Camryn uttered with a smile, “I’ll arrange something for you since you trust me.” Putting her cane aside, Camryn began to design a floral bouquet for Serenity. Serenity watched Carmyn handle the task with ease and asked, “Ms. Newman, do you memorize the placing of each type of flower here?” While pairing flowers together, Camryn replied, “I have to since I can’t see. I hired some employees to separate the flowers every time the stock comes in. They’ll tell me where each type of flower is placed. “My flower shop has been around for a few years now, so I had a lot of time to memorize everything. I think I’m on top of it.” Looking into Camryn’s eyes, Serenity probed, “Is there any way you can see again, Ms. Newman?” With her smile fading, Camryn answered, “I lost my sight from an illness. I was lucky to even survive. I’m fine without my sight. I’m just grateful to be alive.” Due to the sudden blindness, she nearly lost her life to depression and insanity. Nevertheless, she
Serenity would not take no for an answer as she put the two hundred bucks in Camryn’s palm. Camryn felt the money with her fingers before pulling one bill and giving it back to Serenity. She said, “If you insist, I’ll take half the money.” Since the girls were not close yet, Serenity relented and took back a hundred-dollar bill from Camryn before replying with a grin, “Thank you, Ms. Newman. Your flowers here are beautiful. I’ll be sure to come back for more.” Camryn beamed. “You’re always welcome. You can call me in advance if you need anything. Just let me know who it is for, and I’ll have the flowers picked out and wrapped up. You can come and collect without waiting.” Turning on her heel, she went to the cash register. Camryn held onto the table as she got behind the cash register and pulled the drawer to get a box of business cards. She retrieved a business card before making her way back to Serenity. “This is my business card, Mrs. York.” Serenity drew close and took th
Callum responded, “I only ran into Serenity on my way out after a discussion with Zachary. She’s my cousin-in-law. I mean, I should at least get to sample when family comes over with food.” Mr. Chaplin laughed in delight. “That was why Mr. Zachary pushed you out of there.” Only Callum would be so bold to pull such a move. Well, he was family with Zachary and Serenity after all, and family would not have a falling out over a tiny matter. Callum pursed her lips. “What’s the big deal? So he has a wife. He acts like none of us can get a wife.” “You can get yourself a wife who delivers food to you every day too. All the other single men like me will be jealous of you.” Callum choked. His nana’s chosen wife for him was someone blind. There was no way she could cook for him. It was more like the other way round. “Mr. Bucham has a glow to him lately with a spring in his step. Love must be beautiful, I guess.” Callum drew close to Mr. Chaplin and tugged on his tie. “Tell me tha
Serenity took the fancy-looking bags from Zachary and asked in glee, “What are these?” Taking his seat on the sofa, Zachary replied with a smile, “Well, why don’t you take a look inside?” He removed the lid of the food container and dug into his wife’s specially-made dinner. Serenity took a look and responded with a grin, “Skincare products. You’re giving me a lot more than Elisa has bought me.” The guy had been jealous. He did not like her using the skincare products given by Elisa and insisted that she should only use the ones he would give her. However, Zachary had not given her any. Taking it as a passing remark, Serenity continued using Elisa’s skincare products. They worked well for her skin and were better than the products she used before anyway. Serenity must admit that women should not skimp in terms of skincare. “I’ll buy all the skincare products for you.” Zachary had no idea about the brands used by women as skincare products were not something he had ever bo
“They are bound to come and beg us for help,” Zachary predicted. Serenity chuckled sarcastically. Zachary was like a brick wall. What could he do if his cousins came to him for help? Zachary was probably only good for taunts and horrible ideas. “You don’t believe me, babe.” “Not at all.” Zachary stared into her eyes and said, “We’ll just have to wait and see. They’ll come to me as the senior male figure in the family when they’re in trouble. Even if I can’t do anything to help, I can lend an ear.” Since Zachary’s cousins had the utmost respect and trust in Zachary, Serenity had confidence in Zachary’s prediction. “Did Ms. Carrie get into a disagreement with you?” Serenity mentioned running into Carrie and the feud between the sisters, but there was nothing further about what happened between Serenity and Carrie. Sure, Carrie was cocky, but Serenity would always put Carrie in her place. Since he asked, Serenity came clean to Zachary about Carrie’s arrogant behavior.
