Serenity laughed. “Of course. Not just anyone can handle Julian’s special condition.”“He found the woman destined for him,” Elisa said. “I know. Julian told Zachary about it a few days ago. He wanted to bring Ms. Crawford to our manor for a visit and Zachary agreed. Nana said Ms. Crawford was smart and sporty, a perfect match for Julian. She mentioned that only a woman of Ms. Crawford’s caliber could be the Bucham family’s head missus.“Nana also talked about Ms. Crawford’s exceptional skills in martial arts. Zachary would not be able to win against her. She had been training since a young age, and her family had been involved in martial arts for generations. How can an amateur like Zachary beat her?“I’m an amateur too.”Elisa smiled, “Zachary’s face might turn dark upon hearing our words. He’s overconfident and arrogant, always thinking he’s the best man in the world. He won’t be satisfied if you label him as an amateur in martial arts.”“If he’s unsatisfied with it, he can c
Serenity could not convince Elisa. At the same time, she was moved by Elisa’s devotion to sisterhood. Elisa had been nothing but kind to her before they found out they were cousins. She was a true friend because she would do just about anything for a friend. However, Elisa did not consider just anybody as a good friend. Apart from her long-time best friend, Serenity and Jasmine were also in Elisa’s close circle. “You need to sit down and talk to Remy. Get his take on it. If he isn’t on board, I don’t want you to have a fight with him because of me, Elisa.” Serenity took Elisa’s hand and said, “I want you to be happy. I don’t want to be the reason that comes between your marriage to Remy.” Elisa held Serenity’s hands and replied with a smile, “Don’t worry, Seren. We won’t fight. I believe Remy will understand where I’m coming from. Besides, our plan is to get engaged and not rush into marriage.” Remy could not wait to start a new chapter in his life, but he did not bring tha
The only competition Remy saw was Andrew. To Remy, Julian was only acting because his acting was way over the top. “Mrs. York.” Mrs. Lane approached and said to Serenity with a smile, “Mrs. Johnson and Mrs. Young-Johnson are here with the kids.” Ben’s family was staying at Wildridge Manor. Zachary and Serenity hosted the Johnson family before she moved to Liberty’s place because the wedding was around the corner. The bridal party would be doing all the wedding preparations there.If Liberty was still married to Hank, Serenity would not choose to organize such an intimate event at the Browns’ residence. However, things were different now. Liberty had the time and place to host the bridal party for her sister. Since Liberty was the maid of honor, she had the final say in all wedding preparations.“Please invite them in.” As Serenity was staying with her sister for the time being, Antonia, Jane, and her little ones dropped by to catch up with Serenity. Jane was new
Serenity said amusedly, “I think it was an accident. Chloe didn’t mean to hit her brother.” Jane smiled. “The little guy is a crybaby. Connor and Oliver can have a crying match.” Serenity knew that Lilian’s son, Oliver, was a fusser too. Lilian was afraid of his cries, and was always tempted to run and hide every time he shed tears. In fact, Lilian came all the way to Wiltspoon and stayed for a while after treating Camryn’s eyes. She said she would only return to FC Manor after Serenity and Zachary’s wedding since Oliver was in good hands with her mentor. The legendary doctor had more experience caring for babies than Lilian did, having raised her himself. Lilian also left her student, Laurence, in his care.She adopted a hands-off approach with Laurence, only testing him every once in a while. Laurence was about the age of Sonny, but his memory and comprehension were much better than Sonny’s. Otherwise, Lilian would not have chosen him as her student. Lilian had met So
Mrs. Lane served the guests beverages, fruit, and snacks. Elisa took a seat and found the courage to carry the baby one more time. She asked for Chloe from her future mother-in-law once again. The baby stared at Elisa with her bright eyes and flashed a smile. “Chloe smiled at me.” The infant’s toothless grin brought Elisa so much joy that she gave Chloe multiple smooches. Antonia was very pleased with Elisa as her future daughter-in-law. Although she loved Jane as her daughter-in-law too, Elisa’s personality shared more similarities with hers, so she found Elisa easier to get along with.She smiled and said, “Chloe rarely smiles. I think she likes her new aunt.” Jane jumped in. “Chloe is like her father. Although it’s too early to tell for sure as she is only a few months old, her personality may become apparent in a few years. She doesn’t cry much and usually keeps to herself.” Chloe would not smile at those she only met a handful of times. Elisa was Remy’s love, and
Antonia looked at Elisa lovingly and said with a smile, “I’m happy to have you and Jane as my daughters.” Elisa felt shy. Even though she had not married Remy, Remy was the only one for her. Everybody burst into laughter. Soon, Remy arrived at Liberty’s place. His beloved woman and women he respected were there, so he did not want to miss out on the fun too. Hearing that Remy had arrived, Elisa mumbled, “Why is he here when he’s supposed to be at work?” Remy must have skipped work again. Jane smiled and teased her, “Remy can't focus on his work since you're away with Serenity. His mind and heart are with you, even when he’s in the office. He might as well join you before he gets even more distracted.”“You’re making fun of me again, Jane.” Serenity said with a grin, “I’m close enough with Remy, so it’s fine if I don’t open the door for him. Elisa, you should go.” Elisa stood up. “I’m your cousin. I should attend to the guests for you.” It was clear that Elisa was eag
