Liam looked at Rowan in confusion while the latter stared at him with rage.After falling into silence for a while, Rowan broke the ice. “Mr. Hamerton, from what I know, your grandson has a fiancee!”“Fiancee?” Liam was stunned.Was Cordelia not his girlfriend? When did she upgrade to being his fiancee?Also, did he not only propose two days ago?He had lost track of what had been happening out there since he was sick.Liam shook his head. From what he remembered, Zephyr insisted on marrying Cordelia, while Liam was not fond of her.“No, no…” Liam waved his hands. “What fiancee? Zephyr’s marriage was just set two days ago! The lady isn’t too shabby!“Sigh, it’s all my fault.” He sighed. “Clark said that I’m so old I can’t remember people anymore. Hah… Well, I must be too old. I almost missed a great granddaughter-in-law who was right in front of me…“I wonder if she’s willing to marry him.“I don’t care if she’s willing or not. We’ll give an expensive dowry! I’ll visit her pa
Rowan sat in the car, angry. Charlie looked at him through the rearview mirror a couple of times. He did not know this man at all.“Sir, why are you so mad? What happened?”“That b*sard…” Rowan pulled his tie. “He dares to marry someone else!”“What!?” Charlie was shocked too. “Sir, did you hear it wrong?”“That old thing Liam told me himself!”“What…” Charlie frowned. “Then what about our Cordelia?”Rowan scoffed, “He said he loves my daughter. In the end, he caved under his grandfather’s pressure! Such a man isn’t worthy of Cordelia to be with forever! It’s good that they will break up!”Although he said that, he felt beaten.Even if they were to break up, Cordelia should initiate it. It should not be Zephyr breaking up with her.He thought about it and mumbled to himself, “He minds that my daughter doesn’t have a powerful family, right? It’s okay. I’ll acknowledge her as my daughter now! I want the Hamertons to know that she belongs to the Irwins!”Charlie’s expression cha
Janine licked her lips. She picked up the cup and drank a big sip of coffee. She covered her face with the cup to disguise her rather terrible acting skills.A cat happened to run over. It kept rubbing against Xyla’s legs while purring.She was stunned. She carried it while smiling, petting it softly while putting it on the chair.Janine put down her cup and recalled Rowan coming to her in a panic two days ago.…Rowan said he must meet Xyla, so he asked her for a favor.Janine was stunned. She was deeply suspicious that something was wrong with him. He was begging her!?That man had been proud all his life. He had never begged anyone before!She thought he still liked Xyla and scoffed after looking at him coldly for a while. “So, you still have a good conscience!”“So, you’re helping me?”“Sure.” Janine thought about it. “I’ll be going out with Xyla in the afternoon the day after tomorrow. I’ll send you the cafe’s location. Come.”“Sure.” Rowan nodded.Janine looked at him
At the same time, another cafe on the same street was crowded.It was reserved too. It was rare that everyone gathered—almost everyone was there.Josiah sat next to the window with Kelly. They leaned on each other’s heads together. She was focused on reading the original version of Goethe’s poetry.He watched her giggling with his eyes widened. He was counting her lashes.Nicholas snuck out to smoke again, and Linda caught him. She dragged him back by pulling his ear.Zennie played cards with Seth while the latter chuckled. He took out three years' worth of college entrance exam simulation questions…She was dumbstruck and looked like she was dying. Seth taught her with all seriousness. “It’s been so long since you dropped out. You’ve missed the examination this year, so you must get a good result next year. As such, you must work hard now! Here, let’s do it. I’ll teach you whatever you don’t know!”Zephyr and Cordelia looked at each other. They gestured “good luck” to Zennie at
Trinity smiled and pretended to look cool like she always did, though she did what she usually would not do by wearing a checkered dress.“Hey, we can talk about anything, right?” She patted his shoulder. “It's rare to see you so troubled!”Fredric pursed his lips and lowered his voice a moment later. “Trinity, I’m really only a good friend to you, right?”She was stunned before nodding immediately.“We’re… bros?”Her smile was not exactly natural, but she agreed anyway. “Yes, of course! We’re bros!”“Then, as a bro, I have a favor to ask…”She looked at him and focused, worried she would miss out on a word.“Do tell!”“Are you preparing to shoot your new movie?”“Hmm, yes.”“Can you…” He licked his lips and said in a troubled manner, “Can you give Michelle a chance to be a minor character in your movie?”The smile on Trinity’s face froze instantly.She clenched her fists that were next to her body, her nails deep in her skin. She then let go slowly.She wanted to say no,
Zephyr held Cordelia’s hands to coax her and calmly took her to the street.The ambulance had stopped just two junctions away from them.Zephyr and Cordelia hastened their pace and saw that plenty of people had already formed a crowd around the cafe. The paramedics acted quickly with serious faces.It was to their surprise that Janine was the one hurrying after the stretcher!“Mom!?” Zephyr could not help shouting.Janine’s head snapped up to see the both of them and was shocked.Cordelia was anxious. “Aunt Baker, is it my mom—”Before she finished her sentence, she saw Xyla walking out of the cafe in one piece.Cordelia hurried to her to hold her by the arm and scanned her from head to toe, relieved to see that her mother’s gaze was not blank. This meant that her illness had not relapsed.Despite that, she looked pale and weak, like a sheet that would break with one poke.“Mom, what’s wrong?” Cordelia’s voice was trembling. “D-Don’t… scare me!”“I’m fine.” Xyla forced a smi
“Oh, nothing.” Xyla’s voice was calm. “Just sighing about how time flies. One should really take care of their health when they get older.”“Mom…” Cordelia bit her lips. The question was on the verge of her lips, and she asked in resolution after a long time, “Have you and Uncle Irwin met?”Xyla froze before nodding lightly. “Yes.”“What a coincidence!” Cordelia beamed at her in disbelief. “Do you know that he’s the one I’ve been intending to introduce to you? Uncle Irwin also has a Siamese cat, and I wanted you to meet him with Ginger the last time!”Janine coughed while Xyla remained silent. Zephyr kept Cordelia’s hand tightly in his.Cordelia was baffled for a moment, sharply noticing that these people looked off, but she was unable to tell what was wrong in particular.Janine was meticulous. She knew that Cordelia was smart and would connect the dots when she went back and thought about it. Xyla would not be able to keep it a secret despite her intention. She might as well ki
Clark returned a while later with a laptop in his hands.When Cordelia was done eating, he waved for the servants to take her cutlery away and placed the laptop in front of her.Zephyr thought that it was odd too and went closer for a look. There were rows of entries and tightly packed numbers on the screen.“These are the accounts, not the company’s, but the whole Hamerton Manor’s.” Liam’s tone was nonchalant. “Cordelia, have a closer look. See if there’s anything wrong.”“Grandpa—”Zephyr wanted to say something, but Cordelia privately put a hand over the back of his hand. She gave him a look and shook her head lightly. She knew that Liam was testing her.Since she had found out about the illegal trade on the western suburbs’ land being related to Matthew, Liam had looked at her differently. He frequently asked Zephyr to take her home for meals and sometimes asked her questions in feigned nonchalance.Smart as Cordelia was, her answers had been tactful. She had been tested on