“You’re here too, Zachary.” Seeing that her brother-in-law was around, Liberty smiled at Zachary before picking up her son. Liberty smooched her son’s cheeks a few times until the little man was tickled pink. “Liberty,” Zachary greeted his sister-in-law.“Huh? Where did these cats and a dog come from? They’re so cute!” Liberty noticed the new members in the shop after kissing her son. “Zachary gave them to me. Liberty, did you find a job?” It had been quite some time since Serenity saw Liberty so elated as she did when she came in. Liberty first praised the pets Zachary bought before answering her sister, “I got a job. It was unexpected. I didn’t think I’d bump into someone I know. Seren, do you know where I’ll be working?“It’s Lewis & Co.” Serenity did not pay much attention to the major corporations in town. She only recognized York Corporation, the most well-known company in the city because her best friend would not stop talking about the heir. She became more famili
Zachary turned his head back and looked at Serenity who was focused on carrying two dishes. Zachary quickly glanced at the food. It was a plate of greens and another plate of seafood. This was the seafood Elisa gave Serenity. He took large strides over and grabbed the plates from Serenity’s hands. “Since I’m here, I’ll take the dishes out. You won’t have to travel back and forth.” “Thank you, Mr. York.” Instead of leaving, Zachary stopped in his tracks and looked back at her. “What’s the matter?” Serenity picked up another two dishes after Zachary took over the first two. With his dark eyes staring straight at her, Serenity was puzzled and lowered her gaze to her clothes to see if they were stained. “Can you… not call me Mr. York?” Zachary voiced his displeasure. It was best to come clean with Serenity about his thoughts as Serenity was in no mood nor did she have the time to guess what was on his mind. She abided by the agreement. “What should I call you then?”
With Zachary putting it out there, Liberty did not argue and helped her son put on the disposable gloves. After lunch, Zachary helped his wife to clear the dirty dishes and brought them to the kitchen to wash. Liberty could not stop singing praises of her brother-in-law in her sister’s presence. Liberty urged Serenity to be nice to Zachary. She was utterly afraid that her failed marriage would discourage her sister from believing marriages could work. Hank was a cheating b*stard, but that did not mean all men were the same. Good husbands still existed in the world. Liberty was not lucky enough to meet the right guy. Serenity replied helplessly, “Got it, Liberty. You don’t have to constantly put in the good word for him. I’m going to help him with the dishes.” She then slipped into the kitchen before her sister could start nagging about Zachary’s greatness again. Liberty told her to treat Zachary right as if she had been bullying and torturing him. Jasmine secretly l
Zachary sat outside for a while before getting ready to go back to work. Serenity came out of the kitchen after washing the dishes. Seeing that he needed to go, Serenity walked with him to his car. Keeping to himself, Zachary grabbed the envelope from his car and turned around to hand it to Serenity. He said in a husky voice, “It’s all in here.” Serenity took the evidence of Hank’s infidelity, intending to thank him once more. Looking into his dark and profound eyes, Serenity looked around and gave up on the thought when she saw people around them. “Watch out on the road. Send me a text message when you’re at the office, so I know you got there safely.” Zachary pressed his lips together before acknowledging gruffly that he heard her. After getting into the car, he gave her a lingering look and drove off. Serenity stood there and watched as his car accelerated away while feeling something had changed between them It felt a bit like love. Perhaps she should not hide in he
Liberty bit her lips, refusing to let herself shed another tear. She had cried for Hank. Liberty did not want to waste any more tears on him. Her tears would not gain her his affection in return, so why should she cry her eyes out? “I’m okay.” Liberty inserted the documents back into the envelope while putting on a brave face and saying, “I’m so over it. It’s not like I’m only finding out now that he’s cheating on me.“Seren.” Liberty handed the envelope to her sister. “Keep the evidence for me. Hank might try to transfer away the assets and whatnot if he finds this at home. It won’t be good for me.” “Okay.” Serenity grabbed the envelope. Liberty uttered calmly, “I’ll pretend I don’t know anything and bring up divorce when I hold down the job as you said. I’ll fight for what’s mine. No way am I going to let them have it!” While she might have stopped working after getting married, she had sacrificed a lot for the family. Hank’s income was the couple’s joint asset a
“My sister doesn’t owe you. Why should my sister fork out the money to ease your mom and sister’s craving for seafood? Hank, I might not have worked and contributed financially to the family in the three-odd years we have been married, I have sacrificed a lot for the family. Without me behind you, do you think you’d find success in your career without any worries?“I won’t buy the seafood if you don’t give me the money. Don’t forget to pay for the labor cost too. You said it yourself. We’re going halves. I have no obligation to cook for your mom and sister, but if you insist, you should pay for the manual labor. “Since we’ve been married for three years, I’ll only charge you two hundred bucks for it.” Hank yelled on the phone. “All you know is spend money and eat. You'll eat yourself to death! What did you do for the family? I have seen no sacrifice on your part. I got to where I am today because of my hard work. Don’t try to take credit for it.“What do you mean labor cost? Isn’