Despite Zachary’s yearning for Serenity to stay, Serenity still left the office in the end and went back to watch her shop. By the time of her return, the shop was still bustling with students. Since Josh had not arrived, Serenity and Jasmine dove right into work. The crowd of students was slowly dispersing when Josh made it to the shop. By then, Serenity could handle the work all on her own. Josh would always drop in with flowers for Jasmine. Jasmine would also prepare little gifts for him. The couple looked out for one another and always had each other’s best interests at heart. They were a pair made in heaven. “Seren, we’re leaving for our date now.” Jasmine held her purse and bouquet given by Josh before announcing her leave to Serenity with a smile. Once Serenity acknowledged her, Jasmine took off with Josh. Serenity was kept occupied for a while until the last swarm of students left. She then went into the kitchen to heat her food up and enjoyed her dinner behind
Mr. Charles replied, “That’s true… It’s a good thing I didn’t tell my wife.” “Mrs. Charles doesn’t give you much allowance, but she doesn’t let you pay for the other stuff. You don’t have to worry about expenses for your parents and parents-in-law, social favors, and expenses for raising your children. You are lucky, Mr. Charles. “It’s not easy to manage money.” While munching, Mr. Charles remarked, “I agree, and that’s why I left the finances to my wife since she’s good at it. I used to be the one to take care of the finances, but our savings never made it past twenty thousand dollars by the end of the year despite our business doing well. Since my wife took over, we have saved close to a hundred thousand dollars a year.“I’m happy with the load off my shoulders and the surplus of money in the family account. My wife is a very fair person. She won’t favor her own family. She gives equal amounts to my parents and her parents. My parents cannot be happier with their daughter-in-l
“Alright. We got it.” These thugs had no idea who Serenity was. Carrie was not that dumb to let them in on it. No amount of money could buy these people to do her dirty work if Carrie let out that Serenity was Mrs. York. “Delete my number when you get the final payment. I can guarantee your safety so long as you do as I say.“Don’t blame me for what’s to come if I catch you blabbering about it.” “Don’t worry, Ms. Jones. We won’t breathe a word to anyone. We’re in this together since you pay us to do the job.” Truth be told, Carrie did not even tell the thugs her real family name.She intended to dump the SIM card after the deed was done and she was through with contacting the thugs. The number was not registered to her name anyway. Carrie hung up the call. Thinking that Serenity was about to get it, she burst out laughing. Serenity should have minded her own business instead of helping Camryn. It was time Serenity got a taste of her own medicine. Knock, knock.Pulling
“I’m sorry. I have a business appointment tonight.”Tati rejected Manny’s invitation without hesitation. Manny had been pursuing her relentlessly. If she were to have a meal with him, the paparazzi stalking them would take pictures and she would be on the local entertainment headlines the next day. She would not give Manny any chances to advertise false information about their relationship. Manny looked disappointed. “Another day then.“By the way, you’ll be attending a banquet two days later, right? Can I be your escort?”Tati and Isabella would not attend just any banquet. Families who could invite them were wealthy and close to the O’Connors. Ordinary banquets could never have Tati and Isabella as guests. Manny had gathered information for two days. He heard that one of the wealthy families in Satbury would be holding a banquet to celebrate their old missus’s eightieth birthday, and many guests were invited to liven up the celebration. A missus of that family was clos
“My family isn’t inferior to yours, sweet Tati. The Longbottoms even surpass the O’Connors. As a young master of the Longbottoms, why will I go after your family’s money?“Money has never been a problem for the Longbottom family. In fact, you and I are the best match for each other. Our families are equally rich. If we get together, it’ll be a joining of two strong forces.”Tati wanted to say that while the Longbottom family surpassed the O’Connors, Manny was not the true person in power within his family. Even his father was not the legitimate head. The power and wealth of the Longbottom family belonged to the true head of the family. Tony and Manny Longbottom were simply managing the family in the interim. Did they think the family had become theirs?If the son of the previous Longbottom family head grew up and returned to take charge of the family, Tony and Manny would no longer have any influence. They would only receive some compensation for their hard work. Without the L
Tati looked toward Manny and said in a serious tone, “If you love someone, you’d be considerate of her and do what’s best for her.“Meanwhile, you’re disregarding any inconvenience this might cause me just to appear romantic. You know I’m busy, yet you put flowers here and blocked my way, wasting my time.“Do your actions truly reflect your love for me? Are you being considerate of me?”Tati would not have said a word if Manny had asked his people to place the flowers in an empty spot. However, he just had to do it at the entrance of the company, attracting many people. Her company security team could not even chase them away. They knew Manny’s identity and that he was pursuing her. If the security chased him away, the Longbottom and O’Connor families could end up enemies. Secondly, they were worried about getting fired if Tati were to accept Manny’s feelings one day and decide to punish them. Tati would not blame the security for failing to execute their duty. After Manny s
