Chelsea swore to herself that she would never let Jessica live a happy life while she was around!Jessica stopped, turned her head, and asked coldly, “What?”Chelsea put down the TV remote control, got up, and walked over. She glanced at the numerous bags in Jessica’s hands. “What did you buy? There are so many bags. Spending money is the only thing you know. Hank and you are both unemployed and have no source of income now. Don’t you know how to be frugal?“Now, everything you eat and use comes from Hank’s pocket. You worked for so long but can’t bear to spend your own money, but you always spend Hank’s money. Do you think his money grows on trees?”Chelsea criticized Jessica for not knowing how to save money while forcefully seizing the bags from Jessica’s hands.“Chelsea, what are you doing?” Hank asked.Chelsea glared at him and snapped, “Can’t I have a look? Move aside. She saw me when she came in but didn’t bother greeting me at all. You spoiled her so much that she has no
“Wouldn’t it be humiliating for me if I left just because you told me to? This isn’t your house. Are you paying the rent? If you are, I’ll go out immediately and never come back.”Chelsea did not back down.Jessica was young and used to sitting in an office. She had not much strength and simply could not compete with Chelsea.Seeing that it was impossible to drive Chelsea out, Jessica turned and shouted angrily at her husband, “Hank Brown, can’t you see your sister is bullying me? Why aren’t you helping me to kick her out? I’m telling you now, between me and her, only one of us can stay in this house!”“Chelsea. Jessica. Will you two just stop arguing? You might not get tired of fighting all day, but I’m sick of it.”Hank was fed up with this state. He had no peace at home.As soon as he got home, it was either his mother or sister quarreling with his wife—not a single day of peace.Smack!Jessica was so angry that she slapped Hank.Hank was stunned by the slap. He clutched hi
Hank yelled behind the door, “Shut up and go home, Chelsea! Don’t come here anymore. You’ll just cause trouble!”Liberty was even more ruthless when she fought against his domestic violence. She chased him down several blocks with a kitchen knife.Did Chelsea forget that?Chelsea, who was scolded by her brother, yelled back furiously, “Yes, I’m a troublemaker. I just don’t like that b*tch. My parents are here, so this is my home too. What has that got to do with her? I can come here whenever I want. It’s not like I’m eating out of her pocket or sleeping under her roof. If she’s capable, tell her to pay for her own house. I promise I won’t take a single step into her house!”She wanted to make Jessica’s life a living hell!Jessica lay on the ground and cried bitterly.Except for the time when she was caught red-handed by Liberty and beaten up, she had never been so pathetic before.She was physically and mentally hurt and felt extremely aggrieved.Hank looked at her crying and f
Liberty did not care that her ex-husband was not living a good life after their divorce.All that mattered was that she was happy.At four in the morning, she woke her son up and brought him to All You Can Eat.Another busy day began.Sonny was still small and fell asleep along the way.When they reached the store, Liberty put two chairs together to let her son sleep on them, and a few more chairs on his sides to prevent him from rolling over and falling to the ground.The two assistants she hired came to work at six in the morning.Usually, the breakfast rush hour would be from half-past six to half-past nine.Serenity would come to pick up her nephew at seven.Sonny would be awake by that time.The little man was such a good boy and did not cry after waking up. He sat by himself at the cashier, playing with the set of blocks that he had not assembled yet.“Liberty.”Serenity called out to her sister as she entered. She lent a hand when she saw it was a full house at the d
Sonny recalled Jessica’s and his mom’s explanation, but he still could not fully understand the meaning of his mom’s words. He tilted his head and asked, “Dunc, are you married?”“No, I don’t have a spouse, so I’m not married.”“Why don’t you have a spouse?”“Because I don’t have a woman I like.”Sonny blinked and asked curiously, “You don’t like my mom? Also, my Aunt Ser and Aunt Elisa are very nice. Don’t you like them too?”Duncan was speechless.He said in amusement, “Your Aunt Ser is very nice, but she already has your Uncle Zack. I can’t like your Aunt Ser. Your Aunt Elisa is also very good, but I don’t like her that way. She’s not my type.“As for your mom... I only think of her as my friend. I come over every day because I like you.”Sonny seemed to vaguely understand the part where Duncan said he liked him.He asked instinctively, “Do you want to marry me?”Duncan froze. “Sonny, we’re both boys, so we can’t get married. Although I don’t have a girlfriend yet, I’m a s
“You don’t need to care about Liberty, nor do you have to find her since it’ll make you appear as having no confidence. I’ll handle her. I’m Duncan’s mother. It’s normal that I can’t accept a divorcee as my daughter-in-law.”Mrs. Lewis was afraid that Lily would go looking for trouble with Liberty and anger Duncan, causing him to dislike her.She added, “From now on, just focus on pursuing Duncan. I'll take care of Liberty for you.“I’m Duncan’s mom. No matter what, Duncan won’t fight with me.”Lily said while driving, “Mrs. Lewis, are you going to look for Liberty now? I think Duncan just treats her son well. He didn’t seem to pay much attention to Liberty. Maybe we’re overthinking.“Maybe Duncan simply likes Liberty’s son? I also saw what the boy looked like. He looks smart and is utterly adorable. There’s also nothing strange about Liberty renting Duncan’s store to open a breakfast diner. As long as she pays the rent, she’s just a tenant.“Furthermore, Liberty is Mr. York’s si