Chelsea hung up the phone in fury, unable to get Liberty to come home now despite rushing the latter twice. Chelsea said to her mother, “Mom, Liberty is at her sister’s shop. She said something about Sonny being asleep and will only head home when Sonny’s awake. She told us to collect the keys from her.” Furrowing her brows, Mrs. Brown replied peevishly, “You can carry Sonny home if he’s asleep. Serenity owns a car. She can drive them home, and it won’t take up a lot of her time.” Mrs. Brown believed her daughter-in-law was deliberately making them wait at the door. “She must be doing it on purpose. She’s making us wait here for her.” Chelsea shared the same sentiment about her sister-in-law. “Mom, you’ve forgotten to bring your keys before, and Liberty was not home either. She would rush home to unlock the door whenever we called her. She never left us waiting for a long time, unlike now. Mom, I think Liberty has changed since her fight with Hank.”Mrs. Brown replied, “Yeah
Chelsea had her parents’ help to look after the children and do the school run while Liberty had to become a full-time housewife without any help. Liberty’s dependency on Hank’s income gave the Browns an excuse to put the screws on her. Mrs. Brown and Chelsea waited for a while before Liberty returned with Sonny. Serenity emerged behind the mother and son. Serenity was carrying a bag of seafood bought from the market. Mrs. Brown and Chelsea wanted to have a go at Liberty when she arrived, but the sight of Serenity at the back made them hold their tongues. After the domestic violence incident, Mrs. Brown and Chelsea went to look for Serenity but had to flee from Serenity’s harsh tirade. Since then, they were haunted by Serenity’s presence. “Sonny.” Mrs. Brown quickly put on a smiling face as she went forth to pick Sonny up from his stroller. “Oh, Sonny. I miss you so much.” Holding her grandson up, Mrs. Brown planted kisses on both sides of his cheeks. “Gwanma.” Sonn
“He will get better soon now that he’s taken the medicine. Don’t worry too much. When you're taking care of him, make sure you wear a mask so you don’t catch it from him. You’re pregnant, and if you catch a cold, it’ll be more troublesome.” Liberty was relieved, but she then reminded Serenity to take extra care of herself, worried that her son’s cold might spread to her.Pregnant women had limited options for medication, and many pregnant women endured mild colds without taking medicine out of caution.“I'm fine, really,” Serenity reassured her.“When Sonny is sick, he's especially vulnerable and relies on me. If I don't take care of him, I won’t feel at ease, and neither will he.”Zachary was busier than she was, so Serenity did not want to trouble him with such minor matters.“Don’t you worry, Liberty. Once Sonny is better, I'll send you a message. Even if Sonny begs me, I won’t let him eat anything too greasy from now on, to avoid aggravating his condition.”“Children are bo
Sonny weakly protested, “The medicine will be really bitter.”“Yes, but good medicine tastes bitter because it helps cure the illness,” Serenity comforted him.Under her coaxing, Sonny took the medicine, drank a glass of water, and went to the bathroom. He came back and fell into a deep sleep in his aunt's arms.Serenity wanted to carry him upstairs.“Let me carry him—you’re pregnant,” Lilian said considerately.Sam immediately interjected, “Dr. Carden, Missus, allow me to carry Mr. Sonny upstairs.”Dr. Carden was a distinguished guest of the family. How could he allow her to carry Sonny upstairs? Sam stepped forward and carefully took Sonny from Serenity's arms before carrying him back to his room.Serenity followed them upstairs.Lilian did not follow.To her, Sonny's common cold was not serious. She only personally took care of him because she quite liked Sonny.Serenity sat down on the edge of the bed and told Sam, “I can’t do it myself right now, so please make sure to t
After New Year’s celebration, Liberty left for Jensburg and told the teachers that if anything happened to Sonny, they should contact Serenity, which explained the teacher's call coming through to Serenity.“I’ll go pick him up right away. Thank you, Ms. Penny.”Sonny’s teacher Ms. Penny replied, "Alright, please come and take him to see a doctor. Recently, a lot of kids have been catching colds."After hanging up, Serenity said, “Jas, I can't stay here and chat with you. I need to go fetch Sonny from preschool. He's got a fever. Lately, he keeps kicking his blanket off at night.” Though she and Zachary often helped cover Sonny back up, they could not always catch it every time he kicked off the blanket, so he had probably caught a cold.“The temperature has been rising these days, so it's a bit hot sometimes. Look, I don’t even need to wear a coat now.” The temperature was around 68°F during the day. When the sun was out, it was really warm, and there was no need for a coat.
