“So it’s not just me?” “Mr. Hayden captivated the hearts of countless girls. Who would have thought he would capture the heart of Mr. York as well.” “Maybe Mr. York is already gay, that’s why he’s been single. Now that he has seen Mr. Hayden’s beautiful face, he realized he had fallen for him. That’s why he made a move and openly chased after Mr. Hayden.” “You guys don’t follow the gossip in Wiltspoon, so you have no idea. Old Mrs. York actually selected a wife candidate for Kevin York, but he didn’t like it, that’s why he refused to date the selected candidate.” Everyone looked at the person who revealed the news. The person looked proud and delighted. “I always follow the gossip in Wiltspoon, that’s why I know. The third young master of Yorks is here because of a business trip, but Fortress Hotel has grown so famous in Jensburg that not even our company can do anything about it. “So there is no reason for him to be here for business-related matters. He’s actually trying t
As Hayden suppressed her anger, she said coldly, “Thank you for your kindness, Mr. York. I don’t really have a favorite but if I do, I can buy it myself. I don’t need you to buy it for me.” “What you buy is yours, what I give is my feelings. Mr. Hayden, please take the flowers I got you. Don’t let my feelings go to waste. This is my first time giving flowers to someone.” Hayden’s expression turned grim. “Mr. York, this is also the first time I received flowers from a man.” “Why can’t a man give another man flowers? Men are humans as well, some men like flowers.” Hayden could not win against Kevin in the argument. Kevin was extremely shameless. “Mr. York, I have things to do. Please leave,” Hayden requested with a frosty tone. “I won't affect your work. I’ll be quiet. When you are done with work, let’s go for dinner.” Hayden was speechless. “Mr. York, if you insist on staying, I will have to call security.” Kevin looked at her with a grin. He did not take her words ser
Hayden did not want the shameless man to turn around halfway. The secretary respectfully invited Kevin out. Kevin smiled at Hayden as he brought the bouquet out. When he followed the secretary out, Hayden heard him asking the secretary, “Are the flowers not beautiful enough? Why doesn’t Mr. Hayden accept my flowers?” Hayden slammed the door shut. She returned to her seat and then her other phone rang. It was from her brother. “Hayden! I missed the great show today! I should have come back for the meeting! D*mn it!” Hugh received the news of Kevin giving flowers to her sister in front of the executives. Someone close to him informed him right away. Hayden’s expression turned gloomy. She said coldly, “Hugh, one more word and I will cut your tongue off and feed it to the dog.” “Alright, alright. Don’t be mad, brother. With that face of yours, men and women will fall for you. Even my friends don’t dare to spend too much time with you because they are afraid they would f
Hugh received information quickly, but so did Josh. Josh knocked on the door to Zachary’s office with a big smile. “Zachary, let me tell you something. I almost died from laughing about it.”Zachary raised his head to glance at Josh, then continued to peruse his documents. He said, “What’s so funny that you’re dying from laughter? You should take care of your health. Your wife is pregnant with your child.”Josh said, “What nonsense. Are you cursing me? I’ll live a long life and grow old with Jasmine until I'm a hundred years old. Wait, I have to live longer than that. I’m several years older than her.”They would share a bed while alive and rest in the same grave when they died. They would be connected in life and death. No. It was not a good time to talk about those ominous things. “You’re so greedy. I think living till ninety is enough. There aren’t many people who can live as long as a century.”Zachary might have said that, but he hoped to live with Serenity until they
“Even the Queens’ relatives think Hayden’s a man.”Some distant relatives of the Queen family even wanted to play matchmaker and introduce women to Hayden. “Everyone’s used to Hayden being a man. I forgot about it for a moment there too.”Josh did not admit that his intelligence had dropped. “I admire Kevin for pursuing his wife while risking being called a gay.”Zachary said, “Kevin knows what he’s doing. Gay or not, he’s approaching the matter directly. There’s no need to waste so much time and effort to reveal that Hayden is a woman.“Hayden herself is aware of whether she’s a man or a woman. Even though she has been dressing up as a man since she was young and for over twenty years at that, she didn’t undergo any surgery to change her gender. Disguising as a man for the rest of her life won’t change the fact that she’s still a woman.“She’ll return to being a woman if she can’t handle Kevin’s advances. Even if she can, Kevin will have a way to make her admit that she’s a w
After a moment, Josh said, “I wish I could go to Jensburg to get first-hand gossip.”Zachary told him, “You can still get first-hand information even in Wiltspoon. Kevin had only given Hayden the flowers an hour ago, yet you’ve learned about it. Do you even need to go to Jensburg?”Josh smiled and said, “Although I can get intel in Wiltspoon, it’s still quicker if I were in Jensburg.”“There are twenty minutes left until we can get off work,” Zachary suddenly said. “So? I’m going to have a meal with my wife after clocking off. Oh, right. I have to tell her about this big news. She loves gossip the most. I’m not afraid of you laughing at me, Zachary, but I feel like Jasmine only married me to obtain first-hand gossip.”Zachary said, “It seems like you have some self-awareness.”Josh said, “It can’t be. It must’ve been because I was excellent, treated her well, and our personalities complemented each other. We got together because she had fallen in love with me and not to become g
