“See you.” Jasmine did not avert her eyes from the book she was reading the entire time. Serenity observed how intently she was reading and teased her, “Jas, you’ve probably read all the books lying around here enough times to recite them from memory. It’s a wonder to me that you’re still amused by the same books over and over. “Why don’t you learn to write a novel? With your years of experience as a bookworm, I guarantee your work will be a hit that’s going to fly off the shelves. I promise you I’ll place your books in the most prominent spot. “What do you say? Embark on your journey as a star author.” Jasmine smiled and dismissed the idea, “I just enjoy reading, writing is not for me. I’m so lazy that the only thing that would motivate me to move at all is good food, but you’re expecting me to write an entire novel? Besides, do you think writing a book is easy as you make it out to be? Just coming up with the plot alone is going to make you pull your hair out.” Serenity
Clive felt terrible seeing his wife in pain and had gone as far as to suggest an abortion to alleviate her pain. Jasmine had heard of husbands who doted on their wives, but this was the first time she had ever heard of a husband who suggested something as drastic as abortion as a solution. Elisa said, “Of course she’s not going to get an abortion! She thinks it’s a ridiculous suggestion, understandably so, but that doesn’t stop my brother from trying to persuade her to get an abortion. He keeps harping about ever since she got pregnant, she hardly had any appetite at all, and would regularly throw up anything she ate, even vomiting bile at one point.“She’s lost a lot of weight and it’s causing my brother a lot of stress. Right now, my parents are at home every day to help keep an eye on her because they’re worried that one of these days, my brother is going to force her to go to a hospital for an abortion.” That explained why Mrs. Stone had not been seen lately. Jasmine e
Back when Liberty and Hank got married and their place was getting renovated, Hank had no time to monitor the progress. Liberty was the one who paid for everything but had no time to oversee the progress either since she was busy with work, so the task was left to Serenity who had time to help keep an eye on things. She experienced firsthand what it was like renovating a new place and could naturally relate to how Remy felt. Still, she had a sense that the true reason Remy came so often was that he wanted to see Elisa. Elisa was a rather sharp-witted person as well but this was an occasion where her perceptions failed her—she did not realize Remy had his eyes on her at all. Perhaps she stopped caring so much about these things since she failed to win over Zachary. Elisa drove to the main entrance of the villa and remarked, “Good point, he mentioned something about buying this villa for his sweetheart and went on about how they would spend their married life here. “I don’t
“Mr. Johnson, why don’t you wait at the gazebo for now.” The servant led Remy to the gazebo and apologized profusely for the inconvenience caused. Remy was a very understanding man, “It's okay, why don’t you get back to your work.” He sat down at a stone-carved table under the gazebo and placed the snacks he brought for Elisa on the table. He did not inquire what was going on inside the house. Ever since he bought the villa next to the Stones, it gave him an excuse to regularly come over and pay a visit to the Stones. At this point, most of the housemaids in the family recognized and treated him very politely. They would respectfully invite him into the house every time he came around. This time was the sole outlier where they did not invite him into the house immediately. He figured some sort of emergency must have happened and decided to not be too probing, especially since he was an outsider. If they would not tell him, he would not ask either. After all, he
How nice it would be if childbirth was simple and effortless. He would like for him and Alice to raise their child without Alice having to go through such a harrowing experience. If a man could get pregnant, he would be more than willing to bear the pain of pregnancy rather than let Alice suffer. A housemaid went up to Elisa and whispered something in her ear. Elisa told the servant something in a hushed voice and sent the maid away. After that, she turned to Alice and told her, “Alice, please don’t hold it against my brother. He’s a little out of it right now, you can see how even my mom is telling him off.” Alice could not deny that she was rather upset. She has been married to Clive for years now and the only reason they had pushed off having a child was that Clive was very possessive and wanted her all to himself. To appease him, she had been on the pill the entire time to avoid a pregnancy. It was to the point where rumors were beginning to surface that she was
“Liberty, you’ve done this before. Do you have any advice on how to stop her vomiting?” Now that he learned the risks of abortion, he relented from putting Alice through it. Liberty answered, “I can’t stop her symptoms, but I suggest if things don’t get any better, you can go to the doctor for more advice. When I was pregnant with Sonny, I didn’t vomit that much.” During her pregnancy, she had also heard tales of other mothers experiencing terrible and severe symptoms. She was glad that her pregnancy was a relatively easy and stable one. In severe cases, some people did not stop vomiting until the child was born. “We went to a doctor, but it’s not helping,” Clive said irritably. “Then she just has to tough it out and things will get better eventually. All I can tell you is that you should stop telling her to get an abortion. That’s only going to make her feel stressed which doesn’t help. Ideally, you should keep her in a relaxed state through the pregnancy both mental
Serenity said, “Aunt Audrey, Liberty wants to go to the car dealership to buy a car, and I have to go back to the bookshop later. Are you and Elisa free to accompany Liberty to look at cars? I don’t think it is safe to roam the streets every day riding her e-bike with Sonny. That’s why I suggested she buy a car. Zachary said he would give her one, but she didn’t want it.”“I am capable of buying a car myself. I don’t need Zachary to give me one. I know Zachary is my brother-in-law, but I can’t take his things just like that and be a freeloader. I don’t want people to say that our family wants to take advantage of your in-laws.”They were poor, unlike the rich Yorks. However, Liberty does not intend to be a burden to her sister.She did not want any benefits from the Yorks.Touched, Serenity said, “Liberty, Zachary wouldn’t think badly of it, and neither would my in-laws.”Serenity knew her sister would always be considerate toward her.“I know Zachary and the in-laws won’t think
All members of the Stone family including Mrs. Stone hoped that Elisa would pick a talented young man from Wiltspoon. It would be convenient for them to meet up frequently if she married someone from the same city.On top of that, they would know right away if Elisa got treated poorly at her in-laws' house. If she married and relocated far away, no one would know how Elisa was doing.Although the Johnsons were well-cultured and of influential standing like the Yorks, both Mr. and Mrs. Stone were still reluctant for Elisa to be married so far away.As Remy had not confessed his love to Elisa, it would be hard for them to discuss this topic with Remy.Zachary saw Remy sitting under the gazebo as he got out of his car.Remy stood up and greeted him with a smile.“Why are you sitting here alone, Mr. Johnson? Not going inside?”Zachary walked over casually upon seeing a familiar face who was also a major client of his company.“Seems like I came at an awkward time.” Remy replied wit