“It’s okay if you don’t want my bouquets. Can you feel my sincere love for you through these letters?“I fell in love with you at first sight, and I fell even harder the second time I saw you.”Manny’s gaze was affectionate as if he truly loved Tati. To be honest, Tati was outstanding in various aspects. She was good enough for him, a young master of the Longbottoms. They were also close in age and definitely had common topics to talk about. However, Tati refused to give him a chance and rejected his confession. That did not matter. After all, it had not been long since he started pursuing Tati. As the O’Connors had more daughters than sons, he could understand that their daughters would be especially cautious regarding romantic relationships. They did not want men dating them solely for the O’Connor family’s money. Although that had been Manny’s initial intention, he was satisfied with Tati after meeting her in person. He was willing to marry her. Besides, Tati was com
Meanwhile, in Satbury, Tati returned to the company but was forced to stop her car at the entrance. Some people were decorating the entrance with flowers. Security tried to chase them away, but they did not even budge. The security guards seemed wary of something and did not force those people to leave. A few cars were parked nearby, including a truck that still carried fresh flowers.Tati did not honk. There were people and flowers on the road before her and honking was useless anyway, or she could simply drive past without a care. She got out of the car to have a look. “Sweet Tati.”An unfamiliar voice rang. Tati looked toward the person who called her and frowned. She recognized that person. He was Manny Longbottom, the eldest son of the interim head of the family.Mr. Longbottom had come over several times for business negotiations. However, it was not yet his scheduled timing. Even if he were the Longbottom family’s interim head, there would be no special treatmen
First, Adrian poured himself a glass of water. He then sat down at his desk, pulled out his phone, and made a call to Jacob while sipping his water.When the call connected, he spoke in a low voice, “We’re going ahead with the plan. Caroline will be heading to Fortress Hotel later to meet with a client. After the meeting, she’ll have dinner there.“The discussion and dinner will take a long time. By the time she leaves the hotel, it’ll already be nighttime. She probably won’t go anywhere else after that.“Wait for her on the route she usually takes home. Her license plate is CA 201. Got it?”Adrian made sure Jacob remembered Caroline’s license plate number. He had also sent the information via text, so unless the person had an exceptionally bad memory, they should be able to recall it.Jacob replied, “Got it. We’ll have to start preparing, then. Try to get Caroline to drink some alcohol. If she’s drunk, it’ll be easier to handle her.”After all, they could not guarantee that the
Adrian snapped, “Are you saying that I don’t do real work? Caroline, I was working at Fisher Enterprise long before we even knew you existed.”Caroline said neutrally, “Yes, yes, Adrian, you’ve been at Fisher Enterprise for a long time, but what achievements have you made? I mean, achievements that you accomplished on your own.“The results credited to you in the past weren’t actually your doing. You know better than anyone how they came about, so I won’t spell it out. I may have joined Fisher Enterprise only recently, but look at the position I’m in now.“Adrian, I’ve made it very clear. If you want to keep your job, do it well and take it seriously. Stop trying to take credit for other people’s work.”Adrian’s expression darkened. “I only said a couple of things, and you fired back with dozens. Can’t you give me some grace? I have pride, too.”“Adrian, go back to work. I need to get ready to head out soon.” Caroline was done talking to her brother.Adrian fell silent for a mo
Adrian was sullenly quiet. Was he really that incompetent? He thought he had done a pretty good job.Back when their mother was still around, he had not even needed to lift a finger. He just had to vaguely outline the requirements, and the elite team under him would come up with a proposal that satisfied everyone upstairs.All he had to do was wait for the praise and the compliments about how capable he was.After doing this for so long, Adrian had started to believe that he truly was talented.Then, he found out that Celine was not his biological sister and that Caroline was, but the latter had grown up in the countryside, appearing weak and timid, and seemed useless to the company—a good-for-nothing. Thus, Adrian began to harbor ambitions. He wanted to replace his sister and become the successor of the Fisher family.He had repeatedly expressed to his mother his desire to take over, to become the first male successor in the Fisher family’s history. He even said he was willing
Adrian tried several times to interrupt his sister, but Caroline’s barrage came at him like a machine gun, rapid and relentless. All he could do was glare at her, his face flush with anger. If looks could kill, Caroline would have been torn to pieces long ago.After finishing her lecture, Caroline picked up her cup and took a few sips of her coffee. She then said, “Adrian, look at me, I’m parched from all this talking. I’ve really gone out of my way to persuade you for your own good, just like how you tried to persuade me not to hand over control of the Fisher family. “To be honest, even if I didn’t give it back to Audrey and the rest, do you think I could hold onto the position of the matriarch?“The rest of the family doesn’t support us. They might not necessarily side with the Wiltspoonians either, but they definitely won’t side with us. They’ve long been dissatisfied with Mom and us.“Without their support and unable to win against Audrey, the Fisher legacy would eventually be