Zachary told Serenity what Josh shared about Jasmine wanting to bite his arm occasionally. Serenity was speechless. She would rather munch on a drumstick than an arm. Julian was envious of Josh and Jasmine’s lovey-dovey relationship. He hoped that he and Quinn could be as happy as they were. After the call with Josh, Julian was deep in thought. ‘Should I just confess? Or should I buy a bouquet for Quinn later?’He was worried that Quinn would think the bouquet was a waste of money because it was inedible. After a while of being torn over it, Julian finally called his secretary and said, “I want a bouquet of roses. Buy it for me now. I need it before I leave the office for the day.”The secretary was not surprised to receive such a request as Julian’s love for Quinn was pretty obvious. Quinn was the only person who had not realized it yet. The roses Julian bought were definitely meant for Ms. Crawford. “Okay. I’ll head to the florist now and get the bouquet. I promis
Julian stopped what he was doing and raised his head. The secretary brought the roses over. “Put it on the coffee table.”“Okay.”He walked over to place the bouquet on the coffee table. Then, he looked toward Julian and asked, “Is there anything else, Mr. Bucham?”“Nothing for now. You can go on with your work.”“Alright.”The secretary left the office when he saw Julian had resumed working. Julian completed his work as fast as he could. He shut his computer and grabbed his phone and car key. The car was newly bought to take Quinn on relaxing drives. He grabbed the bouquet. After looking at it for some time, he felt that the bouquet was prettier than the ones he had bought for Elisa half-heartedly before. He decided he would buy flowers personally next time. Would a bouquet be enough? Julian recalled Josh buying bouquets and jewelry for Jasmine frequently but it was not suitable for him to give Quinn jewelry. She would never accept it. He even wanted to give her a
The sky was already dark even though it was still early. Days were shorter and nights were longer during winter. Quinn’s class with the kids had just ended. “Julian is here.”A kid spotted Julian’s car and shouted. The children swarmed out of the gym. “Don’t come over. The wind is strong,” yelled Julian. However, everyone still rushed out. Julian passed a few bags of snacks to the older children to be brought into the gym while the younger ones took the fried chicken. Quinn walked out while putting on a thick jacket. When she saw Julian, she smiled and said, “I used to be the most popular person in the gym before you came, but it’s you now.”Will came out too. He said, “You’re just stingy. If you were as generous as Julian and bought everyone a meal every time you came, you would definitely become Ms. Popular again.”“I’m not stingy. How many times can I treat everyone with the little money I have? Julian is the CEO of a huge company. I’m not going to fight Julian for
Will distributed the drinks.He thought of how much Julian had spent to get them to put in good words for him to Quinn. Whenever he visited the gym, he would treat everyone to food and even cater to their requests. He would send the food over himself and ensure there was enough food for everyone. They could not even finish the food sometimes. With the large number of people Julian treated every time, the money he needed to spend was definitely not a small sum for ordinary people like them. As Quinn mentioned, how often could she treat everyone to a meal with her meager income? Will thought, ‘My salary is the highest among the coaches, but even I can’t do what Julian can.’Julian was for sure filthy rich, as expected of a mega corporation’s CEO. Will looked around for Julian and Quinn as he handed out the drinks. When he saw they were still outside, he thought, ‘Julian must’ve fallen in love with Quinn at first sight.’That was why Julian traveled a great distance to Summerva
“Let’s go inside. It’s cold out here,” Quinn said with the bouquet and lunch box in hand. Julian followed her inside. When everyone saw the bouquet of roses in Quinn’s arms, their gazes turned playful. Even the children sensed something was different when they saw their coach holding that bouquet. Quinn walked toward them. “Coach Quinn, the flowers are so pretty.”“Do you want some fried chicken? It’s almost finished.”“Did Julian give you the roses, Coach Quinn? Why did he do that?”Quinn smiled and said, “You guys can finish the rest of the chicken. Don’t worry about me. Julian packed a separate serving for me. He said he noticed the roses were lovely when he passed by the florist, so he bought a bouquet for me to admire them.“Don’t the roses look beautiful? I think the bouquet is gorgeous. I like it.”Everyone complimented the beauty of the flowers. On the other hand, the gazes of Quinn’s training mates shifted from Quinn to Julian, who had a sly smile, and lastly
Everyone laughed. “We weren’t bribed by Julian. We’re just speaking the truth. Julian is genuinely good and is a perfect match for Quinn.”Another coach whispered, “I think Julian also likes Quinn. Mainly because, of all the young men Quinn has encountered, apart from us seniors, there hasn’t been a decent one. Mr. and Mrs. Crawford are also worried.”“If Julian wasn’t good, we wouldn’t approve of him pursuing Quinn. I see that Quinn gets along well with Julian. But I always feel that Quinn treats Julian the same as she treats us.”These words made everyone involuntarily nod, feeling deeply resonant.There were many seniors and juniors, but it was Quinn, their junior, who made them worry. The main issue was that Quinn habitually treated males as buddies, and they felt helpless.They had thought about introducing a boyfriend to Quinn, but her requirement was for the person to be skilled in martial arts. Those who could not match Quinn’s martial prowess would sneak into the martial