Liberty answered sincerely, “It’s Mr. Lewis’s lot and he said that he was going to charge me a cheaper rate since I am Zachary’s sister-in-law. We settled on eight thousand a month for the rental and if you add the utilities and all that, then it comes down to just shy of ten thousand.” Mrs. Lewis was relieved to hear that her son had charged Liberty a proper rental—at least he was not giving the shop away as an act of charity. Considering Liberty’s relationship with Zachary, charging her eight thousand per month for rental was a reasonable and fair price. "That brat is taking your money? You’re Mr. York’s sister-in-law, he should have the decency to let you use the lot without charging you a rental,” Mrs. Lewis said this intentionally to elicit Liberty’s reaction. Liberty quickly explained, “At the end of the day, business is business and I don’t think personal relations should play a part in it. I would not dare use the shop lot if he was not going to charge me rent at al
“Mrs. Lewis.” After Liberty glanced at the picture, she handed it back to Mrs. Lewis. After taking the photo, Mrs. Lewis asked Liberty with a warm smile, “Liberty, what do you think of this girl?” She made a point of observing Liberty’s expression to see how she would respond. Liberty gave her opinion candidly, “She looks beautiful and inspires a lot of confidence. I’d say she’s a very capable and independent woman, very trustworthy.” Mrs. Lewis noted the calm demeanor in which Liberty answered and said, “You’re very good at reading people, aren’t you? I would agree that Lily here is an independent woman. After graduating from university, she joined her family’s company and started from the foundation, keeping her identity a secret the entire time. “She climbed the ranks and is now the vice president of the company. It was only after she had been promoted to the top rung of the company that people found out that she was the chairman’s daughter and the younger sister of t
Serenity’s embarrassed look made Zachary’s desire burn stronger. However, he still held himself back.After taking a few deep breaths, Zachary released her and said gently, “I’ll run the bath for you. You should wash up and rest early.”After speaking, he went to the bathroom to prepare the bath for her.Serenity watched him walk away. He reappeared a moment later and took her pajamas. He asked, “Do you want to wash your hair? I can help you with it.”It was inconvenient for Serenity to wash her hair with her big bump.“I washed my hair yesterday. I’ll pass tonight. When I was young, my mom often told me not to wash it daily. She believed the old wives’ tale that it’d cause frequent headaches when I got older. So, I always wash my hair on alternate days.”Like any old wives’ tale, Serenity did not know whether what her mother said was true but she had heard it from other adults in the past.She had long hair anyway. Even if her mom did not say such a thing, she did not like wash
Zachary smiled. “Everyone grows old. No matter how well we maintain our appearance, we’ll still get wrinkles and gray hair, and lose our teeth at a certain age.”“Even if you lose all your teeth, I’ll still love you. You’ll always be the best man to me.“To think that the best man in the world is my husband, who loves and spoils only me.“You can spare some of your love for the baby when the baby is born, but I must be your priority.”Serenity thought about how her children would be sharing Zachary’s love with her. Therefore, she requested him to continue loving her the most.Zachary kissed her and said lovingly, “You’re my wife and the only one I’ll dote on. My son will receive love from his wife in the future. I won’t be sharing my wife’s love with him.”Little did he know that he would be eating his words half a year later.As Grandma May had always mentioned, Zachary loved eating his words.“Don’t be angry, okay?”“Okay. Since you’re asking on behalf of Austin, I’m not mad
Who dared to offend Zachary York? Did that person not want to celebrate the new year?“Do you believe in my love for you, Seren?” Zachary asked instead of replying to her right away. Serenity laughed and said, “Why not? We’ve talked things out after I discovered your identity. Since then, I’ve never doubted your feelings for me.“Although I was mad at you for deceiving me back then, I didn’t question your love for me. I was just angry that you kept a secret from me. There were many opportunities to come clean, but you never did. You even made your family members cooperate with you to deceive me. That made me upset.“We’ve been married for quite some time, and our baby will be born in a few months. Did something happen for you to ask me this question all of a sudden? Tell me about it. Did someone spout nonsense to you?“Who’s the person with the big mouth? Reveal his name. I’ll scold him.”Serenity could not believe the person said something to offend Zachary right before the yea
