you going to do from now?”“My dad set up an investment company for me. What else can I do?” Michael said. “What does your wife look like? I haven’t even seen her before. Ignore Rachel, by the way.”Rachel turned away angrily. “Neil doesn’t love her, and she doesn’t love him. It’s the truth!”“Well, it’s also true that Neil doesn’t love you,” Michael said.Rachel looked incensed.“I’ll introduce you guys someday,” Neil said.“Sure.”The three of them caught up over drinks. Around 11:00 p.m., it started to pour.It was around 8:00 p.m. when Michelle left the hospital. It was a little scary with the rain slapping against the windows.
Benjamin walked to her side and suddenly hugged her. It was as if there were thousands of words that could not be said. Jacey did not refute. It was as if the two of them had known each other for a long time. It was as if they had known each other for a long time."Your mother did a good job with this exhibition," Jacey said."It's good. After all, you're an expert in this field," Benjamin said. "Or if you have any requests when you get married, tell my mother and let her customize the most beautiful jewelry for you.""Married?" Jacey didn't understand.She had never thought about marriage. Why did she feel so close to her when Benjamin mentioned it?She still felt quite confused."I'll treat you to a meal later?" Benjamin said. "What do you want to eat?"Jacey's eyes lit up. "Hotpot? How about a hotpot?"Benjamin smiled and said, "I thought you had a profound hobby. This is it."Jacey smiled again.Jacey didn't like the feeling of being surrounded by people, so she chose the
Kenny smoked as he spoke. He had the look of a veteran in society. It was hard not to believe that he was a nouveau riche who did not hesitate to sacrifice the lives of his subordinates to save money."Sir, you've found the right person. Come and take a look." The workshop owner said. Then, he whispered a few words into Kenny's ear and asked, "Can you accept it?""What's so unacceptable about that? I'm definitely showing it to Party A. These people grew up in the countryside. What kind of milk have they drunk? I can't tell if it's true or not," Kenny said."Alright, alright," the workshop owner said with a smile."Just don't make it obvious. I'll go take a look at the manufacturing workshop." Kenny said.The owner of the workshop was initially quite shy, but Kenny said that he had ordered a lot, so the other party agreed.As soon as he entered the workshop, Jacey secretly turned on the pinhole camera when the workshop owner was not paying attention and filmed the production proce
Jacey felt that under Kenny's serious and unsmiling appearance, there was a soft and warm heart.This note looked like it had been around for a long time. It was unknown how long Kenny searched last night before he found it and gave it to Jacey so easily.Jacey left.However, she did not expect that something would happen on her first day there.She brought a vacuum camera and made her clothes look like rural women's. After finding the milk production point, she said that she wanted to order milk in large quantities because she heard that the milk here was very cheap.The people in the workshop looked at each other and said, "I'm not selling!"The people in the workshop were very smart and vigilant. Their workshop had a fixed delivery channel. This woman was alone and was unlikely to be here to order. They found an excuse and sent Jacey away.No matter how much Jacey dawdled, the other party refused to let her in.For a moment, Jacey didn't know what to do. She was quite depres
Jacey was a little stunned. She really didn't know much about what the parents were talking about.Moreover, she hadn't interacted with Benjamin for a few days. Moreover, when Ashlyn came to visit this time, she didn't say a word about him. It made her feel very uneasy. She even wondered if he didn't mean that at all. It was all her own wishful thinking…For the past few days, Benjamin had not come to look for Jacey. She had not contacted him either.However, a few days later, Jacey received a Whatsapp message from Benjamin. There were many photos. It was a rather high-class living room. There were boxes in the living room. The living room was simple and noble, like a top-notch courtyard house.[This is the showroom and display cabinet for my mother's medieval jewelry. How about letting your mother take a look?] Benjamin said.[Where is this place? This place is so beautiful.][My mother's dowry. The courtyard house in Genovia.] Benjamin said.Jacey thought to herself, "As expec