“Quinn, about this bouquet of flowers, I mean, when you received it, did you have any thoughts?”Julian gathered his courage and asked Quinn.Quinn finished eating the fried chicken wing. While eating, she said, “Thoughts? Yes, I just think this bouquet is really beautiful. I wonder who grew these flowers, they’re so well taken care of. If it were me taking care of them, they would’ve wilted long ago.”Julian did not utter a word.“Also, when I received the bouquet and looked at the roses, I thought of pancakes. Suddenly, I wanted to eat pancakes. I’m going to order now.”While saying so, Quinn took out her phone and was about to order pancakes online.“I’ll buy you some. I have a friend traveling from the south. I’ll ask him to bring some pancakes for you. They’re definitely better than what you can order here online.”Quinn said, “Unless it’s the freshly made ones, buying it online or not doesn’t make much difference, right? I heard the freshly made ones are delicious. Next ye
Quinn thought about mentioning that it would be too troublesome for him, but she changed her mind at the last moment. She then nodded and said, “I’ll take up your offer then.”Quinn treated Julian when he was in Summervale. Now that she was planning to visit Wiltspoon, he would be treating her. That way, they would not owe each other anything.“Quinn, besides pancakes, what’s on your mind?”Julian got back to the main topic.They looked at each other.After a moment of eye contact, Quinn tentatively asked, “What else would I think of? Something like thinking that you like me just because you gave me flowers?“I know that you like me. I like you too. If we didn’t mutually like each other, we wouldn’t have become friends.”After a brief silence, Julian said in a low voice, “Have you never thought that my affection for you isn’t just platonic, but the affection a man has for a woman?”“You’re a man, and I’m a woman. Your affection for me is exactly a man’s affection for a woman. W
Austin replied, “Both Mr. Louis and Mr. Phillip woke up very early, especially Mr. Phillip. He gets up earlier than Mr. Louis every morning. It’s really hard on him, getting up so early in such cold weather.”Sometimes, he himself felt like staying in bed a little longer, reluctant to leave the warm comfort of his blankets.Even after the New Year, Satbury remained quite cold. In contrast, over in Wiltspoon, the temperatures had begun to reach a high of over seventy degrees Fahrenheit in the daytime, with nighttime lows around fifty degrees.The two provinces and cities were simply incomparable. The temperatures in Wiltspoon were just so very comfortable for Satbury locals.Isabella smiled and said, “Phillip is just afraid he’ll get here too late and that you’ll assume he’s not coming over for breakfast, then not prepare any for him. He's such a little foodie.”The house was never short of snacks for the little ones. In fact, any goodies were always reserved for them first.Yet,
Even when she attended banquets, she would show up in formal clothing. Isabella did not remember the last time she wore a dress. Perhaps it was when she was in third grade. In fact, she liked wearing pretty princessy dresses when she was young. Her mother had told her that.As Isabella was the first child and extremely adorable, Delphine had dolled her up like a princess. Her pretty dresses filled the closet. Her parents, aunts, uncles, and relatives would always gift her many beautiful dresses. As she grew up, perhaps when she was in fourth grade, she stopped wearing dresses. Regardless of who gave her new pieces, she would refuse to wear them and give them to her cousins instead. After everyone realized she disliked dresses, they gradually stopped giving her them. Delphine had asked Isabella why she disliked wearing dresses. Isabella reasoned that she could not walk quickly enough while wearing one. She valued speed and efficiency. Delphine said she had alway
While the private chefs Ms. Isabella had hired in the past were respectful, they were leaning toward flattery instead of sincere dedication, like how Austin was toward Ms. Isabella.Dominic was experienced. He could sense that Ms. Isabella treated Austin differently. She was also a special existence to Austin. It was normal for young people to be attracted to each other. Initially, Dominic wanted to advise Austin not to even think about dating Ms. Isabella. However, upon discovering that Austin was a young master of a wealthy family, he decided not to interfere. Dominic was glad that he did nothing.Austin returned to the house. Instead of heading straight to the kitchen, he went upstairs. He stopped outside of Isabella’s room and knocked on the door lightly. No response came from within the room. Perhaps Austin was too soft when he knocked. He knocked on the door again with more force and asked, “Are you up yet, Ms. Isabella? It’s time to have breakfast.”Isabella w