Serenity agreed empathetically, “You can offend anyone, but don't ever offend Nana. Luckily, she's my nana.”Out of all her in-laws, Grandma May was Serenity’s favorite because the old lady treated her the best. Whenever she had conflicts with Zachary, Grandma May would always stand by her side first. Only when she was ready to listen would Grandma May try to reason with her and speak up for Zachary. Even though Grandma May was Zachary’s grandmother, she treated Serenity like her own granddaughter; more so than Serenity's biological grandmother.“Are you going to help Dylan?” Jasmine asked.“How? He’s wooing his future wife. No one can help with that,” Serenity replied. “Zachary never meddles in his brothers' private matters. As long as they don’t ask him for help, he doesn’t care about anything.”In Zachary's words, he only wanted to take care of her. In his world, she was his priority.“True. Let’s just watch for now, unless Dylan comes to you asking you to speak well of him
“Now he's suddenly trying to pursue Imogen again? Did something happen to him? Or was it that his beloved turned him down, and then when he saw everyone else all coupled up, plus Grandma May’s pressuring him to get married, he decided to try to win Imogen back?“Who does he think Imogen is? Does he think he can just have her when he wants to, and throw her aside when he doesn't?”Even though Dylan was Serenity's cousin-in-law, Jasmine could not bring herself to take his side. Back then, when Imogen followed him from Huntington to Wiltspoon and even asked Serenity for help, all she ended up getting was an apology from Dylan that he could never love her. He even mentioned that he was in love with someone else, a woman he called Fox. How could a vixen be any good? Was she better than Imogen?Jasmine thought Dylan was out of his mind, but that was someone else's business. She was just a bystander. Even Serenity did not interfere much since she was only a cousin-in-law. After all,
Without a second thought, Leticia replied to her daughter.[Of course you should. As long as you can win that boy over, you'll be happy in the future. I’ve met so many young men, but I still think he’s the most suitable for you.]Despite her earlier anger, Leticia still hoped her daughter could win Dylan’s heart. She had always regarded him as a potential son-in-law, after all.Imogen smiled and left it at that. She had already made up her mind.In truth, when Dylan rejected her, she was not all that upset because the person he loved was still her. It was just that she had kept Dylan in the dark. One could say that he had been made to dance in her palm.However, when he realized that he could not love Imogen, he was honest with her and decisively left without bothering her further, not wanting her to fall even deeper when the situation was hopeless. In this aspect, she appreciated him.Now that she knew she was the one Dylan’s grandmother had chosen for him, Imogen was curious ab
When Dylan overheard Imogen’s phone conversation with Leticia, he realized that Leticia was trying to match her with someone named Kade. Now, he had a rival.Even though he was being asked to leave, Dylan did not get angry, nor did he shamelessly insist on staying. He stood up and said, “I’m sorry for disturbing you, Ms. Doyle. I know you’re Imogen Doyle. I also know what I’m doing, and I won’t make the same mistake again.“Ms. Doyle, you were on the nose earlier. Yes, I do want to pursue you again. Starting today, I will try to win your heart once more. No matter what your attitude is toward me, I’ll accept it.”The first time, she had offered her heart, but he did not accept it. That was his fault.This time, it was his turn to offer his heart. If it took more time to win her over, he was willing to be patient.“My nana isn’t forcing me.” He continued, “When it came to our generation, she only pushed Zachary to marry Serenity.”Zachary had been a special case. For the rest of
Imogen felt a surge of satisfaction when she saw Dylan was rendered speechless by what she said. She deliberately leaned closer to him, her beautiful face coming right up to his, and their gazes met.They were so close that Dylan could smell a faint, delicate fragrance on her. It was a little familiar, but it was not the same as Chameleon Fox’s scent, because she never used fragrance when she appeared—probably to avoid being recognized by scent.It was the scent he smelled on Imogen back when he was initially pursuing her—it was Sugar’s. Imogen smelled the same as Sugar, a scent he remembered when he was in close proximity to Sugar.Imogen was Sugar.Dylan was now sure of this, but he did not bring it up. Even if he asked, Imogen would not admit it anyway.Besides, he no longer needed her to confirm it. As Zachary had said, he only needed to trust his nana; she would not mislead him when it came to marriage. His nana knew very well that he loved Chameleon Fox, and yet still aske
Unexpectedly, Kade had to return to the country due to a work transfer and would be staying in Huntington long-term.Leticia’s best friend Jade immediately called her again to bring up the idea of a marriage match. Leticia then thought about it and decided to arrange for her daughter to fetch him from the airport.“Mrs. Doyle, the person Imogen likes is me, so please stop trying to match her with someone else.” Dylan boldly interjected.Imogen glanced at him but did not say anything.On the other side of the line, Leticia asked Imogen when she heard Dylan’s voice, “Jen, has that York scoundrel gone to look for you again? He came by once a few days ago, but you weren’t home. We didn’t even let him past the gate.“He didn’t show up again after that, so we thought he left, but he actually went to your office to look for you. Jen, what does he mean by this? Is he trying to pursue you once more? If that’s really the case, all the more you have to give Kade a chance—to make Dylan York