It was almost time to clock off. Many people were going in and out of the company. If they saw Kevin’s bed of flower arrangement, Hayden would not be able to explain herself. She did not expect Kevin to start pursuing her like a possessed man overnight. Did he want to pursue her?Hayden was a man now. Was Kevin announcing to the world that he was gay by publicly pursuing her? “Mr. Queen, Mr. Kevin had called many people over. I think it’ll be difficult to destroy his flowers,” the secretary said in a dilemma. Kevin was no ordinary man. He was a young master of the York family and the person in charge of Fortress Hotel.Although Jensburg was not the Yorks’ territory, they still held quite a bit of influence here. “Many passers-by are taking pictures.”Hayden’s expression darkened. She said coldly, “I don’t care how many people he brought with him. Just destroy the flowers.”The secretary heeded her instructions and informed the security to ruin the flowers. Hayden could
Soon, the head of security of Queen Enterprise brought a team with him to destroy the flowers. Kevin’s men naturally stopped them. The scene started to get rowdy. Kevin was not flustered. He even had the mood to take a picture of the fruit of his labor with his phone. He then spotted Hugh in the crowd and walked toward him. Hugh bent down and took a flower from the bed of roses. When Kevin approached him, he passed the flower to him with a smile on his handsome face. He told Kevin, “If you prefer men, Mr. Kevin, why don’t you pursue me instead?“I think I’m a better match for you. My brother isn’t the right person for you, Mr. Kevin. He’s a straight man. He won’t like you.”Kevin caught the flower between his two fingers and leaned forward to smell the flower. He said, “It smells fresh.”Next, he pinched Hugh’s chin and raised it flirtatiously. He eyed Hugh and said with a smile, “You’re handsome but still slightly lacking compared to your brother.”Hugh chuckled and pull
Meanwhile, in a private room at Fortress Hotel in Jensburg, Caroline and Liberty stood up together and shook hands with their client, having successfully closed a business deal.The two of them escorted the client downstairs.After the client got into their car and left, Caroline turned to Liberty and said, “Liberty, it's getting late. Mr. Lewis is still waiting for you inside, so go get him and head home early to rest. The weather is really cold.“He still has trouble with his legs and isn’t used to the cold here, after all.”Duncan had caught a cold on his third day here.After seeing a doctor and taking medication, he was still coughing a little.Liberty did not move. Instead, she asked Caroline, “Are they making their move tonight?”“How would I know? They’ll act whenever they want. I’m just waiting. It’s likely to be soon, though. I’ve spread the word that Darren is on a business trip for half a month.”She did not want Liberty to worry, so she did not tell her that her fi
How long had it been since she last truly appreciated the night view of Satbury?Every day, she left home early and returned late, rushing from one place to another, with endless meetings, piles of documents to process, and countless business deals to negotiate.It always felt like there was not enough time.Before she knew it, time had flown by.It seemed just yesterday she had taken over the family business, but in the blink of an eye, several years had passed.Back when she first took over, many people had looked down on her, doubting her ability to manage the O'Connors’ vast empire. Many had wanted to devour the O'Connor family, to carve it up and take a share for themselves.Her parents’ generation was utterly mediocre, and after her grandparents passed away, they could not hold things together.As a result, the O'Connors’ family business declined and they lost a significant amount of money.On top of that, their extended relatives tried to exploit the situation, digging p
Isabella smiled, “Every time I hear you talk about your family, my heart gets restless, and I feel like going to meet them myself.”She even felt the urge to join their family, but she could not bring herself to say that out loud.Austin treated her very well. Tati said that when Austin looked at her, there was a sparkle in his eyes, and she kept saying that Austin had come here for her.Technically, Austin could indeed be considered to have come here for her, but it was really because of her picky palate and because she was hiring a private chef.To put it bluntly, Austin had come for the sake of culinary art.Sometimes, when Isabella locked eyes with Austin and saw him looking at her so intently, she could not help but wonder if he felt something for her.However, such thoughts were always quickly brushed aside.She and Austin were simply employer and employee.Austin treated her well because she was his employer. If there were any issues with the dishes he prepared, she coul