Zachary only had eyes for Serenity. He did not fancy any woman other than her. While Zachary did scold Austin badly, he would not actually distance himself from his brother.After all, he only had one biological brother.However, Zachary decided that he would never say another word about Austin’s love life. If Austin were to look for him to talk again, Zachary would only lend an ear to his issues.It had been exasperating.“Alright. You’re twenty-seven. You can think for yourself. You shouldn’t tell me about your love journey in the future though. What do you take me for? You all come looking for me whenever you face problems. Am I a love advisor?“None of you can replicate my love story with Seren, so don’t tell me anything from now on.”Austin smiled sheepishly. He knew Zachary’s anger had not completely subsided.He quickly asked after Serenity and the unborn baby to change the topic, which softened Zachary’s tone. After some time, their call finally ended.Austin si
On the other hand, Austin closed and locked his door as soon as he returned to his room to prevent anyone from peeking. Then, he called Zachary.When Zachary picked up, Austin whispered, “My identity is exposed, Zachary.”“Exposed? What did you do?”Zachary’s voice was deep without betraying his emotions. “Isabella knows that I’m a young master of the Yorks. Her previous classmate had been to Wiltspoon with her husband who was there on a business trip and lived there for half a month. She knows about York Corporation and started asking questions once she heard my surname.“Isabella asked me why I hid my identity from her after I admitted to it. I replied that she never asked about my family tree. Besides, she already did a background check on me twice.”Zachary said, “You didn’t hide it from her on purpose anyway. You simply didn’t go about announcing that you’re from the York family. That doesn’t count as lying.“You were hired by the O’Connors based on your true abilities. Yo
“I think Austin gives you special treatment, Isa. His gaze and smile are different when it comes to you. You’re a clever person. I’m sure you felt something.“Have you ever thought that the person his nana has chosen for him is you?”Isabella frowned. “I don’t even know what his nana looks like, nor have I met her before. How could she possibly choose me? Besides, he said he’d be resigning to pursue that woman.“Anyway, I’m glad that you’re not sad. Just stay away from him and enjoy the food he cooks. Don’t think about anything else.”Tati was speechless.Isabella never believed her when she said she was not interested in Austin at all.However, when Tati thought of the way she acted around Austin, she could not blame Isabella for the misunderstanding. She had been expressing her admiration for Austin too outwardly. Since Isabella was giving her advice, she would do as Isabella said to reassure her.Tati decided not to go over to Isabella’s place for meals and keep a distance
Tati had made it clear that she did not love Austin, and purely admired him. Why was Isabella looking at her like that? Austin’s fiancée would never be her. If it were, Austin would have treated her differently. So who on earth was Austin’s fiancee?Why would Old Mrs. York choose someone from Windermere for him?Austin came to be a chef before pursuing his future wife. Which city in Windermere was his fiancée from? Was it Satbury?If it were Satbury, which elite daughter could it be?There were many elite daughters in Satbury, but not many were superior to the O’Connor daughters. Tati recalled Austin’s special treatment toward Isabella. A thought crossed her mind, ‘Is Isabella the lady Old Mrs. York has chosen for Austin?’“Tati, I want to discuss something work-related with you.”Isabella thought Tati remained silent because of Austin’s news. Therefore, she used work as an excuse and brought Tati to the study on the second floor. After closing the door, Isabella poured
Louis and Phillip were not the only ones worried. Even Delphine and the rest were anxious too. While they did think it was inappropriate for someone of Austin’s status to be their chef, the food he made was truly delicious. They had already gotten used to his cooking. If he were to leave, they would have to adjust their tastes to another chef’s cooking. Tati had even more concerns. Isabella admired capable people. Austin was highly skilled in cooking and had a head for business too. Moreover, he was a young master of a wealthy family. That made him more suitable for Isabella. Would Isabella be attracted?Isabella probably could feel how differently he treated her, right?“Did you chase Austin away, Isa? Why didn’t he come back with you?”Louis continued asking questions. He was worried that Isabella might have fired Austin. Not only could Austin make delicious food, but he would also play with the boys. Louis and Phillip really liked Austin. They thought he was fun,
Austin knew her question was related to Tati.He was aware of Tati’s admiration for him.Nevertheless, he recognized Tati’s feelings as pure admiration. On the contrary, Tati must have noticed that he treated Isabella differently. She probably told Isabella about it in private, but Isabella simply did not have plans for marriage due to her heavy responsibilities. Austin said with certainty, “No. Although I haven’t succeeded in pursuing her, I’ve set my heart on her. She’s my fiancée, and she’ll become my wife in the future. The York family doesn’t allow divorce unless our wives cheat on us. However, that definitely won’t happen.“Every woman Nana chose has a good character and values.“I’ll be loyal to my marriage and family. I’ll only love my only wife for my entire life. How outstanding other women are is none of my business.”Austin did not want to be like Dylan. He would rather spend more time inventing recipes. Isabella said with a hint of regret, “Okay.”She had to te