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.
Chelsea and Hank left. In subsequent days, Hank sold his house after obtaining Jessica’s permission. He initially wanted to split the money with her, but she refused. The house was bought before Hank’s first marriage. Even Liberty could not receive the house as compensation during their divorce, let alone her. Jessica wanted Hank to hand over her share of the sale to Liberty and Sonny. She had wronged them the most. Whether Liberty accepted it or not, Jessica was repenting for her mistakes in her own way. After that, Hank returned to his hometown to recuperate. Aside from visiting Sonny occasionally, he and his family never again appeared before Liberty for any other matters. The Browns eventually faded out of everyone’s lives. …At the Newmans’ villa, Trenton stood outside the gates with a black backpack. However, he did not press the doorbell. It was his home. Well, it was Camryn’s home, to be exact. Trenton’s grandparents had given the villa to Abel, whom his own pa
“I see.”Trenton was deep in thought.After discovering what his parents had done, he had been suspicious whether the doctor in charge of treating Camryn back then had died of natural causes. His parents could have played a part in it. “Why did you return all of a sudden, Mr. Trenton?”The maid found it weird. Was Trenton not supposed to be studying at the university?It would have made sense if he returned during a long break but the break was already over.“I requested a leave of absence because I was worried about Camryn.”Trenton revealed that he had taken some time off his studies to come home. “Camryn’s inside, right? I’ll go meet her.”He was eager to meet Camryn and verify that her eyes were recovering. “Ms. Camryn and Mr. Callum are together.”Trenton seemed to have missed the maid’s last sentence as he had gone inside the house in a hurry. Once he stepped inside, he saw his soon-to-be brother-in-law, Callum, entangled in a steamy kiss with his sister. Trento
Trenton walked over and glared at Callum. Callum smiled. “Why are you back?”Trenton was furious at him for taking advantage of Camryn. Even while blushing, he said angrily, “This is my house. I can come back whenever I want. It’s none of your business.”Callum did not argue with him. He knew Trenton had caught them making out and must have felt Callum was taking advantage of Camryn.“It’s me, Camryn.”Trenton approached Camryn and pushed Callum aside to stand before her in the most ideal position for her to see him clearly.They had been siblings for seventeen years, yet ten years had passed since she last saw her brother’s face. He was merely a second grader when she lost her vision and in a flash, he was now a university student.Instead of being displeased from being pushed aside, Callum smiled. He said, “Trenton, your sister can see in close distances now, albeit slightly blurry. Dr. Carden likened her eyesight to that of a person with severe myopia without their glasses
Camryn hugged Trenton after calming down. Trenton glanced at Callum, worried he would get jealous. He had heard rumors of how overbearing his future brother-in-law was, but Callum could probably tolerate it since he was Camryn’s brother. Trenton recalled that Camryn was cold and often ignored him when he was young. However, when he fell, she would always help him up and soothe him in her arms.Trenton had liked Camryn for as long as he could remember. His aloof sister would only express her concern whenever he fell down. Hence, he liked falling because it was the only way to make Camryn show her concern for him. In his memories, her embrace was frail yet heartwarming. When Trenton was younger, he could never understand why his mother treated Camryn badly or why Camryn always ignored him. As he grew older, he finally discovered that he and Camryn did not share the same father. Although they shared the same mother, Paige never liked Camryn. Whenever Trenton saw Camryn gett
“Okay.”Camryn got Trenton to sit. She asked, “Why did you come back all of a sudden? There are no special occasions. Don’t you have classes?”“I was quite worried after our call last time. I wanted to know how you were doing after the treatment, so I requested a leave of absence to visit you.”“You could’ve done it over a call. You should return to school as soon as possible after a brief stay.” Callum chimed in, “Since Trenton’s home, he can attend Zachary’s wedding before heading back to uni.”Camryn asked how many days of leave Trenton had requested. “A week.”Zachary and Serenity’s wedding would be held in three days. Camryn said, “You can return to school after attending Zachary’s wedding. Next time, don’t skip classes if there’s nothing urgent. You should concentrate on your studies and come home during the winter break. I can arrange an internship for you to train yourself.”She would never monopolize Newman Enterprise. Trenton would always have a share. “I’m not
Brenda and Amy, who were once the young ladies of the Newmans, had lost their arrogance and elegance. They stood at the villa’s entrance in ordinary clothing with not a piece of expensive jewelry in sight. Neither were any Hermès bags. They even took a taxi over because they did not have a car. The two families had sold everything they could to pay off their debts and had no choice but to live in rented houses. Although Amy and Brenda were born into the Newmans when they were not as rich as now, they were still well-off. The sisters had never experienced hardships or financial struggles. They obtained a generous amount of money from their parents when they got married because then the family had become wealthier. Their husbands’ families were equally rich. Now, despite being grandmothers, they were forced to live in poor conditions after losing their wealth. Job finding was difficult due to their old age and pampered attitude. The only job available for them was to be cle
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