“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
At first, Corey was against her son getting together with Liberty. She did not like that Liberty was a divorcee with a child. Duncan later got into a car accident. Corey then hoped that Liberty would accept Duncan into her heart. While the pair had not officially started dating, everybody in Wiltspoon saw them as a couple. No one would dare steal Duncan’s woman. It was said that Liberty’s ex-in-laws had been trying to get Liberty and Hank back together. However, she would never give her cheating and abusive ex-husband a second chance. “I’m Harvey, Harvey Gray.”Harvey was, in fact, the man who had been drinking heavily after being dumped. He would pass out drunk anywhere in the neighborhood of East Hill Apartments. He would also leer at any young women who passed by.Since meeting Liberty, Harvey had stared at Liberty for days until she moved out of East Hill Apartments. He had never seen her again. Now that Harvey had stopped drinking, he decided to get his act together
“I came today to apologize to you in person. I’m sorry. I truly am. I will apologize to others I have scared too.” Harvey had a plan to chase after Liberty, but he could not possibly be honest right away. He used the apology as an excuse and included other people so as not to raise suspicion. Otherwise, Liberty would not accept his apology. Liberty poured Harvey a glass of water and responded, “I accept your apology, Mr. Gray. I’m happy for you to sober up and not dwell on past pain.“There are many fish in the sea.” Harvey smiled and said, “Yeah. There are plenty of fish in the sea. I can’t force what’s not meant to be mine.” Liberty did not accept the flowers from Harvey. Instead, she said, “I accept your apology, but I can’t accept the flowers. Please take the bouquet with you.” Harvey did not insist and put the bouquet on her desk instead. He looked at Liberty in hesitation and said, “Ms. Hunt, I didn’t come just to apologize today. There’s one more thing I need your
The flowers Harvey brought were left on Liberty’s desk. She grabbed the bouquet and ran out to return the flowers to him. However, Harvey left in a rush and was long gone by the time Liberty emerged from the restaurant. Helpless, Liberty held the bouquet and did not know what to do with it. Coincidently, Duncan arrived at the scene. Duncan saw Liberty standing outside the restaurant with flowers in hand. Thinking the bouquet was for him, Duncan smiled broadly as the bodyguards wheeled him over. “Liberty,” Duncan cried. “You’re here, Mr. Lewis.” Liberty carried the flowers down the steps. Duncan waited until Liberty was close before reaching his arms out to take the bouquet. He said, “Why did you get me flowers? My birthday has passed.” Liberty replied awkwardly, “These flowers aren’t for you, Mr. Lewis. Mr. Gray gave them to me as an apology. I didn’t accept it, but he left after putting the flowers down. He was gone by the time I came out of the restaurant to look
Duncan was pleased with Liberty having trust in him. “Are you here to eat? I chose a few dishes that you’d like and asked the kitchen to prepare them. They’ll be served shortly. I have to rush back home now.”She had been out on errands for the entire morning. There were still a bunch of matters awaiting her back home. Serenity could have handled them, but Liberty did not want her sister to get involved. Serenity’s morning sickness was terrible. Liberty would rather her sister not vomit every day than have herself work. Duncan knew Liberty was busy. He said, “I’ll give you a ride and have a meal at your home. Is that okay? I haven’t tasted Mrs. Lane’s cooking in a long time. I miss it a lot.”Liberty did not refuse him. “Wait for me here. I have to grab something inside.”“Okay.”Liberty went into the restaurant to retrieve her stuff. Just then, Duncan told the bodyguard behind him, “Get someone to look into Harvey Gray.”He needed to know his rival thoroughly.“Yes, si
While Hank could walk, he looked weak and spiritless compared to Duncan. “Mr. Lewis,” Hank greeted nicely. Duncan nodded and asked, “When were you discharged?”“Yesterday.”Duncan thought Hank being discharged could have been for the better. Liberty would not need to take Sonny to the hospital for visits on weekends anymore. “You’re here to look for Liberty, right? Why aren’t you going inside?” Chelsea asked Duncan. “Liberty went inside to get some stuff. We’ll go home together in a bit.”Duncan purposely phrased it that way to anger them. Liberty and Hank have been divorced for a year. The Browns should not even dream of pestering her anymore. Some people were brazen enough to think they could get away with anything; Duncan realized the Browns were such people. Hank's gaze darkened upon hearing that Duncan would return home with Liberty. However, he remained silent as he had no right to say anything anyway. Chelsea had been expecting Hank to retort, but she was disa