Austin smiled meaningfully, “My entire family will be very happy and warmly welcome you if you come with me to attend my nephew's sip-and-see shower.”In fact, his family would likely treat Isabella as his future wife, extending the kind of hospitality reserved for a daughter-in-law.However, Austin did not voice this thought.He and Isabella had not reached the stage where they could openly flirt like that.In any case, he was not in a hurry. Like a good stew, he would gradually win Isabella’s heart with time, and everything would fall into place naturally.“Your sister-in-law hasn’t given birth yet, so why are you already saying it’s a nephew?” Isabella teased belatedly. “Are you all hoping for a boy?“I heard from Ruth that your family elders are all hoping for a baby girl, though.”At the mention of that, Austin smiled wryly. “Ms. Fuller’s been to Wiltspoon and has heard about my family. She knows that our elders have always wanted a baby girl, so she must have also heard ot
Isabella asked, "When is your sister-in-law due?"She did not have a private chef who could fill in for Austin. If he took a leave of two or three days, she could manage, but if he requested a longer leave, she might not approve it.Zachary York’s wife was pregnant. Isabella had learned about the Yorks’ situation through a friend. Since she was Austin’s sister-in-law, it was natural for him, as the uncle, to want to go back and see his nephew.“I’m not sure. I asked my brother, and he said it might be in about two months. It could be earlier or later, it’s hard to say. I’ll go back when my sister-in-law is hospitalized. Once she’s discharged and returns home for postpartum recovery, it won’t be convenient to visit, so I’ll come back to work.“Then, when the baby is one month old, I’ll definitely go back for another couple of days. After all, he’ll be my first nephew and the eldest in the family’s new generation.”Isabella thought for a moment and said, “If it’s just two or three d
Austin knew she said that because she was afraid he would not agree, but how could he not? Rather, he wished for it.“Alright. If you don’t mind, I’ll eat with you from now on. Ms. Isabella, please go ahead and eat. I’ll quickly prepare some fruits for dessert.”Isabella glanced at him but said nothing and left.In the past, unless it was a social engagement, she would rarely have dessert.Usually, after finishing her meal, she would hurry back to her lounge to catch some rest, never bothering with fruits.Isabella realized belatedly that Austin had subtly influenced some of her small habits into changing.These small changes allowed her a bit more time to rest, which in turn improved her health.Soon, Austin came out.He had sliced some of the fruits and arranged them into the shape of a phoenix spreading its wings, while the smaller fruits were left whole to serve as the finishing touches.“In just this short time, you actually managed to create a phoenix,” Isabella praised.
“Isa has a networking event tonight, so she’ll be working overtime. You should bring her dinner.”“Sure.” Austin was here precisely to do that.Tati entered the elevator. When she turned around, she saw that Austin had already walked off.Tati chuckled to herself, “When will it be my turn to meet a good man who only has eyes for me?”Isabella had Austin now. Even though they had not officially started dating, they were clearly interested in each other. In the near future, they would definitely become a couple, and if both sides’ parents had no objection to it, they would eventually be a loving husband and wife.Though, at the thought of her family circumstances, Tati was still a little worried that Isabella and Austin might not get to that point.Isabella could not move far away after getting married as she still had to manage the family business. Her husband and her in-laws had to be understanding and tolerant of the fact that she would be very, very busy.They had all heard th
Isabella wanted to say something but ultimately decided against it. Tati had a point. She could push the boys too hard. They were still young, and they deserved a carefree and happy childhood. She had already put too much pressure on Louis and Phillip. “Austin accompanies the boys when he’s free. I think he’s great with kids. Maybe he has experience from babysitting in his family.”The York family had nine sons in their youngest generation and no daughters. Austin was the sixth in line with three younger brothers. Rowan was the youngest and still a minor. Thinking about it, he must have been raised by all his older cousins and brothers. No one understood how much pressure Rowan was under as he grew up. His older brothers were outstanding individuals. He would not have been that stressed if any of them were mediocre. He kept chasing after his brothers’ footsteps. He did not know when he could ever catch up to River and Austin. He would have to live with that pressure fo
“Isa, do you know many hotels and restaurants are waiting for you to switch Austin out? That way, they can snatch him away and make him their star chef.”With Austin’s culinary skills, he could be the head chef at any hotel.Isabella smiled. She said, “It depends on how much they can offer him. He already has his own hotels and restaurants. He’s already successful in the F&B industry.“How can they possibly hire him to be their chef? That’s unless Austin buys their hotel.“Besides, I haven’t gotten bored of Austin’s food. They’ll have to wait. “You can make a bet on whether Austin can last a full year as my private chef. I think you might win, but there’s always the possibility of losing.”There would always be wins and losses in a bet. Tati smiled. “Some people already made their bets. However, they betted on whether Austin could last for three months first. I guess those who put their money on him leaving before three months are up will lose.“For the second round, they’re