Today, Benjamin had already returned home."How is it? How's your first time meeting your in-laws alone?" Calvin teased Ashlyn."It's quite good. I'm preparing to hold a medieval jewelry exhibition and then let my employees learn medieval video skills. I said that I wanted to use their jewelry as an exhibition, but they didn't even want the deposit. How generous," Ashlyn said lazily as she leaned against the sofa."It's… it's over?" Calvin looked at Ashlyn and said in surprise.Benjamin sat there and smiled."What else?" Ashlyn asked."What are you going to do this time? Aren't you going to look for your daughter-in-law? Did you see what she looked like?" Calvin poured a cup of tea for Ashlyn.After so many years, Ashlyn still hadn't changed from her usual macho self. In fact, she was even more macho than before. Perhaps Calvin had been the one to deal with everything after marriage, developing Ashlyn's habit of not using her brain.Of course, it only meant that she didn't use
For some reason, Ashlyn felt like crying when she saw this. In the past, these jewelry had traveled to another country. Now, these jewelry were all back with stories.She thought about how the person who owned these jewelry had brought them overseas and brought them back…She felt that the Irving family was worthy of admiration.Linda had gone out at some point. Seeing that Ashlyn was looking at her very seriously, she didn't disturb her.When she came in again, she was carrying a cup of coffee. The fragrant Americano she'd just ordered from the coffee machine on the first floor. It was made from good coffee beans.She handed the coffee to Ashlyn."Have a cup of coffee when you're tired. Anyway, these jewelry don't have long legs. They won't run away on their own," Linda said. "You can come and take a look whenever you want. I've always been here."Only then did Ashlyn feel that she had been watching for an hour or two, but she had always been like a pious primary school student
On Saturday afternoon, Ashlyn drove to Jacey's house, a very simple villa.Ashlyn knew that writers liked to live in such a quiet place because they had inspiration in such a place.Jacey's mother, Linda, was already standing on her steps to welcome her.Linda was dressed in a Chinese-style robe. She looked very ancient, but because she was slender, she looked especially good. She looked like a fairy.Ashlyn was dressed in a very fashionable modern outfit. She was wearing a knee-length skirt, pearl earrings, and earrings. She looked especially round and beautiful. One look and one could tell that she was the kind of person who had never experienced the blow of life."I'm Jacey's mother. Nice to meet you, Mrs. Conrad." Linda reached out and held Isobel's hand. "Jacey said that you're coming to our house to take a look. I am so happy. I specially brought all the jewelry from the other houses here and packed them up. If these jewelry can be displayed in the exhibition and let everyon
"Excuse me, how did you know about me?" Jacey asked."Oh, Benjamin's phone was on the table that day. He went to the washroom and I happened to see the photo album he was looking through. I picked it up and saw these few pieces of jewelry. You know it too. As jewelry makers, we won't let go of those rare jewelry no matter what. I asked Benjamin where these pieces of jewelry came from and he told me about you," Ashlyn said neither servile nor overbearing.She understood a girl's mentality very well. She knew that if the woman found out that the man had taken the initiative to leak her news to her parents, she would be very disgusted and feel passive. Therefore, she did not say that. Instead, she said that she had seen it herself. She even said that Benjamin was looking at these photos at that time.Jacey's heart would probably feel warm. After all, a man was looking at her photo behind her back. She should have a good impression of this man.Jacey really thought so. When she heard A
After Benjamin returned home, he showed Ashlyn the jewelry he had taken for Jacey.Ashlyn was very knowledgeable. One look at this jewelry and she knew that it was priceless.Moreover, the girl wearing the jewelry also had extremely good skin and was extremely delicate.Calvin, who was sitting at the side, also watched.However, Ashlyn didn't just look at the jewelry. She said, "You only bought jewelry. Who is this person wearing jewelry behind you?"Ashlyn asked Benjamin gossipily."Don't ask," Benjamin said.Ashlyn smiled. "You said that you only took photos of the jewelry but didn't take photos of her. Aren't you trying to arouse my curiosity? Now that I'm curious, you're not making a move. However, I've been working on researching National Jewelry recently, so I'm lacking samples in this area. When are you going to ask this girl out? Let me take a closer look. From her appearance, I think she's dressed very well. Moreover, I can see her face from her bone structure. I think