Austin was extremely patient with the boys. Although they occasionally caused trouble, most of them were minor issues. They would never do something they were not allowed to do.After breakfast, Austin brought them their bags. With a boy in each hand, he left the house. It was to prevent the boys from saying he was playing favorites. Dominic was used to that scene. Initially, Austin was simply Ms. Isabella’s private chef. However, he gradually took on more responsibilities.He would take the two young masters to school. If he had time in the evening, he would also fetch them from school. Austin also made sure Louis and Phillip did their homework, supervised their hobby classes, and played with them. Sometimes, he would even teach them martial arts and train with them. Dominic felt Austin was an all-rounder. It seemed like there was nothing Austin could not do. No wonder Ms. Isabella thought highly of Austin. However, Austin was a young master of a wealthy family. He w
Louis and Phillip were downstairs having the breakfast Austin had prepared for them. The food was different every morning, and everything was delicious.Having gotten used to Austin’s cooking, Louis and Phillip could no longer stand the food provided in the school. They thought the food there was terrible. Louis was enrolled in an elementary school not far from home. As he was a first grader, he did not need to stay in the dormitories and could have his lunch and dinner at home. Phillip, who was a year younger than him, was still in preschool. He would have breakfast and dinner at home. Actually, the preschool did provide breakfast, but Phillip refused to eat in school and insisted on having breakfast at home. In order to eat the breakfast Austin made, he would get up early in the morning without the adults waking him. After putting on his clothes and washing up, he would head to Louis’s place with his bag. “Austin.”Louis suddenly asked, “Did my sister come back last n
Isabella had always thought Tati was teasing her. Therefore, she did not take her words seriously. She thought it was completely normal for Austin to treat her well as she was his boss. From Austin’s perspective, she was his source of income. Now that Isabella pondered about it deeper, she realized perhaps Austin did come to Satbury for her. It was not just to be her chef. He always said Grandma May only gave the York lads a year to pursue their fiancées. However, Austin had never left since he started working for Isabella. Even if he did, it was to accompany her on business trips. He was busy feeding and taking care of her every day and had never gone to pursue his so-called fiancée. He did not even try to gather information on her. Was he not anxious?A year would go by pretty quickly. Although it felt like it had not been long since Austin started working for Isabella, three months had passed. Time really flew. Three months had gone by in the blink of an eye. Neve
When Austin reached the door, he stopped and turned to say, “Ms. Isabella, I only care about my future wife. Other young women are simply strangers to me.“I’m polite to other women when I need to be. If they’re unimportant, I’ll ignore them. Even if that woman is my boss, I won’t cross any lines. If I do, there must be a reason behind it.“Get some rest, Ms. Isabella. You might have a headache when you wake up tomorrow. I’ll prepare a warm honey drink for you in the morning.”After speaking, Austin left. Isabella turned to look at where he last stood. What did his words mean?He said he only cared about his future wife.Aside from this lady, he would not step out of line with any other young woman, even if she were his boss. What did he mean by crossing lines?Was it showing concern? Did he mean that if his boss was a young woman but not his fiancée, he would simply do what was required of him without any personal feelings involved? Was that what he meant?If so, was
Isabella was cold sometimes, but that was not her true personality. She was a reasonable person. Austin was not worried that he would be mistreated as a live-in son-in-law. “Ms. Isabella.”Isabella looked toward him and waited for him to speak. He asked, “This may be abrupt, but may I ask what your ideal type is?”Isabella was stunned. Why did the question come to her? What was the type of man she liked?‘Someone like Austin,’ she thought. After a moment of silence, she said, “I like men who are capable, responsible, and have correct values. Even if his family isn’t as financially well-off as mine, I don’t mind so long as he’s honest, competent, and sincere about his feelings for me.“Of course, it’ll be great if we have the same social status. That way, we’ll have similar perspectives and more common topics. If we get married, we’ll be joining forces instead of it being a one-way financial aid.”“Although you can accept someone who isn’t from a similar family backgrou
After a moment of silence, Isabella said, “It’s okay. I know I was forcing it.”There was no point in asking Austin if he did not want to reveal anything. If he wanted to tell her, he would do so without her asking. However, her curiosity spiked with his silence. She was eager to know who his fiancée was. He was already so protective of his fiancée even though he had not met her before. It made Isabella jealous. It was her first time feeling that kind of emotion throughout her life. Although it was not a strong feeling, she still felt it. “You weren’t forcing me to tell you. You were simply curious. Most people have a curious side. It’s only natural for you to be inquisitive as well.”Austin said gently, “It’s not just you. Those who knew that my nana had chosen fiancées for my brothers and me were also curious about who the ladies were.“To be honest, we didn’t even know Nana had been choosing fiancées for us since a few years ago until she handed their pictures to us