“We’re here. This is my home.” Quinn led Julian into a house that was built by hand. It has a yard too. Julian knew where the Crawfords lived. In fact, he had done his homework on his future in-laws. The Crawfords were not super wealthy in Summervale, but their family gym was well-known. Still, the Crawfords were more well-off than most families. They owned the house on the street and a few properties elsewhere. The Crawfords bought the land for Power Fitness. Dave, Quinn’s father, planned to leave the family home to the firstborn son as his son could take over managing the gym. The other properties would be split between his youngest and Quinn. If Dave could make enough money for another property, he would buy another piece of land and build his own house. That way, he would have more properties to share among his children and benefit from the rental income.The Crawfords’ house was wider than the neighbors'. There was an arbor covered in flowers at the front door, wh
Dave pulled himself together and got acquainted with Julian through Quinn’s introduction. Then, he courteously welcomed Julian into the house. Quinn’s brothers, Will and Mark, had not returned home. Julian stepped into the house and put down the gifts he brought. Dave asked him to have a seat and said, “You didn’t have to, Mr. Bucham.” “Your daughter saved me. I was nearly robbed on my way home from an event. Your daughter happened to come by the same way and beat up the robbers. She even called the cops for me. “I’m sorry to intrude, Mr. Crawford.” Dave smiled at the mention that Quinn had saved Julian. He said, “We always help out when we can. It was no biggie. You don’t have to get us anything when you visit.” “Why don’t you serve our guest a drink, Quinn?” Zoey emerged from the kitchen in an apron. Quinn introduced Julian to her mother. Julian stood up as Zoey approached. After Quinn’s introduction, he politely said hello. Zoey did not hear the conversation t
Zoey was disappointed, but she quickly regained her spirits. She told her daughter, “I bet Julian is single, Quinn. Whether or not he joins our gym, you can make an effort to get to know him and see if there's a connection.” Dumbfounded, Quinn said, “Mom, Mr. Bucham is a CEO. He drives multi-million-dollar fancy cars. I bet the bar is set high, and I don’t come close to his expectation of an ideal woman. Besides, I don’t want to marry into money.“Also, he’s a lot older than me. He’s thirty-five and at least ten years older than me. In a few more years, he could pass for my father.” Zoey poked Quinn’s head and replied, “Don’t talk like he’s your father’s age. Will is older than you by eight years. Julian is around Will’s age anyway, with about two, three years of age gap.“Plus, Julian looks younger than Will. I would’ve thought he’s in his early twenties.”Quinn said amusedly, “Mom, he’s just here to join our gym. Just keep this between us, and don’t talk about it again. Peop
Julian mentioned that his parents were pressuring him to get married too. Quinn believed it made sense that Julian’s parents were worried because he was in his thirties. However, Quinn was still young, in her twenties. Yet, her mother was worried she might never find a man. Still, Quinn was not interested in marriage. When the time came to that, she would find someone who was not intimidated by her fighting skills. “You should worry about Will and Mark, Mom. Will is thirty-two, and Mark is twenty-eight. I’ll get married after them.” Zoey grew frustrated at the mention of her sons. She whined, “I don't understand the minds of young people nowadays. In my era, it was normal to think about marriage when we reached eighteen. But now, people are not as interested in marriage.“More families choose to have one child now. The way I see it, it’s better to have at least two children. The more the merrier.“With big families, the kids can share the responsibility of caring for elderl
“Ms. Crawford, please don’t feel obliged to bring out a lot of food.” Julian smiled. Quinn smiled. “I’m not bringing out much. Just some fruit and snacks. My mom hasn’t finished cooking. You must be hungry after a long journey here. You should have something to tide you over. “Have a chat with Mr. Bucham, Dad. I’ll help Mom in the kitchen,” Quinn said and returned to the kitchen. Julian looked at Quinn’s receding back and raved about her to Dave. “Ms. Crawford is a kind and talented woman. She is beautiful, and a skilled fighter. She handles herself well and would make a good wife. You have raised her well, sir.”Dave replied with a smile, “You’re too kind, Julian. Quinn is a good kid.” In fact, Dave loved it when people complimented his daughter. “I heard from my daughter that you would like to enroll in our gym. How old are you now, Julian?” After an exchange of pleasantries, Dave cut to the chase. Julian answered, “I know I’m a little old to start learning the art
“I’m in the big business, but I have a team to run the business for me, sir. Even if I’m not around in the office for months, the company will still be fine. I think I can start training and see where I go from there. “I am looking to hire bodyguards. I hope you can recommend some capable and trustworthy individuals for the job. I can offer the same great benefits as my office workers. I will make it worth their while if they do a good job.” Quinn said that Power Fitness was not just about training strength, but also to direct the students to a life of integrity. The Crawfords would not tolerate bullying or lawbreaking from any of the students.They would punish and cut ties with students who abused their training, not wanting to be associated with them anymore. As such, Julian could have the utmost confidence in the people recommended by Dave. Julian would have to keep up with the lies like Zachary if he hired Dave’s recommendations though. Technically, Julian did not have
A while later, Dave answered, “Quinn is an adult. She’s free to go wherever she wants. All we are expecting as parents is that she lets us know where she goes.“We have no problem if she wants to go to the wedding.”Dave was not worried about anything happening to his daughter. He was happy enough so long as his daughter stayed out of trouble. However, people might get the wrong idea about Quinn and Julian’s relationship if they were to attend Zachary’s wedding together. Quinn was twenty-four years old. His wife often nagged him about pulling Quinn into self-defense. Now, Quinn had muscles that scared off potential suitors, and she had no takers. Dave did not stop Quinn from attending Zachary’s wedding with Julian. It was great for his daughter to see the world and broaden her horizons. Julian smiled. “You’re an open-minded parent, sir.” Dave grinned and asked Julian to enjoy the fruit and snacks. Julian tasted the fruits and stayed away from the snacks. A car pulled up
Will and Mark made a run for it. Zoey did not want to hear Will and Mark saying that they would take care of Quinn. She thought it would jinx Quinn from finding a man.Julian got up when he saw Will and Mark coming out of the kitchen. Dave introduced his sons to Julian, and Julian said hello to his future brothers-in-law. Will and Mark courteously greeted Julian while sizing him up. When everybody sat down, Will asked Julian. “I heard from Quinn that you’re interested in joining our gym?” Julian smiled. “That’s right.” Mark cut to the chase. He said, “You’re a little old to start off with training. Even if you pass our character assessment and pay the fees, you can’t learn much. You’re wasting your money, and we don’t want to scam you.” Julian said with a smile, “I know. Ms. Crawford and Mr. Crawford have made that clear. Money isn’t the issue. I just want to learn and take it from there. At least, I can work out.” Will and Mark left the conversation at that. Quinn and
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