“Thank you.” Elisa accepted the bouquet and thanked Remy before saying, “You knew I was with Serenity, and yet you bought me flowers. I feel embarrassed to carry the flowers into the house.” “There’s nothing to feel embarrassed about. Serenity is the witness to our love story. She’ll be happy for you that we’re closer than ever. She won’t laugh at you.” Remy held her hand as they walked into the house together.“That’s true. Seren only wants me to be happy. I know that she blames herself that Zachary and I couldn’t be together, believing she stole my happiness. I can tell, even if she doesn’t say it.” Elisa added, “She got the wrong idea. I have never placed the blame on her. Zachary and I are not meant to be. Besides, Zachary has never loved me or promised me anything.“To be honest, I don’t think Zachary would even give me a second glance if I wasn’t related to Serenity.” Remy understood and said, “I get why Serenity would think that. She can only let go of the past when
“My family is only a plane ride away, and the flight isn’t long.” Everybody was happy for Remy to get married, so they would not bother about trivial matters like the engagement venue. The most important thing was their happiness. “Once my family has chosen a good date, they will send it to your parents for their approval. If there are no problems, we can finalize the date and have our engagement party in Wiltspoon. We're sticking to the location.”Remy added, “It’s our marriage, Elisa. Whether it works out is up to us. What other people say doesn’t matter. You’ve never cared about their opinions before.”“I love you and care deeply about you, so I care about what people say about you. I don’t mind what they say about me because I can take their criticism.” Remy smiled and pulled Elisa into his arms. He was careful not to squish the flowers. He uttered, “Your words mean a lot to me, and I’m ready to do anything for you. I don’t care if people say that I’m marrying into your f
The security guard brought out a basket and handed it to Dylan.Dylan took the basket and poured the bag of chili peppers into it. Next, following the live broadcast team’s instructions, he walked in front of the camera and said, “Last year, I unintentionally hurt Imogen’s pride. It was my fault, and I apologize to her.“Imogen doesn’t have time to deal with me, but Ms. Layla Doyle said that as long as I eat chili peppers on this livestream, she’ll allow me to come here every day to wait for Imogen. I’m afraid of spicy food and usually don’t eat anything spicy at all.“But for the sake of seeing Imogen and having a chance to get her forgiveness, I’m willing to accept Ms. Layla’s challenge and eat these chili peppers.”The live broadcast team was at a loss for words.Layla had not prepared a script for Dylan, but he went ahead and explained the backstory. Was that okay?Someone secretly messaged Layla to ask for her opinion. Her reply was to allow Dylan to say whatever he wanted a
Isabella had invited him to sit at the dining table and eat with them, but Austin refused. He said he was the chef, so he could just have his breakfast in the kitchen.He always remembered his position as Isabella's personal chef and did not let the fact that the others saw him in a more favorable light now go to his head and cross the line. His adherence to his principles and awareness of his position only made Isabella respect him more.Though he was one of the extremely affluent Yorks, after accepting the job as her private chef, he completely discarded his identity as a rich heir and earnestly took on the role of her personal chef.By the time Austin finished his breakfast, Isabella and the two young boys had also finished eating. He came out to clear the table.Phillip slid off his chair and said to Louis, “Isa’s passing by my preschool today. She said she’ll take me there.”He was showing off. Sure enough, Louis looked enviously at his sister. Isabella did not even glance
Austin placed the two breakfast portions on the dining table and then walked over to Isabella, who was still reading the newspaper. “Ms. Isabella, breakfast is ready.”“I’m coming, I’m coming.” Louis’s voice came from the stairs. Then, they saw him quickly running down the stairs with his schoolbag in one hand.“Louis!” Isabella called out.Louis immediately stopped, then picked up his schoolbag to carry it on his back before slowly descending the stairs step-by-step, no longer daring to run.The two boys really did have very similar personalities.“Good morning, Isa. Good morning, Austin.”Louis walked over to Isabella’s side and respectfully greeted them.“If I ever see you running down the stairs again, I’ll punish you by making you miss a week of eating Austin’s meals.”“Isa, a week is too long!” Louis instinctively tried to negotiate.“You still dare to bargain with me, huh? That shows you don’t want to change. In that case, I’ll make it a whole month.”Louis was speec
