“Old Mrs. Johnson is more fortunate than me,” Grandma May said enviously. Old Mrs. Johnson was old, yet she still had her husband by her side and many children and grandchildren. All of them were filial too. Grandma May also had many children, but her husband passed away long ago. She was lonely, but the man who loved and understood her best was no longer there. She would feel even lonelier if she did not make herself busy.That was why she liked going out of her way to do things. “Seren, didn’t you say you have something to take care of? You should go. I’ll pack up and head out later.” Serenity hummed in agreement. She did have to handle the matter with Unit 188. At the same time, she called her sister to inform her that she was taking Sonny on a trip before the summer break ended. Liberty was with her son at the store she bought recently. When she received her sister’s call, she quickly agreed to her sister’s idea.The summer break was almost ending, yet she had not t
“Missus… isn’t home.”Zachary paused. He turned to ask Sam, “Where did she go?”“Missus didn’t say anything.”Zachary was disappointed that he could not see his wife after work. He immediately took out his phone to call her. The phone rang for a long time, but Serenity did not pick up. After ending the call, he asked, “Who did she go out with? Was it Nana?”There was no sound from the TV inside. Grandma May was probably not home as well. “Yes. Sonny too.”Zachary acknowledged and did not ask further. He brought the present he bought for Serenity into the house. Grandma May was an old child who could not stay still at home. She probably asked Serenity to have supper with her or enjoy the night breeze. Sam followed behind Zachary. He wished to speak but hesitated. Zachary did not notice that. After entering the house, he placed the gift on the coffee table and sat on the sofa. He tried calling Serenity again, but she still did not pick up even though the call connected.
Zachary was in disbelief. “Nana and Seren brought Sonny on a trip? She didn’t tell me about this! I called and texted her, but she didn’t respond to any of them. Did she just abandon her husband at home and go to have fun herself?“Liberty, look at Serenity. She’s being increasingly indifferent to me. She didn’t even tell me about such an important matter as this. She often goes on business trips and only returns after three to five days. She always neglects me.“I let it slide usually, but she’s not even telling me about an important matter like traveling now. She’s abandoning me at home on purpose. If she had informed me about it, I would’ve gone with her and clung to her if I had to.”Liberty said, “Seren has been exhausted lately. She’s just going on a trip to relax. She’s not neglecting you.”Her brother-in-law always complained to her. Whenever the husband and wife had a conflict, Zachary would surely complain to her, and she would criticize her sister. However, Seren had t
“Are you trying to make me die from laughter so you can inherit my assets, Zachary? It’s not your first day being Grandma May’s grandson. You should know her personality by now and be mentally prepared. You should be thankful that she didn’t kidnap your wife after you just got married. Otherwise, you would’ve been in a worse state.”It was a terrible feeling to be separated right after tasting the feeling of love. Zachary said, “I feel awful now too. I’m used to seeing my wife the first thing after opening my eyes. She always waits for me at home at night. Whenever she’s home, I’ll always be eager to return home because I don’t want her to wait up for me.“Now that she left me to have fun, decided not to let me follow her, and even changed her phone, I’m not used to it at all. Josh, come out to drink with me. It’s my treat.”He had tried having people find out where did Grandma May go. Since Grandma May was the one who brought Serenity out, she would not let him know where they
“Actually, Zachary has changed a lot because of Serenity. She has been getting busier these days. Maybe he’s complaining a little because he has been neglected occasionally.”Jasmine said, “He didn’t just start complaining. It’s been going on for some time. Serenity said she’s not one to write love letters, but she has to wrack her brain to write one for her husband to coax him.”It would be difficult for a bossy man like Zachary to change his character. He would probably still behave the same way even after he became a grandfather or great-grandfather with gray hair. It was fine as long as Serenity was willing to tolerate him. One loved to complain, while the other had to coax her husband. The cycle would repeat. Maybe it was fun for the husband and wife. Outsiders did not need to interfere but simply lend a listening ear. Josh looked toward Jasmine and said enviously, “Zachary received a love letter from his wife, but I haven’t. Jasmine, why don’t you write me one too? Let me
Josh nodded quickly. He said, “I won’t talk about love letters or compare myself to Zachary anymore. I’m much happier than he is.”He caressed Jasmine’s small abdomen, which was still flat. Zachary had not become a father even though he had been married for a long time. On the other hand, Josh was already becoming a father, and his relationship with Jasmine had always been smooth sailing. They were in a better situation than Zachary and Serenity. Josh was content. Jasmine placed her hand on top of the back of Josh’s and took his hand off. She said, “Don’t talk to Zachary about this.”“I didn’t say anything.”“I know what you’re going to say when you do that. Seren doesn’t say anything, but she’s still worried that she’s infertile. I often see her searching about infertility on the internet.”Josh hummed in agreement. “I won’t say anything. You should advise Serenity not to be hasty. Sometimes things won’t go how we want them to if too much stress is involved.”“I know. I don’t
