Duncan was passing by All You Can Eat at eight o’clock when he stopped the car. He paused for a moment before getting out of the car. Halfway out, Duncan was struck by a thought and retraced his steps. He unlocked the car and retrieved one of many boxes from the backseat. It was a box of Legos. He was fond of Sonny, so he bought a lot of toys and stashed them in his car. That way, he would have something for Sonny every time he dropped by the diner. It went without saying that his trips to the diner were for the boy and not Liberty. Duncan used to give Sonny pinwheels, but the boy had grown out of them. That was why he bought new toys. With a box of Legos in hand, Duncan stepped into All You Can Eat. “Morning, Mr. Lewis.” Seeing that Duncan entered through the door, Liberty greeted him with a smile and asked, “Same order?”“Yes. The same old.” Duncan believed breakfast at his buddy’s place did not fill his belly. With his workload heavy in the morning, how could he g
“I was up late today.” Duncan lied. He did not tell Liberty that he had breakfast at his buddy’s place and it was just not quite enough. The loving couple had him lose his appetite, but now that they were out of sight, the hunger caught up to him, so Duncan had to drop by Liberty’s diner to fill his belly. Seeing that Duncan was showing her son the ropes in the middle of breakfast, Liberty drew close, sat next to her son, and said, “I’ll help you, Sonny.” She picked up the assembly instruction for a look and stared at the pile of bricks, feeling a headache coming. Oops. It seemed Lego bricks were not quite her thing. Serenity was good at it though. She was nifty with her hands at crafting, so Lego bricks were not a problem for her. With a customer entering the diner, Liberty put down the assembly instruction and told her son, “Take your time, Sonny. I’ll be right with you.” “Mom, you don’t know how to do it, but Dunc does.” Sonny was attached to Duncan when they assem
Duncan’s mother had mentioned Liberty to Lily before. Lily was most focused on Serenity though, as she wanted to get into Mrs. York’s good graces. Nevertheless, Duncan was certain that Lily kept an eye on Liberty since Liberty was Mrs. York’s sister. “I own the space and rent it out,” Duncan added in case Lily thought he was standing up for the restaurant owner. Lily smiled. “No wonder you have breakfast there. You own the place.” “I’m full. I can’t eat anymore. Ms. Harmon, thank you for the breakfast, but I don’t need it.” The last thing Duncan wanted was to take Lily to the office. Lily uttered with a smile, “I’ll bring it back later. I want to get a tour of your office, Duncan. I didn’t just come to Wiltspoon for this. I’m here to talk business with a few major corporations too.” The Harmons operated their business on a large scale. Mrs. Lewis was hoping to have a union with the Harmons while Lily wanted to penetrate Wiltspoon’s market by having business ties with
“Mom, Sonny has a toy, and he’s not letting me play with it. I want a toy, Mom! I want Sonny’s toy!” Lucas took quick paces to his mother and tugged on Chelsea’s clothes, demanding Sonny’s toy. Chelsea always thought the world of her children while other people’s children could suck it. Putting her hand out at Sonny, she said, “Sonny, hand over your toy.” “This is mine!” Sonny latched onto the Lego box like glue. Chelsea went ahead to pull the toy off of Sonny when Liberty grabbed a kitchen utensil and slapped it on Chelsea’s wrist. The pain caused Chelsea to recoil her arm. “What are you doing, Liberty?” Liberty put on a sour face. “I should be asking you that. That is Sonny’s toy. He can decide whether he wants to share it with Lucas. Why are you taking the toy from a child?” Chelsea was lost for words. With a scowl, Mr. Brown gave his daughter a dressing down. Once Chelsea pulled her son to a corner, Mr. Brown apologetically said, “Liberty, it’s fine if Sonny doesn
Serenity took a ride in her man’s Roll Royce to the shop. She had just collected the craft goods from the crafters she hired. After examining the quality, Serenity complimented her employees on a good job and paid them based on the agreed rate. “Serenity, it’s good money since we’re only working on crafts when we take a break from caring for the kids. Our families are pretty supportive. You know what? My mother-in-law stopped giving me an attitude.” “Me too. My mother-in-law is now looking after my child for me. I was shocked that she was happy to do it for me. Serenity, you can accept more orders. We are more than able to finish the task.” They ventured into the world of crafting together. Although there had not been a lot of contact among the ladies, they had always kept in touch. The ladies were well aware of Serenity’s position in society now too. Of course, they were envious. However, Serenity gave them a job and paid every time they handed in the crafts. It was a lucr
Sure, Jessica’s mother only lost a chunk of hair, but it was enough to scare the hell out of Jessica. It would not take much for these people to come after her family’s lives. Although Jessica was not on good terms with her family due to the bridal gift, this was her family. She could not allow anything to happen to her family just to save an outsider like Sonny. Today looked most promising to carry out the plan. Serenity asked, “Is your mom going?” “Yeah. Mom’s going. Are you going, Aunt Ser?” After much thought, Serenity replied, “What time are you leaving? I’ll see if I can make the time.” “Mom said we can leave in about half an hour. Aunt Ser, please go with us. I want to see the tigers in the zoo.” Sonny had been wanting to go to the zoo since the last time. However, it did not happen because the boy later chose to go out with his aunt. The zoo was still a magical place for the boy. Now that he had the chance today, he really, really wanted to go. “Alright then
Elisa looked at Liberty. Once she was sure that the Browns were here to go on a family trip with Liberty and Sonny, Elisa’s straight face softened into a smile. The smile was for Sonny, not for the Brown family. The sight of the Browns made Elisa sick to her stomach. “Since you want to go to the zoo, I’ll go with you, Sonny.” Elisa readily said yes to her nephew’s invitation. It had not registered in Sonny’s head that his parents were divorced. Liberty had a heart of gold. She never spoke ill about Hank in Sonny’s presence despite her grievance with her in-laws. No matter what, Sonny and Hank were father and son. It would not do Sonny any good to hate his father. On the contrary, it would impede Sonny’s mental growth. Half an hour later, Serenity, Liberty, and Sonny took a ride in Elisa’s car as they set out for the zoo. Serenity’s two bodyguards took another car and tagged behind. The Browns were split into two cars, and they drove behind the bodyguards. Jessica na
Serenity had to chase after the little guy. It was crowded in the zoo, and children like Sonny were everywhere. Not in the mood to appreciate the scenery, Serenity was exhausted just running after Sonny. Sonny had been watching the shop with his mother day in and day out, and his mother would take him home for a rest after work. Liberty did not have time to take him out to play. Now that he was at the zoo, Sonny unleashed the unruly nature of children. It was a good thing Serenity had the habit of working out. At least, she could keep up with the child’s activeness. Since Liberty had been jogging to lose weight, her stamina was at an optimum level. Only, Ms. Stone rarely engaged in such an activity. The long walk hurt her feet. As for the Browns, God knew where they were. Sonny had a great time at the playground, going several rounds at the age-appropriate facilities until he was sweating all over. His aunt then picked him up to see the animals. The zoo was a huge place