“Okay. Thank you, Mr. Lewis.”Liberty thanked him politely and added, “We’ll be going now. Goodbye.”Duncan said, “Drive safe. Bye, Sonny.”Sonny waved at him. “Bye bye, Dunc.”Liberty rode her e-bike and left with her son.Duncan stood where he was and watched the mother and son’s backs fade away. When they were out of sight, he turned back to his car, started the engine, and went back to his office.After his car left, the BMW parked a hundred feet behind his car drove off as well.“Drive faster, Lily. Overtake Duncan’s car and go further ahead to see who that woman is.”The two did not drive past Duncan after making the U-turn because they were afraid of being discovered by him, so they stopped not far from where he parked. However, they could not see the woman’s face clearly from that distance.Mrs. Lewis saw Liberty before, but that was when Liberty was still fat.Now that Liberty had lost dozens of pounds, Mrs. Lewis could not recognize her anymore.Furthermore, she on
They lived in a small circle where paths intersected frequently. They would cross paths eventually.Liberty was a divorcee, and Mrs. Lewis only brought her up in passing. Lily only remembered a bit about Liberty because she was Serenity’s sister.“Yes, she divorced last yet. Her husband had an affair. I heard he was violent toward her too and wanted to go Dutch with her when it came to living expenses. Liberty stayed at home to raise their son and was considered a housewife, yet her husband wanted to go Dutch with her. It was clear it was because he disliked her, but she didn’t realize it.“I heard she only found out that her husband was cheating on her when she received evidence of his affair. Her husband was very stingy with her, but he bought luxury goods for his mistress.“Women, especially married women, need to love themselves more. If you don’t know how to love yourself, you can’t expect your husband to love and cherish you. You have to try and maintain financial independenc
What Mrs. Lewis wanted to know was whether Liberty and Duncan contacted each other frequently in private.Lily heard Mrs. Lewis order someone to investigate Liberty’s recent situation and asked, “Mrs. Lewis, you don’t think that Duncan is interested in Liberty, right?”“Liberty is divorced and fat. Duncan’s standards aren’t that low, but we still have to take precautions. Maybe Liberty is interested in Duncan. Lily, I want my daughter-in-law to be someone like you.”Even if Liberty had never divorced, she was still not up to Mrs. Lewis’s standards.Lily paused. “You’re right, I didn’t think of that. I just figured that Duncan would never like a divorced woman. Since you don’t approve of her, I won’t worry about her either.”“Lily, Duncan has always been single. There are no rumors or scandals about him, but he has never pursued a girl before either. He’s a bit boorish when it comes to emotions, but if anyone can conquer him, he’ll spoil that woman with a lifetime of tenderness.“
After settling the matter of her parents’ house, Serenity returned to the bookstore in a happy mood.Unexpectedly, she saw Shawn, whom she had not seen for a long time.Shawn had taken two days of leave before the weekend, so he had a total of four days off to come back and see his parents.After learning that Serenity was not in the store, he came over to see his cousin.Jasmine did not know when Serenity would return. Shawn had just come in to sit for a while and was just about to leave. However, he bumped into Serenity just as he was leaving.“Serenity.”Shawn greeted Serenity with a smile, just like before.“Shawn?”Serenity checked Shawn out from head to toe before politely asking, “When did you come back? It’s been a long time. You look much more mature and steadier.”“I just got back today. My mom isn’t feeling well, and the factory isn’t too busy for the time being, so I took two days off before the weekend to visit my mom. Yes, it’s been a long time. You look even pre
Jasmine rubbed her forehead and said, “I know you never loved Shawn. I was just worried that you’d feel guilty. Shawn is fine the way he is now. He’s the successor of the family, so he has to suffer a little. He needs to face some setbacks in order to grow and become steady.”“Aunt Rachel did all that for his own good. It’s good that he was sent away to train himself. What do I have to be guilty about?”Serenity sat at the counter and took out her phone. “I’ll tell my man about this lest he gets jealous and misunderstands again.”Taking the initiative to tell Zachary was better than him finding out from the bodyguards.With Zachary’s personality, he was sure to get jealous again if he found out from his bodyguards that Shawn and she had met.Jasmine went into the kitchen.After a while, she came out with a plate of grapes and placed it on the counter, saying, “Shawn bought these—the seedless grapes we often eat.“So, how was it? Was your dad your grandparents’ biological son?” J
Jasmine sighed and said, “Some parents can be quite baffling. They disapprove of their grateful children but play favorites with other children who can’t care less about them.” Serenity took a moment in silence before saying, “These parents hurt the kids who care while their favorite children hurt them instead. Some siblings never get close and even cut contact after their parents pass away because of the deferential treatment among siblings.”“I’m lucky my family is not like that. My grandparents treat us all equally. There are no favorites or least liked. My uncles are nice too. We get along well with our cousins,” Jasmine said. Serenity did not add to the conversation after that. She wished she had a family like Jasmine’s. She was not on good terms with her cousins. Ring, ring, ring…Jasmine’s phone rang. Thinking it was Josh, Jasmine pulled out her phone and said to her best friend, “He didn’t call me the whole day today. I think he’s starting to get bored of me.” Se
Drake was not going to say more. “Jas, hand the phone to Serenity. I need to talk to her.” Jasmine mumbled, “I’m your sister, and you’re saying something happened at home. You don’t want to tell me, but you plan to tell Serenity? Do you think you can hide it from me, b*stard?” Despite the nagging, Jasmine passed the phone to Serenity and told her best friend, “Drake is keeping me guessing. I don’t know what’s going on, but he wants to speak to you.” Taking the phone with a smile, Serenity asked Drake who was on the other end of the line, “What’s up, Drake? You can talk to me. I promise to keep it a secret. I won’t let your sister know.” Truth be told, Jasmine had stuck her ear against the phone so she could get the message straight from Drake. Her brother piqued her curiosity. Now, Jasmine was dying to find out what was going on at home. All she was told was that it was good, but it was not enough for her to go by. “Serenity, is my sister eavesdropping next to you? Go outsi
“Jasmine’s back.” Someone spotted Jasmine and shouted out loud. The crowd at the gate of the Soxes’ residence gave way by parting into two rows. Jasmine got a good look at the people at the gate. Most of them were the townspeople and nearby tenants. They looked at her, all smiles. With everybody moving out of the way, Jasmine found out what everybody was looking at from the gate. It was a humongous display of flowers. Josh, who had not called or texted her all day, stood next to the flowers with a bouquet of roses in his hands. He was smiling widely at her. Jasmine stopped her bike. “Go on, Jas.” Drake drew close and dragged his sister to walk ahead. Jasmine was pulled to the floral display. Those were roses. Josh used thousands of roses to spell out something. [Marry me, Jasmine!]Josh was proposing. After giving it a lot of thought, Josh decided to go the cheesy way and form words with flowers. It would be beautiful and romantic. He could then propose to Jasmin