Serenity requested the owner of Unit 188 to delete all the pictures she secretly took and even destroyed the film. As for her act of bringing Jenna into the residential area, she insisted that she was unaware of Jenna’s intentions. She only helped out because she thought Jenna was a relative of Zachary’s family. The villa owner maintained an innocent expression and guaranteed that she would mind her business in the future. Serenity believed her. After returning, she requested Sam to arrange for someone to keep an eye on the journalist. She thought the journalist’s intention was not as simple as exposing scandals. Serenity caught a hint of envy in the journalist’s gaze and the unconscious smile when Zachary was mentioned. If Serenity’s guess was right, the entertainment journalist was her second love rival. Zachary was a magnet. He did not only attract single women. Even divorced women had their eyes on him like he was a huge piece of meat. They seemed eager to eat him whole. Je
The night crept away while the day arrived. It was the start of another day. Zachary woke up. Before he opened his eyes, he turned to his side on instinct and stretched his long arms. His eyes snapped open when he did not manage to hug a soft body. His side was empty, and Serenity was nowhere to be seen. After being taken aback for a while, Zachary remembered that his nana had kidnapped his beloved wife. They had taken Sonny on a trip and abandoned him at home. He was not able to sleep the entire night because of it. He barely went to sleep by hugging Serenity’s pillow and treating it as her. Zachary took his phone and looked at the time. It was already past eight o’clock.In the past, he would always wake up around six for a morning run. Ah, even waking up felt so tiring without his wife by his side. Next, Zachary looked at the date. It was a Saturday. He had been so busy that he had forgotten the date. He felt like it was only Monday, but it was already Saturday. The wee
“He will get better soon now that he’s taken the medicine. Don’t worry too much. When you're taking care of him, make sure you wear a mask so you don’t catch it from him. You’re pregnant, and if you catch a cold, it’ll be more troublesome.” Liberty was relieved, but she then reminded Serenity to take extra care of herself, worried that her son’s cold might spread to her.Pregnant women had limited options for medication, and many pregnant women endured mild colds without taking medicine out of caution.“I'm fine, really,” Serenity reassured her.“When Sonny is sick, he's especially vulnerable and relies on me. If I don't take care of him, I won’t feel at ease, and neither will he.”Zachary was busier than she was, so Serenity did not want to trouble him with such minor matters.“Don’t you worry, Liberty. Once Sonny is better, I'll send you a message. Even if Sonny begs me, I won’t let him eat anything too greasy from now on, to avoid aggravating his condition.”“Children are bo
Sonny weakly protested, “The medicine will be really bitter.”“Yes, but good medicine tastes bitter because it helps cure the illness,” Serenity comforted him.Under her coaxing, Sonny took the medicine, drank a glass of water, and went to the bathroom. He came back and fell into a deep sleep in his aunt's arms.Serenity wanted to carry him upstairs.“Let me carry him—you’re pregnant,” Lilian said considerately.Sam immediately interjected, “Dr. Carden, Missus, allow me to carry Mr. Sonny upstairs.”Dr. Carden was a distinguished guest of the family. How could he allow her to carry Sonny upstairs? Sam stepped forward and carefully took Sonny from Serenity's arms before carrying him back to his room.Serenity followed them upstairs.Lilian did not follow.To her, Sonny's common cold was not serious. She only personally took care of him because she quite liked Sonny.Serenity sat down on the edge of the bed and told Sam, “I can’t do it myself right now, so please make sure to t
After New Year’s celebration, Liberty left for Jensburg and told the teachers that if anything happened to Sonny, they should contact Serenity, which explained the teacher's call coming through to Serenity.“I’ll go pick him up right away. Thank you, Ms. Penny.”Sonny’s teacher Ms. Penny replied, "Alright, please come and take him to see a doctor. Recently, a lot of kids have been catching colds."After hanging up, Serenity said, “Jas, I can't stay here and chat with you. I need to go fetch Sonny from preschool. He's got a fever. Lately, he keeps kicking his blanket off at night.” Though she and Zachary often helped cover Sonny back up, they could not always catch it every time he kicked off the blanket, so he had probably caught a cold.“The temperature has been rising these days, so it's a bit hot sometimes. Look, I don’t even need to wear a coat now.” The temperature was around 68°F during the day. When the sun was out, it was really warm, and there was no need for a coat.
