Laurence would turn four years old soon, yet his learning progress was faster than others. As expected, a child taught by the masters was special. If one did not have natural talent and wit, he or she could never keep up with the masters’ teaching. Of course, the masters would refuse to teach someone who did not have talent. Laurence answered seriously, “The books in my bag are gifts from the grandpas and grandmas for the new year. I like them a lot.”He put a lot of emphasis on the last sentence. Jane dared bet that Laurence would have the urge to throw his bag away once he opened it and saw it filled with books. She knew he was under a lot of pressure. Keeping up with a group of masters was difficult. However, it was an opportunity that others could only dream of. “Since I’m Sonny’s age, he’ll definitely like whatever I do. That’s why I want to give Sonny some books as well. He likes too many types of food. I can’t buy that much food for him.”Jane said, “Are you su
Jane patted Laurence’s head. She said, “Admitting and correcting your mistakes is good.”He nodded vigorously. He would reflect on his mistake. As long as the adults pointed out his mistake, he would correct all of them. Jane stood and said gently, “You can go and play now.”“Where’s Chloe, Mommy Jane?”Laurence added, “I want to play with her.”He only had one younger sister. He preferred her over his younger brothers but they were also adorable. “Her nana might’ve brought her out to play. Connor is still with the nanny. Do you want to play with Connor?”After thinking about it, Laurence said, “I’ll look for Chloe. Since Connor has the nanny to play with, he doesn’t need me.”Connor was a crybaby like Oliver. Uncle Ethan’s sons were older than Connor by a few months and were more difficult to handle. Laurence only found his little brothers cute when they were asleep. On the other hand, Chloe was adorable regardless of whether she was awake or asleep. Laurence thought
“Was that Chelsea and her family?” Jasmine asked Serenity after they settled down. “It must be. She’s been living a comfortable life. She’s even dressed in expensive clothes and jewelry.”Before Liberty got a divorce, Chelsea and Mrs. Brown would go to the bookstore to complain to Serenity. Jasmine had met Chelsea several times before. Chelsea had left such an impression that Jasmine could not possibly forget her. “It is Chelsea.”Serenity replied, “Lucas called Sonny twice, but Chelsea covered his mouth. She’s scared of us joining her for dinner and making her pay.“In the past, she and her family would go to Liberty’s house to eat for free. They never helped out and even dared to order my sister around and pick on her.”The Browns were like leopards who would never change their spots. Serenity felt Wiltspoon was tiny. She would bump into people she disliked from time to time. Imogen did not know what happened in the past. She kept quiet and simply listened. Jasmine sa
Serenity agreed, “It’s reasonable, yes, but before Dylan makes up his mind, you can still give it a shot.”Imogen smiled and said, “Serenity, Jasmine, let’s eat and stop talking about men. Both your husbands are good men, so you’ll feel happy to talk about them, but the man I’m interested in isn’t interested in me. Talking about him will just ruin my appetite. Like Sonny said, eating is king. Let’s just eat.”Serenity and Jasmine stopped there. They had no way of influencing Dylan when it came to his feelings.“Well, it’s not like I didn’t get anything out of this visit—I got two new friends. Whether or not Dylan and I end up together, the three of us will still be friends. You guys mustn’t renounce me. Either way, I’m wrapped around both of your thick thighs, so you can forget about trying to kick me away.”Serenity could not help but laugh.Jasmine laughed too and said, “You’re speaking casually with us already. We can’t just abandon you now, can we?”Imogen was very good at co
Jasmine scoffed. “Don’t believe a single word of what she says. She’s a master at exploiting. Second to none.”Serenity heard Chelsea say to Mrs. Brown, “Mom, the kids said they hadn’t eaten something delicious in a very, very long time, so I took them out to eat. We’re done eating, but I don’t have enough money to pay the bill. Do you have money in your account? Transfer some money to me.” Chelsea walked off into the distance. Serenity and the rest could no longer hear what she said.Jasmine said to Imogen, “If I had a daughter like that who only knew how to leech off her family and take advantage of them, I’d strangle her at birth.”Imogen replied, “You wouldn’t know if she was that sort of person at birth, though.”Jasmine was silent for a moment before she decided, “I’d cut all contact with her and pretend I never had a daughter, then.“Imogen, that shameless nut is Sonny’s aunt. She just loves taking advantage of anything she can. She used to frequent her parents’ place to
“Have you eaten, Dad?”Hank replied warmly, “Not yet. I’m not hungry yet, so I’ll only eat after I’ve taken two more customers. You’ve eaten, right?”Sonny replied, “Yeah. Aunt Ser and Jazz took me out to eat and we ran into Aunt Chel and the rest. Lucas said hi to me but, I don’t why, Aunt Chel covered his mouth. Lucas’s granddad and grandmom were there too, there were so many of them eating together. Only Aunt Ser and Jazz and Jen were with me, just the four of us.”Hank did not pay much attention to this at first and laughed. “Oh, you ran into Aunt Chel? Did you say hi to her?”“No,” Sonny answered honestly. “Lucas called out to me but Aunt Chel covered his mouth. Dad, what does Aunt Chel mean by that?”Hank was silent for a moment. “Your Aunt Chel… You don’t have to mind her.”He finally realized it. Had Chelsea been afraid that Sonny and the rest would try to join their table if she said hi and did not let Lucas talk to Sonny because of that?Being her brother, Hank did und
George’s business was doing fairly well and Chelsea was definitely not short of money. Hank could forgive her for not inviting their parents out to dinner with her family but she even asked their mother to foot the bill once they were done eating. It was no wonder Hank was angry.“Got it, Sonny. The next time I’m free, I’ll take you out to eat too, okay? I have to go now. You have to listen to your Aunt Ser, okay?”“I’ll be good, Dad. Take care.” Done tattling, Sonny happily ended the call.Serenity heard it all. After Sonny returned her the phone, she tapped him on the forehead. “You’ve even learned how to snitch, huh, kiddo?”Chelsea had really gone too far this time though. This had nothing to do with Serenity, so she would not interfere. If Sonny wanted to complain, it was the Browns’ issue. If she had been the one to tell Hank about it, Hank might suspect she was deliberately making things up about Chelsea, but he did not have the same reservations with Sonny.Sonny blinked a
Imogen retorted, “We just hit it off right away, alright? Why do you have to call it kissing ass?”Dylan paused and said, “Since you’re back and we bumped into each other, why don’t we go on a walk? It’ll help with your digestion and we can talk while we’re at it. I won’t be coming here tomorrow. I’m busy too, you know.”After a moment of thought, Imogen also felt that it was better to talk it out that night, though she knew Dylan’s answer even without doing so. He had made himself very clear last night. She just had not said that she was going to give up on him, which gave him no choice but to talk to her.“Alright, I’ll have to trouble you to walk with me so I can digest, then. But what if I get hungry again after we get back? You know that exercising and using up energy will make one hungry.”Dylan was speechless for a moment. “I finally understand why you, Jasmine, and Serenity managed to hit it off right away.”They were all foodies! Why did he not know she liked eating that