“Isa, Austin promised me that he would make cartoon-shaped snacks for us this Saturday. You won’t mind, right? I’ve already told my classmates, and they’re all coming to our house!”The little boy was also concerned about his image. He was afraid his serious eldest cousin would refuse, and if that happened, he would be so embarrassed. After all, after Austin promised him, the other kids at preschool treated him so well. They all wanted to try the cartoon-shaped snacks Austin made. However, since Austin was Isabella’s private chef, if Isabella did not agree, there would be nothing even Austin could do about it.Isabella lightly pinched Phillip’s cheek. “Since Austin’s promised, he’ll keep his word. I’ll be resting at home this weekend and won’t stop you, but don’t make a racket here. Go do it at your own house. I need to rest.”“Thanks, Isa! I’ll tell my friends not to disturb your rest. Isa, has Louis not woken up yet?”With Isa’s promise, Phillip’s little face lit up with a smil
Upon hearing that Phillip might be coming, Louis moved much faster.Isabella did not wait for her brother. She said, “Head downstairs by yourself later, and make sure to check your schoolbag to see if you’ve packed your books and water bottle.”She would not help her brother check those things. Every day, she made sure her brother checked everything himself because it was his responsibility. If their parents or employees tried to help, she would scold them.Now, their parents no longer dared to help Louis with things he could do himself. They let her take charge of him. Her parents had Louis when they were in their forties, and he was their only son. If they were the ones raising him, Isabella was sure her brother would have been spoiled beyond reason.“I know, Isa,” Louis replied, already starting to brush his teeth.After leaving her brother’s room, Isabella headed downstairs. As soon as she reached the first floor, she saw Phillip running in with his little schoolbag on his
Isabella patiently said, “No, you can’t. If you sleep for ten more minutes, time will be too tight, and we’ll hit the worst of rush hour when everyone’s heading to school or work. There’ll be too much traffic and you’ll be late. You mustn’t be late.” If her brother was constantly late, he would get used to it and start liking to sleep in. Isabella would not let him develop such a bad habit.“Isa, I won’t be late. Every day when I arrive at school, there are still plenty of classmates who haven’t arrived. I can just tell the driver to speed up.”“Absolutely not! It’s not safe to drive too fast. It doesn’t matter if the other students are late, but you can’t be late. Get up now, or I’m going to get angry.”Louis pouted.Amused, Isabella pinched his lips, saying, “Come on, get up. In two more days, it will be the weekend, and you’ll get another two days off.”“This holiday was too short.”Under his sister’s urging, Louis reluctantly sat up. “It feels like we just got let out for w
The O'Connor family, due to a predominance of daughters rather than sons, was extremely cautious about their sons-in-law.Even though they did not have a son-in-law yet, it was clear from the way Isabella’s uncles were not allowed to interfere in the family business that they were worried about a son-in-law taking control of the O'Connor family’s wealth.Even Isabella’s aunts were forbidden from involving themselves in the family business. This was to protect their love-obsessed selves from being easily manipulated or influenced by their in-laws.At twenty-seven, Isabella had not even considered dating, as she knew once she had a partner, her elders would put their guard up against her and her partner.It was not just the elders who would be cautious, Isabella herself would be wary of her own husband.Too many men had used their wives’ family wealth to rise to power, only to later swap their wives out for younger and more beautiful women. Some even swallowed the entire family fort
“If the woman’s side minds her moving so far away and wants us to go to her family, except for Zack, who can’t move because he’s the head of the family, the elders in our family don’t really care. As long as we’re happy, they’re fine with it.”They had the powerful York Corporation backing them, and each of them was highly capable. Even if one of them married into another family, they would not be bullied by the woman’s family. If the woman wanted to push them around, she would have to think twice, with the York family’s influence behind them.However, so far, none of his brothers had done so.Austin thought to himself that he might just set a precedent.Isabella now bore a heavy burden. Her brother was too young, and it would take at least a decade before he could take over. Isabella would have to manage the family business for many more years.Isabella’s eyes sparkled. “Your family’s so open-minded. With your family’s wealth and standing, there’s really no need for you guys to l
“Zack is much more at ease now, but honestly, the person who was the biggest help to him wasn’t any of us—it was Josh. He and Zack are really good friends, and after graduation, Zack brought him into York Corporation.“He’s Zack’s right-hand man, and he’s really impressive.“Zack is incredibly efficient too. Back then, no one in the company could keep up with his work speed. He slowed down a bit after marrying my sister-in-law and starting a family. Now, he likes to stick close to her, and he’s not as crazy about work as he used to be.“He also goes to fewer networking events now. He used to attend these events and work late into the night, but now he’s home before ten at night. No one can stop him.“Those CEOs who work with our family know this too. If they have a business to discuss with him, they try to get it done during the day. They don’t want to drag it into the night.”Isabella laughed softly, her eyes showing a hint of envy. “Before, I didn’t know you were a York. But aft