The Browns were not blessed enough to keep a good daughter-in-law like Liberty. “The doctor said I could be discharged and recuperate at home. Staying in the hospital is expensive.”Hank added, “I almost depleted my family’s assets.”He planned to follow his parents back to their hometown and sell the house they owned in the city. Otherwise, his family would struggle financially. Since he had included Jessica’s name on the title deed, he needed to inform her beforehand that the house would be sold. Jessica had been found guilty in two cases and sentenced to prison for decades.She utterly regretted her wrongdoings. Liberty nodded. She said, “Rest well at home and don’t think about working just yet. You can pay Sonny’s child support for the following year after you resume working.”Chelsea wanted to chime in at that point. She felt Liberty was too cruel for demanding Hank to pay child support despite his weak state. However, Hank said quickly, “Don’t worry. Sonny’s my son.
Immediately, someone brought a large cup of water for Dylan. Imogen took the cup and handed it to him, urging him to drink. Dylan accepted the cup and drank it all in one go, which eased the spiciness in his mouth a little. “Imogen, your cousin said I need to finish these peppers, but I haven’t even eaten half yet.” Dylan looked at the basket of peppers and saw that he had not eaten even half of them. He had never eaten this much spice in his life. Right now, his throat felt like it was on fire, and his voice was hoarse. The intense heat was affecting him badly.If this had happened in Wiltspoon where the climate was warmer, after eating so many peppers, his throat would have been terribly inflamed, and he probably would have an upset stomach and a serious case of indigestion. Then, he would be stuck in the toilet for half a day.However, since it was cold in Huntington, eating a little chili every day was not a problem, though not as much as Dylan had just eaten. His stomach
“Did you need me for something, Layla?” Imogen, despite being in a rush to stop Dylan from continuing to eat the chili peppers, asked Layla.“Of course, I came to talk to you about work,” Layla replied.“But the discussion might take a while. Are you going to discuss work with me first, or go downstairs to stop Dylan from eating more peppers first?”Imogen hesitated for a moment but decided to stop Dylan first. Layla guessed that her cousin would choose Dylan and sighed inwardly. Imogen was already wrapped around Dylan's finger. However, Dylan had not entirely escaped Imogen’s influence either. Though he had not fallen in love with Imogen herself, he had fallen for her alter ego, who was still her cousin in the end.Fortunately, the woman Dylan loved was her cousin's alias. If he had chosen another woman, Layla would never have allowed her cousin to take him back. The Doyle ladies did not settle for second place.“Layla, give me about ten minutes.”“Alright, I’ll wait for you
It was already so spicy, there was no way it could get worse. Thus, following his family's advice, he began grabbing huge handfuls of chili peppers and stuffed them into his mouth. The heat made his eyes water, and it felt like his mouth was swelling from the spice. Imogen also saw the comments and watched as Dylan continued to eat the peppers in large mouthfuls. She turned off the livestream, not wanting to keep watching. However, her heart was in such a mess that she could not focus on her work. A few minutes later, she tossed her pen aside, pushed her chair away from the table as she stood up, and walked out quickly. She ran into Layla as soon as she left the office.“Layla,” Imogen called out. “You heading out?” To be honest, Layla knew the answer without asking. “He’s eaten quite a lot of chili peppers already. He doesn’t usually eat spicy food. And eating so much at once will harm his stomach.” Imogen still felt sorry for Dylan. Layla smiled, “If you're worried
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