Serenity agreed empathetically, “You can offend anyone, but don't ever offend Nana. Luckily, she's my nana.”Out of all her in-laws, Grandma May was Serenity’s favorite because the old lady treated her the best. Whenever she had conflicts with Zachary, Grandma May would always stand by her side first. Only when she was ready to listen would Grandma May try to reason with her and speak up for Zachary. Even though Grandma May was Zachary’s grandmother, she treated Serenity like her own granddaughter; more so than Serenity's biological grandmother.“Are you going to help Dylan?” Jasmine asked.“How? He’s wooing his future wife. No one can help with that,” Serenity replied. “Zachary never meddles in his brothers' private matters. As long as they don’t ask him for help, he doesn’t care about anything.”In Zachary's words, he only wanted to take care of her. In his world, she was his priority.“True. Let’s just watch for now, unless Dylan comes to you asking you to speak well of him
“Now he's suddenly trying to pursue Imogen again? Did something happen to him? Or was it that his beloved turned him down, and then when he saw everyone else all coupled up, plus Grandma May’s pressuring him to get married, he decided to try to win Imogen back?“Who does he think Imogen is? Does he think he can just have her when he wants to, and throw her aside when he doesn't?”Even though Dylan was Serenity's cousin-in-law, Jasmine could not bring herself to take his side. Back then, when Imogen followed him from Huntington to Wiltspoon and even asked Serenity for help, all she ended up getting was an apology from Dylan that he could never love her. He even mentioned that he was in love with someone else, a woman he called Fox. How could a vixen be any good? Was she better than Imogen?Jasmine thought Dylan was out of his mind, but that was someone else's business. She was just a bystander. Even Serenity did not interfere much since she was only a cousin-in-law. After all,
Without a second thought, Leticia replied to her daughter.[Of course you should. As long as you can win that boy over, you'll be happy in the future. I’ve met so many young men, but I still think he’s the most suitable for you.]Despite her earlier anger, Leticia still hoped her daughter could win Dylan’s heart. She had always regarded him as a potential son-in-law, after all.Imogen smiled and left it at that. She had already made up her mind.In truth, when Dylan rejected her, she was not all that upset because the person he loved was still her. It was just that she had kept Dylan in the dark. One could say that he had been made to dance in her palm.However, when he realized that he could not love Imogen, he was honest with her and decisively left without bothering her further, not wanting her to fall even deeper when the situation was hopeless. In this aspect, she appreciated him.Now that she knew she was the one Dylan’s grandmother had chosen for him, Imogen was curious ab
When Dylan overheard Imogen’s phone conversation with Leticia, he realized that Leticia was trying to match her with someone named Kade. Now, he had a rival.Even though he was being asked to leave, Dylan did not get angry, nor did he shamelessly insist on staying. He stood up and said, “I’m sorry for disturbing you, Ms. Doyle. I know you’re Imogen Doyle. I also know what I’m doing, and I won’t make the same mistake again.“Ms. Doyle, you were on the nose earlier. Yes, I do want to pursue you again. Starting today, I will try to win your heart once more. No matter what your attitude is toward me, I’ll accept it.”The first time, she had offered her heart, but he did not accept it. That was his fault.This time, it was his turn to offer his heart. If it took more time to win her over, he was willing to be patient.“My nana isn’t forcing me.” He continued, “When it came to our generation, she only pushed Zachary to marry Serenity.”Zachary had been a special case. For the rest of
Imogen felt a surge of satisfaction when she saw Dylan was rendered speechless by what she said. She deliberately leaned closer to him, her beautiful face coming right up to his, and their gazes met.They were so close that Dylan could smell a faint, delicate fragrance on her. It was a little familiar, but it was not the same as Chameleon Fox’s scent, because she never used fragrance when she appeared—probably to avoid being recognized by scent.It was the scent he smelled on Imogen back when he was initially pursuing her—it was Sugar’s. Imogen smelled the same as Sugar, a scent he remembered when he was in close proximity to Sugar.Imogen was Sugar.Dylan was now sure of this, but he did not bring it up. Even if he asked, Imogen would not admit it anyway.Besides, he no longer needed her to confirm it. As Zachary had said, he only needed to trust his nana; she would not mislead him when it came to marriage. His nana knew very well that he loved Chameleon Fox, and yet still aske
Unexpectedly, Kade had to return to the country due to a work transfer and would be staying in Huntington long-term.Leticia’s best friend Jade immediately called her again to bring up the idea of a marriage match. Leticia then thought about it and decided to arrange for her daughter to fetch him from the airport.“Mrs. Doyle, the person Imogen likes is me, so please stop trying to match her with someone else.” Dylan boldly interjected.Imogen glanced at him but did not say anything.On the other side of the line, Leticia asked Imogen when she heard Dylan’s voice, “Jen, has that York scoundrel gone to look for you again? He came by once a few days ago, but you weren’t home. We didn’t even let him past the gate.“He didn’t show up again after that, so we thought he left, but he actually went to your office to look for you. Jen, what does he mean by this? Is he trying to pursue you once more? If that’s really the case, all the more you have to give Kade a chance—to make Dylan York